got. a. job.

hallelujah! praise the lord! i am officially employed!!  i'll be an esthetician at the spa at equinox fitness.  woopity woop!

pampering and brooklyn bridge.

after being on our feet more than we ever have in our entire life (and for the sake of our sanity), we decided it was time to get pedicures.  we found this cute place on the lower east side and pampered our poor little tootsies.  it felt wonderful and my feet have re cooperated, slightly :)  of course the day wouldn't be complete without a treat, so we got a red velvet cupcake from this little bakery called crumbs.  it was delish!  while we were down on the lower end of town, we decided to go to the brooklyn bridge.  that. was. cool. annnnd we even liked brooklyn, surprisingly! at least what part of brooklyn we ventured to...  we went to a place called graziellas, best thing i ever ate... pizza.  it's an authentic italian restaurant known for their wood burning pizza but ALL of the food was AMAZING!  i was going to get what was actually featured on the show but i decided to get the pizza vito (ground sausage, mushroom and caramelized onions) because i was craving some MEAT!  it was SO good.  the pizza sauce tasted so fresh and yummy and i also got a side of veggies (zucchini, squash, carrots & snow peas.)  the pizza was so good, i decided to also get some dessert :) haha! i've been really wanting a cannoli so holy cannoli, i got one!  it was good (sweet ricotta cream stuffed into a wafer like shell) BUT i was wanting to steal christi's dessert.. affogato (vanilla ice cream with a shot of hot espresso poured over it.) oh. my. gosh. i don't even love coffee but that combo was so freakin good!  imma be getting me one of those next time.  oh ya, the best part about this restaurant was that it had a roof top patio that we sat on and the weather had been absolutely perfect ALL DAY! 

me and hets getting our toesies did

rooftop at graziella's

pizza vito

bobby flay.

today we went to bobby flay's restaurant, mesa.  i've been to the one in vegas before but you know how i love my food network, i had to go to the one in nyc too..  we got there and had about a 15 min wait so while we were waiting i was looking around and wondering what exactly the theme of the restaurant was.  there were like airplane looking fans, flame stained glass, horses on the chair coverings, great big pillars in the middle of the restaurant painted different colors, weird, random black and white pictures, etc.  when we get seated at our table, i say "i'm gonna have to have a word with bobby flay about his choice in decor.  this is awful and he needs to hire me to redecorate for him."  not but TWO seconds later, christi looks back into the kitchen and says "oh my gosh! it's bobby flay!"  for a split second i thought she was just kidding until the man himself walked right past us!! oh my gosh! i then immediately regretted saying how bad the decor was and hoped that he didn't hear me!  i would've felt like a huge idiot...  so ya, turns out he's sitting at the table NEXT to us, eating lunch with his daughter and one of her friends.  i still cannot believe that we saw him!  i'm not gonna lie, i was a little star struck :) i wanted to take a picture with him so bad and some people were but i didn't want to interrupt his meal so i just stared at him like a big fat creeper instead :) haha! better, right?  it was a pretty good meal... heather and i shared a steak and for dessert i got a toasted coconut layer cake that apparently bobby won on his show, throwdown.  it was tastey, thats for sure.  glad to know that bobby actually eats at his own restaurant.  i'll definitely be back hoping to catch another glimpse of bobby, only this time i hope he's the one cooking my food :) 

what to do??

i finally broke down.  i just couldn't handle one more setback.  here's how my day started.. i went to my first interview, i got to the front desk and told them i had a interview with the spa.  they called whoever was supposed to be interviewing me and she didn't answer.  they then called the reception desk and they told them that she wasn't there either, so they told me that they would find her.  15 minutes later, the front desk girl came up to me and asked if i could fill out another application because they had lost my first one.  umm... strike one against this place.  10 minutes after that and half way thru filling out my SECOND application, this lady finally comes up and says "oh, you don't have to fill all of that out, just sign it." gee, thanks for telling me that AFTER i've already filled half of it out.  so we go back into an office and she says "ok, i hate interviewing, i don't even know where to start and i don't even know what to ask you." great.  just great.  strike #2.  anyways, the interview goes as well as it could, given the circumstances.  she asked if i would come back for a second interview tomorrow with her boss.  guess we'll see if that goes any better... i'm very unimpressed so far

onto interview #2.  this one went a little smoother.  i did a hands on while i was there and she said it was amazing.  she said she would look at the schedule and give me a call tomorrow.

