I know I said that I was done with the long ass photo posts, but this won’t be (too) long. Problem is I somehow forgot to post my favorite photos of the folks that I spent so much time with during my weekend in NYC. So thanks for indulging me on this one…
Britt is so damn gorgeous at the top of the world. She’s beautiful no matter where she is, but is especially so in New York City.
Ain’t Kawol so damn cute you could squeeze him? Just love that boy. Long time!
I just love how happy Cissa is in this photo. Pure happy. Most excellent!
Dawg is an overflowing bucket of awesome. Seriously.
Poppy is just so pretty all the damn time! I mean, damn! AND, she holds up well in the rain! On top of being funny and kind and all around amazing. (Don’t tell anyone, but she gives great hugs. Shhhhh!)
My favorite photo of Robin was already posted at Karl’s place (so I went over and stole it) . That woman can rock a green wig like no one’s business!
Somehow I managed not to get a photo of Neil other than this one. Good thing it totally cracks me up.
He Who Must Not Be Named. Ssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Who the hell is this and how did he get in one of my photos?
P.S. I took this Iron Man one for Adam:
(I think they said that R. Downey, Jr. actually wore this in the movie.)
Took these Spiderman shots for Britt’s son:
And of course the Hard Rock is for Dave2:
You guys tired of all of these photos from New York City? Really???!?!! Even the ones of Iron Man and Spiderman that got me yelled at while in the Met? (Who knew that taking photos in the Met would be such a big deal? Sheesh.) Good news is that I am just about out of photos. Bad news is I love these mostly photo posts.
See how happy tourist Becky is?
One of the best parts of BrittCon was the ability to truly be a tourist in another city. The few folks in our group who actually lived in the NYC area didn’t care if we stood with mouths wide open, staring at the massive buildings, they didn’t mind that we wanted to take photos while on the subway, they encouraged our riding the tour bus. And it was fun to have the freedom that being a visitor affords. Everything was new, everything was exciting, everything was beautiful. All year I have been doing a ton of travel, but work normally keeps me too busy for the “tourist with a camera” routine.
So in NYC I took photos until my Nikkon batteries ran out. Yes, I had two batteries with me and drained them both each day. When we finally collapsed in our hotel room I charged them overnight, only to drain them again the next day. (TWKS)
Already I have posted my favorite photos, most of them having the BrittCon participants in them, but today I wanted to get some of my other favorite pictures up here. (Click any to enlarge.) Here goes…
(those three were of Grand Central Station)
(NO windows! light sensitive technology inside)
(Empire State Building views)
(best hot dog ever. and I do mean ever.)
(Times Square)
(NY’s finest)
(building across from St. Paul’s)
(pub food. in NYC, bitches!)
(American Museum of Natural History)
(various buildings, including where John Lennon lived and where Jackie O lived)
(various statues)
(post office, NYC style)
(market and store)
(Trump)
(Metropolitan Museum of Art)
(the only time I saw pigeons? outside the Met!)
(this bridge in Harlem made a Pittsburgh girl feel at home)
But ok, ok already. I am done with the long ass photo posts. Certainly I won’t be doing that again anytime soon. It is just that my first New York City trip as an adult was fantastic and I got a little carried away. 
Thanks for hanging in there with me!
Becky
Hope you all enjoy celebrating the birth of our country. I love Independence Day and consider it one of my favorite holidays (this coming from a girl who can have like ten “best” friends so don’t hold me to the “favorite” thing, k?).
Because my birthday is July 5th I have always been fond of “my new year’s eve’” and tend to celebrate kinda hard. I love a good party and I love fireworks bringing in my birthday. This year it might rain here in Pittsburgh and I have no idea what they will do about the fireworks. Will it still be my birthday if I don’t get fireworks announcing it? Well of course it will.
I started the celebration by heading to NYC for BrittCon last weekend, dinner with Tinkle Twat on Monday and going to my “slap my ass before every ball” bowling league on Tuesday. Wednesday was kinda low key and Thursday was drinks after work. So yeah, my birthday week has started off well and will finish strong with a party on Saturday and a birthday party on Sunday. I’m good!
About that NYC trip. Karl and Britt are recapping MUCH better than I am. Should you desire to read the funny parts of the adventure, head over to their sites. Not sure what Cissa will have in store when she returns from her Cape vacation, but I am sure she will also do a recap better than me. Not sure how much more Dawg and Poppy will write, no clue what Robin will eventually put up.
Regardless, all you are gonna get here at the Cliff are photos…like that one up at the start of today’s post. I took that while on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. Hope you don’t mind my less than stellar photography skills. Heck, half the time I was so busy soaking up The City that sometimes I even forgot about the camera.
So, here we go in a mostly chronological order…
(day 1 in a park across from the hotel…can you see how happy we are to just BE in New York City?)
(Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building)
(Technically I am IN BED WITH KARL here)
(Dawg Friday night)
(lots of laughter while rehydrating with water from Dawg…at Starcocks)
(Brooklyn Bridge as viewed from tour bus)
(T. Sq.)
(top of ESB)
(bus)
(Mmmmmm, sweaty firemen.)
(fashion district)
(next to the Chrysler Building, this was my fave)
(best spring roll ever)
(oh yeah…we rode the subway.)
(yes, I totally spent some time kissing this man while on a sidewalk in Greenwich Village…no, I didn’t go back to his place even though he bought my dinner and drinks…yes, he also reminds me of Syler from Heroes, but damn could he kiss.)
