Day 9 - Sunday May 30th

This morning we ate across the street at Pershing Cafe. It was actually really good. I was still feeling off so I just had a fruit smoothie, but it was the bomb. Terra met up with us and then we all rode up to Yankee Stadium together for the game.

I swear, the shit you hear yelled and chanted from the stands at that stadium is like a fucking stand up comedy act. "Keep those balls comin douchebag!" "Asshole! (to a Cleveland Indian player) Your mother is a Yankee fan!!" "Get off your knees, you're blowing the game!!" Priceless. I love New York. And that new stadium has the coldest, most amazing drinking fountains ever.

Afterwards dad said Terra and I had to pick something out so we got matching pajama bottom shorts with the Yankees logo all over them. Fun! We headed back to the hotel and dropped off all our stuff. Then we went back out front and Terra asked the bellman "Where is the place where you can get the best pizza ever?" The dude said it's in the Bronx. She worded the question to include "within walking distance" and he directed us to John's Pizzeria. We got to the intersection where it was supposed to be, but it wasn't. We asked a cop and he didn't know. We asked hiim where the best pizza ever was and he said up in the Bronx. Guess we're gonna have to go to the fucking Bronx next time. Christ. Then dad said he saw someone with a John's Pizzeria box. Terra asked where and dad pointed the guy out. Terra ran and weaved through the crowd and found the person. She said "Where did you get that box from John's Pizzeria?" and they looked at her and said "Uh...John's Pizzeria." She said no, she meant like where is John's Pizzera. Duh. It was just another block down. And it was fabulous. We all shared a margharita pizza, spinach ravioli and chocolate gelato.

We headed back to the hotel and I was walking kind of funny, sort of hunched over like I was trying to be secretive for whatever reason. Terra said, ever so sweetly, "Honey, walk like you own it....not like you have to poo." This is the slogan for the rest of our lives.

We took some fun pictures in the lobby of the hotel:

Magda came by the hotel a little while later too and hung out for a bit. She wanted to see pictures of everyone at Care-A-Lot. We said our goodbyes, but not before doing another photo shoot in the lobby:

Terra and I went back upstairs and she stayed the night and it was soooooooo fun.

Day 8 - Saturday, May 29th

This morning I slept until after 11. It was exactly what I needed. I was still feeling sick, but definitely getting better and better. I checked out and then went to a coffee shop and waited for my dad to pick me up. How cool is that? I love it when things work out so perfectly. He pulled up and then we checked into our new hotel. I had scored another rockin deal through Priceline - the Grand Hyatt Midtown right on Park Avenue. I was super psyched. And it was just as Grand as it sounds. Our room was huge:

Dad sat in the chair with the room service menu and kept exclaiming at the prices "$140 dollars for a goddamn bottle of Captain Morgan? You've gotta be fucking kidding me". "$28 for eggs? And the oatmeal off the kids menu is $3? That just doesn't add up." It was so hilarious.

I rested a bit and then we went to dinner at The Oak Room at the Plaza. It was soooooo beautiful:

Outside of the Plaza and the lobby:

Afterwards we met Terra and Jim for a drink at the Belmont Lounge. What a beautiful place! I loved it. We sat in a private little booth with big thick curtains that you could pull shut (we didn't). Jim was the cutest thing ever and I totally love him and Terra together. We all had Peppermint Patty's and hung out until it was time for them to go to their dinner reservation.

Dad and I went into Filene's Basement in Union Square. It's actually like 5 stories up. I think that is hilarious. And there I found the world's most perfect suitcase. I knew I loved Jessica Simpson for a reason.

Day 6 - May 27th

Today I just had the urge to go to Rockelfeller Center. So I did. I stopped at Magnolia Bakery and got this totally cute "Carrie" cupcake, among other things.

Shortly after, Terra met up with me and we walked over to Bryant Park. It was a beautiful day out.

This is on the walk over:

And these are in Bryant Park:

I talked to David. And then Danielle. And then Davina. Life was good.

Terra does this great thing like 3 times a day. She stops whatever she is doing and takes a one minute vacation to visulaize and manifest whatever her little heart desires. I love it.

We went to find a cafe with internet and stopped here, where I had the most beautiful (and the strongest!) cappucino of my life.

And eventually we made our way over to see Sex and the City 2. I was starting to feel a little woozy, but figured it was just from the uber strong coffee. And I really wanted to see the movie. The first theatre we went to was insane. We walked about 20 blocks up to the next one and I had a banana in my hand the whole time. The jokes were endless. Terra looked over at this one guy and said "I like your style". I thought that wsa really sweet, but he looked at her like she was nuts. We thought maybe he didn't speak English or something, but then he muttered "Thanks." The theatre in Chelsea was way better. The next show that had tickets available was two hours away so we went and waited at Starbucks until it was time. I had to pee and may I just say that my experience urinating at this Starbucks made a porter potty look like a fucking golden toilet.