yay! done with interviews, i have a potential job so i think i need a treat... a toasted marshmallow shake, in fact.  this was another place on my food network list called stand.  i walk in and they have a to go counter that i ordered from but since i'm there i decide that i'll just sit on the patio and enjoy myself.  15 mins pass and i'm wondering why it's taking so long so i go up to the counter and ask if someone could check on the shake for me.  FINALLY my shake comes out and it looks chocolatey.  i've never had one before so i don't necessarily know what it's supposed to look at so i take a sip.  tastes like a chocolate peanut butter shake, looks like one... it must be a chocolate peanut butter shake!! for the love!  bad customer service and to top it off, my orders wrong... i'm just like whatever at this point and eat it anyways.  it was good, just not what i wanted.

next up, my fabulously long adventure home.  long story short, something was going on with the trains so they were all off schedule.  the train that i usually take was far and few between so when it did come around people were literally shoving people into and off of the train.  i decided i didn't want to deal with that so i just took a different route.  well because this wasn't my usual routine,  everybody got off the subway at the stop before mine and i thought "hmm... this is weird, i've never been the only one on the subway train.."  so i sit there for a few minutes until i see the subway driver walking passed! haha i was stuck on the train!  he was so mad at me, he had to do like an emergency unlock on the subway door... whoopsie daisy.. at that point i honestly didn't care,  it took me a freaking hour and a half and i still had to walk 6 blocks home so i decided to stop at a little irish pub/restaurant on the way home.  it was decent... i got a shrimp salad but the best part, i got a beer AND a mimosa!  just what i needed for the day.  so as i'm walking home, i'm already debating whether i should stay here or not.  i mean, nothing has gone right for me here.  we've been doomed since we stepped off the plane so why do i keep trying to make it work.  i get home and i'm freaking locked out! for the 3rd time!!!!  i was so tired and so frustrated that i just started bawling.  after crying and rocking myself for 40 mins, hashi finally comes strolling in... i wanted to strangle her.  christi and heather got home and sweet lil christi rubbed mah feet and made me feel better :)  for now i'm staying but trust me, if one more thing happens to me, i'm freaking on a plane back home.  tomorrow better be amazing.. we're going somewhere for a nice dinner, some big fat juice steak :) 

PS i've decided that people in this town suck at responding to you and pretty much just suck in general with their work ethic. the end. 
on a side, side note, the locals have been very helpful and not all new york attitudey :)



 

week one, done and done.

woo hoo! we've survived the week of hell and amazingly it has gotten better.  yesterday (friday) christi and i went to the harry potter exhibit.  it's an exhibit of real costumes and props from the movies.  it was pretty cool, i got to try on the sorting hat and was placed in gryffindor, i got to pull out a screaming mandrake and i tried to take some pics but there was absolutely NO photography.  i tried snapping a pic and not but two seconds later some guy came up to me and said "are you the one that took the picture?" me being the honest soul that i am said "yes" he then said "you're going to have to delete the picture." i yelled at him basically telling him that i paid $30 for this exhibit and i'd do what i wanted but in the end, i deleted the freaking picture.  when we were done with that, we went over to juniors and got some authentic ny cheesecake! t'was delish!

i got some good news! i'm going in to a salon that i applied to as a receptionist and giving it a "test run" just to see how well i do and if i like it or not.  yay! i'm almost officially not unemployed.  i also have 2 interviews on monday, both esthetician positions and both at spas in gyms.  double yay to that! spa and gym... can't get any better than that!

today (saturday) it's a rainy, slightly cold day.  i decided to go to one of the spas i'm interviewing with so on monday i didn't get lost.  while i was down that way, i wanted to go to a place on my foodnetwork list of places to eat, best thing i ever ate... sweet tooth.  i went to a place called the doughnut plant.  i'm not even a huge doughnut fan but these are AMAZE!  the doughnut they had on the best thing i ever ate was the pb&j doughnut.  it's a square doughnut filled with blackberry jelly and topped with a peanut butter glaze and chopped peanuts.  ummm... YUM! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pJG5tItQ0M  i also got a coconut filled doughnut with coconut glaze but i'm saving that for later :)

and let me just say..TGFS (thank god for starbucks) all 255 of them in manhattan.  we haven't had internet at our place so i've spent a good long while here lately.  free wifi! yay!
that's all for now, i shall let ya'll know how it goes on monday. cross your fingers, say a prayer, whatever you do... i need it!

