In a New York Minute

That's about what my trip felt like! It went by so quickly...I feel like there are so many things we did and yet so many things I still want to see! We'll have to go back asap.
My adventure started on Thursday morning. My father in law got to the house around 8:00 am. I got BabyBoy off to camp, he and BabyGirl off to gymnastics, the maid situated, the milkman situated and then I was off to Richmond. I met my stepmom (we'll call her Mimi for this post...it's what my kids call her and it's easier to type than her real name) in Richmond at her house and we drove to the airport. Uneventful flight to LaGuardia. Cabride to Aaron's apt. in East Village. Rut Ro. He wasn't there when we arrived. Little sh*t. I only called or texted him FOUR times to let him know we were on the way.
We stood outside his apt. in his, um, ECLECTIC neighborhood waiting for him to arrive. He shows up about fifteen minutes later. We hike up the three very steep flights of stairs to see this fantabulous apt. that my parents are shelling out $1500a month for. OMIGOD. Are you kidding me? First of all. The smell. It smelled SO strongly of body odor that you knew it just couldn't be ACTUAL body odor. Had to be something else. Note to self...buy the boy a candle. And then. Sweet mother! It's tiny! It's all one room (MAYBE 300 sq. feet and that's being very generous). The "shower" is directly in front of the door. It's a half sized claw foot tub with a jerry rigged copper piping system surrounded by two shower curtains. I won't go into much more detail but needless to say, we stayed there one night. After that, we booked a room here. Mimi kept calling the apt. "austere" all weekend. Um, yeah. That works...I guess. Gotta hand it to Aaron. He's a trooper. Never would have expected him living in that particular apt. I guess he's never really there anyway so no biggie.
Thursday night we went to dinner at a local place. Yummy, yum yum. Then we went back to the apt. for a bit. Mimi fell asleep and Aaron and I went to a gay bar in Hell's Kitchen. Let's suffice it to say that I got called up on stage by a GORGEOUS tranny to have a "competition" with this really drunk Asian girl. We were supposed to name the theme songs from 80's sitcoms. I guess I had partaken of one too many vodka tonics by that point cause I didn't catch on until about mid game. The tranny was really funny...but mean funny. It wasn't pretty. The night kind of deteriorated from there. Definitely part my fault. DO NOT chastise me for voting for John McCain in front of 300 gay men after I've been drinking. What was he/she thinking? Oh, and DO NOT accuse me of being a "honkey from West Virginia". Ah, NO. Not. Even. Close. That tranny had some nice legs, though, I have to say.
Friday morning we got up and "showered". I have to put that in quotes because this is the shower:

Yes, that is my baby brother in the makeshift clawfoot deathtrap. Good stuff.

We headed off to the garment district to do some "research" for his internship while Mimi stayed in the apt. and WORKED. That's right, folks. We're in NYC and she worked all day. What am I going to DO with these people?
The garment district was fun. We were trying to find cording and some really cool metal beads for some handbags that are being developed where Aaron works. It was payback for me, I suppose. You see, for years I've dragged Aaron to fabric shop after fabric shop in hopes that he might decide he wants to be an interior designer and go into business with me and be my New York based partner. A pipe dream, I know. I SO tried to make it work with he and Nate Berkusbut he cried "too old for me". WHATEVA. I was pretty bored at the trim and bead shops but I soldiered on in hopes that we might get done early and enjoy a nice meal.

He took me to his office in the Meatpacking District. I know, right? DVF!!! The building is way cool and the girls he works for are so cool. They're Irish, have worked for the likes of Galliano, and they treat our Aaron like he might know what he's doing. Love it.



Of course, DVF herself wasn't there (probably sunning in the Hamptons) but it was really neat to get to walk around the offices and see all the happenings.

After that we went to lunch at Pastis. It didn't disappoint. Very yummy food, great atmosphere. I would LOVE to design a kitchen based on the decor. So cool and yet not TRYING to be cool. On the way to lunch we passed the Hotel Gansevoort, which is where I wanted to stay originally, but they didn't have any rooms available (what with it being Gay Pride weekend in NYC and all...). Darn it!

After lunch we headed off to the West Village. Wow! Gorgeous. We went to the Coach store and I found my coveted sandals ON SALE!



So of course, I had to get them in gold.

We walked to SoHo and headed to Burberry. Again, shoe sale. What can I say? I love me some good shoes. I picked up some gorgeous brown suede buckled driving mocs. 'Cause as Aaron so brilliantly stated "You do a lot of driving..."

We headed back to Aaron's apt. in the East Village and ON THE WAY YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT WE SAW. We're walking down the street and I see all these trailers...you know, the kind film crews use. The first one I walk by says "Nico". I say to Aaron "OMIGOD, wouldn't it be AMAZING if they were taping Lipstick Jungle and we got to see Kirby?". Of course, I got the big eye roll. Well, the next trailer said "Kirby". Sweet mother of all things sexy and shirtless. HE WAS HERE. Oh, yes he was. We had missed him, but here's how he looked in all his glory earlier in the day.




