The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 34

I wasn't going to blog yet, but I gotta say something. Why is it so hot over there in OC? I saw the pic on Robert's Flickr. According to that chart, it's about 81-83 degrees in OC. Do you know how many degrees it is in NYC right now? It's about 17. I don't know who the suckas are. OC or NYC. Hahaha! I mean. The cold and snow can get pretty inconvenient, but I don't know about wanting heat during January.

This is what it looked like this morning outside my window.

And now in the afternoon. All clear! Still cold though.

While getting ready for work yesterday,    Continue reading →

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 33

Hello out there!! 10 days into the new year and I must say the year is starting out great.

It snowed again today--7 inches I hear. It's about 24 degrees outside. Brrr... I know.

I don't think I've showed you all the view from my bedroom window at night. Well, let me just show you a few pictures.

I could never get tired of this.

Here's a close up of the Empire State Building in the Christmas spirit.

On to other photos! Continue reading →

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 32

Beware! Long post!

2008 and 2009

So far, the new year is heading off to a great start. I can't believe I'm on my 32nd blog in New York City! I've been doing so well on blogging about my experience here, I definitely won't forget how much fun I've been having here.

Xanga isn't as popular and as widely-used as it once was, but I'm glad I kept at it. When I look back at old posts (now private), I get nostalgic remembering all the great memories I've created since 2002. Blogging has become something I do for myself. My xanga page isn't something I promote so only friends who knew I had this page in the past will know it even exists.

Moving on... Looking back on my years passed--not just 2008, I can say that I've had quite an eventful life. I've done my best to make things interesting and I've done my best to keep pushing myself to experience life to the fullest extent of my will and abilities. :: pat on the back :: Every year has come with a new chapter and different experience and no year is ever the same for me and I've grown accustomed to changes in my life and I could say I've grown dependent on it. I need to have changes--I need to keep moving forward.

Let's reflect on 2008 alone. Continue reading →

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 31

HAPPY NEW YEAR from NEW YORK CITY!

Yesterday, we roomies spent NYE in Brooklyn. We hung out at Prospect Park until midnight and watched the fireworks. There was music and a lot of people, but no tourists. Times Square would have been a little crazy for us. "But why didn't you go to Times Square?! You're in New York City!" you say. Chill! I did that in 2003 and trust me... It's rough standing in one spot for 12 hours and having to bribe different stores to let you pee. Dunkin' Donuts decided to charge everyone $5 to use their nasty ass restroom. And when you gotta pee... especially if you're a girl, you'd pay too. We can't just pee into a water bottle like some guys did. That's capitalistic America at its best wouldn't you say? I feel like this blog will end up being long enough so I'll add the pictures of my NYE to my next post and the rest of my thoughts on 2008 and 2009. Also, I've got to blog about my time with my family and friends while I was in California.

I feel behind on blogging. I haven't even blogged about our Montreal trip we took on Thanksgiving break yet. So horrible! But I have posted it on one of xanga's new partner sites www.tripcrazed.com. Come read it here and leave comments if you can. Montreal, Canada--The Paris of North America. I've got pretty pictures on there too.

Here are some more for your enjoyment.

Yes, Laura--who will now be called Bear-Bear for 2009 (she hibernates all the time-- is wearing an owl beanie on her head. HAHA. Here we are standing up at the chalet with an awesome view of Montreal.

Continue reading →

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 30

Check it out! My 30th entry on the 30th of December. haha. Just got back from California a few days ago and surprisingly the weather here isn't that much colder here than in California. That means I got a cold welcoming when I got there from Mother Nature, but not family and friends. It was an awesome trip. More on that later.

The weather might not be too cold right now, but the night Dan and I left it was about 24 degrees at 5am in the morning. Can we say YIKES?!? That day the city looked awesome though. Check out this photo outside my window.

I can normally see the Empire State Building from my window, but it's competely covered in fog here.

It was snowing really hard and got a little wet so I decided to pick my hubby up with an umbrella so he wouldn't be soaked. It's hard walking in all of those puddles too. We saw a guy in a business suit fall flat on his ass. Didn't get a picture. Sorry!

He's happy to see me.

Hard to keep your eyes open when there's all this snow going straight into your eyeballs.

Pouring salt on the sidewalk.

