Bi Bim Bop & Bulgoki; Broadway & Bazinga!; BOOM; Baltimore, Boats & Beer

Sometimes I look at my life and wonder how in the world I've gotten to where I'm at. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's not. Sometimes I come off a week where I just want to curl up in bed and not move for 48 hours. And sometimes I come off a week like this past one... my love for NYC has grown by 1000 (which I didn't think was possible), we fell in love with Baltimore, I got to see old friends and make new ones, and of course, Broadway.

Last Sunday was our typical Pony Bar day - we headed out around noon to go there, followed by one of my bar friends around 1 pm. We thought it would just be us 3, as my bar friend's husband was off to a different bar to watch the Euro game. But it turned out that there were about 5 of us there in the end, drinking beers and watching soccer. After the Euro game, we took off for little tacos for dinner before heading home and crashing.

Monday I met up with some coworkers (old and new) in Koreatown to say goodbye to a good friend. She's off to Florida now with her boyfriend, and we all just wanted to give her a good sendoff. We ordered a shit ton of food - my favs being Bi Bim Bop (fried rice bowl) and Bulgoki (beef you cook over a grill). Many pitchers of soju along with a few martinis completed our dinner. One of our friends brought a big cake so we had that for dessert before we headed out. I took advantage of the city and walked home, as it's only about 12 streets and 5 avenues to get to my apartment. I also hoped to digest the food baby that was hanging out in my stomach but that didn't happen.

Tuesday was a SHORT day!!!! 1 pm end time, and I was out the door right on time. I met Blondie and we did some grocery shopping, and then we headed home and I took a nap. We met up with our bar friends at House of Brews around 5:30 pm for dinner and some drinks, before we then made our way over to see "Harvey". Our seats were INSANE - we were about 10 rows back from stage, dead center. And the play was amazing. The story for "Harvey" is that the main character Elwood P Dowd (Jim Parsons - aka Sheldon from Big Bang Theory) is an alcoholic and he sees a 6 ft tall white rabbit everywhere - they are best friends. He lives with his sister and her kid and they try to get him committed into an mental hospital (the play is set in the '40s). But by the end, everyone sees the rabbit.

I don't like the Sheldon character on Big Bang Theory so I was a bit hesitant about this play. But holy crap Jim Parsons did an amazing job. His timing was impeccable and he played the role of a jolly alcoholic with gusto. I also loved the fact that they treated the rabbit as a guardian angel type role (a puka). I also loved the fact that you weren't sure if he saw the rabbit because he was deep in the throes of alcoholism; or if he saw the rabbit because he had some mental problems. Okay - but it boils down to LOVE LOVE LOVE this play! We laughed so hard throughout the entire show. They had a line that I loved and still am quoting which is "I've fought long and hard with reality and I've finally won out". Also in the play were Carol Kane (from Scrooged) and Jessica Hecht (from Friends).

After the play we floated back to our local pub and closed down the bar that night. Wednesday I met my bar friend bright and early and we did the last of our grocery shopping followed by a quick breakfast break. Blondie and I had prepared drunken gummies (vodka soaked gummy bears) and jello shots on Tues, so on Wed evening, we just threw together a big batch of guacamole, and then headed up to our building friend's apartment. And had a freaking blast! Their view is amazing - they are 33 stories up and face the Hudson in the right direction for the fireworks show. We made a ton of new friends, drank our asses off, sang along to the radio, and watched the fireworks. Macys does an incredible job with the show, and from the moment we saw the barges start up the river, we got excited.

Thursday we trucked up to the Port Authority and caught a bus to Baltimore. The bus ride down blew chunks. The bus was pretty dead, but we got caught in 2 traffic jams (accidents) and then we had to make a pit stop in Wilmington and they have a drawbridge that was up and also stopped us for 15 more minutes. We rolled into Baltimore in bad moods, 2 hours late.

