Emotionally, my goal is to keep my cool while I figure out how not to get screwed into paying rent by myself, now that my roommate has decided to move out. That's just a little bomb that got dropped on Saturday and throws major kinks into the collective plan, which was for Kendall to move in when Leah moved out (though let's be honest, no one expected that to happen). So it throws kinks into the next level of the plan, which was to simply not have to deal with this for four more months. 

But only because I've heard this from two people in the last two days, I'm just going to tell you all what my mom told me when I was in the depths of despair and looking for bold moves:

Geographic changes rarely solve the problem. So let's all hold our horses and make sure we've made absolutely every effort to improve where we are now, before we leave good things behind and try to make an escape. Make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.

But when I realized that people have started talking to me about places in Seattle that I've never heard of, I realized I have to get back on the Seattle wagon if I want to do everything I want to do. And so here's the beginning of a list of places that I must try, or else I may lose my status as the Hot Goss Princess and the Queen of Seattle. Fine, I made that last one up. 

• El Mestizo
• Chungees
• The Zig Zag
• Delancey
• Emmer & Rye
• Glo's
• Acupuncture - in general. Four people have recommended it, it's time to try.

Let's get this NYC recap out of the way so I can go on with my life. It's only been a week but I think it's taken me a full week to recover. Here's the detailed overview:

Friday: arrive Grand Central Station. Decide to conquer my fear of the subway since we couldn't catch a cab. Was left halfway through my first subway trip and was forced to fend for myself. Just HAPPENED to get off at the correct station, and was rescued from a street corner by Mariss, hostess extraordinaire. 

Walked to her super-cute apartment in Prospect Heights, hemmed and hawed about what to do that evening, got gussied up and made our way to the W Hotel: the Court (not the Tuscany, though they're right next to one another) so we could meet up with Erica and another Sarah. 

Spent several hours at the W, catching up and reuniting with high school people I haven't seen in 8-9 years. Hopped in cabs and went to Marquee, where we were promised a table and bottle service, where one of our party got her ID taken by the bouncer, and where we did a single lap through the club and decided to leave. 

Ended up at some random gay bar for about 10 minutes, until I decided to put my foot down and insist that they take me somewhere with food. Seriously, I hadn't eaten since lunch and we hadn't stopped for a single minute, so I pretty much owe Ken my life for hustling us over to the Corner Bistro for the most DELICIOUS burger ever. I scarfed that thing down and I regret not savoring it just a bit more - and this is coming from an infrequent burger eater. Burgers never mean much to me, but this one truly did. Mmmmmm. 

Cabbed home to Brooklyn. Fell asleep at 5am. 

Saturday: 

Woke up at 9am and consulted my list of "To Do in NYC: March 5-7". Got in touch with Shane and after much back and forth, decided to venture across Brooklyn to see his (what I expected to be a pretty fabulous) apartment. It did not disappoint. At all. Oh, how I would decorate that apartment. It would be amazing. You'd never want to leave.

But before we got there, we witnessed a very large man fall off his seat on the subway and then start vomiting all over the subway car. We huddled in the corner with our noses covered while a portly Russian man screamed at all the passengers to "help!". Did nothing to help. Watched others do nothing. It felt very "New York" to me. 

Once we escaped the medical emergency and went above ground, we discovered we had taken the train in the wrong direction, and so we had to turn around and go all the way back and then some. Or not. It was very confusing.

So after all that, we were thrilled to discover that Shane pretty much lives in an urban palace (exaggerating, but it's awesome) and that he only serves mimosas to his guests, so we lounged there are marveled at the following: 

• The dishwasher
• The washer/dryer single unit
• The ceilings
• The windows
• Etc. 

And once Shane was sick of our ooh-ing and ahh-ing, we made our way towards the Natural History Museum but detoured once again because I hadn't eaten since that amazing burger, 14 hours earlier. 

And though we set out for a Thai restaurant, I made us stop at Havana Alma de Cuba because I refused to walk another step without putting something in my stomach. In went arroz con pollo and a Bloody Mary. 

From there, we headed towards The Strand Bookstore, former employer of LaRocha and no, I didn't go for the books. I went for the tote bags. I have a hot pink one and I wanted to add to my collection. So I bought this and another one for Meneely. 