These are the only evergreen trees near us. haha.

Ain't nothin' like New York City to put you in the holiday spirit during Christmas time. Hubby and I spent a good amount of time walkin' around town and enjoying the decorations.

Little Italy

Ice Skating in Bryant Park

Bryant Park Christmas Tree

Enjoying my cider in Bryant Park. Check out the Empire State Building behind me.

Rockefeller Ice Skating Rink

Hubby and me in front of Rockefeller

Macy's

In December our only visitor was Bao. Bao has been here many times before so he was only up for relaxing and hanging out. None of the touristy stuff. We had a blast hanging out with Baoie. I personally got some alone time with Bao (yipee!) thanks to the economy not giving me any work, but that has somewhat changed. I'll talk more about that later. Bao and I did a lot of walking around and eating... and of course taking photos. Baoie loooves taking photos. Thanks for visiting us, Baoie!

Bao tried to hit on these guys for Laura. LOL

Sorry for the lack of text if you like reading, but I promise to make it up by blogging again soon!

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 29

Hot diggity dog! It's snowing in New York City!

I couldn't help it! I had to blog. It's snowing and it's awesome! I'm livin' in a Winter Wonderland! Yeee Haw! I love being outside. It helps that it's not too cold. Here's some advice. Don't try to be like me and try to look directly up at the snow. It will sting your eyes. LOL.

Now I can sing that song from the Sound of Music and really mean it!
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes. (to come later: Silver white winters that melt into spring) These are a few of my favorite things!

I decided to blog again even though it's only been two days since my last post. I figured I need to catch up before my trip to California for Christmas. Especially since I haven't even blogged about Thanksgiving yet.

But first, here's a cool picture we took on Adam and Sonya's rooftop. They have a great view.

That's the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building

For a while I was really missing In-n-Out burger, but I think I found me a good replacement--The Shake Shack. Yummy. You can even go online and check how long the line is before you head out. Genius!

Check out that line.

Yummy, I'm about to devour this burger. There's something about all-American burgers and fries. Such comfort.

Yes, we New Yorkers also go bowling. Haha. A lot of celebrities have been spotted bowling here at Bowlmor Lanes. I wish I'd seen Edward Norton when he was there. That would have been awesome.

Hubby:

Adam:

The boys

The girls

I don't know about you, but I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving food the most out of all the other holiday foods. We, roommates, decided to have an intimate Thanksgiving dinner in our cozy apartment. We slaved in the kitchen for a few hours, but I must say, our dinner was quite delicious.

And here's to a job well done!

I'll see you all in the next entry and if I don't come back, Happy Holidays!!!

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 28

Hello? Is anyone out there? As my British friend would say, I've been absolutely rubbish with my blogging. Not to say I don't have anything to blog about, it's quite opposite of that and I'm horribly behind with pictures and posts. I might have to cheat you out of descriptive details to catch up. 

First thing's first. New York's got love for California. I found this flag flying proudly in Soho.

So one thing that I never forget to mention. Ah, the weather of the Big Apple. A note to my Orange County friends: 65 degrees in Southern California was probably considered cold to me when I was living there, but now when it's 34 degrees in New York City, I have a whole new outlook on 65. Haha. Once upon a time, I felt like 65 degrees would freeze my toes off. It's sad to say, I've changed my ways. I love 65 now. 65 is comfortable. 65 is good.

The weather has been constant in the 30s and 40s, but last week hit about 24. If you've never felt pain, I can tell you that pain is wearing jeans in 24 degree weather. Also, I now know the meaning of wind chills. Wind chills are Mother Nature's way of, literally, slapping you in the face.

On another note, I just LOVE the changing of the seasons in New York. With the passing and arrival of each new season, you can actually feel time passing. Time moves faster that way. In Orange County, where weather is pretty constant and vanilla, you rely on your calender to know when the next season has arrived; not because the leaves changed or because the flowers finally blossomed. I love it.

So here goes, since I've been absolutely rubbish, I'm going to have to fill this blog as much as I can.

While Duy was here, we managed to visit the Village Pet Store where Banksy set up an exhibit. Quite interesting. To learn more about this exhibit you can read here or google it yourself.

