#i voted for logan orange juice

[pretendicanwrite]

Win/Loss day one

Trying writing with the @oknutzyweek prompts. I've never really done this type of thing, but I'm trying it out!

(I've never posted anything on Tumblr before, but here we go)

Enjoy!

Warnings for: Alcohol, self-deprecating thoughts, dark thoughts

************

“It’s just a small win, there’s still a long way to go,” Leo said, staring into his drink. He had his hands cupped around the cup, thumbs circling the rim. 

“This is big Le, you got a shut-out.” The team was out at Sid’s celebrating their wins against the snakes. 

“I know Tremz, but I almost didn’t. That last shot that Snape took almost went in. He faked left and shot right, and I fell for it. The only reason it didn’t go in, is because Dumo hit him last second. If he didn’t, it would have sailed right in and tied us up with 4 minutes left. I almost failed.” 

Leo and Logan sat in silence for a few minutes, both thinking about the game. 

“Leo, you didn’t let a shot in, and that’s what matters. Even if you almost did, it wouldn’t have changed anything. They pulled Riddle, and we got another goal with over a minute left.” Logan explained, resting his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “We won against the snakes. Let’s celebrate.”

“Count me in,” Finn said, resting his chin on Leo’s head. “I like being taller than you. Your hair is soft. Anyway, what are we talking about?”

“Peanut’s shut-out.”

“Yeah! I vote we get Peanut a beer to celebrate.”

Logan hesitated for a minute, looking between his two boys. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea right now.”

Leo looked over at him, his eyebrows furrowed. “You guys always buy me beers. You’ve never had a problem with me drinking before.”

Finn and Logan made eye contact while Leo looked back to his drink. Sharing a silent conversation, there was a sudden understanding between them.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea right now Nutter Butter. Why don’t we say goodbye to the team and head home? It’s late anyway.” Logan said, hand rubbing slowly up and down Leo’s arm.

“The team’s all going over to Cap’s if you guys want to come. We were gonna go play Truth or Drink.” 

“Thanks, James, but I think we’re just gonna head home,” Finn said, making a move to stand up straight, but stopped by Leo circling his arms around his neck. 

“Can we please go? Just for a few minutes. It would be a good distraction.”

Again, Logan and Finn looked between each other. Logan didn't think Leo should be drinking while he was looking for a distraction.

"We're celebrating a win tonight. A shut-out against the snakes, so let's celebrate with the team. After all, they're the reason we won."

"Leo, babe, you didn't let a single shot in. We won because of all of us, you included, so we can celebrate if you want, but I don't think you should be drinking when you're talking like this. You can't use alcohol as a distraction when you're upset." Logan stood up, coming to lean against the bar in front of Leo. He took his hands in his own,

"I'm not upset, I just don't get how everyone can sit here and celebrate when I almost let us lose."

Sandwiched between his boys, Leo leaned into Logan's chest, removing one of his arms from Finn to wrap around Logan's waist.

"I don't want to use it as a distraction, I just want to have a good night with my team, and forget about the game."

Agreeing, all three boys gathered their coats and left for Cap's house.

Upon arriving, the game was already set up with cups sitting on the coffee table and floors. Kuny, Nado, Dumo, Cap, Loops, James, Lily, Kasey, Natalie, and a few others from the team sat around, laughing at something Loops said.

"Welcome cubs. Grab a drink and take a seat. Now that you are here the game can start. Someone is going to grab a card and ask someone else the question on it. you can either answer it or drink." Loops explained.

"Alright. You got anything else besides the hard liquor?"

The team laughed at Logan's question, jokingly making fun of him. Cap told him that they had some orange juice in the fridge, and Finn went to get some, pouring it into a cup, and handing it to Leo.

Once everyone was back, Loops picked up the first card.

"James, if you could pick who you'd be trapped in an elevator with for 24 hours, who would you pick?"

James looked around then finally smiled as he looked at Lily. "My Lils."

James picked up the next card. "Cap, what are five things that irritate you about your partner?"

Cap looked panicked, slightly reaching for his cup before turning to look at Loops. "I can't really think of any. We always talk about things that annoy each other." He took a drink. "Alright, Finn, sleep marry kill, the person on your left, right, and across from you."

Finn looked around at Leo, Logan, and Dumo.

"No! Um, sorry Dumo, but you have to die. I can't kill either of my boyfriends." Dumo just snorted, muttering something in French. "I guess I'd marry Leo because he cooks for me, as long as we both get to sleep with Logan. Kasey, what is a weird thing you do when alone? I just want to know if some of the things Leo does are goalie things or not."