En route to The Strand, we walked through NYU and "the arch from When Harry Met Sally" and were introduced and then practiced the art of the "photobomb". See below. 

And because I'm getting tired and distracted by the television, I will summarize the rest of Saturday in classic SBS poetry-style:

From Strand to Mood, with an excited 'tude

Found it closed, said "that blows"

Was lured to Times Square, though before I wouldn't dare

Visited Central Park and watched the ducks 'til dark

Strolled over to Dylan's Candy Bar, the happiest place on earth, by far

Spotted two friends, was amused then concerned that this might be a trend

Ate pizza, disco-napped and rallied for night two on the town

Falling out of rhyme...

Went to the Magnolia Bakery and bought coconut cream cake and an SATC cupcake

Looked for celebs at the Spotted Pig (and got yelled at by a bartender)

Mistakenly agreed to hit up the Buddha Bar, blah

Stood outside a hotel for awhile, waited for the subway for awhile, got home and talked for awhile, went to bed and slept for awhile (only five hours). 

OMG, we're not even at Sunday. 

Sunday!: 

We had bagels at a bagel placed and watched all the church-goers in their Sunday bests walk by. We went to the Brooklyn Promenade and then ate ice cream and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Made our way to Chinatown, SOHO, and finally Little Italy. Found some lamps I want. Bought a pair of $5 sunglasses. Added The New Museum to my list of "next time". Discovered where you can buy old subway directional signs. Watched them make candy at Papabubble and tried macaroons in pistachio and raspberry flavors: 

Ended the afternoon in Little Italy by eating ravioli with Shane and Marissa, hustled back to Brooklyn, had a book signed by an author (:)) and took a car back to JFK. 

And there you have it! WHOOSH - that's 48 hours flying by. 

Is anyone watching "The Pacific"? I watched Band of Brothers in like, 14 hours straight, so I'm expecting good things. It's HBO after all, have they ever let you down? 

I just bought a pedometer today, because I wanted to compare how many steps I take/miles I walk now, compared to when I sat behind a desk for eight hours a day. Like I predicted long ago, leaving my job has resulted in the immediate loss of stress-weight, and now that I'm combining that with regular trips to the gym and a new addiction to Bikram yoga, I expect the lbs to continue to melt off. 

Oh also, this song is on Vh1 Soul Vids right now, and I love it. 

As long as that's squared away, I'm about to gush about my love for Wal*mart. I'm fully aware that this is totally and completely wrong, and I shouldn't shop there based on about a zillion social issues of the day... but I LOVE that I just bought a ton of generic crap I needed (I use this term loosely) for an absolute FRACTION of the price I would have paid elsewhere. 

Here's me at my very first Wal*Mart in Helena, MT. I was having a massive allergy attack, which was cured instantly by the mere sight of the rows and rows of things to buy for $1. 

I also kind of like the fact that I bought my computer there and I also signed up for a Comcast internet $20/month deal and they GAVE me a $75 rebate card to use at my leisure. Today.

Katey K and I hit the Rainier Ave and crawled (Katey's a slow driver) down to the Wal*mart in Renton and shopped and upshopped and shopped some more. I purchased 34 individual items for $70.41 and used the remaining $4 to purchase a box of Tag-A-Long Girl Scout cookies, because today is the last day and Girl Scout cookies are important to me. Especially since they're dressing up like cookies these days! Have you seen their costumes? They're awesome. 

The most expensive item I purchased was a new yoga mat (I'm obsessed with Bikram, seriously) for $9, and the cheapest item I purchased was Hunt's Tomato Paste for $.50. You never know when a recipe will call for tomato paste, I've learned, so it felt important to stock up. 

The best thing about this sudden desire to crack open some Poe was that my father gave me the book on my 11th birthday, and I'd never read anything except The Raven. I've lugged the damn book around with me for the last 15 years because I believe in developing a well-balanced library, but it's occupied the bottom shelf for as long as I can remember. You know, with the other hardcover books I'll never read but insist on owning.  

This is just one example of how I feel so unlike myself, or the self from the Studer's Reality days. Reality, not Rumors. I'm still kicking myself for abandoning the rumors. Once I get confident with one of my newer projects and publicize it, maybe I will consider integrating a little SR spin... but for now, I head to bed with the following books on my bedside:

Edgar Allan Poe: Sixty Seven Tales,

The Memory Keeper's Daughter,

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and 

Wanted: Bear Cubs for My Children. 