(I was fascinated by all of the cabs.)
(Central Park!)
(Britt, Karl, Cissa & Robin…at the Met!!)
(awww)
And then, after all that fun, my camera batteries were as exhausted as I was and both died. So I got no photos after the HNT pictures from the Met that I posted yesterday. Not one single photo of the Gay Pride Parade that made me want to dance and had me happy to be alive. No photos of the makeover that Britt did for me or of our last dinner in NYC. The “hold on with both hands” cab ride to the airport? Nuttin. But that is just fine. Because I WILL BE BACK. Look out NYC. Now I know how to plan for you.
Thanks for stopping by and hopefully enjoying the photo recap. Hope your day is spectacular. Happy Fourth of July! I’ll leave you with one of my favorite photos. I took this on a hazy day at the construction area which used to be the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers…
This past weekend I learned a bunch! Please learn from my terrific experiences…
- Stay outside during a hot summer rain in New York City
- If your tour bus guide is so boring that you want to fall asleep, don’t fight it and just fall the fuck asleep
- Being called a piece of heaven can make your entire day
- When you get caught between the moon and New York City, the best that you can do is eat street meat
- When you are sad your friends will be there to hold you
- When a cockroach crawls across your table, your friends will brush it to the floor and do an Irish jig on its ass, then ensure that you don’t pay for your meal
- When you are dehydrating after walking for a brazillion NYC blocks, a paramedic friend will buy you water at Starcocks, steal chairs to rest your weary feet and tell funny stories to ensure that you don’t pass out
- When meeting for the first time, excellent new friends will buy you t-shirts and hats
- When you on the Empire State Building’s 86th floor, friends will twat that they are with you at the top of the world and you truly will feel that you are
- When you decide to make out with a man who looks like Syler from Heroes while on a Greenwich Village sidewalk, your friends will lose their shit on you if they don’t know where you are
- When on a New York subway you will be shocked at how clean it is, plus you will be happily surprised with all of the nice people (some of which who will even offer to take your photo without stealing your camera)
- Hot dogs from a street vendor taste delicious with onions and mustard
- Monet is just as gorgeous in the Met
- If one takes photos in a NYC tunnel, one will get scolded by the cabbie
- If one takes photos in the Superheroes exhibit, one will get scolded by a nutjob
- Grand Central Station has surprisingly delicious food in the food court
- The Chrysler Building is probably the most beautiful building that I have ever seen
- One’s legs won’t actually fall off from hours of walking around NYC
- Purses are dirt cheap in NYC’s Chinatown
- Tour buses are a magnificent way to learn a bunch about a city and offer a great way to take photos without feeling like a fool
- That a great male friend will leave the hotel room immediately after awakening if one needs to get dressed after a shower
- Times Square tourists need to get the fuck outta my way when I am walking
- Don’t let Britt do shots of water before eating ice cream or her belly will hurt
- Payless Shoes in NYC is totally different from any other Payless
- Bagels in NYC really are the best bagels in the history of ever
- Jews don’t work on Saturday, Italians don’t make pizza on Sundays
- Gay Pride parades make me proud to simply be alive
- No matter how much men say that shopping for make up is fine, they really and truly hate it
- Stealing tons of clean towels and a gross of washcloths from the cleaning person’s cart can turn a shitty hotel room stay into a fun adventure
- I love New York, especially with terrific people
Ok, there is a ton more, but I am exhausted (damn bowling and ass spanking and beer and all) so I will have to write more later in the comments or something.
A ton of photos to follow…
This past weekend in New York City was beyond words fantastic. Off the charts awesome. Seriously terrific weekend. Great friends doing new and exciting things can only lead to laughs and fun.
Except when those friends are with you in NYC and agree with you that we all need to see where the World Trade Center Towers once proudly stood. We agreed to take a tourist double decker bus to tour the church where workers, who toiled incredibly long hours witnessing horrendous sights and smells that I cannot begin to fathom, would rest and get nourishment, gathering strength to again make the journey across the street to continue their rescue efforts. For me, just viewing mementos left on the St. Paul’s Chapel fence (items that have now become a part of the memorial) became overwhelming. These items were left during such an intense mourning period in an effort to express sorrow, anguish and loss and I couldn’t help but be drawn back to that very day. The flood of sadness washed over me, right there in that church with hundreds of other tourists. Even a big hug from Britt couldn’t remove the overwhelming emotions.
(”with all our anger we share your pain” from Italy)
(thousands of paper cranes from all over)
(outside of the church, facing where the Towers stood)
While I didn’t think I could make it viewing the actual site, especially after crying my way through the church, I was pleasantly surprised to have this as my first view:
We are rebuilding. While our nation will never be the same, it felt good to see that we won’t allow our horrendous tragedy’s scar to remain such a visible blemish.
EDITED TO ADD: It is St. Paul’s Chapel, not St. John’s. Uggggh! (Sorry.)
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On another memorial note, before we got to Ground Zero we found a chain link fence filled with tiles from kids all over. Here are some of my favorite images…
As you all probalby know, Twitter is a fun little interactive site. And you probably all know by now that the wonderful Hilly proclaimed that every message put out there onto the world wide webs would be called a Twat.
Well, while in New York we certainly twatted. Some of us more than others while their phone batteries lasted. Here’s a quick outline of our adventures from my timeline. More stories to follow…
(I think they said that R. Downey, Jr. actually wore this in the movie.)
