Beautiful Scenery

My apologies for the long absence.  It's been crazy town around here.  As most of you know I work for a museum that collects and exhibits vintage vehicles, especially motorcycles.  The Museum is located on a race track.  The majority of the time I tell people this and they, in turn, ask me if I am a NASCAR fan.  Excuse me, sir, do I give off the impression that I am a fan of NASCAR?  If so, please advise.  I know nothing about automobiles of any type, nor do I know anything about racing.  I have learned quite a bit, but I am no expert and I like it that way.

So one of the races that is held at the track is the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.  This is, in my opinion and what I actually tell people, classy racing.  The money that goes into these teams and these cars is unREAL.  It's really exciting to watch.  And loud.  I do have to work during race weekends, which makes for about 14 hour days, but there is so much going on and so much excitement that it is actually fun.

The beautiful mens don't make it so rough either.  Patrick Dempsey races in the Porsche 250 (Grand Am Road Racing) and was here last year during the weekend.  HOWEVER, this year there is a big chance that he will be on a commercial shoot in Paris during the weekend and not here.  I am having hate in my heart towards his agent. 

Drats!  Maybe next year...yes?  I guess I will just have to be OK with these guys in his absence...

Australian driver, Will Power.  Yes, I said Australian.

A little bit of Helio might ease ma pain...

And I won't be disappointed if Raphael stops by either...

Hooooly hot guys.  It's gonna get good up in here in a couple of weekends.  In the meantime, I will be setting up shop somewhere in the vicinity of the entire pit crew and engineers from one of the teams that is working here in the Museum during their test.  Ain't life grand.

Obvi all of you know that I am NEVER this type of female, but it's so many beautiful people in one place at one time and my gender is the minority.  I'm just enjoying some of God's creations is all.

Gotta get back to the grind.  I'll be back in the next day or two with some pretty interesting tidbits from my so called personal life.  Until then, I'll leave you with this...

Holla back!!!

"Leaving New York"

Our flight didn't leave until 7:30 Monday night so we had the whole day to do the few things that we hadn't had the chance to do over the past few days.

We went down to Midtown and played around there.

Where John took some awkward photos.

We took a picture we knew our mother would love.

The plan had been to get up early and go down to watch Hoda and Kathy booze it up on national television, but they taped the show the day before.  Sad clowns.

It was so good to see you again, old friend.

We made a point to walk by the flat iron building as it was on Drew's list of must-sees.  Apparently back in the day, men used to stand at this corner and watch the wind blow the women's skirts up as they walked by.  Dirty, dirty men.

We stopped in Washington Square Park where we envied the lives of the NYU students who were hanging out there in the middle of the day.

We had to have one last drink before we left the city.

We caught a cab up to John and Abby's apartment and picked up our things to head back down south.  None of us wanted to leave.  We had such a great time and had such great hosts.  I truly love that city and I hope to visit again really soon. 

Hope everyone has a good rest of this Hump Day!  Holla!

"Hotel Chelsea Nights"

I could have seriously kicked myself on Sunday after we left the apartment for the day because I forgot my camera and we did so many cool things that I wish I had a good picture of.  My phone is a pretty pitiful excuse for a camera.

To start the day, we took a walk down to the West Side.  It felt incredible for February in New York so we took a stroll down the High Line.  It was so cool and such an awesome way for residents to preserve a piece of the City's history.  The rail yard was built in the 1930's and had its last run in 1980.  With real estate on the up rise, there were developers lobbying to blast the railway.  A few residents recognized the potential of the High Line to be used as an open public space and decided to form a group to save it from demolition.  It's now funded through donations made to the Friends of the High Line.  Here are some pics from their website since I'm such a genius.

Our next stop was The Standard Hotel.  This is where I really missed my camera.  It's located at the end of The High Line.  The rooms have floor to ceiling windows so the entire hotel is pretty much glass.

So apparently it is a popular thrill among guests to do the "dance with no pants" up against the windows of the rooms.  Abby said they've witnessed people doin' the deed from a rooftop bar that sits along the High Line.  The bathrooms in the bar at the top of the hotel is also a popular place because there are floor to ceiling windows in them as well.  I took this while I was in there not fornicating.

The bar at the top of the hotel is rightfully called The Boom Boom Room and where we planted ourselves and tried to feel rich for a couple of hours.  It was amazing.  I could go on and on about it, but I'll just give you a couple of pics.

The views were amazing.  We sat and had a couple of drinks and John showed us how to look rich in The Boom Boom Room.

After being slapped in the face by reality in the form of a ginormous bill, we bought a few bottles of wine and a couple of pizzas and took it to the house.

Pretty.

"I'll Take New York"

On to day 2...

Saturday

This was the craziest, most active day of the trip.  There were a few things that I had on my list to do, and one of them was to go to Barney's New York. 

I have no idea why I torture myself so.  Everything was beautiful, obvs.  I'm holding onto that dream of becoming independently wealthy without all the work.  That happens on the reg, right?

We continued working our way through Manhattan's restaurants and bars.  We brunched at a place called Barbounia where they offer non-stop bellinis, mimosas, and champagne for $17.95.  Yes, please!

We attempted to go in the oldest bar in New York, but it was packed so we just took a picture...

We then made our way to Emily's apartment, where she and Erica had made gumbo and king cake for a Mardi Gras party.  I was super impressed.  The thought of trying to make the dough for that cake makes me start sweating.

I found the bay bay.  Go me.

Creeper John snuck up behind Britt.  She looks a scared.

After recruiting everyone at the party to join us for dinner, we headed to Koreatown to Mad for Chicken.  Apparently their wings were rated as some of the best in the country.  They were pretty good!  The hot flavor was PAIN. FUL., however.  It tasted good, but by the time you swallowed your mouth and lips felt like they had been attacked by a blowtorch.  While I guzzled down beer and felt for my toungue to make sure it was still there, I enjoyed reading the drink menu.  Those Koreans are pretty creative.

Nick shared his modeling skills during a small photo shoot before we moved on to the next spot.

In keeping with the same Asian theme, we to partake in some Korean karaoke.  I can't even explain to you how much fun this was.  Each group has their own room with couches and a flat screen at the front.  You choose from 100's of familiar songs just like any other karaoke bar, but each song has its own dramatic Korean music video playing on the tv as you sing.  Hilarious.  I wish I would have snapped a pic of the Korean host that I'm guessing was the manager.  On a few occasions he would walk in to see if all was OK with our group and grab the mic from whoever was up at the time and belt out a few of the lyrics.  It was pretty entertaining.  It's apparently a pretty popular hang out for the Asian population because as the night went on, we definitely became the minority. 

Here's a little of Toto's "Africa" for your viewing and listening pleasure...

Not able to post the video right now, but check back soon!

Part of the deal we struck with Mr. Asian Karaoke Man was a ride home in a stretch Escalade.  Looking back, it seems like a pretty strange offer for a karaoke bar, but of course at the time we were in no way worried about being potential murder victims.  All we cared about was feeling fancy for about 15 blocks.

I guess I forgot how short my dress was.  Woops.  I decided to spare you and cover myself up.  You're welcome.

  



We made it home safely and crashed hard.  Day 3 was spent keeping it classy in a hotel known for its guests having sex up against the windows so stay tuned.  Ta-tas for now!