I’ve been really into stories lately – I have been listening to the podcast of This American Life more than the new Taylor Swift album, making my mantra “Do it for the Story” (as inspired by Girls on HBO), and thinking about what story I would tell to Alex after the first commercial break if I were ever to make it on Jeopardy.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral is arguably (or is this even an argument?) the most iconic church in the city. It’s right across from Rockefeller Center so if you get overwhelmed by the crowds from the tree and people window shopping, you can duck in there and be quickly transported somewhere other than midtown Manhattan, somewhere peaceful.
I sadly somehow haven’t seen my old roommate Nicole since we moved out of our old place in Hell’s Kitchen. I would have invited her to do her 28 Things suggestion with me, but I knew she wasn’t interested. She is not into having water from the Hudson River hit her in the face, but didn’t seem to mind suggesting it to me.
The Empire State Building is clearly one of the top symbols people associate with New York, right up there with The Statue. I have been talking for years about how as a connoisseur of all things NYC, I’m embarrassed I haven’t been yet, but I’ve always thought since it is so quintessentially New York, it should be a special occasion of sorts.
It is currently NY Fashion Week, which is why Fashion’s Night Out was Thursday. This event happens twice a year, in September, to showcase designers’ upcoming Spring collections, and in February, to showcase the upcoming Fall collections. CK challenged me to go to a NY Fashion Week Show as part of my 28 Things, and she had specified that it couldn’t be part of Fashion’s Night Out and had to be a real show.
Many of my friends had more than one awesome suggestion for my 28 Things (to do before I turn 28) list, and Kater has the honor of being the first duplicate suggestion-maker (this is akin to being the most decorated Olympian in my world). She also happens to have two suggestions in a row, as she is who I have to thank for the Upright Citizens Brigade show (and I am now on 4 UCB shows and counting). Kater’s second suggestion on my list was to go to a book signing, which she said could be “weirdly inspirational” and she was absolutely right.
NYC is expensive. No one will argue this, especially not me as I just signed a new apartment lease (yay!). But, just as I believe the city tries to make up for urban life by bringing us suburban experiences, it also tries to make up for the cost of living by offering tons of free events. One of these free events is every Sunday night at Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB). Another is Summer Stage in Central Park, which recently featured UCB.
On Saturday, Caitlin, Tracy, and I met up in Brooklyn to eat our faces off. We went to the “Smorgasburg” flea market for artisan food vendors in Williamsburg, open on Saturdays all summer. This was another suggestion that was repeated by a few people for my 28 Things list, but I am counting this as one of Caitlin’s since we went together.
As I described in this post, I really don’t like being scared. But it’s not like I feel scared on the subway at night, it’s more that I’m scared of spooky things like ghosts or mummies chasing me. One of the things on my 28 Things list is a little more nervewracking than other items because I expected to be terrified by it, a performance of Sleep No More, suggested by Dan.
I feel a little badly for Staten Island. It doesn’t exactly have the best reputation, recently perpetuated further by the world of reality television. As someone who grew up in NJ, I understand how annoying it is to have people think that all of NJ is big hair, muscles, and garbage, (although my muscles these days are looking good) and I would like to redeem Staten Island of all of the above a little bit. One of the most fun summer nights I’ve had this year was indeed in this borough off of the island of Manhattan.
At the end of March, my friend Kyle at work emailed a bunch of us to organize a tour of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. Space was limited and we were not able to get on FRB’s calendar until June, but we still signed up. I later chatted with Kyle about my 28 Things list and we decided that since I wouldn’t have signed up for the tour without his initial email and since we hadn’t gone on it yet, that it should count. If you disagree, please take it up with my lawyers.
My parents came to visit this weekend and I was so excited to spend my Saturday with them. I won’t be able to make it home for the rest of the month because of my charity event and two weddings and I was at my college reunion last weekend. It was so nice of them to drive up so that I didn’t have to travel two weekends in a row because I get overwhelmed with things like that easily. I’m working on it. So we celebrated Father’s Day a weekend early and did the item my dad suggested for my 28 Things list yesterday.
Working hard on my 28,
I cannot – will not – finish late, So for my second task, My friend Brad I did ask, Great ideas he did give, For the New York life I want to live
Just over three years ago in a P.F. Changs in Delaware with my frousin Christie and her frousin Elizabeth, an idea was hatched. I had just turned 24 and was reaching a turning point in my life. I was getting over my first breakup, attempting to find a job in New York City, and trying to figure out how I would move up to the area. Because I’m never one to do just one thing at once, I decided I would also start a project where I would come up with a list of “25 Things To Do Before I Turn 25,” which I’ve alluded to a few times on this blog.
10 miles behind me 