Sleepless in the city that never sleeps

So, I have officially spent my first 24 hours in New York. My flight left Phoenix at 6am Sunday, which meant I left the house at 4am... my usual bed time these days. So, I chose not to sleep. After dealing with a clusterfuck at the baggage check-in counter and talking my way through an epic security line, I made it to my gate just in time to board. I slept terribly on the plane and arrived in New York around 2pm east coast time. After I grabbed my bag, I met my maternal aunt Bia, whom I have not seen since I was 5, and we parted for the city. Two hours on the subway and we finally made it to my cousins place in the Bronx. (P.S. if you want to go to Manhattan, fly La Guardia, not JFK. Lesson learned.)

My aunt, whom I quickly realized was a terribly flighty lady, is absolutely adorible. She has the personality of my mom in some bizarre ways. What's more is she looks nothing like my mom... none of her sibblings do. It must be a Creole thing.

Anyway, we headed back to the house where I immediately passed out. After my three hour nap, my cousin and his boyfriend arrived. He is hilarious and terribly social... I felt right at home. 20 minutes after his arrival, he ran out the door to get booze. Sunday night became Margarita Night - I was down for that.

The next morning, I got up for work. I had a hard time sleeping; thoughts of what my next month would be like kept going through my head. But, I made it to work after two subway transfers and 2 blocks of walking. The building I work in consists of [literally] a tiny golden door with the street address on the side. You walk in to a small room with 3 elevators and a security guard at a desk. I made my way up to the 21st floor, amazed to find a beautiful lofted office area with an epic view of the city.

I work for three older gentlemen that make documentaries and I spent most of my day transcribing interviews and reading articles on American Cinematographer in my spare time. I grabbed a quick lunch at the restaurant downstairs with the lunch stipend I get (I'm pathetically excited about this, my dears).

After work, I was on the verge of passing out so I grabbed a coffee and headed to 49th and 9th. On my way over, a man said "I love you" and held out his hand full of change (I don't buy love so I smiled politely and kept moving). Another man said "God bless you. You are so cute." I smiled once again, and his friend yelled "He's 45" as I continued to make my way to the shop. Once there, I met up with my aunt, cousin and his adorable friend Diego. Diego is another actor and dancer, and we chatted about his problematic weekend at auditions for a bit. Diego left and we joined another one of my cousins friends at the Hudson to kayak. Yes, I kayaked, and I didn't even fall in! I'll put up an actual pic of us kayaking later... but for now, you can look at the random woman I snapped.

We went to dinner at this beautiful hole-in-the-wall Thai place called "Room Service." Diego and Brandon, my cousins boyfriend, joined us and we spent the night talking about conspiracy theories and fashion. The food was great and the atmosphere was amazing - silver walls, slick black tables and metal chairs filled the room. They had a massive crystal chandelier caged inside of a glass box in the middle of the room, and old framed mirrors were mounted to the ceiling. I definitely approve of the sexy lighting this place had. If you are ever in NY, check it out.

Now I'm back at my cousin's, about to watch "The Darjeeling Limited" and make these ridiculous hair covered headphones with Brandon. This weekend I'm off to Vermont with Alex and Christy... I could definitely get used to this.

Less-Than-Three You, Monique

Listening to: New York ambience