Late

I do realize that I am about to write about last weekend when this weekend is just about to start, but I always say, better late than never.  This past weekend was relatively calm. I met one of my best friends in the entire world, the infamous Hillary, for dinner at the 79th Street Boat Basin. She is working in the city, officially, and has a real world job. I talked about how I can't believe that I only one more year of college left and she shouted out out, "I WILL NEVER GET TO GO BACK TO COLLEGE!" Touche.

On another note, the restaurant was very nice, situated on the Hudson river with views of the water and a fun  vibe. After dinner, I went home and just relaxed. Lame, I know, but I was exhausted.

Saturday morning I went swimming and then met up with Moe and Emma for brunch at Pranna. Fun as always with the free food and drinks. Can't complain. After Pranna we went on a three hour boat cruise, compliments of New York Health and Racquet Club. The Cruise started on the East river and went all the way down around the bottom of the Financial District, up to the Upper West Side, and then back down and around. We had great views of the city from every angle, not to mention a beautiful sunset on the Statue of Liberty. We docked at around 9PM and decided to go back to my apartment to all hang out before going back out. Well... 11:30 rolled around and Emma, Charnelle and I were in my bed, ready for sleep. So we didn't go out again.

What can I say, I guess I'm just getting old.

Kusama canvases

Sunday morning I headed to the Whitney to see the new Yayoi Kusama exhibit. I was disappointing that they had sold out of tickets to see her "Fireflies on the Water" light show, but I guess I will just have to go back. The rest of her exhibit was crazy cool--I mean, this woman has willingly been living in a psychiatric ward for the past 35 years so she is a little "unique" to say the least. Some of my favorite pieces were her collages and the huge square paintings. She orchestrated many happenings during the hippie era that I wish I could have seen and even wrote a letter to President Nixon during the Vietnam War saying that she would have sex with him if he ended it! Her polka dots are probably her most noteworthy art influence, as they now cover the Louis Vuitton building on 5th Avenue. Her collaboration with LV is of great interest to me as I love to see fashion and art directly influence one another. If I could buy one piece it would definitely be the black and white sunglasses.

Sunday afternoon I took a walk around to explore the East Village/Lower East Side. I ended up in Tompkins Square Park where there just happened to be a concert going on. Who was preforming you ask? Why, only the band Transgender Jesus! Never have I ever heard of or seen such a band in my life but it was entertaining to say the least. From what I gather, it was a LGBT kind of concert that featured a few different bands. All I can say is, New York City never ceases to surprise me.

Weekend Update

I know this is a bit late, but I got slammed with work this week, not to mention, it was our country's birthday.

This past weekend was quite eventful. Friday after work I took advantage of the MoMA's free Friday admittance and walked around my favorite museum. I especially love looking at the extreme abstract art--something about the simplicity of the shapes seems to let my mind release from the past week of work. I couldn't stay long though because it was so crowded that I started to get annoyed by all the tourists and people taking pictures.

I had some friends come over Friday night to get ready to go out and then we headed to the Hudson Terrace for some rooftop dancing. It was a crazy scene: packed with sweaty men and women, dancing, drinking, thumping music, and great views of the water. Oh yeah, and we got sweet glow stick things. The DJ was really good too--DJ PHRESH. (love the spelling). This was my first visit to a rooftop party and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Vodka Sparklers

Saturday morning I woke up early(ish) and headed to Columbia for swim practice--at 9AM it was already hot and humid--not a good omen for the day to come. After swimming I went home, made a gourmet bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, and then got showered and changed. Ash and I met up with Emma and some of her friends at a place called Pranna. Emma had been here before and was raving about their "Sunday brunch/dance club" and so I had to try it.  Some how, Moe and Emma know this club promoter that gets them into all these trendy places for free. I need to learn how to meet these people. We sat down at a large booth and were immediately greeted with endless mimosas. Then came the food: banana crepes, quiche, salad, french fries, buffalo wings, and more. All free. We ate and chatted for a while and then Ed (club promoter) said we were moving into the next room. This next room was basically a dining room transformed into a afternoon club. There was a DJ playing never-ending pop music and a guy sitting next to him playing a drum? That was strange but also cool I guess. We sat at our new table/booth and were greeted with more mimosas and then waitresses started bringing out bottles of vodka with sparklers. It was like a scene from one of those posh parties that only the super rich go to where they bring out the champagne to you with sparklers. I don't mean to gush or anything, but it was too cool. We danced and drank for the next couple of hours and then all decided to go home and take quick nap.

Dodgeball

We later reconvened for the night at a bar called McFadden's in midtown. One of our friends has a birthday in June, and apparently if you were her friend, you got half priced drinks the whole night. Awesome. It was also "Dodgeball" night at the bar, so all of the bartenders were dressed up as either of the gyms in the movie--the sporadically got on top of the bar to dance to songs and pour shots all around. It was hilarious. The bar played classic songs that everyone could sing along to like Shania Twain, Backstreet Boys, and Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy. Cheesy, but perfect. After a good amount of time there, we headed down to the Meatpacking District and hit up one last bar before calling it a night.

Emma may have spilled her drink...

Sunday was spent mostly indoors since it was oppressively hot. My biggest accomplishment for Sunday was painting my finger and toe nails.