NYC Day 4

Day 4 - Saturday

If you were to know anything about the Babauta Family (my mom's side), it's that we are a thrifty bunch of people. All the cousins, who are all a year apart except one, would meet up at grandma's house in San Diego once every few years and despite any other fun things we had planned, there were two destinations that always made the list: Amvets and the Swap Meet. Amvets is the best thrift store ever--I once got a giant tropical fan there that I used for decorating my room for $5. The swap meet in our family is a huge deal. It's like a gigantic flea market-it has a bunch of seriously marked down clothing places, funky gadget places, cute toy tents, $1 only spaces, food venders, surf and longboard shops, instrument shops, fresh plants, fruits and veggies, mexican candy places, and of course garage sale vendors selling all sorts of interesting valuable gadgets at incredibly reasonable prices. Since all the Babauta grandkids have been going here since they were toddlers, we are practically pro bargainers fasho.

This was the reason why my mom, Auntie Linda, and Grandma got up so early today: to hit up the flea markets. The cousins and Aunt Elaine slept in since we knew they'd be going on until at least 2pm.

Here's Auntie Linda at one of the early morning sales.

The rest of us got up late, got some bagels and sat in times square to people watch for a bit. Then we made our way to a flea market of our own. We were supposed to meet up with the others there, but it took them forever to get there, and by the time they arrived, we were pretty much done looking. This market we went to though, it had some prime stuff. It had a lot of vintage stuff, a lot of hand-crafted trinkets, and a lot of foreign ornaments - all of which are usually really expensive, but I managed to get this gorgeous vintage ring for ten bucks!

Here's the locket I was able to knock $5 bucks off of.

Aaaaaaaand the back. Its so pretty!!

Well, after the flea markets, we walked back to the hotel in times square. It was ridiculously hot out so the air conditioned room felt amazing. I'm pretty sure I was about to start my period because damn. As soon as we got back to the hotel, everything starting pissing me off like no other. People couldn't decide what they were going to do or if they even wanted to see a show that night, or who was going to use the bathroom first, and frankly I was getting tired of everybody telling me MY options because unlike everybody else, I knew what I wanted to do: I wanted to go see Master Class by Terrance McNally on broadway.

In high school, I was super involved in speech and debate. Two of my best friends (who did Duo) and I (who did Dramatic Interp) were the best on the team, and as such, the best was expected of us by our coach, who was basically our second mom. My junior year, she got it into her head that we were all going to be State champs and so she gave me this absolutely phenomenal speech about the opera extraordinaire Maria Callas; a woman who at one point dominated the operatic world.

This quest for greatness, however, cost her her emotional stability, and allowed all her fears of failure to invade and eventually conquer her mind at which time she lost her voice. They say those who can no longer do, teach; and so she held open master classes at Juilliard to which many stars of the time came to watch the renowned opera star work her magic on up and coming students. These classes, though she tried as hard as she could to focus on the task at hand, always seemed to revolve around her obsession with her own fame. These classes eventually became her path to reconciliation with the fact that she was but no longer is the best. Now imagine embodying this character at 16 years of age. This role tore me apart. I'm not kidding, I have been scarred by this woman's emotional tragedy. So when I heard that the play from which the speech I won 5th in state with was cut was back on broadway, I felt it was essential that I see it. I went back out to times square to stand in line for tickets with my aunt, who fortunately wasn't driving me crazy at that time, and got 2 tickets: one for me, and one for my other aunt who was in the mood for something we hadn't seen before; everyone else wanted to see Sister Act because it's all of our favorite movie.

I think we chose the better show ;) It was sooooo fascinating watching Tyne Daly reciting the same lines I recited just a few years ago, and comparing/contrasting our views on Callas through the decisions we made in interpreting the role. I thought she did an absolutely fantastic job. Her repartee with the audience just made the show. We were all exhausted after the shows, so we all pretty much crashed within the hour. It was a good day :D

Oh yeah--and here are my shot glasses. Keepin' it classy ;p

NYC Day 3

Day 3 - Friday

The day started out somewhat late, lovely enough. Barely caught complimentary breakfast at 930 in our pjs and came back upstairs to get ready. Thankfully everyone was in “chill mode” and not yelling at each other to get ready faster (the person being yelled at was usually me, so yes, I was relatively grateful this was not going on).

Here we are reveling in the fact that it was, indeed FRIDAY. My cousin’s roommate did a project in which she had people do the song Friday in sign language, and here she is teaching it to us:

The one to the left of Alexis is my Aunt Elaine, and the one sitting on the far bed is my Auntie Linda, Alexis' mom. You can just see the arm of my mom to the right sometimes, haha.

