NYC Vacation
I knew a few months ago when I had to dive head-first into the mega-project at work that I would need a vacation in the middle of it, and I really really did. Fortunately, I planned a few days in New York City to take my mind off the stress of the real world.
Didn't take a lot of photos and, sadly, issues with my camera made most of the photos I did take a little smudgy, so I'll just have to rely on Erik for the visual proof ;)
The Pod (or, "wow, I think I'm too old for this!")
I flew into JFK on Thursday and checked into The Pod, kind of a hip version of a hostel. My "pod" had no bathroom. The entire floor had to share two WCs and two shower stalls, both ridiculously small. This was mostly ok, except early the next morning, but I'll get to that. Tech factor was good... with an iHome alarm clock and an LCD TV. My lights had a rheostat, the hallways were dark, and music pumped lightly through the building... I definitely enjoyed it, especially at $150 a night at a great location in Midtown.
Bear Run
My favorite ball of flirtatious energy, Justin (boysnightout82), and I met up and grabbed some dinner, and he was kind enough to drive up to Rye, NY for an evening of beer and hanging out at arrival night at Bear Trek. I'm told bobinbstn and kingjeff were supposed to be there and I missed them - sorry boys! Somehow I was tricked into saying, to the bear run organizers, that I don't like bear runs. Nice going, eh? LOL... we had fun, but the beer caught up with me. Cue 5 in the morning, full bathrooms, and me with an exploding bladder, sitting on my pod-bed, staring at the little light above my door waiting for a free stall. I eventually ran up to another floor! The only other issue I had was hearing doors open and close pretty much the entire night. City that never sleeps, indeed.
Reunited and it feels so good ;)
On Friday I met up with the most-awesomely-adorable Mat mat_t for lunch -- man, was I craving pizza -- and we journeyed out to JFK to meet my travelmate, Erik need_2_chat. With my planned experiment in upper-class bohemian living over, we checked into another independent hotel, The Time on W 49th. This one had a much higher comfort factor, a king-sized bed, and was super-quiet! Highly recommended. The three of us decided to spend the evening at a show, and bought seats for Young Frankenstein.
Young Frankenstein
Hadn't even heard of this show before CMC performed "He Vas My Boyfriend" and "Deep Love" in our spring concert, nor had I even seen the movie. But it's new, hot, and Megan Mullally is in it, so it sounded like a good choice, and was definitely a blast.
Drunk-Mat!
After the show we hit the bars... Ty's for a bit, and Stonewall, where we got to meet Mat's sexy best friend perkbear and some of their crew. Got to hang out with drunk-Mat for a bit too, which was QUITE entertaining. If you ever get a chance to see drunk-Mat, DO IT. ;) We're talking hips-a-swayin, smile as wide as a Cheshire cat, good stuff!
Tourists
Saturday morning, the wanna-be foodies took the subway down to Chelsea market to see the home of the Food Network. Of course you can't get into the studios, but we checked out the shops and founds lots of things we wanted to buy but somehow convinced ourselves not to.
We did the Times Square touristy thing for a bit before going off to the Eugene O'Neill Theater for a matinée of Spring Awakening. Which, by the way, was right next door to our hotel.
Spring Awakening
My focal point for setting up this trip was definitely to see Spring Awakening. I enjoyed the cast recording, but seeing the performance on last year's Tonys convinced me that I had to see this show. And it was so worth it. I felt a little ridiculous at having to control my emoting early on during "The Bitch Of Living," but there was so much passion and intensity on stage that it's easy to be overcome by it. Is it a perfect show? No. But it was an amazing experience that I would recommend without hesitation.
Shop and chill
Coming down from the show, we did some shopping over on 5th Avenue and spent some time walking around Central Park. I have to say, it's really awesome seeing the things you love through someone else's eyes, and I'm glad that Erik decided to accompany me for the trip, because it was really neat sharing some of my favorite things with him... navigating the subway, Central Park, a million miles of walking, just random excitement happening everywhere you look.
The always-hawt-n-snoggly Dino burnoutfuture was kind enough to meet us for dinner and some really good fruity drinks. I got to check out his pad and meet his new roomie Norbert juslikethemovie, who surely will be a good influence on him ;)
And we rounded out the trip with a visit to the 9th Avenue Saloon to chat with a woofy chat buddy of Erik's who works at Grease and travels around with a litter of dogs in a carry-on bag!
