Monday, November 9

No Sleep 'til Connecticut!

It has been a whole week since I last blogged, and you guys really let me have it.  The letters that came in demanding more writing have taken over my kitchen counter, the postman is giving me dirty looks now and curious neighbors who seem to think I am important are asking for my autograph.  The phone calls, and drop-in visits to make sure I am alive are truly appreciated, but the fruit baskets and electronics were wholly unnecessary.  Most of all the amount of comments I received on my blog itself, were so overwhelming the blog king called me personally and asked A.) What my secret was and B.) If I could cut down the greatness, just slightly, so as to make room for the other bloggers and give them a chance!

The above paragraph is entirely false.  At this point I will explain my absence by distracting you with a story about stomach issues in the fine borough of New York City, Brooklyn.

The Beastie Boys once said,



"No Sleep 'til Brooklyn,"

and I often ask my friends who live there if they find this to be true.  Trying to remember their answer now and coming up with nothing leaves me to believe they probably ignore me when I say it.  Meanwhile, I did find it to be true this weekend.  The details follow below;

We arrived in Brooklyn on Friday afternoon.  That night my group ventured out to Manhattan for an amazing concert and also spotted Bill Murray, which happens to top my list of celebrity sightings just winning over Ian Zeiring, classically known as "Steve" from the original 90210 and a reality star named "Frenchie" who once aspired to date Brett Michaels. 


After the show we ate tapas at a great Spanish restaurant, stopped in a bar for drinks and crawled our way back home in the wee morning hours to our weekend bed where we found sleep (In Brooklyn!)  The boys might be beastie, but they are also correct.





Saturday began slowly, waking up late, rinsing off subway grim and finally finding coffee.  We ate breakfast out, window shopped while drinking spicy Mexican hot chocolate, which if you have not tried, you should soon, and went into American Apparel, a clothing store located only in large cities across the world.  Among the neon leotards and animal striped spandex pants, there are really nice clothes to be found in this store, which again if you have not gone to, go to it soon.  I found an amazing green scarf/belt/hair-hat ribbon/blindfold for a reasonable price and absolutely could not wait to put it on.  Back at the Brooklyn safe/sleep zone, I put on my new scarf/belt/hair-hat ribbon/blindfold, opting for the mid waist belt look- after an unsuccessful blindfold attempt- another story in itself.  Wearing it, I felt very "New York", at least as much as a born and bred Connecticuteer could feel. 
So, off we went back into the jungle called Manhattan.  Our first stop was a Samurai exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was where I first felt my stomach pain.  I doubted it was the Sangria pitchers I had the night before, or the beer and sausage and cheese dinner plate.  It certainly could not have been the various tapas at 1AM, ranging from octopus and mussels to fried cheese balls and pork.  Or, the spicy Mexican hot chocolate? 

Mmm, Definitely not.

In any case, I pushed on.  I looked at the swords ranging from the 10th to the 16th century.  It is certainly interesting that each one looked exactly the same except for one tiny difference in the sharpness, or the length, or was it the dust coverage?- I am not sure.  I am sure that there were about 75 swords, which is super neat, if you are into that kind of thing.  Although, all I could think about was each sword being stabbed through my stomach, because it kind of felt that way. 

After the Met, we took the subway, which seemed particularly smelly and awful that night, to the east village where we put our name in to eat at Momofuku, a trendy restaurant my other half had been raving about.  There was an hour and twenty minute wait before we could sit.  This was no problem, as I wanted my stomach to settle anyway.  To kill our time we went into a nice looking Japanese restaurant where we ordered a pre-dinner of sushi and maki.  Oh, and saki and beer.  This was when I began to notice the amazing belt I had tied on was really tight on my stomach.  I loosened it slightly after finishing my beer and felt immediate relief.  How silly am I, trying to be trendy and hurting my stomach in the process.  Ridiculous. 

Following pre-dinner, we went on to the main course at Momofuku, which was amazing, and if you have not been, you should go soon.  We ate pork dumplings, which may have been the greasiest thing I have ever put in my mouth and a pork raman noodle bowl.  Oh, and more beer.  At this point I had loosened my belt entirely and it no longer looked fashionable, but more like a limp hula-hoop.  But, my stomach still hurt a bit.  We had plans to go meet my friend from high school for a drink after dinner.  My stomach shouted "no!", but the noise was drowned out by Manhattan's mumbles of car horns and shouting, so we went.
Since I was going to see someone new I made sure my hula-hoop transformed back into a belt by tightening it despite discomfort.  I even drank a beer.  It was great to see my friend, but at this point I was dreaming of sleep in Brooklyn.  Two subways and some walking later, we made it home to the safe haven, where the streets murmurs were just slightly softer.  As I took off my scarf/belt/hair-hat ribbon/blindfold I felt complete bliss, utter happiness, sheer release and the faint sounds of the Beastie Boys playing in the background.

Unfortunately, this did not last.  I am not going to the get into the details of my stomach issues that ensued this fateful Saturday night/Sunday's wee morning hours, but I am going to tell you that I was certainly glad when it was over.  Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the alcohol.  Maybe it was running around non-stop, or maybe it was my beautiful and wonderful new belt.  My best guess is a combination of the four.  I cannot bring myself to throw out the scarf/belt/hair-hat ribbon/blindfold, as I love it very much and there are other uses for it than just to torment my stomach.  However, I will hide it from myself for a bit, so I can forget about the pain. 

Meanwhile, I am back home, safe and sound in Connecticut where there are less amazing food options and torture chambers (tight clothing).  The bars close by 2AM, late night diners are few and far between and I find this all very comforting. 
Even after all of my stomach troubles, I still love New York City with all my heart-but, my new line is officially,

"No sleep 'til CT".


I think I will have T-shirts made up.  If you want one, simply stick a check in with the comment you were already planning on leaving on my blog! :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved reading this blog, but I haven't eaten breakfast yet and now my stomach hurts.

Can't wait to read about your leaf peeping road trip.

Amanda Zoref said...

Even though I wasn't in Brooklyn this past weekend I'm sad I didn't see you!! Call me next time you are my hood b.

Becky said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Becky said...

Oh my gosh, I am crying I am laughing so hard! First of all, there are American Apparels here, but I have never walked in one because all I ever notice in the window display are weird stretchy things. I will have to check it out! Secondly, that restaurant in NYC sounds delish -- maybe we will check out next time we are there. And finally, I can't believe you saw Bill Murray -- that's awesome! Oh, and PS I love how long this entry was -- kept me laughing for a while! :) XO

Kaitlin said...

WOO HOOO Brooklyn baby! Come visit more often! :)-- kaitlin