Fairy Tail

I may have mentioned that I am going to Coachella Music Festival this year. I am going with a friend from home, and his cousin, Nick, who ironically also lives in New York City and works for Columbia University. I met Nick when my friend was out here visiting in February, but as Coachella approaches and the three of us continued to trade music and get excited for it, Nick and I decided to get together ourselves for a night on the town last night.

We started with dinner at The Heights near Columbia, and then headed to Hells Kitchen where Nick introduced me to Fairy Tail. It's a gay bar, but it's decorated with unicorns and trees and centaurs. Who could object to that?! We met up with his brothers boyfriend, and his sister and her boyfriend, and did a round of dance clubs, from The Ritz to Therapy. By the end of the night, it was just me and Nick left, eating ourselves sick at Lucky Burger next to Therapy.

It was a really good night with tons of pictures and videos, Uncle Carls and dancing, and FaceTiming our third Coachella partner back in California. More than just having fun, it was nice to bond with Nick and find another friend and ally in New York.

The Birthday Month Lives

Just in case anyone had any doubts about my birthday celebrations, on Sunday I was treated to brunch (at an Australian bar) by Ronnie and Betsy (whereafter Ronnie and I proceeded to get smoothies from Jamba Juice and sit in the window filling out MadLibs to pass the afternoon) and yesterday I went to dinner with two coworkers for my birthday. Okay so it was their birthdays too, but I still got to mention my birthday, and isn't that the whole point?

March 28 update: Last night I got drinks with my roommate and he picked up the tab on account of my birthday. Way to go!

Sally O'Malley

Today, my mother is a full blown Sally O'Malley... she is FIFTY YEARS OLD.

FIFTY.

YEEEEARS.

OOOOOLD!



I'm very, very, very sad that I couldn't be in California today for the big celebration, but I hope someone will be able to pass along some pictures from it! And if you have any doubts about my insincerity... I had to have a root canal done today. On a Saturday. Without a doubt, the one thing I detest most in this world is dental work. And the Kardashians. But I would absolutely have been in California instead of where I was today if I could help it.

Congrats on your initiation into the Red Hat Society... I think? And thanks for being my own, personal, 24/7 on-call medical consultant for my hypochondriac tendencies!

Vegas Baby 2013

There's no way I'll find time to re-hash how awesome that whole trip was, so I'll just have to let the trip speak for itself. Something like fifteen people in the Mirage combined with morning shots, Cirque du Soleil shows, Mesa Grill restaurant, SDSU games (or not games), plenty of trips down the Strip, clubbing and an unusual amount of craps as opposed to our usual blackjack. I don't think I went to bed early than 5am on any night!

Until next time my friends.

Happy My Birthday To You!

What a great day for a birthday! I may have woke up feeling sick, but I woke up in a timely way, with only a small hangover from dinner and drinks with old friends and my HBO Special Jayna from the night before, and a barrage of Happy Birthday texts that didn't include the handful of midnight texts from some great friends and a very special 12:01 phone call.

I got ready and packed in a solid hour and was out my door around 9:10am. I remembered something in my room, and waiting for the elevator in heels with a suitcase, the only solution was to kick off the heels and go racing down the hallway back to my apartment to grab it and come running back in time for the elevator, which I did. Like a boss.

Off to the airport and made it in great time. On the AirTrain, I sneezed and not only did someone acknowledge it, but TWO people actually said bless you! I must have that birthday girl glow, it's almost like they knew it was my special day.

Starbucks and JFK always go well together.

Now here I am in Charlotte, taking in all those southern drawls and God Bless You's and awaiting my flight to VEGAS BABY.

In case you were wondering, it's definitely a Carolina-based Red Oak and it is birthdaytastic.

Still another hour til my flight takes off. Let's get this show on the road already! I've got money to win, friends to see and a birthday to celebrate!

OMG Becky

You know it's my birthday (or Vegas! or both!) when that French manicure comes out, and that's what I did after work yesterday. When I got home after that, I walked in the door and saw a big colored envelope sitting on top of the mail pile. SCORE. BIRTHDAY CARD.