Huge thanks to Erik, Justin, Mat and Dino for a really great weekend. Kisses and love to you all!
Didn't take a lot of photos and, sadly, issues with my camera made most of the photos I did take a little smudgy, so I'll just have to rely on Erik for the visual proof ;)
The Pod (or, "wow, I think I'm too old for this!")
I flew into JFK on Thursday and checked into The Pod, kind of a hip version of a hostel. My "pod" had no bathroom. The entire floor had to share two WCs and two shower stalls, both ridiculously small. This was mostly ok, except early the next morning, but I'll get to that. Tech factor was good... with an iHome alarm clock and an LCD TV. My lights had a rheostat, the hallways were dark, and music pumped lightly through the building... I definitely enjoyed it, especially at $150 a night at a great location in Midtown.
Bear Run
My favorite ball of flirtatious energy, Justin (boysnightout82), and I met up and grabbed some dinner, and he was kind enough to drive up to Rye, NY for an evening of beer and hanging out at arrival night at Bear Trek. I'm told bobinbstn and kingjeff were supposed to be there and I missed them - sorry boys! Somehow I was tricked into saying, to the bear run organizers, that I don't like bear runs. Nice going, eh? LOL... we had fun, but the beer caught up with me. Cue 5 in the morning, full bathrooms, and me with an exploding bladder, sitting on my pod-bed, staring at the little light above my door waiting for a free stall. I eventually ran up to another floor! The only other issue I had was hearing doors open and close pretty much the entire night. City that never sleeps, indeed.
Reunited and it feels so good ;)
On Friday I met up with the most-awesomely-adorable Mat mat_t for lunch -- man, was I craving pizza -- and we journeyed out to JFK to meet my travelmate, Erik need_2_chat. With my planned experiment in upper-class bohemian living over, we checked into another independent hotel, The Time on W 49th. This one had a much higher comfort factor, a king-sized bed, and was super-quiet! Highly recommended. The three of us decided to spend the evening at a show, and bought seats for Young Frankenstein.
Young Frankenstein
Hadn't even heard of this show before CMC performed "He Vas My Boyfriend" and "Deep Love" in our spring concert, nor had I even seen the movie. But it's new, hot, and Megan Mullally is in it, so it sounded like a good choice, and was definitely a blast.
Drunk-Mat!
After the show we hit the bars... Ty's for a bit, and Stonewall, where we got to meet Mat's sexy best friend perkbear and some of their crew. Got to hang out with drunk-Mat for a bit too, which was QUITE entertaining. If you ever get a chance to see drunk-Mat, DO IT. ;) We're talking hips-a-swayin, smile as wide as a Cheshire cat, good stuff!
Tourists
Saturday morning, the wanna-be foodies took the subway down to Chelsea market to see the home of the Food Network. Of course you can't get into the studios, but we checked out the shops and founds lots of things we wanted to buy but somehow convinced ourselves not to.
We did the Times Square touristy thing for a bit before going off to the Eugene O'Neill Theater for a matinée of Spring Awakening. Which, by the way, was right next door to our hotel.
Spring Awakening
My focal point for setting up this trip was definitely to see Spring Awakening. I enjoyed the cast recording, but seeing the performance on last year's Tonys convinced me that I had to see this show. And it was so worth it. I felt a little ridiculous at having to control my emoting early on during "The Bitch Of Living," but there was so much passion and intensity on stage that it's easy to be overcome by it. Is it a perfect show? No. But it was an amazing experience that I would recommend without hesitation.
Shop and chill
Coming down from the show, we did some shopping over on 5th Avenue and spent some time walking around Central Park. I have to say, it's really awesome seeing the things you love through someone else's eyes, and I'm glad that Erik decided to accompany me for the trip, because it was really neat sharing some of my favorite things with him... navigating the subway, Central Park, a million miles of walking, just random excitement happening everywhere you look.
The always-hawt-n-snoggly Dino burnoutfuture was kind enough to meet us for dinner and some really good fruity drinks. I got to check out his pad and meet his new roomie Norbert juslikethemovie, who surely will be a good influence on him ;)
And we rounded out the trip with a visit to the 9th Avenue Saloon to chat with a woofy chat buddy of Erik's who works at Grease and travels around with a litter of dogs in a carry-on bag!
Huge thanks to Erik, Justin, Mat and Dino for a really great weekend. Kisses and love to you all!