The 1st Relaxing Weekend I Have Had In The History Of Ever.

That's right!  I did it!  I had a relaxing weekend!  It's Monday, it's raining cats and dogs, and I feel just fine!  Not sleepy or run down or anything.  Just good!

Speaking of cats and dogs....

I almost adopted THIS little beauty this weekend:

This is Cookie.  Everybody say "HI" to Cookie!



Cookie is a 3 year old Boxer/Pitbull mix.

Why did I not adopt her?  I STILL HAVEN'T FIGURED THAT OUT! 

She is absolutely adorable.  They said she weighs 50 pounds but she looked like she weighed about 35.  She was super affectionate and friendly.  She didn't bark.  She is friendly with people and animals of all types..

Puka.

That means you.  Don't look at me like that.

Cookie was previously owned by an immigrant to the US who didn't have much choice when it came to housing in NYC.  Unfortunately, her new landlord wouldn't allow her to keep Cookie and no one in her family was able to take care of her.  So Cookie is currently at the Humane Society.

And I?  Am DYING to give her a home!  The roommate has reservations because our apartment isn't big enough for 2 pets and she's never home to take care of her.

I have responses for both of those.

Puka takes up very little space, and this little cuddle monkey named Cookie is also quite small.  Our apartment is 900 square feet.  In a 900 square foot apartment I had Puka and Maggie.


....




Remember Maggie??

Sigh....


Anyway.  I don't think space is an issue.  And as far as the roommate not being around to take care of her...

...um...

Hello.  My name is Connie.  I am 27 years old, and have successfully taken care of pets previously, most recently IT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!

Clearly this is still in the back of my head.  I am leaving for Florida on Friday.  If I get back next week and I call the Humane Society only to find that Cookie is still available??  She's coming for a visit.  That is happening.  I will take it as a sign.  And Flo will fall in love, and it will be fine. 

Puka.

Pull it together, Puka.  Not even fancy disguises will
help you hide from this happening.

Anyway. So there's that part of my weekend.

The rest of it contained living at what felt like the center of the earth.  It was 4 hundred million degrees.  On Friday I had won a free happy hour.  $1 Beers, $2  Mixed Drinks?? ON IT!  But I really kind of wish I had the foresight to wear a bathing suit because...

Our friends the FDNY were driving around opening fire hydrants to let people cool off!  On Thursday I posted on my Facebook that they should... and they did!  That's the power of the written word, people!  These girls were ready to go!  Shoes off and both were equipped with bathing suits!  I just walked close enough to get the mist.  To be honest, I should have walked right through it.  I would have dried by the time I got to the bar 3 blocks away.  I would also like to mention the state of this girl's city tan.  It's about like mine.  And now I don't feel so bad anymore.

Anyway, so the bar?  Yeah.  The AC was broken.  WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??  Worst situation ever.  So me, Ana and Kelly sat and chugged ice cold beers until we cooled down.  So delish... and I don't even drink beer!  From the happy hour we cabbed downtown to the Rockwood Music Hall, a huge venue on Houston Street with a couple of rooms for live entertainment.  We somehow scored a front row seat in the beautifully ACed lounge!  But still immediately ordered more beers.

The first guy we saw was:




Christopher Paul Stelling... and Kelly's knee...

He had a very cool sound and played a great set!  He was even kind enough to accidentally share his jingle bells with us when they fell off his ankle.  Anyway, super cool and recording his first legit album so check him out!

Then came the main attraction!



Ladies and Gentlemen... Delta Rae!



Ana is friends with the Bass player right there,
And the guy on drums was fun in a goofy way...
The guy on the mic right there almost made me cry
when he sang about his grandfather...



They pulled that huge Grand Piano down from
the rafters using a pulley system... nutso!

Anyway, these guys just came off of a tour and they were really fantastic!  The guy playing the piano, the blond girl singing and the blond guy singing are brothers and sister.  They did an amazing A Capella song that I just loved!  But I don't remember NOT liking anything they did!  So definitely check out Delta Rae at DeltaRae.com. 


That venue for "Fire" is actually the venue I saw them in.  Cool right??

On Saturday my friend Davine and I went to brunch.  Remember that name... she's going to be a BIG time actress one day!  She's incredibly talented and seems to have some really great people in her corner.  I'm so excited to see what she does! 

Anyway, we went to Gina la Fornarina on 83rd Street and 2nd Ave.  There's also one on the West side for you locals.  I had the same panini (Smoked salmon with dill creme fraische and a side salad) that I had the last time I was there because it's just so good!  But really?  Everything is delish!  I got a gift certificate for super cheap on Restaurants.com  and saved us some money.  Win-win!

Then I went shopping at H&M which was a lot of fun.  I know that I have only lost a small amount of what I want to lose weight wise, but I can already tell a difference!  Things that I think won't fit me or look right actually work!  I got an adorable lace skirt and a fitted slate blue/gray tank top and a light sweater for work.  Adorable! 

It was about that time when Miranda asked if I wanted to meet her at Reservoir bar (her new place of employment which will hopefully help her to leave Planet Hollywood for ever and ever!) when she was done working at 6.  Yeah sure I can do that.  And I did.

And I discovered this:

Do you see what I see?

No. Not the fish

No.  Not the 2 Jumbo Soft Pretzels for $4.50.  Although they are Delicious!

THE BAR BELONGS TO ME!  See?  It has my name on it!  And I take that to mean it's mine.  So that's handy.. ya know... owning your own bar in NYC. 

So there we are, hangin out for like 6 hours when Miranda starts to lose her ever loving mind because OMGOMGOMG RECKLESS KELLY IS COMING IN THEY'RE LIKE ALABAMA PEOPLE AND IT'S MY MUSIC IN NYC AND OMGOMGOMG!

Yeah.

So that happened:



Which was cool!  They just got done playing at the Bowery Ballroom, so I didn't get to actually see them perform.  But they were very nice guys!  Miranda bought one of the band members a drink and he was very nice about it and met us all.  Then there was a guy in a red hat that was with the band....

... or... worked with the band....

... or... came with the band...

... or... ya know... walked in at the same time as the band?  Something like that...

That was trying to get Miranda to come back and "check out the bus".  Ugh.  Please.  Like we haven't heard THAT line a million times!

But I did get to see Kelly (the slightly less reckless one :))  and our friend Steve came to hang out which was super nice! 

Sunday I didn't do CRAP!  I slept in, I watched movies, I had a meatball sub from Luigi's... it was a good day.

OH.  One thing I forgot about!  On Saturday before brunch the Salvation Army Truck came and took all the clothes Flo and I are donating and so I totally got rid of THE LAST CARDBOARD BOX IN MY APARTMENT!!

That's a HUGE accomplishment!

So this week is all planning for Florida and trying to get into the gym and eat healthy so I look as incredible as possible in a bathing suit next week.  Wish me luck!  Because currently I am craving Chinese food and massaman curry.  Ugh. 

OK, I'll be back before I head to Florida, I kind of almost promise!  Weeeeee!!