New York in 10 Steps

My lovelies!!

Apologies all around for the lack of blog updates recently. As noted previously, I was showing my little bro around town for a few days and then we hopped on a train to VA for Miss Laurie's wedding. The wedding was amazing, the bride looked gorgeous and the fam and I had a fantastic time. More updates on the wedding in future posts. When you're around family and close friends for five days, leaving them can be bittersweet. On one hand it's nice to get back to your life and the "norm" but on the other hand a sense of loneliness sets in. No matter how much you may fight with them or how much they may get on your nerves, when your family is around there's a sense of comfort that just doesn't happen in your everyday life.

So yes, little bro had never been to New York so there were a few essentials that I felt were a necessity to his trip. I now present to you a guide to New York in 10 easy steps.

1. When visiting New York, you must...Eat a slice of New York Pizza

After Pat arrived, we dropped off his bags and promptly headed to check out the neighborhood. First, however, we stopped at Bleecker Street Pizza to grab him a few slices of New York's finest. We considered that lunch. Pat's dinner? Pizza. A whole one. I'd say he definitely got to experience a little slice of heaven....get it? Slice? Pizza? Wakka Wakka.

2. You Must....ride a Subway

Wednesday night Pat met More-O, Kaka Kido, Benji, and a few of my other closest for a lovely Italian dinner and after drinks. We were up bright and early Thursday morning to hit the town. First stop?

3. You Must...visit Midtown

Bryant Park! Some of my favorite buildings are in midtown East and West and on our way to Times Square I showed Pat some of them. The Upper West Side has some amazing old buildings, but for a more modern taste, Midtown is where it's at. And of course you can't visit Midtown without walking through...

4. You Must....walk through Times Square

America!! Numba 1! Peace to America!! Is Time Square a cliche tourist activity? Aaaaabsolutely. But it's a cliche for a reason. TS really is an amazing place, and there's something magical about sitting on Broadway eating a bagel with the giant buildings and billboards around you.


5. You Must...view New York from above

Top of 30 Rock, Empire State Building, helicopter, it doesn't matter. Seeing New York from above simply MUST happen. Just don't jump.


6. You Must....check out Rockefeller Plaza and 5th Avenue

5th Avenue has some of the best shopping in the world and the NBC Store at Rockefeller Plaza has one of the greatest candy selections in the world. What's not to love?!


7. You Must...Walk through Central Park

Central Park is truly a magical experience where you can see anything and everything. Old pervy men hitting on women, dance troupes that say "Showtime in 30 seconds" for eight straight minutes, lovers both old and young walking through the crisp fall air, hot homos sitting on fountains....I'm just sayin.'

8. You Must...hit up a gay bar

Sure, there are plenty of fine "straight" bars. But no New York experience is truly complete without insulting a drag queen while playing a game of "Sluts in the City." The conversation went something like this:

Drag Queen: "Are there any straight guys in the audience?"
Patrick raises hand (or rather, my friends and I raised his hand)
Drag Queen: "Are you a real live straight guy?"
Patrick: "Yes sir....Ma'am!"

That DQ looks like Kate Gosselin, so Pat's unintentional insult was pretty much the greatest thing ever.

9. You Must...take a late night cab

Because our train schedules were so odd, we ended up cabbing to Penn station at 2:40 on Thursday night/Friday morning and home around 2:15 am on Sunday night/Monday morning. Only the finest creatures are out at those hours and the cab drivers only smell of mahogany and leather bound books....and falafel. Speaking of falafel.....

10. You Must....eat Street Meat

I'm actually quite opposed to this idea, as I think street meat is DISGUSTING. But Pat was hell bent on eating some of this fine, fine delicacy. So Monday before his flight and after our brunch (yes, this was his second meal in an hour) I walked him to Abu Abib's gyro cart in the West Village and Pat got his very first taste of Street Meat. He didn't love it. I told him so.

It was so great having my baby brother hang out with me and my friends and get a taste of what my life is like in New York. While it may be another 10 years before he visits me again, I'm thankful for the experience that we had.

More-O scored me tickets to the premiere of "Where the Wild Things Are"

tonight so I shall be grabbing a date and hitting the town for the premiere. Speaking of More-O......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! I got you a Tom Selleck cake. Why? No clue. Does Tom Selleck need to happen for a reason? Sometimes there are people that come along and you're like "how in the world did I survive without this person in my life?" I had that feeling when I met Amanda and Annette. Same with Page Six. And time after time I wonder "what did I do without More-O in my life?" Buddy, I love you and I hope that you have the greatest of birthday's! Even though I know you'll be working and your coat got stolen and you think today will suck.....hopefully things will turn around!

Peace out my Peeps.