Michele's Goodbye to NYC 2012

Before Superstorm Sandy, the worst thing that happened to New York this year was Michele leaving. In addition to trying to hang out with Michele as much as possible before she left (and becoming even more emotionally dependent on her than I already was) we decided to give her a big send off.  Her friend Kirsten lovingly and appropriately nicknamed it "Tears in our Beers."

Before we started drinking, we decided to do one last crazy thing in New York. Ash, Michele, and I participated in something called Accomplice New York, where you tour a part of the city in the guise of helping some mobsters commit a crime. You have to follow clues from one location to another, passing on messages and items to help the mobsters along. I was going to blog in great detail about it, but I decided that it might ruin it for anyone thinking of doing it. It was pretty fun, and we got along well with the tourists that were in our group. If you do it, I think I would recommend having a full group of 10 so that your group doesn't split up too much and you don't miss things.

Michele, me, and Ash in City Hall Park during Accomplice

One crazy thing about the fact that we did Accomplice on Saturday was that a lot of it took place in the South Street Seaport area, which was a Zone A flood zone, so there's been a lot of flood damage there since the Superstorm Sandy. Some restaurants and bars have had to be completely gutted because of the damage. Luckily, the bar we spent the most time in, Jeremy's Ale House, only had a little flood damage and is reported to be okay for the most part.

Our entire Accomplice team at Jeremy's Ale House in South Street Seaport

So then we went to Jadis wine bar in the Lower East Side to meet up with Michele's other NYC friends who wanted to come say goodbye. Things weren't sad, probably because everyone was in deep denial like me. Though there was some talk of getting back together for a support group when the reality of a Michele-less life sinks in. We all wore clever little name tags that said, "Goodbye. My name is ---."

Enjoying good company at Jadis

Michele and Yianice getting in some more snuggles

Some of my favorite ladies: Rachel, Ash, Michele and me at Jadis

Nina, Vinay, and Michele

Cutest baby ever and she has more attitude than Harper Beckham

After some drinks at Jadis we took the party to Loreley Beer Garden, where we had huge German beers and delicious German food. Some craziness ensued.

Yael watering Michele like a sexy plant?

From now on, I always want to wear matching lipstick with my girlfriends.

People always ask how I met Michele. We both went to GW undergrad. Freshman year, almost everyone lived in the large Thurston dorm with a 1000 plus students. There was a smaller freshman dorm on the other side of campus, called Adams Hall (and then later called Lafayette) of about 160 students, where Megan, Christina, Michele and I all lived. I lived on the 8th floor, and I knew Megan and Christina who lived on the 4th and 3rd floor respectively. But because Michele was one extra floor away on the 2nd floor, I didn't really know her. This is very detailed, but I think about it sometimes because what if you just walked by one of your best friends in the whole world on a daily basis and just didn't know her? And kept not knowing her for 11 years even though you had a close friend in common? Super super sad.

Rachel, Ash, Michele, and Janice in my dorm room when I didn't really know Michele

Even though I'm sure I met Michele and saw her countless times, I didn't really know her until I re-met her through Ash at Ash's 2008 Barn Party. I was a little jealous because she and Ash were so close and having so much fun. Luckily I got over it, and then we actually started hanging out about a month or so later. At first, we hung out mainly when Ash came to town, but eventually we were friends on our own, though we always still miss Ash when we're hanging out and she's not there. For the last 4 years, she's been there all the time, in good times and in bad. She's super fun, smart, and understanding. I basically feel bad for everyone who is not friends with her, especially for myself from 1997-2008.

  

Greenwich Village Bar Crawl, October 2008

Self-determined bar crawl in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, November 2008

At my bachelorette party in April 2009 (Shut up, my face is awesome.)

The night before my wedding, June 2009

This is when things started to get out of control. The rest is blog history.

I tried not to be too terribly sad when saying goodbye to Michele, because I plan on still seeing her as much as possible so I'm focusing on that. She officially drove a moving van out of New York City today, and now that it's super real I am having a little trouble coping. I can't hang out with Michele next weekend? And the weekend after that? No. No. Nooooooo.

I might have staged a protest outside her apartment, except that she is off to self-actualize in Richmond. She is starting a food co-op in Richmond, most likely with a clever name like Richmond Food Co-op. I'm not much of a risk-taker myself, but I can tell from the planning that she's put into this, from knowing her, and from hearing about the other people involved, that it will definitely be a huge success. Again, otherwise I would have chained myself to her moving van. Not. kidding.

