Come here New York, daddy wants to bring it in for a farewell hug.

I'd say my last day in New York before my 'summer' vacation has been quite lovely:
A $6 roast beef sandwich, s'more cookie, pedicure and a margarita!

Now I just have to pack.
Aahahah.
I leave at 4 a.m.

I even bought one of those airplane travel neck pillows!
If that doesn't spell ready, I don't know what does.

Hopefully by the time I get back, Rob & Kirk will be here and the new iPhone will be announced. My fingers are crossed!

I don't know how much legal jurisdiction blogs have, but print this and it will be in writing:
If anything should ever happen to me, I leave all of my money to my brother, Brian.
Bridget, you're in charge of carrying out my will.

Does anyone think I am a cynic?
Ahhahahaha.

guys,
I have to go pack.
Perhaps I will blog from the poolside sometime next week ;)
Catch y'all on the west side . . .

Bon voyage, me!

Soon it will be the weekend.

Too many onions in that salad.

Now that is a catchy opening graph. 

Let's see. Last time I wrote in here . . . I was complaining about LA peeps not contacting me and I was planning to go on a month-long hiatus from drinking. Riiight.

So now I've heard from four more people in LA and I have booked my tickets; my trip will now conveniently include K

amaal and Monica's birthday.

And, surprisingly, the drinking hiatus has been called off - or at least I'm working on drinking a smaller amount less frequently. So far so good. You can call me "Two-drink Katie" if you want.

Random thoughts for today:

1. I wonder if people are offended if you openly laugh at their dog.

2. Despite my cell phone being on its last leg, I just cannot bring myself to put duct tape on it. god, I cannot wait for the next iPhone to be announced/released. That is going to be Daddy's little 'tax return' present . . . knock on wood.

3. Jordon and I are going to start video blogging. AKA: Oh yes, we're jumping on that band wagon. Theme ideas, please!

Last weekend's events included:

FRI: Jordon and I simultaneously doing the West Side Story and Hair lottery at once. We won the 'alternate' for WSS, but turns out 'alternate' is just another word for 'loser'. And some late night casualness on the Upper East Side complete with chicken fingers and sweet potato fries.

SAT: I met up with the MSU kids in the Park. Then, Bridget and I went to dinner at the noodle bar I've been meaning to try: Momofuku. While the pork bun I had may have been the first one I ever tried, I can safely say it was the best I've ever had. I also enjoyed their version of a spiced chocolate milk - horchata milk with a KICK . . . delicious. Then, Bridget and I ventured to a bar called Lit on the LES that also featured an interesting art exhibit at the rear. They had Hoegaarden on draft and played the best combination of music I've heard in a while. Then again, my musical taste mostly consists of the In the Heights cast recording 24/7 so perhaps the music was mediocre to some - who knows. Basically, I danced so hard I gave myself a stomach ache. That was INTENSE. An interesting thing happened when a student/child lit up a cigarette in the middle of the bar. This, of course, brought about a slight protest/riot and one man even spouted off the history of NY laws, such as "You haven't been able to smoke in New York bars for 10 years!" Hm. Needless to say, the smoking young man must have taken the name of the bar Lit a little too seriously . . . anddd I'll be here all week. Then I went to a crazy bar attached to a tranny lounge with an LJ-lookalike playing host and all of the music from her iPod . . . literally. It was a hoot. Then I went home, went to bed and woke up with hives . . . AGAIN. Maybe I'm allergic to latex. You know, because my sheets are made of latex.

SUN: I was 5 minutes late to my voice lesson AGAIN. See, I think I'm still a reliable person . . . you can always count on me being there . . . just five (or 10) minutes late. Then I tried an Italian restaurant on the UWS with Allison called La Vela. The food was okay . . . they made me a homemade minestrone supposedly from scratch (it had peas and broccoli in it?!) and I ordered gnocchi with a tomato cream sauce. The gnocchi was humongous and the sauce not broken, but hey, not everyone can cook like Dad and Nana. My only complaint with the place would be that the olive oil with the bread was green . . . maybe left over from St. Patty's day? Oh, that and they charged Allison twice on her credit card. But yea, it was Zagat-rated so . . . . right. And the best part of my Sunday . . . wait for it . . . was THIS:

in my . . . BEDROOM. On its back, but still kickin! Panic and chaos naturally ensued, involving screaming, shouting, saucepans being thrown onto wooden floors, Raid spraying everywhere, hyperventilating, cussing, Jordon screaming CALM DOWN until she actually saw the size of the thing, Allison chasing the wretched thing around my file cabinet, until finally the mother fucking beast croaked. Although, I think it was already dying from the poison it had ate earlier. Either way, I was spooked. And all I could hear was Tracy Jordan's "Creepy, Crawly" song from 30 Rock playing over and over in my head. While I have seen roaches and am generally okay when they are not in my BEDROOM, I've never seen one of this magnitude . . . stunning, really. The exterminator assured me that this was not your average roach, it was indeed of the 'waterbug' variety and had most likely come up from the basement. Yes, I live on the first floor. I feel that experience was part of my hazing as a New Yorker . . . which I'm pretty sure I failed. Unless of course flailing and whining like a little school girl exemplifies traits of one who resides in the NYC area. Hm. I'm thinking no.