When we were finally ready to get out, we headed to China Town where we were bombarded by short asian women wandering around the sidewalk mumbling under their breath and staring at us intently. If you actually listened close enough, you could make out, "Gucci, Coach, Prada, Louis Vuitton, etc. etc." I found this totally SKETCH. They used to have hidden rooms in the back of their stores in which they would hide these fake purses, but the NYPD cracked down on China Town pretty hard since the last time I was there, and now you have to go through this whole elaborate, sketchy process of looking through ratty catalogues, having them phone their partners telling them in rapid and angry Chinese which purse to bring out and that they needed it now, and waiting in a random store, not around them while it's brought to you. Not that I've done it or anything..haha. But really, I didn't. We sat at a Starbucks and people watched for a long time. It was a prime spot for them to interrogate and tempt greedy tourists.

Anywho, I got a pocket watch necklace that I managed to bargain down $5 cheaper, a few shot glasses since, and I can't believe this is true, I had none! They were 3 for $10 at this cute grocery store :) I'll take a picture of them later. I wanted to get a purse, but I can never find one that I absolutely love. Not there, anyways.

China Town is right next to Little Italy, so we went there for lunch. Its funny, every time we were looking for someplace to eat, everyone would whip out their phones and yelp good places nearby. Then we would go on a long hunt for it, and sometimes the place wouldn't even be there anymore. That's what happened for lunch today. The place wasn't there, and a host for another place nearby started beckoning us into his restaurant, telling us how beautiful we were, and what great prices he had, and the like. Some of us thought this would be a good place too, but a few of us, including my mother still had our phones out researching where the original place we were going to eat at had moved to. I started telling the man that we were 7 total, and he started to get menus together, but then our group started walking away. I turned to the man and said, "Oops, I guess not..." and followed my mom. The man followed, too--to the streetlight. I told the guy no, and he followed us out to the STREET! He started talking to my mom, still diligently looking over her phone saying, "What's it gonna be ladies, seven for lunch or no?" He was getting impatient. My mom looks up from her phone straight into his eyes and says, "Can you just leave us alone? Please? I'd just REALLY appreciate that." He said, "I'll leave you alone if you get away from my menus," (he had big menus for people to look at outside the restaurant)...WE WERE ABOUT TO CROSS THE STREET. Nowhere near his menus. Jerk.

Anyways, we found the original place, and it was deliiiicious. I had a fettucini alfredo :) When we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, it started to rain. Hard. At one point it got really sunny, and it was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen! These pictures couldn't possibly do it justice.

After a very wet sprint home, we got all nice and dressed up for....baaaabadababababaaaaaaa!

THE LION KING

And it. was. phenomenal. I wanted to cry just from the opening song. It was hard for some of the actors to keep the funny parts in the movie still funny sometimes, but the actor who played Scar never missed a beat. He embodied the character, he was Scar, Scar was he. In my point of view, he stole the show. But the technical aspect of it overwhelmed me the most. From the mechanical animal costumes to the perfect displays of colors for sunrises, to the entrancing african dances, it was definitely and experience. I would for sure see it again :)

We were kind of starving afterwards, so we hit up this awesome diner called Jeremy's right across the street from our hotel, at which I got a beef brisket sandwich :) nom nom nom.

NYC Day 2

Day 2 - Thursday

Up and about early today, well rested from the night before! My aunt is a rewards member at the hotel we stayed at so we got complimentary breakfast, too--an excellent bonus for New York on a Budget. I’m not usually a huge fan of hotel complimentary breakfasts...and I especially don’t trust people other than my family making my eggs. It’s weird, I know, but still. However at this breakfast buffet I couldn’t resist. Everyday for breakfast I’d get eggs, a couple sausages and a croissant and fashion myself a scrumptious breakfast sandwich. No joke it was fabulous.

Being our first full day in the city, we decided it was time to get some exercise. Translation: BIKE RIDE THRU CENTRAL PARK! I was super stoked because not only do I love scenic places, I’m also a pretty pro bike-rider...which is more than I can say for my cousins and grandmother, haha. With some trouble from jerks who tell you what a good deal you’re gettin when actually, they’re scamming you, we managed to get one of those cool tour bikes for grandma at a reasonable price. I was going to do a tandem bike with my cousin which would have been awesome, but they didn’t have any at the place we rented them. Nonetheless, the ride was fantastic!! There were all sorts of people on the trails: moms running with their newborns in strollers, hard core bicyclists, nasty sweaty hairy old men trying to keep in shape, high school besties planning their summer over a casual stroll, and of course, dinky tourists with their slick rental mountain bikes and backpacks.

Here we are! My cousin Alexis, and my madre in the red :)

Alexis having trouble with her bike...hehe.

Grandma and her incredibly decent-looking bicyclist ;)

John Lennon Memorial

After the ride, we ate at this adorable french restaurant--my salad was gorgeous and delicious-

mmmmmmm. nom nom nom.