But the bad moods ended almost immediately, as Blondie's friend was there to pick us up. He's an awesome guy that Blondie was good friend's with in Texas. He stopped and got us a snack, and then we met his roommate, and then all of us headed over to a free concert in one of the parks in Baltimore. The concert ran for about 3.5 hours, and we met so many new (COOL) people. It was blazing hot in Baltimore but when the sun went down, it cooled off some, so it was still pleasant hanging out in the park. After the concert, we hit up a few other bars, before ending the night with some live music and pizza at a local pizza place.

Friday morning was miserable - it was 100+ degrees outside and I was hungover. We finally left the friend's apartment around 1 pm, and headed to the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore. We grabbed some lunch there and then looked around the area some more before we hit up Fort McHenry. This was the fort where Francis Scott Key penned the Star Spangled Banner. We toured the fort (HOT HOT HOT) and spent some time on the top of the fort looking out at the water before heading back on out. I was sweating so bad that it was running into my eyes, making it impossible to see.

After Fort McHenry, we did a driving tour around Baltimore - we saw Fells Point, the National Bohemian beer brewery, Patterson Park, etc. After our driving tour, we met up with some other friends for sushi and beers, before they mentioned they were meeting someone else who had a boat to go out on the water - and did we want to go? Of course we do! We left sushi and bought some beers and then met up with the boat guy. We didn't get to go out for very long as the water cops busted us for not having a light on the front of the boat, but we still got a quick tour of the harbor.

Also, funny note - even water cops bother me. As soon as I saw them, I was like "oh shit, busted!" But the boat guy was pretty awesome with them - he talked his way out of a ticket, and even had them escort us back to our dock. I was impressed with this guy.

After we docked our boat again, all of us decided to head around to this bar on the end of a dock called Tiki Barge. We made our way there and met up with 1 other person who I immediately named Will Ferrell because he kind of looked like him. The bar was really nice - it was open air, but the sun was down and it was getting a breeze. After Tiki Barge closed, we headed over to Little Havana for cubans and more beer. There I met a woman who I totally hit it off with - the next thing I know I'm doing shots with her at the bar. And then we were getting kicked out because it was closing time.

We headed back to our friend's apartment at around 2:30 am, and when we got there, we realized that they were filming a movie with Kevin Spacey in front of our friend's apartment - so we headed down to watch the filming for a bit (very very cool) before crashing out.

Yesterday we headed out around 1 pm to get crabcakes - a friend from Friday had told us about a place that had the best crab cakes in Baltimore so we headed over to see if they were indeed good. They kicked ass, took names, and beat the shit out of any other crab cake I've ever eaten. The place was Faidley's Seafood in Lexington Market, and if you're ever in the area, GO. After our lunch, we stopped at one last beer bar for the afternoon, before heading back to catch our bus at 5:30 pm.

And it was like the gods were making up for our shitty trip down to Baltimore as the bus was exactly on time, there was only 8 people on it, and we hit no accidents. We got back to NYC about 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. We ordered in dinner from our local mexican restaurant as soon as we got back home, and then crashed out after.

Now it's Sunday and I don't know what to do. I should do a workout, but feel like taking 1 more day off. I should get a pedicure, but it's hot out there. I should meet up with my bar friends at Pony Bar, but it's hot out there. Maybe I should just lay here?

Plans - we take off for KY on Thurs afternoon. I'm excited to see everyone, and play cards and drink beers. After KY, we slow down for a bit, before heading back to Wisc in August for a cousin's wedding. I need to start eating right again - all the beer drinking in Baltimore made my jeans tight (yes, it's the beer drinking; no, it's not the 20 lbs of food I consumed daily over the past week ;)

Also, an observation that cats are ridiculous. Our friend has a cat "Cassie" who is this ginormous ball of fluff; and his roommate has a kitten "Charlemagne" who is flat out silly. Cassie would sprawl her enormous body on the coffee table, scooting up so her front paws and face were hanging off the coffee table, while her hind legs were laid out like a dog. It was so effing funny. And Charlemagne was this tiny little thing who loved to show you her teeth. She wasn't growing or angry or anything, but just would do this fake "smile" and you'd see all her teeth. Ridiculous.

Okay, off to enjoy my last day of freedom. Hope everyone came off an awesome week!

--K