Holy crap balls, I'm so jealous right now. It sounds like you had an amazing time! And that Turkish restaurant sounds delish. I'm glad you had such a great trip!
I wish I had had more free time when I was in NYC. I plan on going back someday soon. I definitely wanna check out all the museums and try all sorts of cool food. It's amazing how one city contains so much life.
I hope you and Wenxiao have safe flights tomorrow and that the bus ride doesn't wear you out. Although, I do love an occasional bumpy bus. Haha.... my dirty mind.
Neil...hmmm. Neil, Neil, Neil. I vaguely remember meeting him, but it's been so long I've completely forgotten what he looks like. You should scan a pic for us if you have one.

If I don't get back on here before Christmas, let me go and ahead and say... Merry Christmas ladies!!!
xoxo

Goodbye, New York. Tomorrow I fly back to Wisconsin (Chicago, anyway) with Wenxiao. It's been a short week. Even with all the walking -and the &#%!!ing five-story climb up and down every time we leave the apartment- it's really flown by.

Today I walked down to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Four blocks, I think? Remarkably short walk. Wenxiao had to pick up her boyfriend at the train station so I went by myself (my first solo NYC excursion! A whole four blocks- lol) Did the Egyptian exhibit, the fashion one (so friggin cool. I felt so smart for recognizing stuff in it), part of the American wing, different personal collections... I'm not even sure what I saw. It was ridiculous, WAY too much museum. They need to, like, put hotels in the museum so you can have a nap, or stay for the night, and take another crack in the morning. It's way too much to do in one go. Ahh, I just gave up and came home after three hours (so wimpy, I know)

So tired. We went to a Turkish restaurant on 81st called Beyoglu tonight. We being: Wenxiao, Iggy (her bf), Bailey, Neil (her friend) and, of course, moi. I had zucchini pancakes and dilo (?) rolls filled with feta cheese. Very good. It was a little heavy for me, but that was just a today thing. Wenxiao made me scrambled eggs and toast for lunch, and I couldn't finish that- today has been an off day, food-wise. I had to take some medication during dinner, too, so that isn't helping :/

And tomorrow I leave. Wenxiao and I are getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the airport- no idea if we're cabbing it or not. Once we get through check in, I'll probably go to her gate with her since she flies an hour and a half before I do. On a different airline. Yeah, it's a pain, but $100 price difference is worth it. Then I go to my gate and wait. Once she touches down in Chicago, she'll have to wait for me. Then we're taking a bus back to Wisconsin, and picking up the car at the bus station.

It took me 11 hours last time. I am not looking forward to tomorrow.

But, fingers crossed, we'll get home in time to see my cousin Shawn. He lives down in Alabama so we don't see him very often, but he's coming up to see Shanna (his sister) He leaves Saturday morning, though, so I don't have much of a window. And I have to call Neil. He called me yesterday to see if I wanted to do anything (completely forgetting that I was out-of-town) You remember Neil, Whit. You saw him at Summerfest. I'm pretty sure Deb was in the bathroom, but I remember you saying he was hot ;) He is a sweetheart. And he's in town through the 14th (he lives in Vegas now) so


I like Ashlee Simpson's new song. Ugh. (listen)

Blah New York! I feel like the most boring person here, but if Wenxiao's anything to go by, I'm not as odd as I think. We went shopping today in Soho. I bought some stuff at Uni Glow and a sweater at Zara. There were so many things I liked at Zara (mostly coats- they have very cute, very fun coats here. None of this 'Everything must be black!' mentality that runs rampant in Wisconsin) but I'm on a budget and a coat would eat up pretty much all of it. So instead I have two sweaters, two long sleeve shirts, three cute Japanese t-shirts and a pair of jeans. And ~ $60 left. Tomorrow we're doing vintage!

Around 6pm we met a few of Wenxiao's friends at a resturant called Bar Pitti. Apparently famous people eat there sometimes (not this time) Bailey (girl, not dog) said she'd seen Julianne Moore there, and some actor whose name I can't remember, but definitely recognized. I can see why they do. It's a small, very cozy, Italian resturant and the food is great without being absurdly expensive. We had five people and it averaged out at ~ $22 a person. That's with wine.

