Why I heart NY!

Well New York is the city of my birth. New York is all I have ever known. When you are from New York you are truly lucky but in some ways at a disadvantage. What????? How is that possible???? New York is one of the greatest cities in the world. Ah ha, that is just it. When you are born inside, outside, or around New York it is all you know. It is par, the norm, and average. New Yorkers are always looking for another New York. Chicago, it’s like a cleaner friendlier New York. Boston is like a smaller colder New York with a horrible baseball team. LA, it’s the anti-New York. Paris, is New York with more history, old stuff and funny accents. New York is always the starting point and everything is just related back. It maybe be wrong, it may be jaded but that is New York.

Another reason I love New York is Carlisle. What’s Carlisle? Hmmm how do I answer this question? I am convinced Carlisle is the center of the universe. I have proof of this. One time in Amsterdam, while traveling with Dean, CNN International did a news report live from Carlisle, PA. The presented the report with a map depicting the world, with a red dot, an arrow and a bubble that said Carlisle, PA. Whether or not you know it you are only 2 degrees away from someone who knows or is somehow related to this small town, in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania.

I moved to Carlisle from outside New York when I was thirteen. I had no idea that people lived this way. I didn’t understand why strangers talked to each other and said hello (totally uncivilized). Don’t they know they aren’t supposed to look anyone in the eye…let alone wave???? I didn’t understand that the next town was literally the next town over (meaning 10 miles south, north, east or west) and not the town directly next to you. I didn’t understand why we were the only somewhat mixed breed in the town and why I couldn’t get a good bagel anywhere. I learned to love this area. I loved knowing everyone in town (most of the time). I made amazing friends and I learned to appreciate saying Thank you and hello to strangers (poor strangers haven’t had a chance to get away since). It also made me appreciate everything New York has to offer. Everything from Independent movies, to museums, to incredible restaurants influenced from every corner of the world. I craved that life again, so I moved back.

Another reason I love this city is simply, my girl Friday. Friday is my best friend here in New York. She is the “heart” of “I heart New York”. Either wise it would just be me and New York. Friday is the coolest girl you would ever meet. She is game for anything. The reason New York is the best is because Friday and I take it by storm. She has been here since I moved back to the city that never sleeps, almost two years ago. In that time, the two of us have been: to almost every kind of sporting event possible, jazz concerts, Irish pubs, rugby games, cigar bars, the ballet, plays, diners, 5 star restaurants, random hotel rooms, and the secret rooms in the hottest clubs in the city. By secret rooms, I mean any area that had a velvet like curtain to it…..including the dish room…which was VIP because it was a secret. That is me…not Friday…she is way cooler than that and just laughed. We have drunk more combinations of mix drinks than should be legal and have quite possibly done some things that were, in fact, not legal. But we have done them all together. I have a ridiculous life. I know that. But the only reason I am able to do the incredible things here and take advantage of every inch of this small island is because I have someone who takes advantage of it with me. And for that I am truly lucky.

You can see Friday and I at any of our usually haunts, meaning everywhere from Harlem to the Hudson Hotel. I have always said that a city is who you see it with. Paris wouldn’t have been Paris the first time around with my 20something guy friends attempting to speak French and only getting out “Je suis la jeune fille” meaning I am a little girl. It wouldn’t have been Paris the second time had Levi not had to rip my pants so I could go to the bathroom in our first class train car. Spain wouldn’t have been as flavorful had we not stayed with friends from there who took us to the best paella place in town. New York would be nothing with out my gal Friday. I highly suggest you find a partner in crime and take on whatever town you in. Watch out Batman and Robin you got some HOT competition in this small town we call Gotham.

Your girl,

Lucky