Kasey thought for a moment, before responding. "Sometimes I'll just sit in a center split while I watch games."

Finn busted out laughing, "It is a goalie thing!"

"Leo, What is your biggest fear about your relationship?"

Leo let his smile drop, and immediately, the room went silent. "I'm scared that I'm too young, and lacking life experience, and my partners will eventually get bored with me."

"Baby, we are never going to get bored of you! How could we when you look like that? And not to mention your southern accent. There is literally no way we could ever get bored of you." Finn said, laying his head in Leo's lap.

"Why don't we spice this up?" After a few shouts of agreement, Cap continued speaking, "The person reading the card asks two people, and gives the card to whoever they thought had the better answer."

Leo picked up his card, letting out a short laugh. "Logan and Finn, do you think your current partner is marriage material? If so, why?"

Logan started speaking first. "Knutty is so marriage material. I wake up to fresh coffee, and I usually get homemade dinner. Finn, eh, not so much. I swear, this man leaves everything everywhere."

"Nutter Butter is top-notch marriage material. I'm talking high-quality Louisiana recipes, and I get cuddles every night. Logan leaves wet towels on the floor of the bathroom, and I'd end up divorcing him twenty minutes in."

Everyone laughed, and Leo handed the card over to Finn.

Deciding to go in a circle for the remainder of the game, Leo won three cards, Dumo one, Loops one, Lily two, Kasey one, and Nado two.

Cap picked up the next card. "Leo and Loops, who here would you sleep with besides your current partner?"

Loops reached for his cup, but cap making an outraged noise stopped him. "I guess I would sleep with Nado? I don't know, he's really tall and muscular."

Leo laughed a little before looking around the room. "Loops, I'm sorry but your fiancé looks really cuddly, and he's the same height as me. Logan and Finn are short."

Cap snorted before giving the card to Leo.

The game went around 3 more times, everyone winning at least one card. At the end of the game, everyone counted their cards, Leo winning with his four.

"I win losers." Taking Logan's cup, Leo chugged the drink, letting out a short laugh. "Thank you all for tonight, but I think it's time we head home. Have a good night!"

As they were walking out to their car, Leo grabbed both of his boys' hands. "Thank you. I'm sorry I was so upset at Sid's."

"Baby, you being upset wasn't a problem. Just next time, you can talk to us."

"Okay. I love you guys, you know that right?"

"Yeah Peanut, we love you too."

***************

So, I think it went a little bit off of the prompt, but I'm not mad at it.

[ohnoboho]

ghosts in the flesh 1 (let’s meet our lovely contestants)

Dear reader, welcome to part one of my newest punk!Sanders multi-part fiction. A few of you voted for it, so here it is! @asofterfan‘s fantastic punk!Sanders Sides boys are going to go ghost hunting, eventually. For now, they are just going to be sassy at lunch (also a little glimpse of what’s to come for poor Virgil). It’s been a struggle to say the least with this, but I hope you will enjoy. 

much love, boho

Virgil watched the beam of the flashlight twist and spiral lazily as it fell through the air below him. The light swept over the decrepit walls of the shaft, deceptively slow. Only the deafening rush of air by his ears gave away how fast he was really falling. And something else, a voice hazy between the wind and his own blood pounding noisily in his throat he couldn’t quite make out. 

Below him, the flashlight finally made contact with the floor, the beam of light violently flailing as it bounced and rolled around the debris. Virgil squeezed his eyes shut and let the terror run swift and frigid through his veins; one raw, guttural shout echoed off the metal walls before the ground rushed to meet him. He knew he was going to regret going that night.

Two weeks prior...

It had started off much the same as any of their other adventures, with a friendly argument.

An offhand comment during lunch hour from a passing student calling Roman a ‘banshee’ for his excessive wailing at the tragedy of dropping his bag of chips sparked it really. After the soda can Virgil had hucked made contact with the back of the offending student’s head and sent the group scurrying off, the punk grumbled something under his breath.

“What was that, Virge?” Patton looked up from his backpack. He tossed Roman a spare bag of cheez-its; the other boy caught it with a thrilled gasp.

“He was just stating that it’s incorrect to call Roman a banshee, because he’s not female. The term banshee translates literally to ‘fairy woman’ and he is neither of those things. Although….” Logan glanced up from the homework he had been working on with a smirk, locking eyes with the other boy. It took only a moment for Roman to catch on to the joke. The two actually laughed together.