After Duy left me all to my lonesome self, Dan's sister Kim and her boyfriend Dave visited shortly after. They did a lot of site seeing, but we did manage to squeeze in some time to take them out to Hiro Ballroom to see The Most Interesting Show in the World. The show is so (ahem) interesting you can't even enter the site unless you're 21, and you have to enter your birthdate to prove it. LOL. You can take a look at my pictures to see the views I had.

Me and Goosey heading out

Dave and Kim

Our NY buds, Adam and Sonya

Let the show begin:

If you're wondering what the heck is going on, you're going to have to check the link above and read all about the show.

When the Hubby and I don't have visitors, we make a little time to see and hang out with our local friends.

Theresa's 28th birthday at Kabin:
Lisa, Theresa, and Me

Hanging out with Adam and Sonya at Le Royale:

2 bars = a very intoxicated husband:
 

And sometimes, Hubby and I also make time for some quality moments with each other. Sometimes we'll go out and he'll drink, I'll practice drinking, and he'll take me home almost in tears from trying my damnedest not to throw up. Other times, we'll have nicer moments like having dinner or walking around the city we love so much, we'll have hot chocolate or tea, chit chat, and maybe bump into a celebrity or two.

I Love the 80's Party: When Dan and I first arrived, we were surrounded by much older people. In fact, there was even a birthday party for a 40-year-old. We felt so out of place. We were trying to celebrate a time period (the 80s) we were barely born in, but not grew up in. But... but... doesn't mean we don't like 80's music! When we were about to head out, Dan decided he wanted to go to the restroom first so he headed to the back. Then he found out there was a downstairs so he told me to come with him to check it out. Lo and behold, when we got downstairs, THAT's where all the young people (more our age) were. SCORE! So we ended up dancing downstairs with the younger 80's fans. Hee hee.

I'm smiling in the beginning, but on the way home I nearly cried. I felt so sick and I was trying so hard not to vomit in the subway with strangers gazing at me from their seats.

You can see the redness now. See Cuzzie? I'm practicing.

Having dinner together at Tofu House. This was one of the restaurants we missed so much from California, but they opened one just for us!

Sitting at Cafe Reggio and enjoying one of my favorite pastimes, People Watching... with my favorite person.

What we were watching.

I'll see you in entry 29. We'll be driving away in Edward's Volvo... ta ta.

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 27

It has been too long since I've blogged.  Already we're heading into winter and trust me, I feel it.  The temperature is dropping and already the leaves on the trees are saying good-bye.  I'm scared and excited all at the same time.  I'm scared because I'm not sure how I will be handling the cold weather since I've been a California girl only up until this year.  I'm excited because I really want to experience an actual winter.  From what I'm hearing it is still 80 degrees in California some days.  Time for me to make use of my coats, scarves, and beanies!

There's something I've realized living in the East Village/Gramercy area of Manhattan.  I'm part of the attraction.  So what do I do when I see a tour bus of people come by?  I'll wave.    We don't want people to think the stereotype of New Yorkers being rude and mean to be the absolute truth, do we?

First thing's first, I still have a lot of photos to show.  You, my friends, are in for a treat!  You'll also notice these pictures are still from the Fall (last month) so you'll get the great honor of seeing all the beautiful fall colors of the East Coast.  You don't see this in OC.

Let's start with a visit from some wonderful friends, Thaoie, Duy, KimChi, and Robert.  There are way too many amazing photos to show from this visit so I'm going to post a few and link the rest for your viewing pleasure.  I have WAY too many favorites... seriously so I'm just going to randomly pick some for this entry.  All fantabulous photos, courtesy of Thaoie, Duy, and ThaoVu.com.  Contact them for your next event.  Trust me.

There are so many great shots.  You have to check them all out!
New York Day 1:  http://www.thaovu.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=478
New York Day 2:  http://www.thaovu.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=479
New York Day 3:  http://www.thaovu.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=480
New York Day 4:  http://www.thaovu.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=481

This is an awesome photo created by Duy. 

Thaoie and I found time to have a photo shoot with our rainboots outside the apartment.

Going out for a night on the town.

Hangin' out with great company.  Thaoie and KimChi.

Duy and Dan at Grand Central Station.

 
Thaoie and Me in Central Park.  Duy was so patient to take all our photos for us.  LOL.

Thaoie's beautiful HDR shot of Central Park.

We ate lots of yummy food all week.