strollin in central park.

tuesday we went job searching all freakin day.  i made it to about 5 different places and each one of them looked so cute! crossin my fingers that i get something... so today, wednesday, we finally had a day to do whatever we wanted.  it was a HOT 96 degrees today (at 5:00 pm, mind you...)  i actually got myself a little sunburn goin on on the shoulders :) i shouldn't be so excited about that except for the fact that when i was in UT i had made up my mind that the sun and i would never meet again...  we went to central park and laid on the grass and took a little cat nap, then we'd walk a few feet and sit on a bench, then we'd walk some more and lay down and take another cat nap.  it's almost too hot to do anything besides that.  we went to a little italian places called nizza for dinner.  i got myself a delish pizza with spinach, mushrooms and artichokes. mmmm, mmmm, mmmm them italians sure do know how to cook! for dessert, the search was on for some sprinkle ice cream cones christi and i had been dying to get!  best part of the day, by far! it was probably the most delicious ice cream cone i'd ever had.  ice cream makes me SO happy especially when i'm literally melting from the heat. YUM O. 

us girlies

wish i lived here... east side of central park

mmm pizza

not a day goes by that we don't get lost somewhere... so of course, when we went looking for a bed bath and beyond, it proved to be hidden! i swear, we walked around in a huge circle for at least 45 mins before we found the place... but we did find it and now i have a pillow to lay my head on :) 
my feet are hurting like they've never hurt before.  i've tried to wear a different pair of shoes everyday because each pair that i have seem to blister my feet in different places.  so, now i have blisters pretty much everywhere... i may have to go barefoot tomorrow... 
PS i apologize for how fugly i am... it is hot and humid and so i can almost guarantee you pics will be few and far between of me :) at least until fall :)

HOMELESS.

hmm... where to begin?? we arrive here in nyc at about 6 pm, wait in line for an HOUR to get a taxi and when we finally do get a taxi, it's one of the van taxi's which should be plenty big for 3 girls with 8, yes 8, pieces of luggage, right?? apparently WRONG! the taxi driver initially told us no because he didn't want to work that hard but eventually we squished us and the luggage into this van. as we're pulling up to our place where we're staying for the month, the taxi driver informs us that us girls need to be careful in this part of town, we are in harlem after all... ummm... HARLEM??? well it's actually not the scariest part of town, although we are most definitely the minority. so we get our luggage to the curb and heather knocks on the door annnnd nothing. finally the landlord lady comes out, apologizes because "she's got a lot going on," and opens the door telling us to put our luggage in the first room up the stairs. as we're lugging our stuff up the stairs, this guy comes in yelling "where you guys from?" "how long are you going to be here?" i'm just completely blown away, confused, where did this guy come from? etc.. finally the landlord says "a month, they're staying for a month." and heather says "ya, we're staying for a month". mr. loudmouth then says "oh, is that what she told you to say?" so heather says "we just got here, what is going on?" long story, shortish, this guy is a cop and it is now against the law in ny to rent out your place for less than one month (which we were there for ONE month) but because this lady had been renting it out for a day or 2 at a time, if the authorities could prove that, we would be evicted at any given time. well we can't have that happening so christi calls her friend and asks if we can come crash at her place. she says yes but by this time it's about 9 pm, a car service to take us over there would be $150 and so we just decide to stay at this place for the night. come morning, we pack up and head over to her friends place. we get here and it's absolutely adorable except for the fact that it's a studio apt. which now has 5 people, 8 bags of luggage and all of their own stuff! needless to say, it's CRAMPED. so day 2 of nyc we are HOUSE HUNTING!! who knew that house hunting could be so freakin hard!! well, really none of us have jobs yet, so i completely understand renters concerns but still, we're homeless people! by the end of the night, we had a place to sleep, a place to stay for the next 3 weeks, and another to stay until sept. i have never been more mentally and physically tired IN. MY. LIFE. so in the last 3 days, we've been homeless for 2 and moved 3 times.. i just want to stop living out of my suitcase :) come monday, we'll be more settled and the job hunting begins, wish me luck! man oh man, when i said i wanted an adventure of a lifetime, i never, EVER imagined it would be looking for a place to live and worrying about being homeless on the streets of nyc.