“Roman would be a specter or a wraith.” Virgil continued, sliding back into his seat after retrieving the empty can. “I mean really, if he were anything, Roman would be an incubus. A very confused incubus, who’s shit at his job.” Patton and Roman exchanged puzzled glaces as Logan and Virgil elbowed each other cheekily.

“I don’t know what the hell that means, but since you villians seem to find it oh-so amusing, I’m guessing I should be offended.” The steampunk pouted as best he could between fistfulls of cheez-its.

Patton leaned forwards and rested his chin in his hands. “Gosh, Virgil, sounds like you know a lot about spirits and stuff! What would I be?” Virgil had to stop himself from laughing at the juxtaposition of the pastel punk’s very serious expression with his delicate sipping on a juice box.

“I think you’d probably be a brownie.” The punk fiddled with his hoodie string as he spoke, shifting uncomfortably as his stomach let out an audible growl.

“oH MY-”

“He’s not referring to the fuckin’ baked good, Patton.” Logan cut off the boy’s cheery giggles, pushing his glasses further up his nose. “Brownie used here refers to a type of house gremlin.”

“Gremlins?” Patton cocked his head with a frown. Without looking, he plunged a hand into his backpack again and fished around. “Aren’t they usually mean?”

“In some cultures, but not brownies.” Virgil explained, absently accepting the orange Patton slid across the table to him. “They are little fae that pick a family they like and live in their house. They help out around the house with chores and shit and the family leaves them treats and toys to say thanks.” The dark boy kept his eyes on the orange as he carefully pulled at the peel and shrugged casually. “Seemed like a good fit to me.”

The pastel boy cooed, clapping his hand together excitedly. “Awwww, I love them!” Tucked under his hood and his bangs, a small smile crept across Virgil’s face.

Roman finished shaking the last crumbs from the cheez-it bag into his mouth, before tossing it aside. “Well, aren’t you just a regular Necro-NERD-icon! I mean, is anyone really surprised that Sabrina the Emo Witch here knows so much about ghosts though?” Virgil only stuck his tongue out in response. 

Logan offered an explanation distractedly as he scribbled away at the margins of his notes. “When we were kids, we used to go ‘ghost hunting’ around town quite often. To be honest, it was always less about the ghost hunting and more about creatively trespassing into ruined buildings.” Virgil munched on an orange slice thoughtfully and gave a hint of a smile at the precious memories of the little delinquent children they were.

“Woooow! Didja ever contact any ghosts?” Patton gasped eagerly.

“What? No, of course not!” Logan scoffed, tapping his pen sharply on his glasses frame. “Paranormal and supernatural creatures aren’t real, Patton. Although, it did take me quite a while to convince this idiot of that.” He jostled the boy next to him with his elbow and received a sound smack to his shoulder in return.

“You didn't convince me of anything, ass. I just stopped arguing with you.” Virgil grumbled sarcastically, flicking a pip directly at Logan’s glasses. It bounced off with a ‘plink’ as Logan started to squawk angrily.

“That’s just ridiculous! It's an absolute fact that ghosts aren't real and you know that, because there is no way that my best friend is as fucking dim as Dumb and Dumber over there.” Logan pointed sharply at the two punks across from table who froze in place right in the middle of Patton attempting to spit some juice from his straw into Roman’s open mouth.

“Excuse me!?” The steampunk sputtered, slapping his hands down on the table. “First, Specs, how dare you? Puff and I are creative geniuses.” The smaller boy echoed his assertion with a small 'yeah!’.  “And second, Nerd, how dare you? You assume that I believe in the supernatural? Why? Because I have a deep appreciation for fairytales? Because I happen to have an undying love for Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride? Everyone knows the ghosts are projections, Logan! Another fabulously clever way that Disney’s magic comes to life for little princes and princesses and other young royalty! ” Roman gestured about wildly as he ranted. His voice boomed through the courtyard where they sat as his armful of bangles rang noisily. The other students groups perked their heads up at the sounds of a possible fight, but quickly went back to their lunches as they realized it was just Roman.

Logan was taken aback for a moment before he leaned in with a raised eyebrow. “Wait, you don’t-”

He was cut off by a whine from Patton. “Roman?! You don't believe in ghosts? How un-BOO-lievable!” The pastel punk pressed his palms to his chest, miming being shot through the heart.

“I believe in using them as a clever literary device to force a character to confront their baggage from the past.” Roman said with a chuckle, reaching over to ruffle his friend’s colorful curls. “But no, Patton, ghosts and goblins and demons, they’re not real. They’re just fantastic stories!”

