NYC Friday #1

Noon wake up - dang! We miss our complimentary muffin and coffee breakfast! Such is life, let's explore!! The first place we hit is Cheap Jack's Vintage Clothing. Cheap Jack is having a sale! Up to 70% off! Walk in and find racks and racks of clothing from the 20's to the 90's. Funky dresses, killer hats, shoes, accessories... I'm immediately drawn to the disco shirt area (I've owned several in my life and am now down to one very sad disco shirt) - but alas!! The "discount" prices still put my beloved shirts at 80 bucks or more... not happening! But, still fun to look through. I wonder into the basement to find Jeff in the Men's clothing area. Cheap Jack's is seriously filled to the brim with the sweetest clothes... velour, polyester, jean, leather, ?? ... gah! We play lots of dress up and "look at this!" Jeff buys a couple of sweet t-shirts (pin-up tennis girl and Weezer)(which are a reasonable 20 bucks a pop) I wave goodbye to my beautiful disco shirts and we hit the town again. Next stop is Papaya Dog, where Jeff grabs a Philly Cheese Steak and Papaya Drink. I settle for a "Wizard" ice cream - as the name implies, it's magical, with nuts and chocolate and magic. We sit on the steps of the New York Library to eat and people watch. I'm actually really into pigeon watching as well. There's a really decrepit one that's hanging around us. I chase him. He's not really into it. Seen worse.
We hail a NYC cab to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) it's free day after 3:30, but we're early, so we walk down to Central Park.
Central Park is absolutely beautiful. Lush, peaceful. I see a turtle, we pass a kid's fair and walk up to this little wood shelter where you can sign out games. Jeff and I choose checkers and I play THE FIRST GAME OF CHECKERS IN MY LIFE. I lose brutally. Round 2 we tie. Checkers is fun though! Good stuff. It's starting to rain and MoMA's free, so we pack up and head out. Animals here are so sophisticated. On our way we pass a dog who's a foot from a squirrel and neither of them take any concern. Come on dog!! What are you doing?? Squirrel! Wake up! What is going on?!
We get to MoMA and there's people everywhere on the street, 4 across, around the whole block. We find the entrance and discover we're not the only ones in on this "free day" thing, so we have to line up as well. Walk around the block again to find the end of the line. We pass the American Folk Art Museum when we're walking that ALSO has free Friday at 5:30 - with live music! Hmm? Then I hop out of line to grab a drink at the vendor. I see Hawaiian punch - OMG! I get really flustered and excited and buy it and find Jeff and he says "Oh, not Tahiti treat." SHIT! That's right! That's the special good one. The Hawaiian punch is pretty lame, I pout and swig it down. We get museum tix and make our way through the swarm. No backpacks allowed, so I fold mine funny and pretend it's a modern art purse thing. Totally fool them. Get in and the art is pretty strange. I actually am frustrated by a lot of it. I can't see the talent, my emotions aren't provoked... I dunno. It's kinda lame-o. Plus, it's soooo busy. One cool thing we see is this Japanese artist's mom's house frame and everything she ever owned laid out. It's supposed to showcase the "waste not" attitude of that gen and was pretty cool to see. The museum is 4 levels and huge, so we bust through each and get out. I apologize to Jeff.
It's pouring rain, so we seek shelter at the front of this church to rest our feet. The rain inspires us to check out the other museum.
The Museum of Folk Art is cool! Especially after the MoMA madness. It's pretty empty and peaceful. There's kaleidoscope inspired quilts, wood sculptures of alien monsters, crazy water colour paintings of kids fighting evil adults... I dig it. A lot.
The band begins to play downstairs and we catch their set. Jessie Murphy in The Woods, not a folk band (suprisingly), but an Indie trio of girls who pull out different funky instruments for every song it seems. My two favorite tunes feature horses - one, inspired by a Derby horse that broke both front legs coming in second, and another about being excited to be a horse again (reincarnation style, methinks.) The band ends, it's still raining and my hooves and head are sore, so we hail a cab back to the hotel.
Pain killers and beer. I'm good to go again! We grab dinner on our way to the Upright Citizen's Brigade (A sketch comedy institution/bar) Hubbard brings his slice of pizza into the sushi place I'm magnetically drawn to. I indulge in the form of avacado peanut and veggie tempura rolls.
At UCB Theater we line up, confusion involving tickets and bathrooms, line up again, get in, front row seats! Wee! The show is called "Backyard Brawl" 2 hilarious sketch groups, Bleak!Comedy and TheStraightMen battle it out through 6 sketches, looking for audience votes to win their way back next week. It's hosted by another couple of comedy groups, Sidecar and M.A.D. who perform also.
I laugh a lot... till I cry at one point during M.A.D.'s "Moist" sketch... (you'll hear me using this word a lot more frequently now) The show's only 5 bucks - and there's comedy here 7 nights a week, so if you're in NYC - GO! (Did I mention one of the founders is my beloved Amy Poehler?) Upright Citizens Brigade also has lots of comedy classes you can take, which Jeff and I dream of as part of the NY life we are creating.
Show's out and we stop by a recommended bar "Stout" for a drink. A big black bouncer comes out singing, so I'm pretty sure it'll be a fun place. I stroll in non-chalantly, then realize Jeff isn't with me and find him getting IDed outside. The bouncers call me a cradle robber! How old do I look?? Old enough, baby. Okay, where am I? Yes. So I grab a Manhattan, Hubbard, a Wild Horse Double Stout and we sit in a non busy section and chill. The bar's pretty cool, but there's not much to do, so we finish drinks and wander home, peeking into Irish pubs along the way.
2:30am, back at the hotel, beer and karaoke googling. Duece Bigalo, European Gigalo is the bedtime story. Hey! APW tomorrow! YES! To say I heart New York is an extreme understatement at this point. Great first full day.