Then we split up: Aunt Elaine went with grandma to get the ballet tickets for that night, and the rest of us (me, mom, Auntie Linda, Alexis, and Nicole) went to a couple designer sample sales. At the J Crew one, I got the cutest v-neck navy shirt with ruffles down the front and a thin oversized pale-pink sweater. An adorable combo at a NYoaB price ;)

Came back to the hotel to eat and wash up, and then the cousins and Aunt Elaine and Grandma went to the ballet! It was called Coppelia-about a girl whose lover falls for another girl...but then he discovers that she’s a doll and he goes back to loving the first girl. It was INCREDIBLE. I’d never been to the ballet before...I was ridiculously underdressed, haha. The male lead of the ballet was just phenomenal. He had a solo near the end in which he did these tremendous jumps-one after the other, for like 10 min straight. He was probably 6 feet something, and I swear he got up to 10 in the air. He literally stole the show, the audience was in AWE.

American Ballet Theater!

The stage was HUGE!

Here's the cast :)

The female lead is holding the violet flowers and the male lead is to her right.

The cousins :)

Left to Right: Alexis, me, Nicole

After the show, we caught a cab to meet up with mom and Auntie Linda at this place called the Shake Shack. They are famous for their frozen custard which they use instead of ice cream for all their desserts. They also had burgers--I ate mine so fast I don’t even remember eating it. The shake was delectable, but it was a little much for me--really rich. But hey, who am I to complain? :)

NYC Day 1

Alright. So I haven't been blogging for this whole trip because I just wanted to sit back and take it all in :) However, it is my last night here in The City of Dreams and I want to make it last as looooong as possible, so I have decided to stay up and start the long process of telling you everything I did :D

Day 1 - Wednesday

After a long couple of flights on which my mom and I struggled to obtain only a few hours of sleep, we arrived in NYC La Gaurdia and caught a cab into the city. I always love taking the cab because its always fun to roll down the window and let the summery breeze blow thru your hair after a long flight. Plus, you get to see all the cute apartments and such. Then you turn the corner, and there's Times Square!! It's funny how it just pops up on you.

We all hung out for a little bit in the hotel room (all of us were pretty pooped from the trip over here), and then we hit the streets. Grandma was in the mood for an Italian place for lunch so we found a really nice restaurant. A nice EXPENSIVE restaurant, I couldn't believe the prices! To compensate for that, as this is-as my mother would say: "New York on a Budget," we got the complimentary hors d'oeuvres for dinner, which were actually delish.

View from our hotel window on the 39th floor!

:)

With our bellies full (for the time being) we went back to our room and fell into a food coma for a bit, still exhausted from the travels. When we woke up, we decided to head down to Little Italy and get dessert at this awesome place, Ferrera.

Here it is.

Yummmm.

I have to warn you, this trip is as much about food as it is anything else, so be prepared to salivate.

As for the rest of the night, we all just caught up on all the laughs we miss apart :)

Finally, Vacation!

I SURVIVED!

With only one completely miserable day, I might add. This miserable day included:

-my thinking that I gave some old guy a heart attack because he ordered a turkey burger and I gave him beef.

-my taking a delivery order and not delivering it until more than 2 hours later.

-my taking a table of 10 because I thought I was hot shit.

-my messing up about half of their order.

-my 16 voids.

-my spilling my coffee all over the floor on my way out to make the 2-hour late delivery.

Now I'm not a light crier...but I bawled my way to pick my mom up from work when the day was over. It was BAD...but in those few horrible hours I learned how to DEAL with all of that which is probably the most important thing I've learned in a LONG TIME. I honestly still can't believe that I survived and that people don't hate me. And thank God cuz dang I love the people there :)

Other than that one awful day, serving is amaaaazing! Mostly because of the tips. I couldn't believe it, it was like I was getting paid double everyday I served which was awesome!! I like doing things for people, though too--it feels good when I help people enjoy themselves :)

Today I went for a bike ride around town with my dad since I won't be here for Father's Day. It was so fun, except for the fact that I used my bike I got when I was 8 and now my butt is very sore. Then we went to sushi (where the guy asked if we would need 2 glasses for my dad's beer. Its nice to know I look old enough hehe) and then to Pirates..4? It was actually pretty good, too.

And tomorrow I'm off to NYC! Its been a pretty productive week :D

Just an Update.

King of Anything - KarminCovers (youtube)

Work is getting better everyday. Over the weekend, I was a hostess with boss-lady's husband and at the end of the day he told me I did a great job like 5 times. Also yesterday 6 people told me I was lookin' good..in one way or another haha.

Last Friday Night (TGIF) - Katy Perry

And tomorrow, I'm serving!! Granted it's from 630am-230pm, but still! That's 8 hours worth of tips! I'm so stoked I can't even explain. I'm nervous about this week, I'll probably be serving for all of it, but next week I'm headed to New York with my closest relatives :) My mom, grandma, Aunt Elaine, Auntie Linda, and her daughters Alexis, the oldest of the cousins at 20, and Nicole who just graduated from high school. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN I'M SO EXCITED. I'm definitely bringing my camera, so be prepared for some epic pictures. Well, if I want even 5 and a half hours of sleep tonight before work tomorrow I have to go to sleep like...now. So I'm signing off for now. Nighty Night.