flashback: nyc summer '05

Since my life has slowed down considerably this summer, I thought I'd take the opportunity to reflect back on some good times gone-by. This time I'm looking back five years into the past, Summer 2005, when I lived in NYC with a few good friends: Abbie, Danielle and Rachel.

First of all, I can't believe that it's already been FIVE years since we did that. Time sure flies. Secondly, these pictures were taken back in the olden days of what was then known as "FILM" photography. Our scanner isn't awesome and to be honest I didn't take too much time to perfect them so please forgive the very poor quality. You'll get the idea.

Shopping

In style that summer: those little Asian slip-on shoes with beading all over them (by this time it was the more pointy versions), and the first signs of bigger purses and big beaded necklaces. Frequent stops included Urban Outfitters and Forever 21 - back before they were in Utah and therefore a novelty- canal street and H&M. It also helped that Rach and Danielle worked at Banana Republic where we used their discount :). How did I make money? The meager funds I earned and quickly spent were made as a part-time nanny for a little boy named Linus.

Shows

This was the first time I ever saw Wicked. We made going to the lottery a regular activity until we won enough times that we all had the chance to see it. Other shows we saw that summer were Chitti-Chitti Bang Bang, Moving Out and Putnam County Spelling Bee. We also hit up a couple Philharmonic concerts in the park and Destiny's Child on the Today Show. A couple of us even took dance classes at the Broadway Dance Center.

Restaurants

Our favs included Serendipity 3, Cosi, Deluxe, Lombardi's, Grey Dog, Tasti D-lite and the recession special at Gray's Papaya (pictured). This was also the summer the Shake Shack opened!

Other points of note:

- Harry Potter 6 came out while I was there and I made everyone go to a midnight party at Barnes and Noble with me to get it.

- We held a standing goal of making pilgrimages to every location from "You've got Mail" that we possibly could.

- Spent our Sunday nights on the grounds of Columbia's campus (just a block from us) where we would read and write in our journals surrounded by fireflies. Before that, I actually thought fireflies were a made-up magical creature.... seriously.

- Had to visit the public library down the street for internet access where we were usually met by our crazy neighbor, Joy, who had at least a story or two to share with us.

-Like all New York apartments, we had some run-ins with cockroaches. Our wimpy way of handling them was to put a cup over them until they suffocated. When one particularly stubborn bug wouldn't die after a few days under a cup, Rachel finally chucked both the cup and bug out the window.

- We went out clubbing only once with some people from Rachel's work but didn't last too long. Upon returning home the only key we brought for our apartment wasn't opening our door. After nearly an hour of sitting in the hallway, it finallyopened once we said a prayer. It works, folks.

I'm glad I did so much to document this first summer away from home; I kept all my tickets, wrote a full journal and even kept another smaller notebook where I recored for each day some bullet points of what we did, what I ate, how much money I spent and what on (something I repeated while in London).

Sure we spent a lot (if not all) of our savings, didn't have any air conditioning in our sweltering apartment and a couple of us came home with some really bad self-dyed hair (see me in Gray's Papaya picture). But I think we all grew up a little, not to mention, had an amazing time. The best part? It all started as a dream - a lot of talk and wishful thinking - but we made it happen.

P.S. I'm trying to get B to do a post about his time so far in Brazil, then you won't have to hear all this fluff from me anymore.