Today was quite a wonderful day! Beautiful, sunny, and perfect for laying out! Which I would have done had my beach buddy Kritin been here to soak up the sun in Sheeps Meadow with me. But since she wasn't - I headed to the NYSC to continue my vigorus (15 lb weight) lifting routine.
I decided to take the GIANT 24x34 picture frame I bought downtown for my apt with me to return to AI Friedman before going to the gym, since it's been sitting in my kitchen for almost a week. So, lugging a giant bag of metal and glass to 18th and 5th, I arrived to find AI FRIEDMAN WAS CLOSED!! HOW RUDE! Blasted memorial day! What was even more frusterating is that it was the ONLY shop on the whole of 18th street closed! I was left with a giant picture frame to be my gym buddy.
I also got to lug it around with me while shopping on lower 5th with Ali an hour later. I love lower 5th! Such a perfect concentration of all the shops that a girl would need! H&M, Free People, Club Monaco, Anthro, Sephora, Zara, and I even found myself wandering into Gap Body, and wandering out with an adorable white bikini! I am stocking up for my summer trip with Josh to Greece! And in order to match the decor of the country, I am only buying things that are blue and white! Goodness....I am only 21 and I'm already my mother!
So as I am lugging the frame and shopping bags around 5th, still quite sweaty and red-faced from the gym, and my unwashed hair sitting in a messy knot on the top of my head - I am approached by a strange man who says, "may I use your beauty in a painting?"
What is almost even more amusing than this completely odd request, is that being a new yorker and being used to such utter stangeness, I calmly replied - "no thank you" and continued my conversation with Alison before even realizing what had happened.... "May I use your beauty in a painting?" What does that even mean!
The day continued to get more comical, as Ali and I went to see Letters to Juliet, a movie I had been dying to see since the first preveiw I caught back in January. I can't even get into how terrible it was. It was just about as fromage-y as an awful teen movie could ever be. Now coming from someone who worships the HSM series, it is really something for me to say a movie that looks terrible is in fact - terrible. My $13 would so have been better spent on a sundae at Dylans!
Movie of doom! Amanda Seyfried would have been better off starring in Mean Girls 2.
We re-gained our intellegence by making dinner chez moi and drinking wine while listening to my Paris playlist on Itunes! Ali hadn't seen my apartment in a while, so I was excited for her to see it now that is nearly completely furnished, which brings me to my highlight of the day!
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: CRAIGLIST
http://newyork.craigslist.org/
I was always a craigslist-hater after several failed attempts to find internships and apartments. But in a recent, desperate search to find a suitable studio for myself below 30th street, I had to resort to every source I could - Craigslist included.
And low and behold, just when I was about to give up all hope and contact a nearby homeless shelter - I found my perfect apartment, and I found it on craigslist. The fabulous finds did not stop there! Craigslist has become my bff. My cute beadboard bed - found it on craiglist! My cottage style table and chairs - found it on craiglist! My antique blue coffee table - found it on craigslist! Even my straight-from-the-eighties mover with a legitimate mullet and pick-up truck - found him on craiglist!
Not only did these craiglist finds lead to great deals on furniture, but it also lead to friendships! The day I picked up my table and chairs from the LES, I met the cutest married couple and their adorable french bulldog named Batman. They were so nice, and they helped me flag down a van cab, and put the set inside - where I befriended the cab driver, Quatar. Quatar gave me his card, and told me to call him if I ever need a cab! What a wonderful idea I thought! After living here for 3 years I finally have a cabbie buddy! I called on him later that week to pick up my antique table from Hell's Kitchen, and he picked me up right on time outside my door! I highly recommended getting a cabbie buddy, it's kind of like having a driver - only you don't have to pay! Well, and you're car is a taxi instead of a black Lincoln. But at least Quatar's cab isn't a stinky cab! Which is RARE!
I also had so many nice street strangers help me move things in the past couple weeks, as I've been hauling tables and lamps and giant suitcases around Chelsea. It goes to show that there are nice New Yorkers out there willing to help a damsel in distress! I feel liking baking cupcakes and passing them out on the street outside my building one day as a thank you!
So, the lesson learned is don't discredit Craiglist! Logging on to craigslist is like venturing into Forever 21. You have to dig through the mess, and a majority of stuff is crap - but if you know how to search, you can get some great deals on hidden gems that you will love forever! (Or in the case of forever 21 purchases, until it falls apart.)
