culture.week IV: a new york minute

the city never sleeps...and neither do we!

So, there comes a time when you can't stand flat ground and fields and classes anymore, and you have to leave Oklahoma for a while. For something bigger, better, and brighter. With the assistance of my roommate, Meghan, and her spaceship stick-shift, Emily and I began our journey to New York City...culture, here we come.
the fact that we decided to go to the big apple was really quite random. i mean, we couldn't go to london because that just wasn't practical. so we booked flights and proceeded to spend an exorbitant amount of money. culture is a beautiful thing.

to lessen our spending we decided to book a hostel. i know all of your jaws just dropped. but since i had such a successful experience with hostels in europe i thought, sure, why not try it in the good ole us of a. luckily our stay at the candy hostel...or the widget hostel...they were interconnected so i'm not sure which one we actually were in...was nice and...safe (note the three locks on our door)

It was also tiny. In our room, we had: bunk beds, a trash can, a television, a shelf, a mirror, a window, and one wall painted a fierce shade of orchid. And our bags barely fit. Score!

i love chocolate croissants! j'adore les croissants du chocolat! and this lovely snack came from our favorite late night eatery - the europan cafe! brilliant. we ate here every day. sometimes twice.
Best bagel of my life. Twice.

This sculpture reminds me of something my mother would want to put in our house. Anyone who knows my mother or has been to my house will probably agree.

ahhhh matisse. his are the only still life paintings i like. they just brighten my day.
Matisse was a little bit of a lunatic. He painted in practically every genre ever. But he and I are old chums, so regardless of what he paints, I still think it's marvelous.

ugolino. he's trying not to eat his children who are offering themselves up as sustenance. IT'S MARBLE. that's all.
Eating one's children is not at all cool.

And here we are in the Temple of Dendur, which was transported all the way from Egypt to be featured in your friendly neighborhood Metropolitan Museum of Art.
i like egyptians.

after our run through the theatre district searching for a box office that would sell us student rush tickets and being utterly unsuccessful, we managed to purchase tkts tickets to august: osage county (a pretty penny, it was) but it was worth it. i mean, there is a freaking three story house onstage. and then there's the acting!

I mean, it was mediocre...(that's me lying.) It was...yeah...that's me speechless. Brandon was NOT lying!

This is the fantastic folksy-South-American-jazz ensemble we saw in Times Square.

after august, i only had one request. that we see hair. of course it's sold out. of course tkts tickets are like a bazillion dollars. of course they're holding a raffle for cheap tickets. of course emily never wins raffles.

but guess what!

I WON! woooo!

hair completes my life.
I got made fun of and petted and sung to by these people! They just ran by me, dishing out flowers and whatnot like we were all back in the 70s being flower children together! Plus, Gavin Creel grabbed our hands...and now THAT was excellent as well. Basically, my mother would have been proud.

and the sun shines way in!

we touched gavin creel!!!

And Patrick the cool kid from Boston was having the time of his life as well. Cheers, Patrick! So good to meet you slash hang out with you in New York slash try in vain to find jazz in Harlem with you!

there is art all over the city. this giant chess board towers over benches and tables welcoming community games in the financial district. anna and i had to take a sit and regroup after our window shopping stroll down fifth avenue.
And do our New York Times crossword.

After a confusing Subway ride, a DISASTROUS Chinatown bathroom, and talking ourselves out of some fantastic sunglasses, we arrived in Little Italy. Sadly, the whole district is being slowly overrun by Chinatown, but this little restaurant is still alive and well. I had Penne Arrabiato, which means "angry pasta," and boy...it was pissed.
and when anna says disastrous she means awful! i mean, of course we should have known what we were walking into - a public restroom in the burger king in chinatown. besides the fact that we had to pay (this is not europe, folks) and besides the fact that it was a public toilet (already a bad sign) the ceilings were five feet high. i mean, i'm five feet!
It really sucks to be a five foot nine person trying to use a five foot bathroom covered in Chinatown slop. Never again.

the schubert theater is the new home to noel coward's blithe spirit. a delightfully charming british comedy starring angela lansbury! even at eighty-something she still plays a fabulous crazy psychic!

we were there on opening night!
The set fell apart at the end...on purpose. As in...fell. apart. completely. Brilliant. And we couldn't get a picture with Brandon in it (he couldn't handle the paparazzi), but he was totally there with us!

And thus, we left New York City on a mild Monday. It was a pretty crazy 2 and a half days, but there was so much culture to be had!
talk about a whirlwind vacation! it was utterly exhausting and utterly fabulous!

on one other note...culture week started in norman and consisted of the incredible thirty second plays. pretty sure i haven't laughed that hard in my whole life. thank you for the bubbles!

Until April....stay cultured!