New York City

NYC Is A Fabulous City.

PaulasPonderings4 Comments

Buildings in Tribeca neighborhood of New York City. I spent the week in NYC God do I LOVE this city…  so vibrant, energetic, exciting.  It is true, the City never sleeps!

Isn’t the picture fabulous!?!  Big thanks to JoeyBLS Photography for taking such a fabulous photo!

I was in town to visit with customers and help with a company event.  In between, I had time to catch up with a very close friend.  Here are my thoughts after processing the week.

  • Arrived town and had dinner @ Artisanal Bistro with my good friend.   The restaurant was delicious and it was so good to catch up in person!  We ended up having a fabulous time… did I mention he is extremely handsome?!?  I know, a bit of arm candy for Paula!!
  • I stayed at the Tribeca Grand Hotel . It was a great hotel – gorgeous rooms, excellent customer service.  I would consider myself lucky to stay there again. Picture is of the building that I could see from my room on the 8th floor.
  • According to a customer of mine, my company’s only redeeming quality  is a colleague of mine.  I love my new team.
  • NY men like to say, before they let it all out, that they are going to unleash it all, after all, they are “from NY”.  Apparently being from NYC means you are open to tell it like it is.  I LOVE the directness.
  • There are a lot of non-white folks with white babies in this town.  I know,  I know, they are nannies and babysitters.
  • Kids walk in NYC (well, really pulled by their parents really).  Parents don’t slow down for their kids, their kids keep up.  Kids do not set the pace in NYC, the parents (or babysitters) do.   Certainly helps keep the pace and reduces the number of abrupt stops while walking through the City.
  • And I’ve not seen a “double wide” stroller as of yet….  People stack their kids on top of each other. Love it.  There should be room on the sidewalk for everyone, it is not for people who want to hog sidewalks with their buggies.
  • Women are very fashionable in NYC, men are so put together and handsome.  I like that people dress up, don’t do everything in casual attire.

I loved the trip. I’m so happy that I have customers in NYC, and that I get to go to this fabulous city on a regular basis.  Yeah me!

I will have to learn to pace myself though, I’m home today, Saturday night, nursing a cold… I’ve fallen sick with all the party-ing and lack of sleep… I’ll catch up just in time for work on Monday.

Meet The Sig Others Weekend.

PaulasPonderings1 Comment

Last week it was visiting my parents in Utah. This weekend ATrain and I spent the weekend in the city that never sleeps:  NYC babe! 

Unicorns and I were talking a month back about how much we wanted to see each other…and meet each others new beaus.  She found a great deal on hotel rooms on our company CorperatePerks website. We booked the rooms, bought tickets for the The Book Of Mormon show and the plan was made.  In addition to meeting up with Unicorns, GFP also happened to be in NYC with his new girlfriend…So, we had ourselves a “Meet the Significant Others” weekend in New York City!

We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, a great older hotel with larger than normal rooms.  We upgraded our room to get a King+ junior suite so the room was bigger than normal.  It had additional space that had a couch and a few chairs (and a unstocked wetbar).  It was really nice. 

Friday night we all had drinks at the Waldorf then off to dinner at a great French Bistro on the Upper East Side.  Saturday we all did our own thing during the day. ATrain and I met up for drinks/dinner with Unicorns and her new beau. GFP did his own thing with his girlfriend….

Sunday was a lazy day but we had to meet early for dinner because we wanted to eat before our show, which started at 7pm.  We had dinner at Becco.  I have to say that I wouldn’t go there again.  The food wasn’t that great, the service was o.k..  our waitress was great but the restaurant was way too crowded.  Why? Because they put up to 6 people at a 4-top.  They sat a family down next to us, where one of the diners  basically was sitting in Katie’s lap…   It really wasn’t kosher.  This set ATrain off and he let the waitress know that given the overcrowding already, that it wasn’t really reasonable to put more than 4 people on the 4-top.  The waitress basically said they always do this (as I looked around the room and sure enough, they indeed do). We did end up moving to a corner in the room, in the back. It was very tight – waiters had a hard time getting to each table .. and they couldn’t even get to me. I had to lift my plate up to be served….   It was slightly embarrassing that ATrain made a big deal about it given that the restaurant does indeed do this (seemed like we were the only ones not in the know).  But I do think that the restaurant has just gone over the top with their seating there is a line that needs to be drawn with the overcrowding for a buck.  Given that the food wasn’t that great, we will not be going back there.

The Book Of Mormon musical was so much fun.  I haven’t been to a show for a very long time, and this was so funny, I’ve not laughed that hard in a long time.  There are mormon quirky things that I wished had been in the play – like how Mormons love their sugar and anything jello, the way there is a mormon caste system (born mormon is better than a converted mormon), etc.

Oh, and I saw Maya Rudolph  at the play. I said hello to her, that I loved her work.  She gave me a smirk, an eye-roll, and then just walked off (or continued walking, I don’t think she ever really stopped).  Now here is the thing – If you want to be a star, and you become a star, and then someone recognizes you, why don’t you just say “thank you”?  Why be an asshole about it?  I’ll never get it.  You spend your entire life to become a star, you dream to be a star, and when you finally become one AND people recognize you as one, you snub them.  So stupid. 

Anyway, I’m on my way home now, enjoying every minute on my Virgin America return flight.  Thank you Virgin America for having  customer focused and happy employees and the nicest, cleanest planes on the market.