Last night before heading to New England.

These next photos were all taken during my New England Road Trip with Thaoie, Robert, Duy, Dan, and Nam.  Again, there are too many photos that I love to post them all here so please view the links below.We had a great time stopping by so many historical and interesting places and meeting some of the nicest people on this planet.  New Englanders definitely live a slower paced, less stressful, more laid back life... or at least that's how I saw it.  I still Ny, but if you ever get a chance to travel around New England, you should go for it.    All in all, we visited 6 New England states (Massachusettes, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire) and all had beautiful views and great photo ops.  Thaoie said it was heaven for her. She took this opportunity to do her dream photo shoot with beautiful fall foliage backgrounds and Dan and I were happy to grab at the chance to be her subjects. 

Really, check them out!
New England Road Trip Day 1:  http://www.thaovu.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=482
New England Road Trip Day 2:  http://www.thaovu.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=483
New England Road Trip Day 3:  http://www.thaovu.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=484

Happy to be hanging out with Thaoie.

My love.

Yale University.

Duy in action.

It was very painful when we got up.  The plants we are sitting in have weapons that cut through your skin and poke themselves in until you are able to find those little suckers and yank them out.

I know you like this action shot.  Don't mess with asians.  We know kung fu.

Railroad track in Maine.

The most photographed lighthouse.

I'm telling you.  We know kung fu... and vampire attacks. (I'm a Twilighter. LOL)

Twilight shot!  I'm a spider monkey.

The boys posing as a rock band.  Haha.  This one was taken by me.  I'm a rockstar.  What can I say?

Thaoie and Rob's romantic moment.  Awww...

Me and Thaoie hiding in the corn maze.

I will be updating again soon!  I need to catch you up and everything that has been going on.  See you at Entry 28!

The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 26

I wanted to blog sooner, but I've been battling a cold and a horrible cough.  I think there are many factors I can give credit to for my deteriorating condition.  First off, it's getting colder outside while it's getting almost unbearably hotter indoors.  The quick change in temperatures has to be a factor.  Another reason is that I've been entertaining guests for a whole month now and the last two have just left this morning.  Fun good times, but I am spent.  LOL. 

For a while I would say it was really cold, but it's getting nicer.  Yep, the weather has been stabling in the 60s now.  Funny how I used to consider that cold.  I consider it quite nice now.    And I must say, I'm totally loving the Fall in NYC.  You don't get to see this in OC.  Check out all the autumn colors!  This is right outside my apartment building.

HALLOWEEN!
All I have to say is... Halloween in NYC is absolutely fantabulous!  I've always loved Halloween, but I really got to see how much people love it this year.  The city is such full of creative people full of spirit.

The first event I participated in for Halloween was also a tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.  For the 25th anniversary of his Thriller album, New York City wanted to break the Guiness record for the most people dancing the Thriller dance at the same time in the same location.  Duy, Dan, and I had a blast getting all dressed up, getting our make-up done, and learning the dance.  We met a lot of great people and I even scored some television time.  I swear every major tv station and publication was there.  And yes!  The record was broken.  New York's 73 beat Toronto's last year's record of 62!  Go NYC!  And go us!

I really think that you can't live in New York without participating in or going to see the Village Parade.  According to Wiki, it's the biggest public Halloween event in the US.  Over 60,000 people were there and I was happy to say that I was one of them.  The creativity was awesome!  In OC, I've been seeing the same faces and staying in the same areas each Halloween that I haven't been seeing much of it.  It's almost become a holiday to wear lingerie.  haha.  It was nice to venture out this year.
 
My challenge this year was to find a costume that would still keep me warm since the Village Parade is outdoors and thanks to Thaoie for lending me her leather trench.  I had to do was buy sunglasses and I become Trinity!  The boys were great Agent Smiths!  Duy did great making those ear pieces using cable wire, a chopstick, a hanger, and some ipod ear pieces.

Anne's Halloween 2008 starring... Me and my friends and thousands of New Yorkers.

Anne as Trinity and Dan, Nam, Duy, and Allen as Agent Smith.

Lewis as a Zombie, Nang as Pipi Longstocking, Laura as a flapper girl.

Ryan and Adam as Crazy 88 Fighters and Sonya as Gogo Yubari.

Xay and Vanessa arrived in New York later on in the night.

