RECAP
I’m finally finding some time/energy to update this damn thing. So much to say…
Six of my girlfriends came to New York last weekend to celebrate Liz Castillo’s bachelorette party. I have had my share of visitors here but I had never packed in as much sightseeing as I did with them. They were only here for 3 days and it rained almost half of the time. Not just a little bit of rain either, but it poured. Thankfully these girls were good sports about it and didn’t allow it to put a damper on the things they wanted to do/see. Friday I took a personal day so I could hang with them. I wasn’t originally planning on it but how often are that many of my friends in the city? We opted against renting 2 hotel rooms and rented an apartment for the weekend on the Upper East Side, well Harlem because it saved us $700. Little did we know that it would be damn near impossible to get a cab up there? Oh well, it was fun and the apartment was perfect for us. Friday we went to Serendipity for lunch and ordered our frozen hot chocolates before the food even came! Mmmm…. I could go for one right now! While we waited for our food Castillo decided to play a spin the bottle type game with a butter knife in the center of the table. She would ask questions then spin the knife and whomever it landed on would be the person it would apply to. She asked who would get married next and who would have a baby next and silly, girly things like that. I’m not next to either of those by the way. After lunch we walked down the block to Dylans Candy Bar, which is any kids dream. No really, it’s like a bar for kids with little bar stools and everything. It’s two stories filled with every candy you can imagine, old and new. They even had Garbage Pail Kids there. I think Baidoo spent like $50 in there buying candy, per the request of her older brother! I guess we all never want to grow up. We took the subway down to Canal Street and did a little knock off shopping, walked over to Little Italy for some Cannoli and then some of the girls went back to the apartment. Baidoo had to stay in a restaurant in Little Italy to take a conference call for work and Castillo and I headed to my work to pick up a package of things I ordered for their gift bags. We all met back at the apartment, freshened up and headed to a big family style Italian dinner at Carmines on the Upper West Side. We had some really stiff cocktails and then took cabs down to my hood to hit up the regular spots. Sue fell in love with Albert (go figure) and Castillo got really wild and danced on the bar top after taking like 6 shots purchased by strangers in the bar. The girls had fun with the plastic handcuffs I put in their goodie bags but a difficult time getting them off of people. We walked over to Rudy’s next and this guy who was like 4’2” and was cross eyed decided to come with us. I kept calling him the 40 Year Old Virgin. It was so funny and mean but go figure comin’ from me. We grabbed a booth at Rudy’s and this is where things get a little fuzzy. I remember running into my friends Raul and Miguel there and there were always pitchers of beer on our table but no one spent a dime. Baidoo, Castillo, Rayan and I went to grab slices of pizza nearby and the other girls went to Zanzibar. I remember washing my makeup off when we got back to the room and passing out. There was some other stuff that happened that I can’t reveal but lets just say it was so funny that not one, but two girls pee’d their pants. Good times, good times!
Saturday morning was a little rough, especially for Castillo the “shot queen”. We slowly made rounds in the shower and cured our hangovers with McDonalds. Ewww! Then we went to see the Statue of Liberty (via Staten Island Ferry), Ground Zero, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Top of the Rock, and a bunch of other stuff. Needless to say our 8:30 dinner reservations at The Park were pushed back to 9, then 9:30 and we finally arrived (for dinner) at around 10:15pm. We grubbed although we were all really tired. I didn’t drink at all nor did a few of the other girls. Sue, Becky and Sonia stayed behind to drink and head upstairs to the club-like area and the rest of us went home. Baidoo had bought this little Bachelorette Party for Dummies kit and we opened it and played Kiss The Stud after putting about 8 lbs of lipstick on Castillo. It was the funniest thing and we laughed and laughed. I think it was right then, at that moment that I realized how much I have been missing these girls. Of all the money we’d spent, all the places we’d been…it was just the 4 of us, in a room laughing at one another that will stay with me the most. It was the kind of laughing where you can’t catch your breath and you grasp for air while you are rolling on the ground. And you try and stop but looking over at your friend and seeing her with tears in her eyes from laughing, you laugh more and harder. I don’t laugh like that here. In fact, the last time I laughed that hard was when Robert, Kimbo, Cathy and I were having dinner last 4th of July. I want to laugh like that all the time.
