Saturday, June 30, 2007

Westchester bar reviews!

Me: It's weird going out in Westchester. Like, I know this is just a temporary social life to me, so it's sort of interesting. But I couldn't imagine if this was my life. The people I saw out last night, this is their life. Forever.
My mom: I know. Isn't that sad?


Now that I'm starting to adjust to my new life, and not be an old lady (or more accurately an upper middle-aged woman, probably an empty-nester, who works all the time but has no kids or responsibilities yet likes living in the "country" so commutes to the city from Westchester) I've actually been having fun! And most of that fun has been in nyc, since that's where the party's at, but by virtue of being a "boomerang kid" (though ONLY temporarily) I'm discovering the joys of Mid-Westchester nightlife.

Discounting a couple trips to a bar in Pleasantville when I was a camp counselor in high school (where I thought I was soooooocoool to sneak into Michael's without an id) I've never gone out in Westchester. Until now. And let me tell you, it's quite an experience.Because or inspite of the face that we are a mere 40 miles from Manhattan, the Westchester scene might as well be Iowa. When you google "Westchester bar reviews" (and duh, I did) nothing comes up. lohud.com attempts to have a "bar crawl" but it does not work. So I will attempt to chronicle my experience:

Last week Tuesday Anne, Caitlin and I went to Lucy's, a cocktail bar in Pleasantville that is really trying to be cool. While the cocktails are adequate, they were also expensive ($8.50) and the crowd of nine other people was mid-30s townies. We left at 11, and made plans to go to EB the next night and not be old ladies as per usual.
Grade: B-. It tried.

Then Wednesday, after I returned from Lake Placid, the three of us attempted drinking at South of the Border (SOB) in good old Ossining. I'd been here for dinner, but never drinks, though Anne assured us it was hopping on a Saturday night recently. While the thunderstorm probably didn't help our cause, our waiter not-so-subtly hinted we should leave shortly after I finished my Sangria. We were the last people in the restaurant. At 10:30.
Grade: C-. It could have gone up a grade if it didn't kick us out.

I had then planned to join Marissa, Laurel and others for karaoke at Torchia's, a family-Italian restaurant in Briarcliff. However, when I called Marissa at 10:30, they were already on their way out after been skeezed out by karaoke surrounded by 50-something drunks. Grade: N/A

Last night, for Michelle's last night in town before leaving for Boston, I joined many of my fellow Ossining High School grads in Tarrytown at Sunset Cove, or more accurately, The Washington Irving Boat Club. This place was bumping! We were carded to get in, and by the time Laurel, Ayanna, Ava and I got there at 9:30, the rest of OHS Class of 2003 and 2004 (or about 15 of them) had been drinking for two hours and were apologetic that there were not enough seats. I am thankfully at the point in my life where I don't feel the need to make smalltalk with people I don't care about, so had a lovely time chatting with those friends I just happen to not see that much, and didn't waste my time talking to those I choose not to see ever. It was a beautiful place, right along the Hudson River, but as Ayanna (who is not from Westchester, even) said. "We are not denying it is beautiful. Of course it's nice, it's on the river. We're just saying we don't want to hang out with fratboys." I would argue that not all of the crowd was fratty. To be fratty implies one must have gone to college. And if police want to earn their month's work of DUI violations, just park outside Sunset Cove at midnight WHEN THE BAR CLOSES. Some people went out afterwards, but I was tired, since time moves differently in Westchester. But still, had fun drinking beer and catching up with people. Grade: B+:--westchester standards.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Attempt at updating

I'll probably update sporadically from now on, maybe, but I don't want people clicking on here to see the lame cellphone entry for the end....

But here is a brief update of what I have done in my life since we've last been in touch:

-Saw Knocked Up. Twice. Both times quite excellent.

-Worked. A lot.

-Was an old lady with Anne and Caitlin (boggle, wine and 11pm bedtimes, of course)

-Bought two lovely graduation dresses and one formal dress (after nixing the dress Josh and his friend were underwhelmed by at our chance H&M encounter)

-Took a week off from work to go to Senior Week and graduation.

-Small-talked like I've never smalltalked before at Senior week.

-Was overwhelmed by cicaidas at Rob's grad party in the suburbs. Where I also did my first skull bong.

-Paid for Six Flags Great America twice, since I forgot my senior week ticket.

-Had superfun at Senior formal.

-Was obsessed with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the best commencement speaker EVERRRR.

-Played functional-family with my family at graduation wekend, and ate at restaurants way classier than we were used to.

-Graduated! Which is bittersweetr because college was really fun.

-Left Evanston for real this time after going in and out every few months this year.

-Three hours after landing in New York from Chicago I took Amtrak to Albany to cover a rally for work.

-Accidently flirted w/a UMaryland law student ("I'm staying at an apartment all alone in Albany) who gave me his number

-Did not get my own apartment. Shared an apartment-type thing with a man from work. He was wearing FUBU type gear when he walked in. In the morning he was wearing a suit and I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE him. I am sort of racist but I don't think any white person would have done differently.

-Went "out out" with Anne and Caitlin to Eastern Bloc. Randomly saw Northwestern kids. Had superfun dancing (to AMAZING music) and drinking and being three of eight girls there. See DJ Josh's blog entry for a more detailed account. And despite the mistake of taking Metronorth home and workin the next day on 3 hours sleep it was way worth it to not be old ladies.

-Went to Lake Placid with my extended family. The town is superobsessed with its Olympics in 1980, but despite, that we had a lovely time. Especially with my cousin's little daughters, well, kids just say the darndest things. The older daughter is four and is totally going to be a flirty popular girl when she is older because that girl is not lacking self-confidence. Example: She and her younger sister (who is also cute but wouldn't really talk to us because she was in an "only talk to mommy" stage) were wearing the same outfit. My brother said jokingly "I like your outfit better than your sister's." Four year old said, "Yeah, that's because I'm cuter." oh, snap.

K, that's all for now...and I'll try to get better with updating, maybe?