I’m in New York this weekend, visiting friends who are visiting from Scotland.
About the friends:
- Originally from England, we met Dan and Bryony in Scotland; Dan and Shaun were in the same Master’s program at Glasgow University.
- Dan is a fiction writer who works at a university.
- Bryony is his partner and is the single most organized person on earth.
- Susie, who is also staying with us this weekend, was also in the creative writing program and is originally from Boston.
- Shaun has been away in Montreal for work this weekend, but he comes back today, just in time for PRIDE!
- I go back to Chicago Tuesday morning.
This is the last time I’ll be in the city for the foreseeable future. And as much as living here was the pits, visiting has been a RIOT! This has much to do with the fact that I’m hanging out with some of my favorite people on earth.
Friday
After having only slept 3 hours and eaten once in the past 24 hours (insane flight delays, cab shortage, crazy long lock out story), I wanted nothing more than to bury myself in a hot stack of banana pancakes. Dan and Bryony obliged and after a dangerously huge breakfast, we ran through the kiddie fountains in Fort Tyron park and generally milled about the hood.
The rest of the day took us for a wonder through Midtown, an afternoon at MoMA (where I napped in the sculpture garden), and a pitcher of sangria at Georgios Country Grill.
Pics from our daytime adventures:
Bryony and I are sad when we wear Buzz Lightyear on our heads. Actually, I get sad. B looks a little frightened. This is at the Disney Store on 5th Avenue.
We also made Mr. Potato heads at the Disney Store. Mine is the pimp. Bryony’s is the Ho. Dan’s is our pet alien.
At MoMA, there was this great installation in the 3rd floor atrium. It was a fan on a dangling cord, powering itself to fly willy-nilly all over the place. It was a hit with everyone, but kids especially loved chasing it around.
After dinner, we experienced craziest thing of the day: Pinkberry. Imagine trying to get a business loan based on the following pitch:
Pinkberry. It’s a frozen yougert shop with the look and feel of NYC’s hottest night club. There’s music pumping, designer lighting and furniture, and best of all: only three flavors.
Plain, Green Tea, and Coffee.
We call Plain “Pinkberry.” Not because its pink or berry flavored. But because we think frozen yougert and we think flirty. We think fresh. We think fun. Funkilicious. Something so cold it’s hot.
And if that’s not enough (we know, it isn’t), there’s a shitload of cereal you can dump atop it. And a few berries. And expensive design-wear for sale on a wall.
Swirl on in, you know? Swirl the fuck in.
Needless to say, we went wild in Pinkberry. We had no idea what we were walking into really, which made it all the more hilarious. This video is of one of our tamer moments at Pinkberry. It is also sideways for a while. Its actually not that entertaining, nor does it capture the true horrific rapture of Pinkberry. But I love it and its my blog so here it goes:
As if you’ve not heard enough, here are some pictures:
This is my favorite ever picture of D+B.
This picture explains everything.
Me+B
I swear to god I’m not being paid by Pinkberry. It really was this fun. And not in an entirely ironic way. This pitcher of sangria may have helped. So if you go ever, make sure to do a bit of drinking first. And don’t sleep for a few days. Otherwise, in the naked light of day, it might just be sad.
Saturday
Yesterday, we met up with our friend Susie at the Figment Festival on Govener’s Island.
The festival was fantastic. The festival is a free “celebration of particapatory art and creative culture.” There’s DJs mixing along the bike path, hula hoops, kiddie pools filled with flower petals to throw and roll around in, sidwalk chalk, creation stations, live bands and lawn dancing, yoga, pet turtles, and lots more. We had a great time and did a lot of hula.
As you can see, I’m about as bad at Hula as you can get. But I like it anyway.
This is my favorite ever picture of Susie. It basically sums her up nicely.
I love this tiny crowd! So much lawn!
Somebody brought their pet turtle. It was so fast! Really! I thought they were supposed to move slowly, but this one raced around on his crazy little legs. Turtle was a big hit.
This big doughnut thing was for climbing all over. It ruled.
This is a pool full of rose petals. As Susie says: “If my kid didn’t look cute in that pool, I’d take them back. Obviously defective. This is adorable.”
After Figment, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and got ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.
Brooklyn Bride. Which is not relaxing to walk across, by the way. There are cars roaring past on either side of you and the air is thick with gross smog.
Peeps
Right after this picture was taken, we were caught up in a thunderstorm. Serious wetness. We were instantly soaked through and through. Big fat drops of rain fell from the sky, thunder and lightening were crashing down all around us. It was God’s way of punishing us for eating frozen treats at somewhere other than Pinkberry.
I love our friends. And New York. What a fun fun place to visit.