I was waiting outside the door (it's a one person at a time kinda bathroom) and I noticed some crap smeared on the ground, but didn't really think anything of it. This is New York. People walk everywhere. Floors are dirty. Then this dude came up behind me and got in line and all the sudden started exclaiming that there was shit on the floor. Like actual shit. He walks in front of me to get closer to the shit and he says that it's fresh because it's still glistening. I'm still pretty unphased by all this and really don't understand what all the fuss is about. So there's shit on the ground outside the bathroom...whatever. Worse has happened. And I'm still waiting. There's lots of banging around going on in the bathroom and it occurs to me that it's probably an employee in there cleaning up whatever shit storm started with shitting outside the bathroom. But nope. A few minutes later out walks this grey haired man in a really nice three piece suit that was almost completely saturated from the waist down. He sort of blocked his face and scurried out saying "There's no more toilet paper in there". I grab a stack of napkins and go in to face the storm. And whoa, was it ever a fucking storm. There was shit EVERYWHERE. I shit you not. There was shit on the floor, all over the toilet seat, on the trash can, in the sink, on the guard rail next to the toilet. EVERYWHERE. And the smell. Oh christ, the smell. I seriously considered squatting in the corner and just peeing there. What would the fucking difference be? There was shit everywhere anyway. But I didn't. I laid napkins down covering the toilet seat, which actually kind of pained me because it seemed so wasteful. But I wanted to save my ass from having some strangers shit all over it. That was just more important in the moment. And I peed. I got the hell out of there. I also did what I swore I would never do - flush the toilet with my foot and open the bathroom door with a papertowel.

After that debacle we headed back to the theatre. This is us sitting on the floor waiting for them to let us in.

The movie was good, but I felt like I was watching it going back and forth between two different people. The one part of me that could totally appreciate the glitz and the glamour. And the other part of me that was annoyed with the relationship drama. And annoyed with the over indulgence. The girls take a vacation together and upon arrival there are 4 separate Mercedes with drivers waiting for them. Why would you want to each ride in separate cars? And stay in separate rooms? Why all the separateness? But I enjoyed it for what it was and was glad that I had seen it. There was a funny line "Hell to the no". We thought we'd start saying "Hell to the yeah" since we'd probably be saying yes a lot more than no and we really wanted to be able to use that line a lot.

During, and especially afterwards - whatever bug I had caught was catching up to me. I was shivery and achy and felt like I was dying. Terra was sweet as pie and we were right near a Whole Foods. Of course we were. She went in there and got me some real food. All I had eaten that day was crap from Magnolia, that really strong cappucino, and a banana. Not a good idea. And I was dehydrated. No wonder my body was pissed. She took me back to her house to continue taking care of me and I got to meet three of the sweet guys she is staying with - Matt, Corey and Elliot.

Day 5 - Wednesday May 26th

Today I had very little sense of time. I don't remember what time it was when I woke up and headed to Union Square. It felt like I was there for a while, and it was great. The farmer's market was set up and it was so colorful and vibrant. I wanted to buy everything. Hanging baskets of flowers were everywhere. So were samples of "the sweetest early-in-the-season crop of strawberries ever" (according to the bald dude I bought them from). I also got cherry tomatoes to go with my hunk of cheese.

I went back to my perfect spot and laid down my scarf as a blanket. I napped when I was tired and ate when I was hungry. I wrote when I felt like. I zoned out and meditated and stared at people and did nothing. It was great. Then it got hot and my tree wasn't doing it for me anymore so I moved to Central Park and basically did the same thing. I went back to my pefect nap spot. And I napped. I love that I can nap in my old age. And I spent a lot of time just thinking. Thinking about how great it was that I was there and how lucky I was. And what brought me there and all of the seemingly random, but not random at all, events that all pieced together now. I remember thinking back in October that I "should" be freaking out with all that had happened. But I just wasn't. And I knew that it would all make sense eventually. I remember meditating and giving thanks and just knowing that one day I'd be able to look back on everything and say "Well if I hadn't (fill-in-the-blank with whatever unfortunate event) then I wouldn't be laying here on this feather pillow having jamba juice dripped into my mouth by a beautifully tan North Shore hottie". Or whatever. So then it got me thinking about all those instances in my life.

