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Ahh, back in Boston. Actually, I got back last night, but whatever. My weekend was pretty good... it was nice to see my friends and to have some fun, though I spent way more money than I should have.
Friday, I drove out to Rochester, and immediately had dinner with Helen, Bolcar, Cat and Ryan. Ryan, as promised, brought me back a Norwegian fjord from the Scandinavia trip ... well, part of one. He brought me back a rock, really, and a pen that has a fjord on it and vikings that float up and down when you tilt the pen ... and on the back it says, "Norway" on it. So I have some stuff from Norway now ... maybe I should collect stuff from all the countries I have some sort of heritage ... since while I'm unemployed I won't be going anywhere, if you or someone you know is planning on going to Germany, Whales, Poland or the Ukraine, please let me know. I should mention that even if I was going to Europe, I'd probably choose to go to Italy first, anywhere (screw the no Italian heritage).
While we were out to dinner, Vinny called... her flight from NYC to Rochester was delayed and she wasn't getting in until 2:30 in the morning! While the boys were out at the bachelor party, Helen and I went to fetch her, while Cat dozed on the couch. Helen could barely see at that point, and there were a surprising number of cars out on the road. Then we stayed up until 5:00am, quizzing Ryan about the bachelor party when he got in (they played poker, or so they tell us, hehehe).
Saturday was the day of the wedding. After getting up and showering, we all went to brunch, and then did last minute shopping - curling iron (I forgot to bring one), a bag for the wine Bolcar and I got as a wedding present for Adam and Catherine, wine (which I shouldn't have purchased, but I decided I'm saving it for a celebratory when upon my employment) and chocolate. :-) And then the wedding... I thought it was a beautiful service. Very simple church, beautifully decorated, moving sermon... I'm so happy with Adam and Catherine. The reception was a lot of fun, too. It was at this conference center and spa in Geneseo, NY, which is in the middle of nowhere (more so than Ithaca). It was set back from the road, and the place was a converted house... so the reception was half inside, half outside. The food was excellent. And there was an open bar with wine, beer and soda. I took my first sip of wine, and decided I was drinking a lot that night. :-) So I had 6 very full glasses of yummy wine, along with a glass of champagne for the toast. After the reception, I went out with Herb, Rebecca, Bolcar and Will to a bar where some of the younger people from the wedding were congregating. I had another few drinks there, and then when the bar closed, we went outside to smoke Cuban cigars (I really am a snob when it comes to what I drink and smoke, I tell you) because it turns out Rebecca still has a ton of them. Surprisingly, despite it being after 2:30am, there was still a pizza place open in Geneseo so we got some pizza as well. I got back to Helen's at 3:45am, and was quite surprised that someone woke up to let me in (everyone else staying there had gone straight back after the reception).
On Sunday, everyone but Will and I had left, so we went to Dinosaur BBQ with Helen and Bolcar, which was tasty. I then drove to Vinny's in Queens (she had flown back there earlier, as she'd purchased her plane tickets before she found out I'd be going there)... her mom proceeded to stuff me full of Chinese food, which was tasty. Vinny and I chatted for awhile before going to bed. On Monday morning, I drove Vinny to work and then proceeded to try and find my way to Manhattan. Driving through Queens was by far the worst part of my driving experience through my 5-day trip. Vinny's directions were good, except that it's hard to see a slightly obstructed sign across 5 or 6 lanes of traffic. After turning around many, many times, I looked at a map and realized the bridge I wanted was right off of the street that Vinny works on ... sigh. I finally made it to Manhattan, where Amy helped me park. After a little bit of a snafu in her apartment that required waiting for a plumber, we left to walk around the city to do some shopping. We walked about 25 blocks, purchased purses off the street (I bought 3 for $25, one of which is a Kate Spade knockoff, so if you ever see the sticker on it, don't believe it's real) and shopped the Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual Sale. We ate at the Manhattan Chili Co., which was very tasty (our waiter was cute and my chili had cocoa powder and cinnamon in it... very strange but good) and then went to Coldstone Creamery, which is this great ice cream place. Vinny was telling me about it the night before, and then Amy mentioned it, so I knew I had to try it. Basically, they take a scoop of ice cream, and then throw toppings on it, and on top of a marble slab, they use these flat metal spatula things to mix it all in and then serve up this concoction to you - very tasty. We thankfully took the subway home after that, and did the girl-talk/wine thing.
Yesterday, Tuesday, we went to this restaurant called Tuscan for lunch. It's Restaurant Week in NYC, which means discounted meals at really fancy restaurants. This certainly was fancy. It was a beautiful restaurant, which a wine cellar that was suspended above you, and cathedral ceilings. Elegant decor, too. And yummy, yummy food. I had Salad Caprese (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and fresh basil), Scallopine Milanese (breaded veal with greens and some sort of vinagrette) and blood orange sorbetti (served in a frozen gutted lemon). YUM. After lunch, we drove down to Princeton to get the furniture Amy sold me (ohh how I love driving in Jersey). Once we got back to Manhattan, I packed up my stuff, Amy saw to it that I had a sandwich for the way back (something about her being a Jewish woman and not being able to send me home hungry) and I proceeded to drive back to Boston.
So now I'm back. And somewhat glad... sleeping in my bed is nice, though I'm reminded of the things I don't like about living here. And of job stuff. Ahh well. I'll just continue to go through each day, and maybe tomorrow I can convince Herb to fix my ethernet cable so I no longer have to use just wireless (which with our crappy internet connection, makes the connection even slower sometimes) and take out my storm windows (which makes it hard to get circulation in here, and pushing the storm window doesn't seem to be an option since the window frame is bent - I spent a long time pushing it up only for it to fall down again). Of course, he'll probably say he'll do it and then not for many months. Argh. Maybe I'll read and then sleep soon.
- Lizzardie, at 12:54 AM
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