Logan blinked rapidly, removing and replacing his glasses a few times. “I’m agreeing with Roman? About ghosts?” His voice was distant and quiet.

“But you can’t know that for sure…” Virgil spoke up, shrugging his shoulders. “I mean, I don't know if I believe in supernatural shit, but there is always the possibility…”

“What?!” Logan balked, dropping his pen with a clatter. Suddenly his closest friend seemed to sprout another head. Another head that was spouting nonsense.

“Yeah!” Patton jumped in, nodding vigorously. “Virgil’s right! You can’t be so sure they aren't real! What about all the people that have had ghost experiences?”

“Oh, Puff, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but people lie, cutie pie!” Roman laughed loudly, striking a dramatic pose. “It’s all just theater. You know, con people are some of the greatest actors! I can’t say I haven't given it some thought for myself. I could make millions!” The steampunk preened.

“I’m agreeing with Roman….” Logan repeated like he was practicing words from a different language, trying to decipher the meaning. The other boys ignored him, intent on their conversation.

“Not everyone is a big fucking fraud, like you, Roman.” Virgil gruffed. He picked at his nail polish, trying his best to sound nonchalant. “And not everything can be explained away, so, fuck it, maybe it's worth it for people to study ghosts and stuff. Someone could find some evidence that changes everything.”

“That’s right! People thought atoms were made out of pudding before they saw them in microscopes!” Patton asserted proudly, crossing his arms resolutely across his chest. Virgil and Roman shared a bewildered look, while Logan just slowly removed his glasses from his face and took a breath.

“PATTON-” Logan erupted loudly, before he was cut off again.

“Yeah, we definitely don’t have enough time for you to dive into whatever the hell that was, Lo. Let’s make a wager.” Roman leaned in over the table. “I’ll bet that we could go a full night in a ‘haunted’ location and not find a single piece of evidence of any of your ‘ghosty friends’.” He chuckled smugly and bounced his eyebrows at Virgil.

Patton lunged forwards to clasp one of Virgil’s hands in his own. “Ooh! The Boo-lievers (that’s us, Virge) versus The Debbie Doubters (that’s you two)!” The table nearly shook as he wriggled with excitement. Virgil held in a laugh behind his free hand.

“The Debbie Doubters?!” Roman scoffed, feigning great offense. “Logan, you will have to help me come up with a better team name than that if we are to win this. Here, I’ll start a list!”

Mercifully, the bell rang before Logan could full come back to his senses. Virgil, grateful for the distraction, tugged at Patton’s sweater to drag him along to their art class, while Logan waited impatiently for Roman to join him on their way to chemistry.

“This isn’t over, you dastardly Boo-lievers!” The steampunk yelled after the other two boys, giving Logan a hearty slap on his back. “The Science Studs will school you!”

“That is the stupidest fucking name...” Logan grumbled, shoving Roman roughly with his shoulder in the direction of their class.

“How about The Eclectic Skeptics?”

“No.”

“The Para-No-mal Punks?”

“Fuck no.”

to be continued...

Taglist:

@funsizedgremlin

[fromwinnipeg2everywhere]

How Lucky We are to be Alive Right Now

In June of 2016, my husband was lucky enough to snag a couple of Hamilton tickets and not through the secondary market so we didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for it, the only catch is that the tickets are for April 2017. So here we are, ten months later, and we just returned from an amazing trip to New York City.

Boston

From Winnipeg, we flew to Montreal and then into Boston for a couple of nights. I have never been to Boston before and as a New Kids on the Block fan, I have always wanted to visit. Boston is almost as expensive as New York City in terms of hotels. We stayed at Midtown Hotel Boston in the Back Bay area and we have stayed at fancy hotels before for the price we paid, but in downtown Boston, you pretty much get a motel for $250 CAD per night. We took the first flight out of Winnipeg at 7AM and did not arrive at our hotel until 4PM.  I love Winnipeg but I hate not having direct flights to anywhere. The total time in the air from Winnipeg to Boston was maybe 2.5 hours and the total amount of time wasted inside airports, maybe 5 hours. From Boston Logan Airport, there is a complimentary airport shuttle that takes you to the Airport Subway station, and from here, you can take the subway to the Back Bay area. You would have to purchase a subway ticket, which they call a Charlie ticket, for $2.75 per person, and take a couple of trains to get to Back Bay. It is all very convenient, safe and cheap, and it doesn’t take that long, and as long as you don’t have a lot of luggage, I highly recommend it.