Um. Yeah. Robert Buckley is HOT.

So we went back to the apt., gathered Mimi, and checked into our hotel. The Roger is LOVELY and everyone who worked there bent over backwards to make us feel important. The room was really nice. Aaron allowed us to know that Murray Hill, where the Roger is located, is lame, but we didn't care. IT DIDN'T SMELL. nuff said.

We headed off to dinner at Novita, which my friend had recommeded. It was delicious, although they did try to poison Mimi. She ordered the gazpacho and after about three bites I grabbed her arm and told her to cease and desist. There was crab in that there soup! No, she insisted, it's just cheese. Aaron tasted it and also said it was cheese. NUH UH. I was sure. It was crab. And girlfriend is allergic. Lo and behold, we asked the waiter and it was, indeed, crab. In gazpacho. Have you ever? Anyway, she was comped a big glass of wine and two desserts. Whatever works. She was fine, thank goodness.

Aaron went out after dinner and we chose to go to the hotel lounge and have drinky (or two). I had my Lychee Martini (my dessert). Yum. After two glasses of wine Mimi decided we should take a stroll. We headed toward the Empire State Building, which was only two blocks away. Apparently, this is also little Korea. Freaky! Here we were, two white chicks in little Korea, drunk as skunks and totally not concerned. Sweet mother. We did manage to find our way back to the hotel.

Saturday morning Mimi and I got up early and went for a walk. We walked to Chelsea Market, which we vowed to return to when we were a: not smelly and b: had money. We then headed to Meatpacking and up to Union Square and back to our hotel. Two and a half hours. We showered and headed uptown to...where else? Bergdorf's. We had lunch at BG at Bergdorf's.




Absolutely gorgeous restaurant overlooking central park. Designed by Kelly Wearstler, the main room is swathed in a hand-painted de Gournay chinoiserie wallpaper. The green monogrammed leather chairs seal the deal. The back room is done in a yellow and black scheme that is to die for. So sophisticated and yet feminine at the same time. I had scallops with spinach ravioli and a truffle butter sauce. To die for.

With our tummies full and our debit cards not yet drained we headed off to Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, FAO Schwartz, American Girl, to name a few. Tons of fun but Mimi's feet were barkin' so we had to head down to Chelsea really quick to visit Aaron at his other job.



We bought some candles. Nuff said.

We headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We ate at The Park in Chelsea. It was really good.



We then headed to Billy's Bakery. Clearly, Katie Holmes has changed her tune since marrying Tom Cruise since she now swears that Magnolia Bakery is the way to go. I tried the cupcake at Billy's. I wasn't OVERLY impressed, but then again, I'm not a huge cupcake person and I haven't tried Magnolia's so who knows?

Sunday morning we headed to eat (AGAIN) brunch at Jane. It was super delish, but they didn't serve alcohol until noon so no bloody mary's. Damn. Mimi and I bid our farewell to Aaron and headed to Canal St. for some wheeling and dealing. I love me some deals. We got three pairs of "Chanel" sunglasses (the only product I'm willing to buy fake because I constantly lose them) for $40 and we got BabyGirl a "Louis Vuitton" just like Mommy's for $20. Not bad. It was hot as hell. For real. I was dripping with sweat by the time we were done and headed to J. Crew in SoHo. I actually bought an outfit there just so I would have clean clothes to fly home in.

BabyGirl with her bag:



Now, Dr. Daddy had held it together for all of Friday afternoon and night, all Saturday and Saturday night. By Sunday, it was ON. He called me THREE times in freaking Chinatown to ask where the ExLax was 'cause BabyGirl hadn't pooped in three days. Seriously? And then he called to ask where the trash bags were. UMMMMM...UNDER THE GODDAMNED KITCHEN SINK!!!! Oh, yeah, I see them, he says. Sweet.

Time for Mommy to get on home.

We headed for LaGuardia in the middle of the Gay Pride parade and just as a monsoon decided to hit NYC. Serves those mean old trannies right...makeup smearage galore. By the time we got to LaGuardia our flight to Richmond was delayed an hour. And then another hour. Two glasses of wine later we headed back to the gate. Another hour! Damn. I decided to take the bull by the horns and approach the nice looking ticket agent and beg for help. "My final destination is actually Roanoke and I really need to get home to the kids...Dr. Daddy has to be in the OR in the am and I can't leave him high and dry, yadda, yadda, yadda." Sweet, sweet man. He actually managed to rebook me on the only flight in the entire terminal that wasn't cancelled or delayed...the flight to Roanoke! Lucky me, it just so happened that Seanie boy was headed to Roanoke that night to go to VMI in the am and he was able to drive my car back for me. The stars were aligned.

Not so much for Mimi. She ended up not getting back to Richmond until 3am. Atleast she got some emails out of the way!!!

Overall, an awesome trip. I can't wait to go back and see all the things we didn't see and I really can't wait to take BabyGirl someday. She will love it. Dr. Daddy has no interest whatsoever. He's quite content to hang out in his little city forever. Fine by me!