NY Skyline

NY Skyline

Monday, February 14, 2011

Singles Awareness Day



It's the day all single girls avoid at all costs, Valentines Day. This year was one of the first times in recent memory that I wasn't even a little upset about the 'holiday'...and I think it's because I have so many other things to be happy about this year. I know this probably should have happened around New Years but, it's coming a little late. I looked back at where I was in my life last February 14 and I've come so far!


First things first, I got a job that I love. I am an Executive Assistant at a Social Media Marketing company in NYC that is blowing up! I know being an assistant can suck, but I have an awesome boss. I also work with amazing people. Work is the best when you're guaranteed to laugh at least 10 times during the day. 


I also moved to New York which has been my dream since I first saw the movie Coyote Ugly (saw that before I saw Sex and the City). At one point last year I really didn't know if I'd ever get here...but, per usual in my life, I knew what I wanted and I did everything in my power to get here. I now live in a semi-little (although not for the price range), super cute apartment on the Upper East Side. It was hard to leave knowing that this wasn't like college, that I wouldn't be coming back home, but I've officially moved on to my next stage of life!


I also have amazing friends. This past weekend I got to spend some time with 2 of my best friends from college and it was a great night. Moving to the city, I was afraid that I wouldn't have many great friends here for a while, but I actually moved in with a few close friends who already lived in (or around) the City...and have made some great ones since I've been here!


With all of these amazing things happening in my life I guess I feel that I don't need a relationship to be happy on Valentines Day. It'd be nice to have a boyfriend to send flowers to my office, but after all is said and done, I'm in a great place in my life and don't feel that I need need a relationship to make me happy. If it came around, that'd be even better (!) but I'm also totally cool without it at the moment. There are millions of men in the City, chances are that I'll find one eventually!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Oops, I swear I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

Hi All!


I know I've missed a few weeks here, but I definitely have had some great adventures to fill you in on! I won't go through everything, but let's recap...


Katie's birthday extravaganza was a great time! I spent the day making her a cake and getting things in the apartment ready for her big night! Dinner ended up being a bust. We went to this adorable place across the street from our apartment and, well, I'll let her yelp review tell you the story (it's kind of amazing):


I came here last night for my Birthday becuase it seemed like a great place to go with a group of girls. I had called twice in advance to confirm my reservation for 10 people at 8pm. To make this more clear, I'll list everything that I unfortunately experienced on this birthday dinner. 


1. Showed up with my party right on time at 8pm. Although I had called twice in advance, they did not have my reservation. Not having a reservation for 10 people in such a small area was a huge problem. They were able to get us a table rather quickly, however they just threw some tables together in the middle of the restaurant where we had people walking into our table all night.

2. We decided to order two bottles of wine, one bottle of white and one bottle of prosecco. Our waitress came back 10 minutes later and said they didn't have any of the white wine we ordered. Okay, we decided to just do two bottles of prosecco.

3. 10 more minutes later, our waitress comes back and said they didn't have any prossecco. We changed our wine yet again.

4. We all ordered our food; three of us including myself ordered the gnocchi. 5-10 minutes later, our waitress came back and said they were out of gnocchi.

5. Three baskets of bread were thrown on the table, no bread plates, no silverware, no napkins.

6. Quickly after the bread, our food came out. Very quickly actually which is usually a good thing. Too bad we were STILL WAITING for our wine.

7. The two bottles of wine finally show up 10 minutes after receiving our dinner. Unfortunately, it's hard to drink wine without any wine glasses. And once we finally received wine glasses, we received 6 of them. We were a party of 10. And our waitress never came back with the remaining 4. I had to go and ask for more glasses.

You would think that on a Saturday night, a restaurants busiest night, they wouldn't be out of food and wine by 8pm. I complained to the guy who sat us down and he argued with me becuase he "didn't see the problem". Then I went up to the hostess and told her it was my birthday and this service was terrible and I was so disappointed.

To their credit, seeing how upset I was, at the end of dinner they came out with sparklers, 4 different desserts and sang Happy Birthday to me; something my friends did not request. It was a nice gesture, unfortunately the rest of the evening was so dissappointing, it was hard to make up for it.

The food was good and fairely inexpensive. For 10 people, the bill only came out to approximately 30 dollars each.

I can't stress enough how unfortunate this was because I really though this would be a great place. It's so fun and girly inside, it seemed like a great place to go with a big group of girls. I'd like to give this place another chance but I'm so upset about this terrible service I just don't think I can. It's a small place and it's always very busy and I really did try to give them a chance through the first few mistakes but it really was just one too many.

I'm not going to say don't go to this restaurant but I just wanted to share how I had really high hopes and was unfortunately completely disappointed.
That said, the night ended up being fun, we played hopscotch around the Upper East Side. The best place was Iggy's, a karaoke bar. The birthday ladies, of course, sang (or yelled, whatever) an amazing song (don't really remember what it was)...as it turns out, one of the mic's was off...probably better for the audience that way!
I also participated in NYC's Restaurant Week...twice! A New York City resident's duty I think...my first experience was at a restaurant called Barbounia. Nice ambiance, but the food wasn't everything I thought it should be. My second experience, at Ajna Bar, restored my trust in restaurant week! It was simply amazing. I got the short rib that melted in my mouth, the scallop appetizer was amazing, and lava cake dessert (which I think can be fairly boring and standard) made me roll my eyes and actually say 'mmmmmmm'. You know it's good then. Basically, I wish I made (a lot) more money so I could go there once a week. 
My parents came for a visit...first things first, I cleaned my apartment so they believe that I, in fact, can live on my own (just kidding mom and dad!!). We went on an adventure to the Upper West Side, which I've really never been to and now I love! But, irst we went down to see my current office, and then we walked down to where my new office is! Then, we went to lunch at one of my favorite spots, Tasty Cafe, and then spent the afternoon at the Museum of Natural History. It was a nice little visit and great to see my parents!
I am also currently dreaming of palm trees and white sand, maybe I'll get a good tax return?? Just imagine this for me:
Look good? K, let's go!!!