The Secret

Sunday afternoon started out innocently enough - but it soon became the most crazy/random night of our lives so far in New York.

Aries & I met at 6pm for a drink at The Standard Biergarten. We had a few weak mojitos and decided to grab a quick bite at the new Gansevoort restaurant, Carte Blanche. Over chicken meatballs and cucumber martinis, a plan was formed. Maybe it was the balmy summer evening or a sense of a life without consequence, but soon Aries & I had that mischevious sparkle in our eyes. Our very obviously impared waiter regaled us with stories from his first years in New York for over 45 minutes, while I texted my contacts to see if we could find a little herbal refreshment.

The texts came back - they couldn't help us. Aries, being the more charming of the two of us, sweetly asked our waiter for guidance. Unfortunately, he was fresh out. (His tip did a nosedive after that!) Determined, we pressed on.

Aries and I tried six places including The Spotted Pig, The Jane, Employee's Only... we thought the bartenders might be able to help, but no luck. Soon, we had made our way from Meatpacking down to Greenwich. We stopped in a dive bar for a fortifying shot of Seagrams Sweet Tea Vodka (yum!) and continued our quest. While walking down a random street, we spoke loudly of our dashed dreams. No sooner than I had said defeatedly, "Guess I'll have to take a Xanex instead" did our knights in shining armour appear.

"Xanex?" the man said. He was standing on the streetcorner outside of a shop with his friends. We explained our predicament. Their eyes lit up; they could totally help us. Giving each other a glance of solidarity, Aries and I entered the shop. We both felt at ease with these guys and as we passed it around, we got to chatting. One guy told me he was raised by an adventure junkie - he swam with jellyfish at age 7, sharks at 9. His father was always pushing him to be tougher, and as a result he very rarely feels afraid. The owner of the shop and I chatted about what a great feeling it must be to be your own boss. It was a lovely, relaxed evening. I kept thinking it was like that book, The Secret, that I never read. We believed it would happen - and we reached our (albeit minor) goal.

Aries & I decided to go around 11, after all - it was a school night. After being sworn to secrecy, we started to leave. I looked over at Aries and realized that her face had gone totally pale, even her lips were white. As we were walking out, I turned around to talk to her and see if she was ok, and I realized she wasn't responding. Suddenly, she sank to the floor and completely passed out.

My mind went blank. We all hunched down over her, completely silent. I remember thinking to myself that I should wait before I began to panic. I looked up and locked eyes with the owner; we shared a calm stare. Within five seconds, she was awake again. She sat up slowly and I told her not to worry, she was only out for a few seconds. She kept saying that she'd never passed out before - I'd never seen someone pass out before! We both went outside to get some fresh air and gather ourselves. The men were really helpful, bringing us water and making sure she was feeling better. We figured out that it was probably a mix of the insane amount of walking we did, combined with heat, dehydration, and a little too much of a good thing.

When Aries felt stronger, we thanked the guys profusely and I put her in a cab.

At least now, they'll never forget us!


*scorpio*

Tall Drink of Water

A certain Thompson LES owner made a beeline for me & my Swede friend last night while we were dining with friends at his hotel. He sat down, ordered a few rounds of "Top Chef" curry chicken & proceeded to name-drop like only a hotel owner can. I did my best to seem impressed (after all, MGMT is there in two weeks...)

He made a point of asking whether I was Swedish before telling me he exclusively dates Swedish girls. I assured him I was not. A couple bites of chicken (his) and a few polite laughs (mine) later, he stood to leave.

"You could totally pass for Swedish" he leaned down to whisper in my ear as he stood. "I have a thing for tall blondes," he winked as if he hadn't told me this several times before.

"Us tall blondes just love being reduced to our most obvious physical characteristics," I teased, "You must do well with that line."

Needless to say, he gave me his card. Guys like that crave a bit of sass.

Looks like I'm going to be poolside at the LES tomorrow! Couldn't have come at a better time, honestly. I'm losing my California color.

*scorpio*

Le Boom Boom

Last night found me, Aries and our friend the Absolut rep at The Boom Boom Room to celebrate Oli, a man-about-town who knows absolutely everyone. He started as a promoter and now has launched his own business. A British transplant, he's been in New York less than two years. His career will be one to watch, for certain. He and I met about a week after he arrived, at Pink Elephant of all places. We've been together (in nightclubs) ever since.

It was great to go to Boom Boom, because I'd actually never been. Beautiful space, of course, but it was great fun to catch up with everyone there and mingle with old friends. A lovely change of pace from the thumping music and strobe lights of yore - though I've never been one to turn down a couch dance. Maybe next week....

*scorpio*

Mister H & Miss Absolut

Last night, I finally dragged my ass out for a night of good old fashioned club hopping. It had been so long since I'd had a wild night, I just felt the need bubbling up in me. I met my dear friend the Absolut rep for dinner at La Esquina. We were joined by some of her tall, blonde Swedish friends, which is always a treat. Afterwards we combed the city, club hopping at Avenue, 1 Oak, Goldbar, Mister H and a few others (forgive me, the vodka kicked in!) It was such a massive night.

We flirted with bartenders, made appearances at various birthday bashes, and lied to silly boys after one particularly insistent man refused to believe I lived in New York. After that, I went with Sweden:)

I forgot how fun it can be to just flirt and tell little lies and be silly. It was so restorative... except for the fact that we shut the place down at 4 am.

I finally got home around 4:30, and wincing, set my alarm for 6:30 AM. Hey, I'm addicted to my spin class!

Of course, as is my habit whenever I go out with Miss Absolut, I slept right through my blaring alarm and barely made it in time for Admitted Students Weekend at Columbia University! EEK.

So worth it, though.

*scorpio*

Dirty Little Secrets

Scorpio and I were in desperate need of vodka last night, so we met in Bryant Park and ordered 2 dirty martinis. As we were catching up on each other's horror stories, a 50+ year old Wall Street Exec walked over and offered to buy us a round. Normally our response would be a glare of disgust, followed by a "fuck off". We looked at each other, then back to the banker and said "yes, 2 Kettle One martinis." Off he went, like a little obedient puppy.

Three more rounds of basically straight vodka and an olive later, Scorpio and I found we were all sharing our New York life stories. I was listing all of the qualities that I am looking for in men, including a large penis. We were all in a debate over "average" and the necessity of oral sex to compensate. Scorpio was getting relationship advice from a man who told her stories of his daughter listening to him have sex with, what we hope would be his wife. While the guy I was talking to kept telling me his marriage secrets because he claimed to have never cheated. I believed him at first until he started touching my leg and telling me I was a younger version of his wife. Then the "happily married" exec gave me his business card and asked for my number. I wrote a summary of the qualities that I was looking for in a younger banker (which he said he would find for me) making it known I had no interest in hearing from him.

We were all on vodka overload, sharing our dirty little secrets, over dirty little martinis like a fucked up version of "The Breakfast Club". Scorpio and I stood up and towered over them, leaving our mark of intimidation as we walked away with a free buzz.

I can't say I even remember the subway ride home. I just know I somehow ended up in a sex shop looking for the perfect slutty Halloween costume, opposite a full wall of finger toys. I then text options to a select group of guys I have hooked up with in the city to get a broad vote on which was the hottest. So far one is the clear winner, which I will post part of on our Halloween entry!

Never a dull night in New York......

*Aries*