New York: Part Two

So yesterday I promised to try and wrap this all up, we'll see if I can manage.


-Little Italy
We didn't spend much time here, mostly we just stopped in for a Gelato (yum)! But while getting in the Cab I saw some of the BIGGEST CHEESE EVER....I wish I'd had time to get a good picture, I really did try. 

-Naps *yay*
We switched hotels on Sunday afternoon. So byebye hooker hotel, hello Marrakech! It was fun, very european seeming. In that there were dozens of stairs, no elevator, and when you relaxed and fell onto the bed you regretted it and immediately said "OW!" as a spring jabbed you in the back. But it was really a lot of fun!


-Broadway: Chicago
YAY! We wanted to see "The Book of Mormon" but it was all sold out, so we went to go see Chicago, since we had only ever seen the movie. It was lots of fun. Not the most fabulous production ever, but still fun to watch! I picked up a sound track (I do these things)

I had to cut my toes out of that shot, but It managed to be okay. See, I REALLY DID GO! I think the best part was that a guy played Mary Sunshine and sang falsetto beautifully. It was AMAZING. I'd like to keep him.
















-Street Meats:
I  never understood Zach's obsession with street vendor hotdogs....until now. I want one just talking about it. When you go to the city, get one, they may seem sketch but they are really really fabulous.

-The Empire State Building
Yay, another Meg Ryan Moment! We hit up the Empire State Building at midnight. It was windy, and freezing, but WONDERFUL. Here, this is the only picture we have that I want to share (the rest are all real kissy and you don't want to see that!):

-Arepas
If you have never eaten Venezulean food, go do it. Arepas are WONDERFUL. They're filling, and meat stuffed, and...just yum! This was kinda a foodie trip too I suppose. This is what an Arepa looks like:

Go eat one, now. You will enjoy it, I promise. You can even get vegetarian options! Also, if you can, get some fried plantains. These are also tres fabulous, and one of my other favorites.












-Toy Tokyo
It's a toy store, for growed up people! They have all kinds of anime characters, kids meal style toys, etc. It's a lot of fun! I picked up Freud and Stitch:

They are now living on my junk toys shelf. Along with all my other little figurines etc. I think they're pretty cool. Also, I more or less LOVE stitch. I wish he was my dog. Not that I don't love my dog, but...just saying....that would be really neat. Right?


-MORE YARN!
I know, you just had heart palpitations. Me too. After Arepas and Toy Tokyo with Darcy and Dave (the ones what just got married), Zach let me drag him to Habu Textiles. YAY YARNS! This place is located in a strange area. You walk past all these spandex stores and fakey hand bag locations to this nondescript brown door. You go in the door, to the entry way (it feels a little like Men In Black), and up to the 8th floor. Then you go around all these strange corners and walk into...THE YARN ROOM! Which is unsupervised. I had a moment where I was tempted to rake as much yarn into my bag as I could and run for freedom. But then it hit me 1) thats totally wrong, 2) I'd feel bad and take it all back 10 minutes later, 3) they'd know it was a knitter, because burglars steal money, not yarn....


I did manage to get myself under control and picked up some goodies. Let me go dig out my yarns so I can give you better details, here's what I picked up:

 On the left there is some  Laos Handspun Silk (on a straw) 630 yards (562m) of pretty jewel toned wonderful.


On the right is water soluble vinyl coated cashmere 1250 yards (1117m) of fluffy goodness. You wash it when you're done knitting and it gets all fluffier and lovely.

 These are both 2 skeins of Habu's N-75 fine merino, 747 yards (667m) a cone. The green is for Lily, as she asked for some yarns, and the pink is for myself. I'm thinking lovely spring shawls!


















