My first time in NYC

Welcome to my blog and thanks for joining me. After a crazy few years of living in Santa Monica, I have finally settled back into Northern California and am ready to start talking about what an amazing life I've been blessed to live. I've got more than my fair share of stories of life on the road with a band, having fallen in love with musicians, losing the best friend I ever had in 1999, the birth of my niece and nephew which changed my world completely and trying to get back to a "normal" life in San Jose. But first up...

For my birthday in January of this year, it was my dream to go to New York City with my friend "A". Since we both had enough mileage to get a free ticket (on different airlines) and we had a place to sleep (one of my dear friends Carlos moved to NYC three years ago) we decided it would be the best present for me. So off we went on different planes, arriving at the same time to JFK at 6am after barely any sleep and hyped up at our adventures to come. We had no idea where we were or what we were in for other than the fact that we were about to freeze our asses off in 40 degree weather (if we were lucky).

We waited outside the terminal in the freezing cold for our car service to pick us up, both layered in clothes, scarves, hats, gloves and snow boots. Oh my! By the time our car arrived and we got out of Queens (turns out, for those of you that don't know anything about NYC, JFK is in Jamaica, Queens, where my mother was born. Who knew?) and got through morning rush hour traffic, we arrived in the financial district around 8:30 but drove in circles because the streets were all blocked off and the driver couldn't figure out how to get us onto the street we needed to be on. We FINALLY arrived and went into Carlos' complex and met the concierge who was expecting us. He directed us to the Mezzanine level where we waited in a room for Carlos to arrive. He was off training... if you don't know, he is Carlos Santos, host of ESL (Entertainment As A Second Language) with Carlos Santos on MTVTr3s, the bilingual network that was created by the MTV Networks in 2006. We waited in that cold room decorated in ugly brown and gold hues, that literally looked like someone threw up butterflies all over it, until Carlos finally showed up. We were so excited to see him but really, all we wanted was breakfast and a cup of coffee. He took us up to his apartment where we unloaded our luggage (with 2 suitcases, 2 carry-ons and 2 purses and plans to stay for a week, it looked like we were moving in!) and we got a brief tour of his 3 bedroom apartment. Our "room" was a small cut out that looked like a cubby hole. We were laughing already!!! Carlos had to get ready to go to work so he directed us to a small breakfast place up the street where we could grab some grub and caffeine and then we went back to his place to take a hot shower and get ready to go walking in the cold.

Just to give you a little background on me and A, we don't do cold or public transportation. So what the hell were we doing in New York City in the middle of January??? Well, we were about to find out!

Our first day we walked from the apartment to the New York Stock Exchange, to Trinity Church, to Sea Port, got to see the World Financial Center and Ground Zero which I'm sorry to say, didn't have the impact I thought it would. We had lunch at a noodle house then went to Century 21 Department store but left almost as soon as we got in after seeing the crowds of people storming the racks for the latest finds and sweating bullets from the heater blasting at full speed. Note to self: Remember that when it's freezing cold outside, you'll be sweating your balls off inside if you don't dress in layers. What an amazing day we had! We were supposed to go to dinner with Carlos and his friend Ray but by the time they got back to the apartment we were in our PJs and eating Chinese food, ready to hit the hay in our oh so cozy looking blow up mattress.

Our first night of sleep in NYC didn't exactly go as planned. It was so cold in the apartment because there was no central heating. Each roommate (there were 3 total) had his/her own space heater in their rooms so that left us with ... you guessed it... nothing! While Carlos was out to dinner, we blasted his room heater in hopes that the warm air would move out into our cubby hole and warm us up as we were going to sleep. We were dressed in layers. I had on leggings and PJ pants, a tank, long sleeve top, hoodie sweatshirt and fuzzy socks and we had a sheet and two blankets, and we were still freezing our asses off. Oy vey, this was going to be a long night. Time to cuddle! I even put my hood on and eventually a beanie underneath. We finally managed to fall asleep but 3 hours into the night I awoke to A yelling, "P! P! The mattress is flat and we're on the hard floor." I could have screamed! So I got off the mattress and A connected the electric air pump thingy and off it went... "Vrmmmm" It sounded like a small lawn mower in the middle of the night. It was full and I was ready to go back to sleep. Our luck ran out in another 3 hours. I awoke again to A: "P! P! Wake up. The mattress is flat again." I could have cared less. All I wanted was to sleep. So I didn't budge. I told her that if she wanted to fill it up again she'd have to do it with me on it. And she did. Eventually it deflated again but this time A didn't bother filling it up. She got up and lay on a couch that was half her size and waited until I woke up. What a night!

That morning we were surprised that nobody had heard the lawn mower.. er, pump, going in the middle of the night. We ragged on Carlos so much about his hospitality that eventually I think we made him feel like complete crap. We also had a minor obstacle when the toilet wouldn't flush. We tried the plunger but that didn't do the trick. Carlos was gone at work again so before we left for the day, we made a pit stop in the complex gym and used the bathroom there. We also used the last of the toilet paper so we decided to "borrow" a roll from the gym until we could get to the store to buy a pack.

That night, which was my birthday, Carlos and Ray were taking us to dinner at a sports bar around the corner. Carlos asked Ray to go ahead with us so he could run to the store and get a new mattress. He didn't show up for an hour and a half. When he did, we had already started drinking and taking shots with Ray. Because we knew the drinks would cost a small fortune, we broughts flasks with us filled with Malibu Rum and we ordered soda. It did the trick and cost us a lot less! Well, it didn't cost us anyway because Ray and Carlos were kind enough to foot the bill as a gift to me for my birthday. What generous guys!!! Upon our return to the apartment, we discovered that Carlos had set up the new mattress with sheets and all and there was a special surprise waiting for us... our own space heater! Carlos... what a guy!!! We were so happy!

