Smoke: A Jazz Club

So last night I went to my very first jazz club. Now I must admit that while I listen to jazz all day at work I really do not know much about it - except that it sounds nice. However, seeing it live is such a different and interesting experience. I now can pick out what kind of instruments are playing what sounds in the song (don't get me wrong - I could pick out a drum and a saxophone before).


This place was rather on the small side - seriouslyyouwerethisclosetothepeoplenexttoyou. But there was not a bad seat in the place, because anywhere you sat you could see the stage - even if you were all the way at the back. There was also a really nice mellow vibe to it (not sure if that's just the nature of jazz clubs in general) and not a lot of loud noise. It was really nice when they started playing because pretty much everyone there just shut up and listened to the music.

All in all, I would definitely recommend going to a jazz club at least once in your life. :)

There's A First Time For Everything

So it's official.

I finally fell asleep on the subway and missed my stop.

The funny part (at least I think so anyway) is that I definitely was not drunk. No, I was on my way to work. All I had to do was go from the 96th Street stop to the 116th Street stop. Only a total of 3 stops.

But next thing I know I am being snapped awake by this bright burst of sun shining on me. It was right then that I realized I missed my stop, because in all my traveling underground on the subway - not once has the sun shone down there. However, the 125th Street stop (which is the one I had to get off at since I missed 116th) is outside - hence the sunshine.

This might have been a funny story if also on my way to work this morning, the bus was not 10 minutes late; I decided to skip getting on the bus in front me to avoid the "crowd" and get on the bus right behind, which that one of course was absolutely packed; then it literally took about 1-2 minutes to actually walk down into the subway station (normally it takes seconds) because there were so many people; miss my subway stop and have to get off at the next one = a longer walk to work in the FREEZING (seriously - it was 26 degrees this morning!) cold weather!

Oh the joys of commuting to work along with a million others and using public transportation.

"The World Fascinates Me"

Andy Warhol definitely said it best - "the world fascinates me." And it truly does. Seriously, I have decided that people will never, ever cease to amazing me because let's face it - we are all crazy somehow, someway.

Of course some people like to display their "quirks" a bit more than the rest of us do.

Take for instance this situation:

So there is always that girl that is just a little bit off and while sometimes she can be really funny, other times you really don't know if you should laugh with her or at her (come on, we all knew someone like this in high school). And not only was it the things she said that we interesting but also some of the "clothing" choices she so confidently decided to wear in public.

Fabulous and I decided one day to go to the AMNH (that's short for American Museum of Natural History - in case you weren't up-to-date on your NYC "lingo"). It was a rainy day so we figured why not - plus it is a really cool museum. Another spur of the moment decision we made was to see the planitarium show while we were there. So we buy our tickets and head for the line. Little did we know what was waiting for us in line... standing right there in front of us was this:

Yes, ladies and gentleman if you look past the two giant yellow balls (which I have yet to figure out what they are supposed to be - any thoughts?) you will see the girl wearing a tail. And not just your run-of-the-mill-cheap-party-store-cat-tail but a full blown, big, furry wolf tail (that's my guess as to what it is). Uhm.....what?!

However, I would like to thank this lady for deciding to pull this out of her closet and wear it for the rest of us to see - I mean how else would we have entertainment?!

I love FREE food!!

So Fabulous and I decided to go out to dinner one night...and we ended up at Spice Market. We sat at the "chef's table" basically - a.k.a. the bar right in front of the kitchen. Had a few appetizers and some wine (we always have wine) and overall just chatting away.

Then of course Fabulous sees someone she knows from the restaurant industry. And also of course it turns out he is a manager at the restaurant. Manager goes away and then... the free food starts coming!! A few more appetizers:

And then after that the actual dinner:

When the meal was over the best part came - a reduced bill!! Who can say no to fabulous food that you don't really have to pay for?! :)

Fabulous Night in the City

Ok, so New York is really about the only place you can have so many fantastic things happen to you in one night!

So first off, it's a Friday night. I met Fabulous after work at a new restaurant that just opened up last week (Aspen Social Club). We had a bottle of libations and a few choice little tapas. I am sure we could have gotten something for free if we had turned up the flirting a little bit with our very cute waiter.

After dinner we headed over to the theatre because we had tickets to see Mary Poppins (yes I realize it is a kid's show - but don't you have those times where you just want to be a kid again?). Our seats were decent - in the mezzanine and nothing too special. However, we had the most goddamn annoying kids ever sitting behind us!! First, it's the theatre so why they sell little bags of candy I'll never know. But these children I swear to you were eating their Skittles (or M&M's or whatever) literally one at time. And not only that, but I really think they were eating all the same colors together (yes, I realize it is dark in the theatre so you really would not be able to see the colors - so this is further proving my point). And then on top of all that they were eating the candy so loud! The ENTIRE first act was not enjoyable at all.

At intermission then Fabulous and I decided to try and find seats elsewhere in the theatre. We ended up going upstairs to the balcony and while I looked for seats Fabulous ended up talking to a gentleman who thought we were lost. Turns out he works for the theatre and basically we ended up sitting in box seats!!! You actually don't get a great view from there, but still - how many times do you get to sit in box seats for FREE?!

After the show finished we took a walk and ended up in Bryant Park at the ice skating rink. We were just enjoying people watching (especially laughing at the people who were busting their asses on the ice - yes I know I am destined for hell). The best part was that there was this guy with LIGHT UP ice skates and the best rastafari hat I've ever seen who was clearly skating to the own beat in his head. So one time when he came around the rink, Fabulous and I started dancing on the side with him - he then skates over and gives the last of the "calendars" he has. They were literally wall calendars printed on a home computer featuring our guy - Bladie Flowness. Yes, that was his name.

We then leave the rink and head to the Bryant Park Hotel (for the bar). There was a rather significant line waiting to get in, so Fabulous walks right up to the guy with the clipboard (who was oh so handsome), talks to him and next thing you know we skip the line and head right in!

All in all, one of the best nights in this city so far!