After this we had lunch with Zach's wonderful wonderful cousins, who I adored, and want to keep. Then we hit up LION BRAND YARN STUDIO! Yes, it really is there, no 
I'm not making this up. Zach picked me out some buttons:

If you can't read those (its possible) from left to right they say
Yarn Ho
SHHH, I'm counting! (he hears this a lot)
I'm a Yaaaaarn Pirate!!
S.A.B.L.E. Stash amassed beyond life expectancy (he says I'm close on this one)
Real Live Knitter. No you can't touch me. (psh, I'd totally let someone touch me...probably...if they were clean...)
and MFRA (Multiple fiber related addictions)


What can I say, the boy knows me! I love them and am trying to come up with a fun way to display them. Any thoughts? I also picked up another skein of some Hometown USA to finish a hat I started on my way over there and then ran out for....


We then parted from Zach's cousins and went on:
-The Great Hockey Hunt
There was a Washington Capitol's game Zach wanted to watch. We hopped several bars in hopes of finding one that would play it but had no such luck as there was also a Rangers game...JERKS! We even tried to go to ESPN zone in Times Square, but it has closed down. Sad day...so instead we went SHOPPING!!


-Shoes:
Need I say more?

They make me feel lumberjack tastic. I love them. They're fabulous. Feel free to disagree. I saw them and just HAD TO HAVE them. Zach probably thinks I'm silly right now.
















-Accidental Romantic Dinner
After all this we were fairly pooped out. So we started hunting for foods. We walked over to Hell's Kitchen (a neighborhood in NYC where there's lots of foods) and began our restaurant hunt. We walked between two Thai places and saw the prettiest window display of artichokes and cheese and other fresh veggies, and we decided (thanks to the restaurant pep-lady) to go in and give it a whirl. It was called the Trattoria Casa di Issaco. If you couldn't tell, it was italian. The food was FABULOUS. The atmosphere was wonderful. There was house made sangria and grappa and we tried all his good new cheese. He spoke english at such a quick pace we barely followed what he was saying and just let him tell us what was good to eat. I stole a picture from the web for you that I think really sums the place up:

The littme man in red, sloching while talking to the lady in red over in the right of the photo? That's Isacco (or Isacc). He's a lot of fun, and he likes to get people drunk. Just saying.















-More Times Square
On our way out we swung back past Times Square for one last hurrah (and to get to the Subway), and I picked up a sweater I'd been lusting after all weekend.

It kinda makes my couch look fat...Gosh I hope it doesn't do that to me! I think it's most excellent. I particularly like the paint splatter. It makes me think of the NYC graffiti. It's just a fun thing to have...


-Two hours of sleep
We went back to the hotel, and I zipped up a toe for Zach's socks that I'm making him, so I could figure out how big around they needed to be. This way I can maybe make some progress on them before I see him again. I meant to try and work on them for the whole trip, but as you can see it was a whirlwind tour. We finally went to bed around 1:30, and got up at 4am to catch a cab and go to the airport!

-The New York Airport Experience
I've never before understood the airport jokes in the papers where they pat someone down and get all personal and stuff until being in NYC. The man made me take of my glasses (WHAT AM I GONNA SMUGGLE IN THOSE) to go through the security checkpoint. I just thought I'd share.


-Home....ZZzZzzZzzzZzz
The first thing I did when I got home? Pick up some food. Eat it, then crash. For 24 hours straight. YAY SLEEP! Then I woke up, rolled over, and saw Hank....

-Oops I forgot I owned a fish?
For those of you who don't know about my fish, his name is Hank Who Lives in a Tank. He's a betta. Zach bought him for me since I can't afford a dog (financially or time-wise). He was doing his "I'M STARVING" dance, the tank had a layer of slime along the top of the water, and it was only about half full because of evaporation. Thankfully, I managed to get to him in time and Hank survived the experience. But, it was a close call. 


That's all for vacation! Lily and I are partying it up with yarns this weekend. Woo hoo! I'll be sure to take pictures of our yarn-ventures for you.


What is every one else doing this weekend?


PS- Happy (Late) St. Patricks Day!


PPS- sorry for the weird photo/text spacing, the blog and I are having a little tiff