Weekend with some Fam

Now this was the weekend after the Ibanker incident. And since that was a Wednesday it was really only a day or two later. I was not in a good mood. Not one bit. In fact, it was pretty foul. And to make matters worse, I was having family come into town that I had to entertain. My cousin and her husband were flying in from Orlando. They work for Disney and though they are kind of old, they act like they are young. They like to go out on the town and they have plenty of money to do so. Not surprisinly, my cousin can be a bit of a primadonna, and very demanding. Roughly 3 weeks before the visit I was receiving a facebook message or text every other day with some sort of question about where to go or if I had a plan of action yet. Like a weekend trip to New York City is traversing some strange foreign land. The few days before their arrival I was ready to pull my hair out. Then the Ibanker bomb was dropped and coincidentally the temperature dropped as well--the night of Ibanker incident it had been roughly 75 degrees when I walked into my apartment building in tears. The next day, after spending most of the day miserable in bed, when I finally emerged, the temperature was about 20 degrees colder and rainy. What a perfect day for an outdoor concert, which is where I was headed to meet them. We had tickets to a free performance in Central Park by a famous opera singer. Not exactly my scene but I figured the ticket was free and I had already promised them I would go. When I emerged from the subway at 72nd street I noticed that the line looked pretty long to get in. I was a little concerned as the concert was supposed to be starting soon but I walked thinking I would see the end in a minute. I walked and walked and discovered that the line wrapped around the edge of the Park and didn't stop until past 59th street. Almost 15 blocks long and progress was slow. Just then my cousin called and said they were in what they had thought was the end of the line. Turns out it was at 68th street. When they realized their mistake they figured there was no point in leaving and I knew there was no way I was waiting where I was. So I trucked back up and met them. We were let in roughly 10 minutes later. Despite the fact that I have minimal interest in opera and that we spent the duration huddled under our umbrellas watching the show on a big screen, since we were too far back to see, I actually somewhat enjoyed myself. This Andrea Bocelli guy was kind of adorable and they had some famous guests like Celine Dion and Tony Bennett, who is surprisingly still alive. It also took my mind off my misery for awhile as I was forced to not act like a hot mess.
The next night, after successfully not crying during the day at work, I had plans to meet up with cous and hus again but first I was scheduled to make an appearance at my roommate's bday party in Williamsburg. I accompanied her to the Bedford Hotel, trying not to think about the last time I had been there, with Ibanker. Luckily my roommate's bright green sequined dress provided a good distraction. I had a drink and then ran towards the subway to meet them on St. Marks. I had managed to snag a reservation at PDT and I wanted to make sure we didn't miss it, especially since I was (shocker) running late. But if I am late, my cousin is later and I ended up having to wait at the table for about 20 minutes by myself. I would have been very uncomfortable if this was anywhere other than NYC. When they arrived they were delightfully surprised at the phone booth and the decor once inside (remember, this is the place inside the hot dog stand). We ordered about 3 rounds of crazy drinks, and when we couldn't decide on which hot dog to get my cousin's husband went ahead and ordered all 5 off the menu. They filled me in on some family gossip and we cracked up looking at our crazy cousin's scandolous pictures on facebook. And to make it even better they let me stay at their hotel with them so I didn't have to cab it all the way back to the 'Shwick.
The next day I headed back (much safer in daylight hours) and had big plans to get shit done all day. Instead I feel asleep for 3 and a half hours. By the time I awoke and showered it was time for me to start getting ready to go back out. Another bday party, back on St. Marks. It was the boyfriend of one of my coworkers, really the only friend I had made at this museum since the interns. She was cool, hilarious and had gone to University of Richmond so we had VA in common. We'll call her Penelope. Her sister was also cool and went to American (Selma). Another perk of the weekend was that my entire subway line was not running. So I had to truck 15 minutes through my hood to take the M train. This part of the hood seriously resembled a 3rd world Latin American country and I walked very quickly through it. This line also meant that I had to walk quite a ways when I got into the city so by the time I finally arrived I was freezing and a bit grumpy. Luckily the girls seemed happy to see me so I joined their table and had some drinks. I hadn't met any of the other people present so I was again forced to bury my misery to socialize effectively. I did so for a couple hours until cous and hus' broadway show let out. I decided to treat myself to a cab ride (I do not do this often) to Times Square to meet them. I had brainstormed some options of places we could go in that neighborhood and was worried b/c I didn't have many. Luckily Hus knew there was a rooftop bar at the top of the Marriot Marquee with a view of Times Square. It was a bit touristy but definetely not someplace I would've gone on my own, so it was a good change. We sat in an excessively large circle booth, drinking wine and after a few glasses I spilled it about what had happened with Ibanker. They both gave me their two cents about it, which didn't make me feel better, but was a good dose of reality.
Afterwards my cousin wanted to go to the giant Forever 21 which was open til 3am. This got my off the hook for choosing another bar and I also figured some retail therapy could be helpful. We wandered the store in a drunken haze and I headed straight for the tights. To my dismay Hus tricked me--he ended up buying me 3 different pairs of tights and also snatched away a shirt I was eyeing as well. I felt like a huge mooch, especially when they let me stay at their hotel once again. But that's what fam is for, I guess.
The next day I was their tour guide through Chinatown and Soho. My cousin wanted a fake Louie and I was interested to see how this would play out. It was as shady as one would think. A woman approached us on the street and quiety mumbled something about fake bags. When my cousin asked what kind she had, she led us across the street to a man with a cigarette wedged between his lips. He never once removed it. He took a wrinkled brochure out of his pocket and explained them to us. At one point a cop drove by and it went back into his pocket so quickly I wasn't even sure what happened to it. When my cousin had made her two selections, he ordered us to stay there, he would be back in 15 minutes. He then took off down the street on his bike. And 15 minutes later he returned with a discreet sack. He accompanied Cous and Hus into the bank lobby so they could inspect. I stood outside with their adorable pug, while everyone ohhed and ahhed at him as they walked by. When they emerged the man was angry b/c my cousin had refused one of the bags, for the obvious paint stain it had on it. She took the other though and we made our way into Soho/Little Italy for some pizza. I didn't know the San Gennaro fest (giant Italian street fair) was taking place that weekend so we had to push our way through the crowds. When the line at Lombardi's was too long we decided to get some street vendor food. Except to my horror my cousin noticed that there was room on the patio at Pomadoro's--which is directly across the street from Ibanker's fav bar, Spring Lounge. We sat there in full view, while I miserably tried not to peer inside or think about the fact that I looked like shit from not going home the night before. Luckily there were no sightings and though this soured my mood quite a bit, Cous and Hus (and pug) had served as a good distraction for the weekend. Despite my qualms, it helped and I could then start down the road to recovery. Also the deep-fried oreos they bought from a vendor for me as a parting gift didn't hurt.