After getting settled in to our hotel, we walked to the Boston Public Garden. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel, but we walked down Commonwealth Avenue, so it was a scenic and relaxing walk on the boulevard towards the park. The weather was warm that afternoon so we spent a couple of hours just walking around and relaxing at Boston Public Garden and Boston Common, and afterwards, we headed down to Cheers on Beacon Street for some dinner and drinks. It was a bit of a wait at the restaurant, but it’s almost also like a museum of sorts for Cheers fans so that helps pass the time a little bit.

The following day, we hit the Freedom Trail, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. We also walked over to Little Italy to buy some cannolis. I was most impressed by lobster roll and New England clam chowder at the Boston Chowdah food stall at Quincy Market. We finished exploring this area earlier than anticipated, so after a late lunch, we decided to head to the Samuel Adams Brewery for their free tour. For an optional small donation, Sam Adams brewery provides a free tour of their research facility as well as free tasting of three different kinds of beers (plus they give you souvenir glasses to boot!). The tour includes learning about the different ingredients of beer as well as the process to make beer. It’s a short ride from downtown Boston and worth going to if you are a beer fan and if you have some time to kill.

After the brewery tour, we then took the train to Harvard. As a child, I have dreamed of going to school to Harvard. I was a lot smarter back then and may have had a small chance to get in, but there was no way my parents or I would have been able to afford it, and I’m sure I’m not smart enough to get a scholarship! Anyway, to me, it was worth seeing the school grounds and being surrounded by smart young people, some of whom are likely to become future world leaders. After walking around Harvard for a bit, we took the train to Fenway Park

We didn’t get to go inside the ball park, but we walked around for a little bit and then went to Wahlburgers for dinner. As I mentioned earlier, I am an NKOTB fan and my preference would have been to go to the original location, but since it was too far, this was the next best thing. The food itself was alright, the burger isn’t bad but in my experience, Americans cook their burgers properly (i.e. not overcooked). My favourite item on the menu is their onion rings. It reminds me of the onion loaf at Tony Roma’s which I also have a weak spot for. From Wahlburgers, we walked back to our hotel.

The following morning before checking out of the hotel, we had breakfast at Thornton’s. I don’t get the hype about this place. I have honestly had better breakfast at McDonald’s. There was a lineup to get in, and the staff weren’t all that friendly. We ordered “freshly squeezed orange juice” but I’m pretty sure we were served orange juice from a box. My husband ordered pancakes and they weren’t good at all. I ordered scrambled eggs and potatoes, and the potatoes were greasy and cold. Definitely not worth lining up for and the price we paid. You can get better breakfast elsewhere.

After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to check out, and then walked to Back Bay Station to catch our Amtrak train to NYC. I don’t like Amtrak because you can’t reserve seats, and it turns out this train is super popular so hubby and I sat apart for most of the 4 hour ride (yes, the train is also super slow). At around 4PM, we arrived at New York Penn Station.  We meet again, New York City, long time no see.

New York City

When I booked the trip to NYC, I didn’t realize that we were going on the week of spring break, I’m thinking that is why hotels cost more than what it did compared to our first two trips there (combined!). I have heard people rave about AirBNB so this time around, I tried that. I found a penthouse near the corner of Lexington and East 55th for $190 CAD a night. This is more than $150 cheaper than the cheapest hotel I can find, and those hotels looked dodgy to me. We have never done AirBNB before so we were pretty excited and anxious at the same time. From Penn Station, it was just one subway ride to the condo that we rented. This is our third time to NYC so I’m familiar with the subways now and very comfortable finding my way around New York. We got to the condo at around 4:30PM. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed at the condition of the condo. It was very outdated and seemed very run down. The unit itself was needing a lot of upgrade – from the floors, walls, window covering, furniture, etc. But, it’s Manhattan, and beggars can’t be choosers, and towards the end, the place grew on me. I think that next time, I would maybe find a rental in Brooklyn or SoHo.

For our first day in NYC, we had a burger at JG Melon, we walked around Times Square and had drinks at Hofbrau Bierhaus. JG Melon was voted as having one of the best burgers in Manhattan and I would have to agree. The burger was yummy albeit a bit pricey considering a side of fries are $6, this on top of the $10 burger – but it is NYC so I guess that’s just normal there. Make sure you go early to avoid lineups. It’s our third time to NYC, and with each visit, I have liked Times Square less and less. The lights seemed brighter this time around, but the place looks dirtier and filled with more people than ever. I would have avoided it completely, but hubby enjoys the atmosphere, plus we had a few shows we were going to, so it was impossible to avoid the area. If it is your first visit to NYC, I suppose it is worth seeing, but there are so much more you can do and enjoy in NYC outside of Times Square.  The best dark beer I ever tasted was at the Hofbrau in Munich, so when I heard that there was a Hofbrau in NYC, I was excited.  Unfortunately, the beer here does not taste the same as the beer in Munich.