Sunday we decided to leave the apartment early and head to my apartment for all of us to get ready and so I could have a chance to pack up some suitcases of stuff that the girls were going to take home for me to save on my shipping costs. Of course, as Murphy’s Law would have it, we needed not one, but 2 cabs to take us to the West Side, 80 blocks down and there were not in sight and the ones we did find wouldn’t take us because there was the AIDS walk and it would be a nightmare trying to get from the East Side to the West Side. Finally a very nice gentleman in a minivan cab came by and agreed to take all 7 of us and all of our luggage if we “tipped him good.” I would have given that man my first born at that point. What happened next was sweet, bizarre and really one of those “only in New York City” moments. Baidoo was sitting up front talking to the driver who was an older man from Ghana. Baidoo’s dad is from Ghana so they were chatting about her background, the meaning of her name, etc. He started to talk to all of us, as a group and as individuals about love. He gave Castillo best wishes for a happy life and marriage and gave us all advice about marriage and love. I just sat there in awe. Maybe it’s because I have seen so many marriages fail within the last few years and I truly understand how difficult it must be to stay in love with the same person for 30 or 40 years. What a bond that must be. It also could have been that he had one of those really soothing voices like Morgan Freeman or that other guy. He told us about how it is important to honor one another and even the things that drive you crazy, you must take at least 3 minutes of everyday to reflect. He told us to never marry a man who loves you more than you love him because you will take him for granted and that our husbands will be our first child because they need constant pampering and attention like a child. I hope that I will be a good wife, hopefully to him one day. I hope he knows now that I respect him. I respect him as a man, a friend, a teacher and my sidekick. J
My God, I am hooked to those Bit O Honey candies. I have probably eaten like 30 bite size ones today alone. They are kinda hard to chew but I like candies that irritate my jaw like that. Do you know what I mean? You have to get aggressive when you chew and it’s frustrating. Laffy Taffy does that too.
Well, my final move date is June 29th. Yes, the date keeps moving closer and closer and closer but face it, I’m ready. I’m ready to close this chapter of my life and start a new one. I’m so excited at the possibilities and starting a new life with him in it.
Six of my girlfriends came to New York last weekend to celebrate Liz Castillo’s bachelorette party. I have had my share of visitors here but I had never packed in as much sightseeing as I did with them. They were only here for 3 days and it rained almost half of the time. Not just a little bit of rain either, but it poured. Thankfully these girls were good sports about it and didn’t allow it to put a damper on the things they wanted to do/see. Friday I took a personal day so I could hang with them. I wasn’t originally planning on it but how often are that many of my friends in the city? We opted against renting 2 hotel rooms and rented an apartment for the weekend on the Upper East Side, well Harlem because it saved us $700. Little did we know that it would be damn near impossible to get a cab up there? Oh well, it was fun and the apartment was perfect for us. Friday we went to Serendipity for lunch and ordered our frozen hot chocolates before the food even came! Mmmm…. I could go for one right now! While we waited for our food Castillo decided to play a spin the bottle type game with a butter knife in the center of the table. She would ask questions then spin the knife and whomever it landed on would be the person it would apply to. She asked who would get married next and who would have a baby next and silly, girly things like that. I’m not next to either of those by the way. After lunch we walked down the block to Dylans Candy Bar, which is any kids dream. No really, it’s like a bar for kids with little bar stools and everything. It’s two stories filled with every candy you can imagine, old and new. They even had Garbage Pail Kids there. I think Baidoo spent like $50 in there buying candy, per the request of her older brother! I guess we all never want to grow up. We took the subway down to Canal Street and did a little knock off shopping, walked over to Little Italy for some Cannoli and then some of the girls went back to the apartment. Baidoo had to stay in a restaurant in Little Italy to take a conference call for work and Castillo and I headed to my work to pick up a package of things I ordered for their gift bags. We all met back at the apartment, freshened up and headed to a big family style Italian dinner at Carmines on the Upper West Side. We had some really stiff cocktails and then took cabs down to my hood to hit up the regular spots. Sue fell in love with Albert (go figure) and Castillo got really wild and danced on the bar top after taking like 6 shots purchased by strangers in the bar. The girls had fun with the plastic handcuffs I put in their goodie bags but a difficult time getting them off of people. We walked over to Rudy’s next and this guy who was like 4’2” and was cross eyed decided to come with us. I kept calling him the 40 Year Old Virgin. It was so funny and mean but go figure comin’ from me. We grabbed a booth at Rudy’s and this is where things get a little fuzzy. I remember running into my friends Raul and Miguel there and there were always pitchers of beer on our table but no one spent a dime. Baidoo, Castillo, Rayan and I went to grab slices of pizza nearby and the other girls went to Zanzibar. I remember washing my makeup off when we got back to the room and passing out. There was some other stuff that happened that I can’t reveal but lets just say it was so funny that not one, but two girls pee’d their pants. Good times, good times!