So for instance....if I hadn't taken that job at The Mercado Group I never would have met Alex. And had my heart severely broken. If I hadn't taken the new job at Best Software and had it suck so bad....if I hadn't wrecked my car....if the lease wasn't up on my apartment...then I never would have moved to New York. If I hadn't moved there then I wouldn't have been caught (by my boyfriend) blowing my ex boyfriend on a park bench. If I hadn't gotten caught then I wouldn't have gone back to Arizona for a visit and then missed my plane back to New York and then decided to just stay in Arizona. What if I didn't go back when I did? Would I not have met Bobby? What if we didn't fall in love and get married? And I didn't have that dream that prompted me to google birth and find the description of a doula and quit my foot-in-the-door job at the Arizona Republic to doula full-time? What if Bobby and I hadn't gone to Italy? Would we have ever found out about dual citizenship? Or even cared to know? If my love for Italy wasn't so deep I never would've stuck with the citizenship process. What if I had picked a different doula training and I hadn't met Kewal? What if Kewal hadn't prompted me for months to come down and try a class at the yoga studio she runs? Which led to me trying a class and buying a one year unlimited pass and falling in love with Kundalini Yoga and ultimately meeting Ross. What if I hadn't had a whirlwind relationship with Ross and got dumped in a really unfortunate moment? What if I hadn't ended my marriage and been looking for a place to live when I was? What if I had taken that other room I was looking at downtown right by the farmers market? It was fabulous. And I remember really going back and forth and wishing I could see into the future and see what was going to make me happy. What was it about David and his house that drew me in? What if I hadn't seen his ad? What if he hadn't responded to my inquiry? What if I had skipped that December doula meeting? Would I still have met Danielle? What if I hadn't taken her up on the body talk session? What if she hadn't asked me to lunch afterwards? What if she hadn't convinced me to go to the hot springs that first weekend? It's so crazy, right?

Anyway, eventually I was made aware of the time because Magda called and wanted to meet for dinner. I walked from the park over to Columbus Circle to use the bathroom in Border's. I stumbled into Keane doing a free live show inside Border's. It was so awesome because I had been listening to Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" a ton that day on my IPOD. I love that song. He played like 5 songs from his new album. And then he closed with an old favorite...wait for it....Somewhere Only We Know! How cool is that?

Then I met Magda and she took me to Ara Caracas and we had some bangin Venezualen food. A sort of thick pita pocket filled with a big hunk of cheese, fried plantains and avacados. And coconut milkshakes for dessert! Yum!

P.S. - I look like a ree ree in this picture because I had just spilled a bunch of my shake all over my laugh right as this picture was taken.

Day 4 - Tuesday May 25th

I spent another lovely morning in Union Square before meeting up with Terra Rose. She was in the Starbucks under the Empire State Building. From there we walked back up 5th Avenue and went into BCBG for a fashion show.

Then we stopped at Rockefeller Center so that we could buy Martin Joseph some chocolates at Godiva. Terra bought a few extra and she handed them out to people who looked like they might need one. The first guy was so sweet. He was a security guard at the elevators and his name was Ronnie. He was so touched and couldn't believe we didn't want anything in return. Then we gave one to the man at the front desk who claimed he didn't really like chocolate. Well, he liked this one.

Rockefeller Center....

Then we went to Tiffany's and told Martin about our day. We gave him his chocolate and he gave us hugs and kisses on both cheeks. Then we tried on diamonds!

Me with $440,000 on my finger.

Yowzah! 3 carats!

We had so much fun and the woman who helped us was super nice. She said all of their diamonds are "conflict free" and she gave us some literature. Then Terra and I talked about how simply we do live and what our values and beliefs are....but how we really do want diamond rings. And we know that diamonds don't mean anything, it's not like someone loves you more because they got you a huge rock....but dammit, there's just something about a diamond.

H&M was our next stop and then we walked over to meet Terra's friend, Alex, for dinner. She was super cute and took us to this great restaurant - Vintage on 9th Avenue. We sat in the garden out back and shared a bunch of delicious food.

Then we stopped at this beautiful spot. There is a thick marble bench surrounding the entire fountain so it was perfect lounging. The fountain sits in the middle of the plaza and we were surrounded by tall buildings on all four sides. What a great spot! We sat there and talked a lot more. I had been thinking about David a lot so I sent him a text. He is so sweet, I just adore him.

Then Terra and I were cuddling or something and this beautiful woman walked by in this skin tight purple dress and high heels. I told her I loved her dress and she looked beautiful. Terra laughed and said she probably thought I was a lesbian because I was practically in Terra's lap and then gushing about how beautiful this girl was. It was funny. That woman and her man friend walked around to the other side of the fountain and then hopped up on the marble block and did an amazing photo shoot. We were wondering if they were doing engagement photos or something. It was really beautiful.