Our second day in NYC was a little less hectic. We had a late start today, so we just bought some McMuffins from McDonald’s for late breakfast/early lunch. We left the condo by noon to go to Broadway to see The Great Comet. We were lucky to get a couple of tickets on stage and I feel that if we did not, I would have not enjoyed it as much. The experience of sitting on stage and interacting with the actors, and being so close to Josh Groban you can hear him breathe was amazing. The story itself was a little shallow, the music forgettable. The lead female was beautiful and talented, but Natasha, the character she was playing is vapid and vain.  The best parts of the show was every time Josh Groban opened his mouth to sing.

After the show, we went to the Flat Iron district and sat around Madison Park. This is actually the first time I have seen the Flat Iron building. I really liked the area, and if you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of Times Square, this area is a good alternative. The Flat Iron building is great architecture to look at, and Madison Park right across it is not crowded and great for people watching. There are shops and restaurants around this area, and very accessible through subway. We then headed over to Eleven Madison Park for our 6PM reservation.

We were able to book a reservation with EMP prior to the announcement that they are the #1 Restaurant in the World for 2017. After that announcement, every single reservation for the week we were there went poof. I have to admit, EMP is pricey for my standards, but the hubby was persistent and adamant that we try it, and since he was going to foot the bill, why the hell not, right? So, apparently, at the time you reserve at EMP, you pay in advance, and the only thing you need to pay for at the restaurant is the alcohol you would consume. EMP is a non-tipping restaurant so gratuity is built into the price. Starting the week that we had our reservation, EMP was serving a “retrospective” menu, meaning that they looked back at their menu and picked their favourites. My husband was both excited and disappointed with this news. He was excited to try the “best-of” but at the same time, he was really looking forward to some of the items that were not on this menu. From my perspective, I really enjoyed the food, but I don’t know that I would have sprang that much money for it myself. I expected great food and great service from a Michelin Three-Star restaurant, and they delivered, but what I didn’t expect was the experience that went beyond the food and service. The service is what I would have expected, everyone was attentive and friendly. We came in 15 minutes earlier than our reservation and they seated us right away. The food was delicious, my favourite being the prawn wrapped in avocado. My least favourite was the carrot tartare – not sure what that was about. The portions are just right, and by the end of the eleven courses, I felt satiated but not overly full. Like I said, the food and service, I expected to be good, but I have had similar service and tastes from other one-starred Michelin restaurants before. What made EMP different are a couple of other things they did that personalized the experience or differentiated them from other restaurants. For example, prior to our reservation date, they sent an email asking what we are celebrating, so they personalized our desserts based on our response. They also do this thing when you order a bottle of red wine where they open the bottle by literally cracking it open and saving the cork for you as a take home gift. Then at the end of the meal, they have more treats for you such as all you can drink Apple Brandy, yummy jars of granola, and a tour of the kitchen which includes a custom cocktail made especially for you. I would say that the experience was worth the splurge.

The following morning, we woke up super early to go buy cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery. Dominique Ansel was also recently voted as the #1 pastry chef in the world. The website says lineup at 7AM if you want to guarantee yourself a cronut. We got there at 7:05AM on a Thursday and we were second in line, in fact, the line didn’t really start growing until about 7:45AM and even then it was not that bad. The flavour of the day when we were there was Blood Orange and Almonds, and apparently, from the time they started making cronuts, they have not repeated a flavour. We ordered a cronut and a DKA, and both were so yummy. I’m not really a fan of sweets or donuts (the hubby is), and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Definitely worth the hype and getting up early for!

After breakfast, we took the subway to Brooklyn Bridge. The first time we were in New York a few years ago, we walked from the Manhattan side towards the Brooklyn side and turned around three-quarters of the way back to Manhattan. The last time we were there, we took the subway to the Brooklyn side and hung out under the bridge. This time, we took the subway to Brooklyn and walked all the way back to Manhattan. We walked first thing in the morning, along with people who were trying to walk or bike to work. There aren’t as many tourists this early in the morning so the bridge isn’t that crowded yet. Walking towards Manhattan, you get a good view of the Manhattan skyline, and as soon as you reach the Manhattan side, you can either walk around the City Hall area or take a subway somewhere else in the city.

