New Favorite song!

I've been following Tyler Ward since the beginning of the school year with his awesome covers and a few originals too. But he just put this video up today of his latest cover. It's of a Kenny Chesney song...enjoy-

Also-on a completely unrelated note....
Graduation is officially one month away. That's a little frightening and awesome at the same time. My new excuse for doing fun things is that this is my last month in college and when is the next time I'll get to...
-play laser tag (this could also be considered a trip to the gym :)
-bowling
-movies
-and other various activities...

For example-yesterday was my dad's birthday and he was at home with the whole family (minus me...big bummer). So I took him out to dinner tonight at a place called Quarter Bistro in Ann Arbor. DELICIOUS. And here is the birthday dessert of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. Also awesome. Isn't he looking younger everyday ;)

Who are you?

I am a...
daughter to two of the best parents in the world
sister to my role model, hero, pain-in-the-ass coolest brother you'll ever meet
student at the UofM...but not for long
dreamer-about everything
runner-not looking to win marathons, but just get some miles on the legs
reader-mostly the girly beach reads, but the classics too
laugher-maybe too loud sometimes?
musician (once upon a time...)
flosser-random, but a daily activity I'm proud that I don't have to lie to the dentist about
swimmer-pools, lakes (Michigan preferably), any time of day or weather and I'm in the water
listener-of music & people, but not always the best advice giver
watcher-people are my favorite, but tv shows too
eater-pasta, york peppermint patties, rice pudding, pretty much everything
kid-at least always at heart
sore loser-but only in Sorry!
klutz-band aids generally adorned both my knees as a kid
dancer-not a good one, but I'm not too worried about who's watching
wisher-Sometimes I think, "If I had one wish..."
sailor- nothing better than the open bay and blue skies overhead...

Music you should listen to!

So I've come across some not so well known musical artists in the past few years and I think they deserve to be listened to more. Sooo I thought I would share some of them on here. Today I'm featuring Nick Zuber. I saw him open the show for Howie Day (Collide...) back in 2009 in Ann Arbor. He has a great voice and awesome lyrics too. Below I posted two of my favorite songs of his: Melody Breakdown and The Way I Am. The quality isn't great, but he has better postings on his myspace etc. Hope you enjoy!

 

Melody Breakdown

 

The Way I Am

Oh-and Happy St. Patty's Day! The only day I can wear green without cringing inside :)

8 Things I've learned along the way

1. Always turns Yoplait yogurt away from you when opening--otherwise you'll walk around with a stawberry banana stain on the front of your shirt all day.
2. New doesn't always mean bad-change can definitely be a good thing.
3. Jumping to conclusions about someone never solved anything. Doesn't mean you can't have premeditated feelings about a situation, person etc., but at least give it/he/she a chance before totally shutting down.
4. You will grow out of feeling awkward. This doesn't mean you aren't still awkward in the eyes of other people, but at least you'll feel comfortable and probably not care what everyone else is thinking.
5.  I'm sorry is hard to say and even sounds kind of lame. In the long run though, it is way better than feeling too proud to admit you might have messed up.
6. When heading for a collision on the sidewalk with an approaching pedestrian: keep a steady course. They'll move eventually and you won't play that weird I'll go left you go right, no you go left game. (exception: if they're texting...they aren't going to see you so MOVE).
7. There are 293 ways to make change for a US dollar.  Maybe not so useful except for maybe trivia night at the bar...
8. The real world waits. So don't rush, college generally doesn't happen again (at least in the same way as when you were 18-23). I speak from being on the brink of this milestone...and it's kind of terrifying.

Hump Day in NYC

On Wednesday we went to a Brain exhibit at the Natural History Museum. Being a Neuroscience major, i know just about everything you need to know for a basic understanding of the workings of the noggin. However, it was interesting to read in a non-textbook format. Unfortunately, the school groups came in about a half hour after we got there and I felt like I was back in middle school. A group of boys was informing their "leader" who was flirting with his girl. Paha-come on boys, get a life and find your own woman. 

