Free dinner is always sweeter

So I spent the night in the city last night, took the train in and walked the 10 blocks to my friend Jodi's place over in Murray Hill, a neighborhood in South Midtown Manhattan. It was soooooooo good to see her after 3 years of not hearing from or seeing her. it was one of those great reunions where you just pick up where you left off. the big thing here is this Zagat's survey book, that has pretty much all the restaurants and it has them rated, and I think it's pretty safe to say i'm a zagat's junkie by now, i bring it along, check out the places I see, do a little zagats research before heading into the city, etc. so on the train ride down to the City, I found some good affordable places that had gotten really good reviews. So Jodi and I hooked up and headed to one only about 12 blocks away called Kitchen 22. SO GOOD. an amazing 3 course meal for $25 along with fantastic conversation with Jodi...
and the guys seated next to us. they were probably my dad's age, and they just struck up a conversation with us and we chatted about life, new york, etc. Both Jodi and I were pretty sure they were boyfriend/ boyfriend the first 1/2 hour we hung out with them, but then turns out we're pretty sure they're not... anyway, sidenote. so we talked, laughed, etc. with Vladimir and Michael, and they were very nice. then, as we're getting ready to pay, our new friends ask for our check and offer to cover our bill! I know what you are ALL thinking... bad deal, don't do it, they want something in return. But do you think I was born yesterday? come on! they payed for our meal, said they were happy to treat us, and we went our separate ways. it was really really nice.
of course, the rest of the night Jodi and I would be walking along and yell out "do you remember that time we got free dinner? because we were so good looking and such charming conversationalists?" and laugh and laugh. made our night. free good food? what could be better?
so then after, we wanted to do something fun and different, Jodi is a nurse so her friends do a lot of the same things all the time, so we wanted to do something cool and different. We WANTED to sneak into a building and hang out on the roof but neither of us has those kind of connections, so we opted for the staten island ferry instead. We hung out in Union Square for awhile, then subwayed down to the Bowling Green to hop on the Staten Island ferry.. this is the part in the story where i mention that we found some very friendly pigeons there which I just thought was the funniest thing ever. so we took the boat to staten island, sang at the top of our lungs off the deck, and once in staten island walked to a neighborhood bar and sat and talked until 3 in the morning about life, God, the city, Iowa, philosophy. it was so great. then took the next ferry back to the City (all the food stands at the ferry are open all night! how wonderful is that?), met a drunk strange man on the ferry who felt it was necessary to make up a rap about how beautiful we were??? he was a custodian, but hoping to make it as a model or a rapper... i really don't know how good his chances are, but who am I to bust up his dreams! then we made our way back to Jodi's place. NYC really IS the city that never sleeps, if you didn't look at your watch you wouldn't even know that it was the middle of the night. it actually kind of messed with me and I wasn't even that tired when we finally went to sleep at 5:30/ 6 am. THAT'S RIGHT! I STAYED UP ALL NIGHT IN NEW YORK CITY DOING CRAZY FUN THINGS! YEAH! Jodi was a nanny back in the day before she became a nurse, and the family she nannied for is going to their OTHER home in Vermont to go skiing next weekend, and she invited me! so i think I'm going to visit my friend Cindi in New Jersey the next weekend. Also, I'm pretty sure I have plans for the super bowl tomorow... I know! i have friends! and a life! how fantastic! it's nice, but i'm still loving the alone time here at my place, and glad that i don't live in the city and i just get a big dose every weekend. it's good. :)
slept through church tonight- my phone shut off and didn't wake me up so I rolled with it, figured it wasn't meant to be, and I'll go tomorow. i've just been puttering around, hanging out with the Mom and Dad and Kid 1 and Kid 2(we might go on vacation to virginia this summer!) and emailing etc.
so life is good!
love you all!
christina