The rest of the trip was quite the adventure. We only rode the subway a handful of times, most with Carlos but twice by ourselves. It was rather frightening. Neither of us are good with direction. Even when we ask for help, the second we've turned our backs, we're lost again. We've already screwed up the directions. It's rather pitiful actually. The first time Carlos took us on the subway he tried to lose us to see what our reaction would be. Neither one of us took to that well. We walked all over NYC. We saw the New York Stock Exchange, walked to China Town, SOHO, NOHO, Greenwich Village then to Little Italy where we ate lunch (turns out, I can make better pasta than what I ate there) and had the best canoli I've ever eaten. We saw NYU, Central Park, Columbus Circle, Bryant Park, the NY City Public Library, Rockefeller Plaza, NBC, St. Patrick's Cathedral (powerful spiritual experience), Times Square, the MTV Store and we even went into the MTV building where Carlos works so we could get out of the cold and chat with my dear friend Cesar who I hadn't seen in 15 years. We chatted it up, goofed off and took some pictures. I had to go to the bathroom so bad but Carlos had no idea where the women's restroom was. In his defense, they had just moved into a new building. So off A and I went into the men's bathroom. As I'm finishing up and coming out of the stall, Cesar comes in and starts peeing at the urinal. Gotta love a confident man!

Back to our adventures though. The best experience I had on our trip was, by far, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I've never done anything like it in my life. My mother swore up and down that I'd never be able to walk across that bridge because I have a fear of heights but I was determined to do it and I did. We got lucky that it was a 40 degree day on the day we decided to face our fears.  It was the most beautiful vision I'd seen... looking across the bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn and then back at the city from the other side.

There were bridges all around us. It was gorgeous. We thought we'd be the only fools out on a cold day in January but there were tourists everywhere and some locals running or cycling the bridge. When we got to Brooklyn, as usual, we got lost immediately even though we had pretty concise directions from two different people. We asked a woman pushing a stroller in the park how to get to Grimaldi's Pizzeria and she told us the way but guess what? We still managed to walk in a giant circle and get lost. Eventually we found the place and went inside. The pizza was good but not the best which surprised me because I'd been told that this is the best place to get pizza in NYC. On our trip we also managed to eat a knish, a hot dog and a pretzel off the carts which were all delicious. And oh yes, Dean and DeLuca has a yummy soy hot chocolate. But what's up with NYC not having fruits or vegetables??? We looked everywhere and were unable to find avocado, broccoli, string beans, bell peppers, berries, bananas, oranges, etc. I was missing California!

The one day we took the subway by ourselves, Carlos was so worried about our abilities on public transportation that he walked us to the station, took us over to the machine to buy our metro card and then walked us to the turn style where he set us free. We knew where we were headed but when he asked, "Which direction are you going in?" we each pointed in the opposite direction. You could see the look of despair on his face. We broke out in hysterics as he took our pictures heading onto the train. Luckily, as we got on, one of his roommates, Jennifer, the sweetest girl, was getting on the same train and going to the same stop as us. God knew we couldn't handle it on our own yet so he sent us a little angel in the disguise of an Irish accent. Heading home was a whole different ballgame...

On our only trek by ourselves via the subway, we did the unthinkable for directionally, memory-challenged girls from California. We left from Grand Central Station! What a dumb idea for our first, and only, subway venture completely alone. We were totally overwhelmed from the moment we stepped inside this ginormous terminal. There were letters, numbers and arrows posted everywhere directing us to go here or there, left or right, up or down. We were CONFUSED to say the least. There were ticketing windows all along the side walls. The place looked like a Vegas casino (without the alcohol which I coulda used to calm my nerves)! We found the giant information booth in the center and went to the window for help. "Hi, we're from California and we're lost. We're trying to get back to Wall Street and my friend Carlos told us to take the 1,2 or the 4,5. Is that right?" That's how I began the conversation. The man directed us behind him to take one of them (I still can't remember which one cuz it was all a fog). As soon as we stepped around the booth we were immediately lost again. There were too many signs and so many different places to go but I finally saw an escalator and I remembered the guy telling us to go downstairs so off we went. As soon as we got down there, there were more signs, numbers and arrows. Ay, ay, ay... you're killing me here NY. What now? So we found another info booth and told the guy again, "We're from California and we're lost." He told us where to go and again, as we stepped around the corner, big surprise... we're lost! I know you're shocked. The two of us paced back and forth, each in opposite directions, not knowing where to go. I could just picture us as a couple of cartoon characters looking like complete morons racing back and forth. We're from California. That's our excuse. We notice this guy leaning against the wall of the booth where we had just asked for help, standing there shaking his head at us. Obviously he could tell we were tourists but he just laughed... didn't have any pity on us. Man, oh, man. This time, he got us to the train we needed to take and off we went. What an adventure!

On our final night in NYC we went to dinner with the boys at a delicious and very inexpensive Thai restaurant Spice in Union Square. We had a lovely meal and then walked over to check out the federal deficit wall where you watch the numbers digitally increasing per second. It's amazing to see it in person. Off to the subway we went where we said our goodbyes to Ray at his stop and then home to Wall Street. We played cards with Carlos for a little while and got our stuff organized to head home at 4am when the driver was scheduled to pick us up and take us to the airport. We had planned to go to bed but by the time we laid down we just kept thinking how much more difficult it would be to get out the door the next morning if we fell asleep for a couple of hours so we made our way downstairs to the vending machine, bought a couple of cokes to caffeinate ourselves and stayed up playing cards until it was time to go. Ah... I'm gonna miss NYC!