After Brooklyn Bridge, we went to the Financial District to check out the sculpture of Fearless Girl. I really like what the sculpture symbolizes, but I can see how it changes the context of the Charging Bull. I’m glad that the installation got extended and that we got to see it. I wish that we had come earlier before the crowds so we could have taken a proper photo of both sculptures, but the place was crawling with tourists by the time we got there.

After Wall Street, we took the subway to the Upper East Side to have lunch at Shake Shack. No trip to NYC would be complete without eating at Shake Shack! After having an early lunch, we then walked over to Neue Galerie. We arrived at Neue Galerie shortly after it opened at 11am and there was already a line-up, but the line went relatively fast. It costs $20 per person to get in, and it’s not a big museum, just a couple of floors, with the highlight of the exhibit being Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer 1 aka Woman in Gold painting. There were other Klimt paintings, but the exhibit is nowhere near as impressive as the collection at Belvedere in Vienna.

We proceeded to the Metropolitan Museum of Art after Neue Galerie. The first time I was at the Met, I remembered being completely overwhelmed with the amount of art available, so this time around, we planned to see just the highlights. We had a list of the art we wanted to see, but I was still very overwhelmed because of the sheer size of the museum which made it hard to find the paintings we wanted to see. I wish the rooms were better organized so that you can go through them in order and not miss any of the paintings. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the highlights – the Van Goghs, the Monets, even though now I realize that these are the lesser known paintings because the popular ones are in Europe.  

We headed back to the condo to nap and I ordered takeout dinner from Kung Fu Little Steamed Bun Ramen II across the street. We then took the subway to Broadway to watch Dear Evan Hansen. Word of warning, do not put on a lot of eye makeup before going to this show and make sure to use water-proof mascara if you must put on some makeup. There was not a dry eye in the house when all was said and done. The story is very modern, very relevant, perhaps geared more to younger audiences or parents of high-schoolers, but it doesn’t make it less touching to the rest of us. Ben Platt deserves a Tony nomination, if not a win, for his role as Evan Hansen.  

The following day, we woke up early to go to Times Square and ogle at Michael Strahan on Good Morning America. Times Square is nice and empty in the morning, and I really quite enjoyed walking around during this time. We had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s in Times Square – and you can tell that it was early because there was hardly anyone there. After breakfast, we took the subway to Central Park.

I love walking through Central Park and enjoying the rocks, the gardens, the ponds, the cherry blossoms, the bridges – everything. You can almost forget you are in the middle of Manhattan until you look up and see the high-rises on the South and West sides of the park. If you get hungry, the Loeb Boathouse Café has reasonably priced burgers and hotdogs, and of course, there are hotdog stands all throughout the park. We met up with a friend and her son who lives in Long Island, and they say that the only time they ever go to Manhattan is when they have friends visiting NYC, so this was a treat for them as well. The Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom, and the weather was absolutely perfect this day.  

At around 3:30PM, we left Central Park to go to the Museum of Modern Art. Every Friday at 4PM, MOMA opens its doors for free courtesy of Uniqlo. This is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing of course because you get to walk in the door for free, a curse because you get to walk in the door for free along with thousands of other people. The lineup stretches the entire block between 6th and 5th avenues. Then when you finally get in, the place is so crowded that it is hard to actually move and see the art. Personally, I only wanted to see Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, but it turns out everyone else wants to see it too because everyone seemed to want to crowd around it. With a little patience and a little bit of pushing, you would eventually get to see it up front, but with a hundreds of people behind you also waiting patiently and pushing a little bit. If you want to enjoy the art in piece, I would recommend NOT going on a Friday, but of course, you pay the full price.

After MOMA, we said goodbye to my friend and headed back to the condo. We ordered take out from Chipotle (this place gets such a bad rep, but I really like it). We sat out on the balcony, overlooking Lexington and 55th Ave, eating Mexican fast food and drinking cheap drugstore wine. It was great.

We napped for a little bit and then headed out again to Broadway to watch Sunday at the Park with George. I have to admit that I was only excited about this musical because of Jake Gyllenhaal. Our seats weren’t as good compared to the past two shows we watched, and I was admittedly tired from walking around Central Park the whole day, and I think that if Jake Gyllenhaal wasn’t there, I would probably enjoyed the show a lot less. The hubby enjoyed the show a lot though. He is obviously the more artistic and creative one between us two, and he was totally able to relate to George’s struggles with creating art and finding time and funds to follow his dreams and passion. I was falling asleep.  