And this on repeat:

Today's the first blue day I've had in a very long time. It wasn't even really that blue- I did things that made me happy, but I didn't eat much and I just took the bus all day and got reacquainted with my iPod, with spurts of activity like tutoring and visiting Julie at Vain.

I had a lot to think about and I have some ideas that I'm figuring out how to pursue. So far, I've only figured out that I am going to have to get a LOT of advice and that I need business cards ASAP. So if anyone feels like a) designing them for me, and or b) skipping that and giving me these or these as a very generous gift, I'd be totally in to it.

But the reason I know I'm blue is because I just sang my HEART out along with Fiona Apple's Tidal album, which is still awesome 14 years after it's release. The only worthwhile video I could find for my favorite track is the one linked above... it's some creepy Phantom of the Opera thing, and reminded me that I should probably make an effort to see that version.

My phone is being whack and won't let me make phone calls, which would usually be fine except I want to talk to LaRocha about how to paint with oil colors before I put the brush to the canvas that Meneely got me, but since I was thwarted (hate that word), I turned to ye ol' world wide web and discovered this amazingness.

Surprisingly enough (well, actually not that surprising- I LOVE art supplies and have THE most random things), I happened to have a bag of white and silver pipe cleaners, courtesy of Emily's Halloween costume back in 2009, and so...

I got right to work. I'd post photos except that my phone is not only being whack, it just decided to power down for no real reason, so wait patiently. 

(A major major yawn just took place. Pardon me!)

Upon further reflection, I don't think I'm blue, I think I'm just tired. There don't seem to be enough hours in the day to balance event coordination and the 50 emails I get about it a day, the two-hour process that is "the gym", tutoring, cooking, and reading everything that I want to read. Stacks of books have started to accumulate, and now I'm on another house improvement kick and embarked on a hunt for a fabulous new bookshelf, a desk, and a dining room table. Preferably ones that could use a little work, since I'm all DIY now n' stuff. 

I'm still gearing up to write about the rest of NYC, but it exhausts me simply to think about it! The short version is that I loved seeing all my friends from Boulder High and I'm so pleased that everyone was able to make it to the same place time and again. I'd also like to apologize to Shane, who didn't get nearly enough group dynamic background and was tricked into a "mellow" evening at some silly club. 

The purpose of the NYC trip was to attend my very first EPIP board meeting in Tarrytown, NY. I had been consumed with travel anxiety around the logistics, since there was a train ride out of the city involved. Thank GOODNESS my friend and colleague felt the same way (or at least pretended to) and met me at the airport and accompanied me through the whole ordeal. We're talking planes, running through traffic, cabs, trains, and a shared cab before finally arriving at... the Sheraton Tarrytown! 

Now I had been "traveling" since the wee hours of the morning, and East Coast time is the worst, so I fully appreciated the glass of champagne they offered, and was slightly weirded out that they also gave me a single red rose. How depressing that the most recent flower I've received came from a kind of rude and scary woman who intimidated me enough not to grab one of the chocolate chip cookies on the desk next to us. 

So let's see... what next. I'm currently too lazy to grab my camera and upload photos, so they'll have to come later. I suppose we gathered for dinner at the Sweet Grass Grill, where I met other board members for the first time - so nice to put names and voices to faces!

The bulk of our time was spent at the Rockefeller Archive Center, my first experience with philanthropy in a true historical sense. I'm probably going to get my facts wrong, but here's the gist of it: the house was built for John D. Rockefeller Jr's wife Martha, who actually never spent a single night in the house. It was built in the '60's even though it's designed to look like an older English colonial home. Or something. There's an unsupported staircase that is to die for, fantastic art, John D. Rockefeller Jr and Sr's desks which we sat at to gain some kind of "wisdom". 

Being on the board is definitely a new experience, and feels like the best way possible to stay connected with the philanthropic world while I continue to explore new things. I'm really excited about the work and what's in store for the year- though there's a lot ahead of us! "Us" being the really amazing folks I met over the weekend and over the phone. 

I don't have too much more to say about Tarrytown except that we made it back safely on the train and then I went on a subway adventure that just HAPPENED to work out in my favor. I'll recap my tracks through Brooklyn and Manhattan as soon as I can truly figure out where the heck we were.