Monday, September 14, 2009

12 of 12: September

I feel like the occasional weekend 12 of 12 makes up for all those entries when it's a random Wednesday and I'm all, "Hey! Guys! Look at these pictures of my cat!" So much the better, then, that this month there's weekend travel involved: a much-planned, much-discussed sort-of-birthday-but-really-just-because trip to New York with Sarah.

As always, credit/blame for any and all 12 of 12 madness goes to Chad Darnell.


8:17 - Morning in "my" room--my cousin's old bedroom, which I adore--at my aunt and uncle's house.




11:38 - On the Metro North train to Grand Central with Sarah, watching the Bronx go by and eavesdropping on the people around us.




12:00 - The main hall of Grand Central never ceases to amaze. I love it for its green, astrology-themed ceiling and for its flippy schedule boards and for its excellent signage. Also for the time I saw a huge crowd of little girls in matching Jonas Brothers concert t-shirts corralled by the world's two most long-suffering mothers.




12:27 - Sarah (right) and I (left) met up with Lauren (middle) for lunch as part of Lauren's continuing mission to introduce me to every delicious and/or Broadway-relevant restaurant in the Theater District.




12:40 - The girls had normal food. I had comically large nachos.




2:13 - The holy grail of New York bookstores. Haul: The Final Solution, by Michael Chabon; When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris; a small and beautiful letterpress edition of the love poems of Pablo Neruda; and a Strand bag.




3:36 - Still there, in the half-price basement. You don't hurry through eighteen miles of books, okay?




5:06 - On a rainy day in the Village, what could be better than a window seat and some (admittedly not very chocolate-y) hot chocolate? Sarah agrees.




6:11 - I hereby declare this the best 12 of 12 ever, simply by virtue of PUPPIES! at a pet store on Christopher St.




7:34 - Back uptown for Bye Bye Birdie, still in previews. Verdict: John Stamos is unreasonably good-looking and wears suspenders very well; Gina Gershon should not be singing in public, period; Bill Irwin is not as famous as his talent indicates that he should be. In other news, I continue to think that being a Broadway chorus member must be the most fun job of all time.




11:03 - Stage door from afar, which is what happens when small talk with famous people is unappealing (Me: "BFFs or nothing!") or when you'd just rather not spoil the illusion of your favorites (Sarah: "But what if Bill Irwin isn't nice? Even if he is singing 'Happy Birthday' to that girl?").




11:50 - Seven whole grains on a mission or no (apparently their ad campaign on This American Life made an impact on me?), I do appreciate Kashi's presence in my hour of dire hunger. Thanks, Kashi!


Thanks, New York.

8 comments:

bilunabirotunda said...

Cute 12 of 12! Though is this not on your regular camera? They all look grainy, somehow - ? Love the photo of Sarah drinking hot chocolate especially. (Hey, you had hot chocolate too!) And that bedroom looks out-of-this-world pretty.

Xerxes said...

Liz,

Love the book store, I want one like that in the Chicago area!

Looking at puppies, what would Sherlock say?

Sarah said...

Wait, but...isn't Bill Irwin pretty famous? Or is that just to me? He's a Tony winner and is all over the theater world. Huh.

Liz said...

H--

Thanks! You're right; they ARE grainy. It's my same camera, though; I think I'll just chalk it up to some kind of metaphor for the grit and grime of New York. Or something.

I love my cousin's old room/aunt and uncle's guest room--it's very pretty and has lots of books, and it is just the best place to collapse after the whole work/bus/New York/train ordeal.

Liz said...

X -

The Strand really is pretty fabulous. But surely there must be some total behemoth bookstore in Chicago, too? You all read, right?

Oh, gosh. If there were a dog around, Sherlock would be under the bed for the duration, poor guy. I wouldn't do that to him.

Liz said...

Sarah-

Yeah, no, I didn't mean Bill Irwin isn't famous; I meant that we didn't stage door partly BECAUSE he's famous and I don't like making small talk with famous people. Right? Or am I misunderstanding your comment?

Dogeared said...

Puppies make everything better. But yay for seeing NYC!

Sorry I’m late in replying! I only got my own 12 of 12 up on Thursday!

Helen (Dogeared)

Bellacantare said...

That was my train ride every morning while t was in NY last September. It was my first trip ever to NY and everyone told me before I left that I would be overwhelmed by all the tall buildings in the city. But truthfully, while every part of the trip was awesome, the only place I was truely in awe of was Grand Central Station. And I got to pass through it at least twice every day. Very cool.

So glad you had an awesome trip AND that it was on the 12th!