The following day, Saturday, is our last full day in NYC. We started with breakfast at Dunkin Donuts and then we headed to the Flat Iron District again, this time, to have lunch at Gramercy Tavern.

Gramercy Tavern is a Michelin One-Starred Restaurant, and it is much easier to get a reservation here unlike EMP. The service was attentive, the atmosphere was casual and the food is delicious. Gramercy is a non-tipping restaurant but I find the price was still very reasonable considering gratuity is built in. We ordered the octopus and beef tartare to start. The octopus was yummy, but not as fresh as I thought it would be. The beef tartare serving was generous and the beef melted in my mouth. We then ordered the lamb and striped bass for the main course, both were delicious. For dessert, we ordered the matcha and the pineapple, both were misses for me, but the hubby enjoyed them both, which is great because he got to eat both desserts. I really enjoyed the starter and main courses, but as far as Michelin One-Star restaurants, I think Field in Prague is still the best (I would actually say that Field, in my books, is not that far behind EMP).

After lunch, we took the subway to SoHo because the hubby wanted to buy some books at Taschen. Taschen is a great little bookstore in SoHo that specializes in art books. My husband was like a kid in a candy store, and the only thing that prevented him from buying more books is that there is not enough space in our luggage to take them home.

After Taschen, we took the subway to Queens to pick up some baked goodies for the family at Red Ribbon Bakeshop. It’s a Filipino bakeshop and my mom loves it, so it was worth the trip out to Queens to make my mom happy.

And then last but not the least, our reason for coming to New York in the first place. Hamilton. I have to admit that I never understood my husband’s obsession with this musical. He moaned and sulked that we could not get tickets sooner to see the original cast. He would listen to the sound track, read the book, watch the Ham4Ham videos on the internet and tell me about the story and backstory (and I always pretended to listen!). Finally, I was like “Just buy tickets off of the internet and whenever you are able to, let me know and I’ll book the trip”.  To be honest, I knew it was hard to get tickets, so I kind of thought that he was not going to be able to. But, he lucked out on reddit when somebody gave him a code that was exclusive to newsletter subscribers (apparently, this dude that gave him the code already watched it twice). This was back in June 2016, prior to the show winning a boatload of Tony Awards. So now he has tickets, I had to live up to my end of the bargain and book the trip. I was actually a little annoyed because as much as I love New York City, I was not keen to spending my tourist dollars in the US because of their current political situation. We were actually a little paranoid that we were not going to be let in (we have read news about Canadians being turned away at the border). Plus, as I mentioned earlier, NYC is expensive and were in the midst of acquiring a new mortgage – so it was all in all bad timing. I was also very skeptical about the show.  I never listened to the full soundtrack before, and didn’t really know what to expect. All I know is that I was expecting to be disappointed because nothing could possibly live up to all that hype.

Boy, was I ever wrong. To say that I enjoyed the show would be an understatement. I loved it so much, and it was so much fun, and educational and amazing and – well you get the picture. I definitely owe the hubby for this experience (and everything else that we did in Boston and NYC on this trip) – babe, if you are reading this, thank you.  This is the best musical I have ever seen, not just for this trip, but ever. The story, the pace, the songs – it was all very simple yet very well executed. I like that it was not your typical lead actors (i.e. Caucasian), so it was nice seeing POC on stage killing it. The show was very unique, very different from other musicals I have seen in the past. I wish they would eventually tour Canada (not just Toronto), and if they ever make it to my neck of the woods, I would not hesitate to go see it again. In fact, I would actually fly back to NYC to see it again. I know I’m late to the game, but now, I feel like a part of a sub-culture of Hamilton fans, and I finally get why people are in love with Hamilton.

After Hamilton, we headed back to the condo to pack our bags and get ready for our early flight out of New York. I really don’t know what possessed me to book at 6:30AM flight out of La Guardia on Easter morning. Shortly after retiring for the evening, we had to wake up right away to leave. I was worried that because it was Easter Sunday, it would be hard to get a cab to La Guardia, but I didn’t have to worry, because apparently there is not a shortage of cabs in NYC. We left so early that by the time we got to La Guardia, TSA staff was not even there yet to get us through security. The trip home went off without a hitch, and we were back in Winnipeg by noon.

A week after coming home, I am still looking at the photos and remembering highlights from the trip. This trip was a good reminder of why I’m in love with NYC. If I could afford to live there, I would pack up my clothes and my cats and move there in a heartbeat. I am looking forward to the next time I come visit.