Also, I just sent Jordon a picture of this shoe:

Her response was that it 'just took her breath away'.

hahahaha. Bet you guys cannot WAIT for our video blog. All that and so, so much more!

Must run. My bosom is heaving with hunger.

xoxo - gossip girl. 

ahahaha.

Make that . . . ONE friend in Los Angeles.

I am trying to plan a potential trip to California in a few months in order to visit San Francisco, Napa Valley vineyards, Los Angeles and possibly Santa Barbara. I've never been west of Chicago, so this would be a very exciting experience for me. Challenges I've encountered as of late, however, include trying to figure out how to get around LA without renting a god forsaken car and the fact that out of eight friends I've contacted about visiting there, one has replied back. Don't get me wrong, the one person who replied is a wonderfully worthwhile friend, but if I'm trekking my ass to literally the other side of the country, is it so much to ask to send even three words to someone who you just spent four years of your life in college classes with? In this day and age: the answer is yes. Yes, it is too much to ask. Mind you, I did not factor in Cara and Laura into this number; they, of course, are balls-to-the-wall ready to welcome me into their new towns in CA. Needless to say, I'll keep you posted on the status of that trip.

Other recent news:

I ordered from FreshDirect for the first time and loved every second of it. Especially when I used my $25 off coupon code.

I have agreed (with myself) to take a hiatus from consuming all alcoholic beverages. Even cooking with wine, which has certainly forced me to be more creative with sauteing mushrooms (AKA last night I boiled them in Earl Grey tea thanks to a Women's Health Magazine tip). All those visitors and the rowdy late nights truly took a toll on my body and mind, and I'm taking a month-long break from Alkie to see if I can discover clarity in a sober state. Good fucking luck, right? My plan is to continue this at least until Easter. I mean, I already went St. Patrick's day without drinking, so things are looking up . . . for old Liz Lemon!

Next week will mark the beginning of getting back to my toned, fit body. Hopefully, with the help of YogaToThePeopleNY (yoga class on suggestion-donation-only basis), spring weather and eventually some California sun, I should be glowing again by the end of May. Or I could just get knocked up, then I'd have that natural glow. I think I'll choose the former, thank you.

My dad's family will be visiting in a month complete with the kiddies. I will be playing the role of 48 Hour NYC Tour Guide again. As long as I don't give myself mono, I'm down.

and finally, a new segment, called:

INTERESTING OR AMUSING THINGS I'VE READ/WATCHED LATELY

1. This was a little while ago, but it made me laugh out loud. It's from Jeffery Self's blog:

How about that crazy chimp attack?! I had heard briefly about it yesterday on Regis and Kelly before all the details came out, but that 911 phone call is intensely disturbing. If you haven't heard it, check it out and you'll shit your pants. The amusing part of the local news coverage of the story was after telling the gruesome story and playing the scary phone call the newscaster said "To hear more of these 911 calls visit us on the web at...." So basically saying.... "For those of you who can't get enough crazy ass terrifying bat shit wacko stuff..... go to www." 

2. Why this made me laugh, nobody knows, but it's from this week's Seth Rudetsky Playbill Column:

First of all, smoking is still allowed in bars in New Orleans and that place was smokier than the Phantom's lair and/or the "No Good Deed" scene from Wicked . . .

 3. Another laugh-out-louder (you're gonna love this one, I swear) from a Women's Health Magazine article about poop:

"On the other hand, stools that are looser than a 'Rock of Love' contestant can signal food intolerance."

(good one, WHM, you clever minx)

4. An interesting concept America should take note of, in my personal opinion:

Invent Incentives:There's motivation, and then there's motivation. A recent study found that people whose employers paid them for every pound they lost dropped as much as 12 percent more weight than those who received no dough. -WHM March 2009

5. This youtube video that some claim is the spitting image of my childhood:

6. And finally, a piece that gave me nightmares, originally posted by Cara:

Click here

That's about all for today. Check ya later.

-k.