Here are some folks marching in the parade with us.

Even the spectators dressed up!

One of the floats at the parade.

Our goal of the night was to find Neo, The One.  We were sure SOMEONE would dress up as Neo and we'd find him, but we DIDN'T!  However, we WERE able to find Morpheus.  LOL.  We found him in the subway and he bolted when he first saw the Agents so we ran after him.  HAHA.  We were able to get a picture with him.

When people didn't see me, they thought the boys were Men in Black, Secret Service, FBI, CIA, Bouncers, you name it!  When I was included in the mix, they guessed it right away.  Like the boys say, I was the glue that pulled the group together, but they had fun acting out other parts as well. 

Here they are acting as the secret service to the new President Elected, Barack Obama.  This guy acted and talked just like the real guy!  He was actually the one that came up to the boys and asked if they were his secret service. 

And past presidents.  LOL.

These guys were so creative!  They were a walking boxing ring complete with boxers, ring girl, and ring master.  They would walk along with the rest of us in the parade and every few minutes the ring would open up and they would stage a full on boxing match.

Such great costumes!  Here are just a FEW more of the great costumes I saw that night.  It was Halloween Heaven for me.  I wish I could show you all of the costumes I saw that night.

     
The New York Chronicles:  Life of an OC Girl in NY
Entry 25
 

So in my last post, I said it was cold.  I lied... it gets pretty frickin' cold some days now.  30-40 degree weather is pretty much unheard of in Orange County, right?  I know that my OC folks are still in summer mode since it's still 80s and 90s there.  Well, you don't have to be envious of your OC girl because I'm freezin' my buns off here.  And to think that it's only going to get colder.  It's the wind that kills you really.  Your face literally feels like you've gone and got botox injected into it.  You can't even move your lips or cheeks or anything!  SO COLD! 

Luckily, we got better weather for Halloween day/night.  It wasn't too cold and not windy at all.  Pretty awesome actually.  Not to mention that there were so many people at the Village Parade, I'm sure the body heat from the 50,000 some odd people helped us out.

Duy has a picture of me from the other day running in the rain and trying hard to keep my umbrella from collapsing on me.  If you can see the look on my face, you'll see that it is the look of pain and sheer anguish.

Ever since my mom and aunt brought over some french ground coffee beans for us and some coffee filters, I've been making Dan his cups everyday.  Lately, he's been making his own morning coffe, but I've been making it for him after work.  My hubby looooves his Cafe Sua Da (iced coffee)!

Thaoie and Robert just left.  Duy is still here, but before these three there were Colleen and Jeremy!  Oh how I miss them already.  We were in desperate in need of QT with our pals and our quality time was spent well, but went by way too fast.  We took them around to our favorite spots and also put in some time to go see Disney's The Little Mermaid Musical on Broadway.  Enjoy the photos!

Me and my big sis, Colleen on St. Mark's Street.

The Boys and J.

Instead of talking on the phone miles and miles away, we were able to do it right next to each other while they were here.  LOL.

After The Little Mermaid.  GREAT broadway musical.  Very well done, bravo!
 

After the show, I asked Nam if he could come out and give Colleen and J a photoshoot like the one he did for us on our 2 year anniversary.  They had a blast.

Nam did a great job!

They have so much fun together!

Dan and I were helpers for the night.  Here we are running across the street to catch up.  Hubby is holding Colleen's bag.

We took them out to our favorite places.  In this one particular picture at BonChon, you see a drink in my hand.  What you don't see in this picture is that I passed out in the corner a little while after it was taken.  I didn't even drink the whole thing!  Laura helped me!  I felt horrible.  Such a yummy drink, but such strong consequences.  Hubby had to go next door to get me some bread to soak up all that horridness from my system.  I had to try very hard not to throw up.
 

I believe we got J back later on.  LOL!

He's DRUNK... I think Nam too.  LOL.
 

I'll be back with a Halloween post.  Halloween in NYC is absolutely freakin' fantabulous.  We also had an amazing time with Thaoie, Duy, KimChi, and Rob when they were here before Halloween, but I'll post that after the Halloween post since I don't want to wait too long after the holiday .  Sorry, I'm behind, but there are so many great pics from Thaoie's trip that I wanted to post as well.

I'll see YOU next time...