Saturday morning was a little rough, especially for Castillo the “shot queen”. We slowly made rounds in the shower and cured our hangovers with McDonalds. Ewww! Then we went to see the Statue of Liberty (via Staten Island Ferry), Ground Zero, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Top of the Rock, and a bunch of other stuff. Needless to say our 8:30 dinner reservations at The Park were pushed back to 9, then 9:30 and we finally arrived (for dinner) at around 10:15pm. We grubbed although we were all really tired. I didn’t drink at all nor did a few of the other girls. Sue, Becky and Sonia stayed behind to drink and head upstairs to the club-like area and the rest of us went home. Baidoo had bought this little Bachelorette Party for Dummies kit and we opened it and played Kiss The Stud after putting about 8 lbs of lipstick on Castillo. It was the funniest thing and we laughed and laughed. I think it was right then, at that moment that I realized how much I have been missing these girls. Of all the money we’d spent, all the places we’d been…it was just the 4 of us, in a room laughing at one another that will stay with me the most. It was the kind of laughing where you can’t catch your breath and you grasp for air while you are rolling on the ground. And you try and stop but looking over at your friend and seeing her with tears in her eyes from laughing, you laugh more and harder. I don’t laugh like that here. In fact, the last time I laughed that hard was when Robert, Kimbo, Cathy and I were having dinner last 4th of July. I want to laugh like that all the time.
Sunday we decided to leave the apartment early and head to my apartment for all of us to get ready and so I could have a chance to pack up some suitcases of stuff that the girls were going to take home for me to save on my shipping costs. Of course, as Murphy’s Law would have it, we needed not one, but 2 cabs to take us to the West Side, 80 blocks down and there were not in sight and the ones we did find wouldn’t take us because there was the AIDS walk and it would be a nightmare trying to get from the East Side to the West Side. Finally a very nice gentleman in a minivan cab came by and agreed to take all 7 of us and all of our luggage if we “tipped him good.” I would have given that man my first born at that point. What happened next was sweet, bizarre and really one of those “only in New York City” moments. Baidoo was sitting up front talking to the driver who was an older man from Ghana. Baidoo’s dad is from Ghana so they were chatting about her background, the meaning of her name, etc. He started to talk to all of us, as a group and as individuals about love. He gave Castillo best wishes for a happy life and marriage and gave us all advice about marriage and love. I just sat there in awe. Maybe it’s because I have seen so many marriages fail within the last few years and I truly understand how difficult it must be to stay in love with the same person for 30 or 40 years. What a bond that must be. It also could have been that he had one of those really soothing voices like Morgan Freeman or that other guy. He told us about how it is important to honor one another and even the things that drive you crazy, you must take at least 3 minutes of everyday to reflect. He told us to never marry a man who loves you more than you love him because you will take him for granted and that our husbands will be our first child because they need constant pampering and attention like a child. I hope that I will be a good wife, hopefully to him one day. I hope he knows now that I respect him. I respect him as a man, a friend, a teacher and my sidekick. J
My God, I am hooked to those Bit O Honey candies. I have probably eaten like 30 bite size ones today alone. They are kinda hard to chew but I like candies that irritate my jaw like that. Do you know what I mean? You have to get aggressive when you chew and it’s frustrating. Laffy Taffy does that too.
Well, my final move date is June 29th. Yes, the date keeps moving closer and closer and closer but face it, I’m ready. I’m ready to close this chapter of my life and start a new one. I’m so excited at the possibilities and starting a new life with him in it.