Bonus picture of a super fun night in 2010.

Michele's Birthday Picnic in Prospect Park 2012

I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! This was one of my best in a long time. We kicked off the weekend by celebrating Michele's birthday! She decided to have a brunch picnic in Prospect Park, and it was a wonderful idea. The park is beautiful, the weather was lovely and summery, and best of all, Michele and her friends made super yummy brunch food. Seriously, brunch has never been so delicious. It was like a high end restaurant turned potluck. We digested and luxuriated in the sun and the shade until after 5 p.m. Happy birthday, Michele! Thank you for your brunch-picnic gift to us!

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Michele's picnic (around brunch-time)


Before I made everyone pose, some napping happening here too.

We made it a family outing. Often, only Kevin or I will go out while the other person stays home with James, but all three of us love Michele, and a picnic is as family-friendly as it gets, so off to Brooklyn we went! James was a little confused by the picnic concept though. There were other picnics taking place nearby, and there were other kids at those other picnics... and well next thing we knew, James had a new girlfriend. She seemed cool, I guess.

Michele, surrounded in Clou-love

"Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me, maybe?"

As if that wasn't enough, James got to continue his nation-wide tour of playgrounds. He checked out Prospect Park's Playground Three and definitely wants to go back since I wouldn't let him run through the awesome sprnklers this time because I didn't want to change his outfit after he got drenched. Mama is so unfair.

Prospect Park "Playground Three"

Dada helping James down the steps

Weeeee.

The "sprinkler" baby-car-wash he wasn't allowed to enter.

Concert in Park Slope 2012

I know it's kind of overkill that I document most of the things that I do, but the Celebrate Brooklyn! concerts in Prospect Park are pretty cool. Actually, both times I went (last time was 3 years ago!) I sat outside the concert, but you can hear the music, spread out a blanket, and picnic. Michele and I grabbed some Vietnamese sandwiches near the park and met up with her friend Yianice and her friend Christina, and we listened and danced to Calle 13. Brooklyn is awesome.

Night picnic in the park

BBQ, Blueprint, and Beauty Bar in Brooklyn 2012

Apparently we were in a "B" mood! After my recent BBQ tour, Kevin suggested that what we needed was more BBQ. We're planning on going this weekend, but since Michele can't make it this weekend, she suggested a BBQ place she likes.  So yes, I made plans to have BBQ for two weekends in a row in New York. No, I am never going to lose the baby weight. But I digress.

Anyway, our plans soon swelled to include Jaime, who decided to visit last minute, and Allison who's plane was diverted to New York, and Michele's friend Yianice, who was around and wanted BBQ. We started at Fort Reno in Park Slope, where the drinks were strong and the big star of the show was the "Hot Mess," a BBQ parfait.  If you're wondering what on earth that means, it's corn bread, pulled pork, mac and cheese, beans, hot peppers layered in a glass jar.  I didn't get it but in retrospect, it's definitely what you should get.  I liked my dish enough that I ruined my dress with BBQ stains. Sad.

Jaime, me, Yianice, Michele, and Allison

Then we moved on to Blueprint, a vaguely snooty-hipstery bar with a cute patio.  For some reason I thought I was woman enough to order an old-fashioned.  I drank it, but I think that might be my last one for a while. Sadly, Allison had to leave to catch her flight, but at least I get to see her in Maine in a few weeks so my sadness was somewhat contained. Then we went to my favorite place on the impromptu bar crawl, Beauty Bar. For $10 you get a yummy cocktail and a manicure. There are so many reasons I loved this place.

Me and Jaime showing off our manicures.

First, when Michele described the place, I thought it would just be women in the bar. This was not so. It's a real bar and it was full of men and women.  Second, the drinks were the best of the three places we went. Third, the servers and the woman who did the manicure were all extremely nice and attentive. Don't forget, this is New York! That never happens. Finally, they had a huge projector playing a movie with the subtitles on and decent music playing.  It just so happened to be Jaime's favorite movie from the 90's or 00's. She was pretty psyched.

Michele's halo is visible in this shot

Jaime, me, Michele, Yianice at Beauty Bar

I am not going to talk about how Jaime and I missed our stop on the train back to Long Island. Nope. That didn't happen. Yay, girls' night!