So imagine my surprise when I pick it up and see this:

WHAT?! Nothing about that was right. OMG Becky Snyder, you've screwed with me for the last time!

In other news, a very, very special birthday wish today to my love, Becca. She was my senior year college roommate, supporter, friend, keeper of my sanity, sounding board, fun-time partner and all-around wonderful friend and person. We've been friends since freshman year of college, as we met in the dorms (funfact: she was LITERALLY the first person to come introduce herself to me as I was moving my things in and arranging my room... and we also once did a double-date in the dining commons haha!) and we loved to co-host our birthdays every year, each time saying we would do it on the cliffs in Isla Vista but never quite making it happen.

We didn't hang out as much as we should have in San Diego, but she did live around the corner from my piano instructor so we definitely had weekly dinner dates (usually Del Taco) before my lessons. I miss her! Happy Birthday, boo.

And tonight I get to see my HBO Special Gurl... Jayna!

Once... Upon A Cadbury Egg

Welp, my father-san is in town and this year that means, chocolate, Broadway... and taxes. Why are my taxes always so complicated? I don't know. While he's going to help me with filing, he also came with some other tricks up his sleeve... like this Eastertime joy:

The only thing that beats these is Christmastime. And if they had these around Christmastime, I may self-implode.

Last night we went to see Once on Broadway, based off the film, which had a better soundtrack (and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song when it came out) and it was so good! All of the performers were incredibly talented, as they all had to be able to play multiple instruments on stage live. The entire performance was in an Irish pub, and it functioned as an actual bar before the performance and during intermission. We went and got drinks during that time, but I wasn't able to get any decent pictures before I was yelled at to put the phone away. Oops.

It's Friiiiiday Friiiiiday, gotta get down on Friiiiiiday. I'm just looking forward to sleeping in sometime soon and then gettin' down to business! My birthday and Las Vegas are now less than a week away and so much to do before then! Birthday season is awesome.

La Caverna

Last week, Ronnie, Betsy and I were so surprised that March was approaching so fast, and we wanted to celebrate the start of the third month of 2013 the right way, so we planned a night of clubbing for Friday, March 1st. I had had such a busy week and come Friday, I was so exhausted at even the idea of it that I had to race home after work to disco nap and re-energize for our night out.

I don't know how Ronnie finds these places, but we went to La Caverna, which was a basement club in the Lower East Side made to look like (surprise!) a cave. Ronnie said it looked like where The Flintstone's would go and I thought that was pretty accurate.

It started out pretty well, we were dancing all fine, but then the DJ decided to take a trip down the worst memory lane possible and wouldn't stop with all these "hits" from the 2000s, and we got such a headache from that mess that we decided to quit that place.

Fast forward through 7-11 and a trip on the F train, we ended up in Koreatown back at that Korean bar we were at a few weeks (months? I can't remember now) ago and hung out with the bartenders that we talked to before. The music there was also sucking, and the weird thing about the night was how there didn't seem to be that many people out anywhere. And then I remembered how there was hardly anyone at my work that day, and Ronnie said it was the same thing for him. I'm convinced there was a secret holiday going on that I had been unaware of (Illuminati?)

When we stumbled out, it was past 3am, the lights of the Empire State Building, which had been orange, were off, and there was a Wendy's one block down, so yes, we definitely ended up ordering a lot from there and eating it in that classy joint with all the other post-partyers. The ride back was fun because it took so long, and Ronnie and I had a few rounds of The Refreshing Game, except this time they were The Warming Game and The Fast-Moving Game. Quote of the night was: WHO STILL SHOULD HAVE COME TO OUR PARTY!

It snowed yesterday while I was in Chinatown and it was frigid. Today is for late breakfast, movies, painting and writing.

Happy, Happy, Happy...

MY BIRTH MONTH TO ALL!!

Welcome to March 2013. When did this happen?