nyc: day1.

so. today has been incredible and incredibly stressful. i got into nyc today on a delayed flight and met my beautiful and talented, best friend haley at the airport. i was so happy to see her - missing haley is like missing your lucky underwear. you just never feel great without them.

anyway. as soon as we got past the hugs and "i miss you's", we headed for the baggage claim. my bag was inevitably not on the rotating belt, and therefore we had to go to the baggage office to claim it. however, it was not there either, and so i had to file some sort of claim - being assured that it was to arrive "sometime before 10:30pm".

great.

undaunted by the first real mishap of the day, we headed to a newstand in the airport to by my month-long metro pass, and immediately following - pass in hand - we boarded the bus headed for the subway. when we reached the subway, we boarded, rode, and talked a mile a minute. i told haley of my adventures in italy and she told me of hers in sioux falls. by the time we got to the apartment, over an hour had passed, and we dropped my bag and headed right away to a thai restaurant to meet the others for supper. on the way, haley and i walked right past phillip seymour hoffman. i totally did a double take, but tried not to - i love his work. i had been in new york less than two hours and had already seen one of my favorite actors.

unfortunately the thai restaurant was closed, but we found a noodle place nearby that was amazing and inexpensive, so we decided to eat there.

when we were finished eating, the group split up - some going to get show tickets, a few headed to the moma, and my group to "the housing works" - a second hand shop in kim's neighborhood. i had heard about the shop many times from kim, so i was super excited to see it. it was much smaller than i expected, but definitely didn't disappoint as i walked out with two designer dresses for about fifteen dollars each.

the shows we wanted to see were sold out, so while kim caught a different show, the rest of us went to the moma art gallery. it was free night, so it was packed, but the art inside was breathtaking. my favorite was the tim burton display and the work of picasso.

eventually we made our way back to the apartment. i was exhausted and made a grand effort to stay awake for the supposed "delivery" of my bags. however, i barely made it passed nine o'clock. apparently the bag man came shortly after 10:30 (even though at the airport i was assured that it would be no later than 10:30), and being so tired, i didn't hear the call. instead of just dropping the bag off at the apartment- where there were at least four people awake to answer the door - he simply drove back to the airport.

again, great. i desperately need warmer clothes for tomorrow. and clean underwear.

my strategy is to call first thing in the morning and beg them to bring it back. i will use every and any tactic i have ever learned.

i'll let you know how it goes.