So it was Wenxiao and I (obviously), Bailey, girlfriend of Wenxiao's, snarky tiny thing (you guys would like her); and Ty and Brandon, who used to work with Wenxiao. Ty was sweet and sort of spacey. He was on the other end of the table so I didn't talk to him much, but Bailey thought he was kind of random and odd. I liked him. Brandon was hot. And sweet. And artistic. They're both in graphic design- Ty did all the layout and graphic stuff for Urban Outfitters. Brandon does CD covers and posters for bands here in NY. And they also work at FactSet doing really boring, piddly shit, which made me feel better ;)

They were really nice to me, though. I'd been so freaked about the whole thing (I am monumental suck with new people) But they really included me and responded so well to the art thing. Most of the people Wenxiao's worked with/been friends with are in more academic/technical fields, they don't seem appreciate art as a talent or a discipline. It's more that competitive smarty pants things, and let's face it, I'm not going to win that against those people. I feel like a cave man with those people. But yeah.. Ty and Brandon were really cool, and I'm finally comfy around Bailey. Bails is cool, she's just in a rough spot right now (nasty ass, very public break up and oh yeah, works with the ex) so it's touchy there, ya know? That's not the easiest time to play Let's Be Friends!

So tomorrow we're going vintage- that's the plan, anyway. No idea what we're doing Wednesday. Thursday Wenxiao's boyfriend is in town (he lives in Boston) and then we leave early Friday morning. Wow. Hadn't realized it was so close.

So far it's been kind of crazy, and not in the best ways. I flew in Friday. It took me 10 hours to get here - from leaving my house, to getting to Wenxiao's apartment, 10 hours. Completely insane. I actually got a bruise on my shoulder for carrying my bag around, and I didn't even pack that much!

Yesterday we took the train out to Connecticut where she used to live. When she moved out t New York, she left her car at the condo she'd been living in. Her ex-roommate was supposed to keep an eye on it while Wenxiao tried to sell it. But Kirsten is a bit of a selfish bitch, totally ignored it, and it got towed. Wenxiao didn't even know until her parents got a letter (it's in their name) It's been there for weeks. We 'bargained' got the price down to $200, but omg. It's such a piece of crap, I don't know how she's ever going to get the money back that she needs. The whole time we were driving to her friend Mike's, Wenxiao kept freaking out, saying the car was going to blow up. It wasn't, but it really sounded horrible. Remember when we went to Deb's mom's work and drove around in that truck? Kinda sounded like that, and a Honda should never sound like that.

We did 40 on the interstate, with hazard lights on. People must have hated us ^^

Yeah they used to stick Tom with all the Christmas work, too. He'd get maybe three days to come home. With a 5-6 hour drive each way, it made for a very grumpy Christmas. Deb remembers that drive, it's absolutely mindnumbing. But working on Christmas? Totally ridic. Poor Tyler.

He's awesome. Say hi to him for me, okay? And your mom. And your cat. You get a rugby tackle of love and joy :D Only the best for my Whit.

I realized the other night that my brother being down in Charlotte for Christmas, he could see his brother. Half-brother. I think his name is Michael. I've never met him, but I know Tom met him for drinks when we we're down for my grandpa's funeral. I think he works at a bank down there. But he could be going down to Alabama for Christmas with his parents, who knows.

Omg Cirque Du Soleil is amazing! I really want to see them. You're so, so lucky. I doubt they'll ever come to Wisconsin. Which is silly! If they came during the winter, it'd be just like Russia!

I do not MySpace. I'm slightly MySpace retarded, but mostly it just weirds me out. I had to do a lot of research for the library, and it really turned me off from the whole thing. Wenxiao keeps trying to convince me to go on Facebook, but I'm way too self-conscious. Maybe once I start school, but I doubt it. I'm the hermit. It's just my antisocial way.