Hitting the Concrete Jungle

This past weekend, Dan and I headed up to NYC for a variety of reasons, the first being that I wanted to check in on Tim now that he's living in the big city {I had planned to visit him anyway, but the major guilt trip that my mom laid on me for not being home for Thanksgiving certainly sped up the planning process for the trip}; we had yet to visit our friends James and Lindsay, who are, after years of living apart, finally able to live together in NYC before they get married next fall; and it just seemed like a generally good idea.

Now, I am not the type of person who is totally enamored with New York; I recognize that it is an interesting city with lots to offer, but every time I leave after spending a weekend there, I think to myself, 'That was fun, but I would never be able to live here.' The city is too teeming with people, too gritty and too unfriendly for me to ever be able to call it home.  Sure, it's easy to romanticize it a bit if you're only going up for a weekend, but nothing about the time that I've spent there would compel me to move there.

Onward…on Saturday morning, Dan, James and I went for a quick run before grabbing breakfast, and I was painfully reminded of why I try to avoid running with boys at all costs.  Now, when I just run with Dan, he is typically a good sport and slows the pace down for me {unless he's training}, but this pace was still a little fast for my liking.  Anyway, we refueled with some delicious brunch afterward {the mood strangely struck me to order Irish oatmeal, which I almost never eat but love dearly} before heading over to the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was the perfect mix of a somewhat touristy activity mixed with a gorgeous view on an even more breathtaking day, not to mention some walking.  Luckily for me, James is similarly militant in his love of walking while exploring a city, so poor Dan and Lindsay had to put up with that for the afternoon :)  Dan and I met up with Tim for dinner and got a chance to see his brand new place that he had just moved into that day.  You can certainly tell that three college-aged guys live there {it's a little grimy, for lack of a better word}, but it is a great location and the view from the rooftop is amazeballs.  Then, we headed back to J&L's for a get-together at their apartment/going out in my neighborhood.  The other thing that I'm always reminded of when I leave NYC is the fact that I can't keep up with those lunatics.  Grandma needs her sleep!!!  We high-tailed it out of the city relatively early so as to beat the Marathon crowd, and so ended our lovely NYC weekend.

Our little crew on the Brooklyn Bridge

The view from Tim's apartment.  Not bad.

We should have consulted each other before getting dressed.  The abundance of plaid is slightly aggressive.

So, November…holy crow is this going to be a busy month.  Just a quick run-down of our weekends for this month:

- This weekend: I have a birthday party on Friday and am going to visit my grandparents for the remainder of the weekend.  Dan will be out of town on MBA interviews (!!!).
- Next weekend: Kristin will be in town on Friday for residency interviews, and we have a birthday party on Saturday night.
- The weekend before Thanksgiving: I am going to Rangila with a work friend on Friday night, and we have a murder mystery party {hosted by, who else, Molly} on Saturday night.
- We're leaving for Thanksgiving with Dan's family either on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning!

And then it's December.  Oh, and reading season starts Monday.  Let's do this...