After the brain exhibit we hit up a deli near Times Square which was obviously good from the long line snaking down the counter. Then we hit up a Matinee of Memphis where I sat next to a SNORING and HUGE man. He obviously wasn't there for the show because as soon as the lights went out his freight train left the station. Not only do I hate snoring, but in a theater-rude! The two women in front of me suggested I punch him...but uh, yeah my size and brute strength just didn't really match up to this guy. However, the show was great and a good story.

Next we went shopping down 5th avenue on the way to a mystical knitting store in the clouds my mom was determined to find (only like 30 blocks from our original starting point...ugh). However-we did find some great stuff along the way. I got a dress for graduation at Lord & Taylor...but I can't show pics cuz that would ruin any future postings about graduation :-)

   Surprise surprise-food time again! We headed back to Eataly for dinner where I treated my mom to wine and Gnocchi in the Vegetarian restaurant (don't worry-we're not vegetarians, they just had the shortest line!).

That night we got home and were in hopes of heading out to Barnes and Noble for some internet access. But THEN the neighbor heard us heading out late and caught us and gave us his internet password. Thank goodness! 

Everybody gets a free...(not humpback whale. haha)

Tuesday was my dad's last day in the city before he flew back to the real world (bummer). We headed down to Ground Zero in the morning to check it out. It was a pretty sad sight, but the construction is coming along for a new monument which is supposedly going to look something like this:

We also went into the church across the street where a lot of the workers slept between their shifts during the immediate aftermath. 

Mom and I had tickets for Martha Stewart afterwards. She was pretty psyched about seeing her favorite craft -anista in person. 

That's Martha running off the set

I was along for the free stuff (a Home Depot gift card-woohoo and a plant which looks pretty pukey next to the one my mom got, but oh well) and the cupcake!. This cute girl we sat next to recommended a cupcake bakery down the street that we should try called Billy' Bakery. I have to say, they weren't nearly as good as cupcake station in Ann Arbor, but still pretty good--

Next we got back to Times Square and got tickets for the 8pm showing of Jersey Boys. My parents had already seen this in Vegas (dad was gone by now--he didn't stick around for Martha) but I really wanted to see it. We had a few hours to kill so we hit up my pick-a thai restaurant just off of Times Squares, Prongsai Thai. It was excellent-per the usual for the food in NYC thus far. Then we walked over to Jersey Boys and it was definitely my favorite show of the whole week. Here's one of the songs from the show-who doesn't love a little Four Seasons?

Afterwards we made an exciting (hah) trip to the Food Emporium for b-fast food and then home again.

Ding Ding Ding (in the NBC tune...)

On Monday morning it was pouring rain, but luckily this was the only rainy day of the whole trip. We had ticket reservations for the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon so we decided to make a day of it at NBC and get the full tour. It was pretty awesome to see where SNL is filmed and where Brian Williams apparently gives the news with no pants (old rumor, haha). We had a few hours to kill between the tour and the Jimmy Fallon taping so we shopped around the area and found a LEGO store! Of course we had to go in, the Webb family is drawn to LEGO like magnets. Surprisingly, we didn't buy anything, but it was definitely tempting. But overall, Rockefeller plaza is a pretty sweet place. 

    Next we went to lunch at a fancy schmancy restaurant called Pasta Lover's Traitorria. Pasta=favorite food and thus I loved this restaurant. Unfortunately, it felt so fancy, that I didn't really think taking a picture of my delicious lunch would be appropriate, but trust me-it was amazing. Then we went back for the taping of Jimmy Fallon. Obviously, we couldn't take pics, but we had some pretty cool celebrity guests to watch. #1 was Topher Grace (very cute, btw-That 70s Show, and a new movie: Take Me Home Tonight and #2 Jim Gaffigan (Hilarious! and in a play on broadway "That Championship Season"--

     

Then there was a performance by Glasser...they were interesting, but it would take awhile for me to get used to them. Just check out their costumes--

And here's a vid of the song they performed:

After the taping we went to Eataly (trip numero dos) for dinner at the vegetarian place. It was delish! Check out the salad I had--

The wine was pretty amazing too-gave a little vision of how Italy will be this summer :-) Afterwards we took a pitstop at Grand Central Station to scope it out a little bit for the shopping before heading back to the apartment. Another pretty great day in the city!

Sunday in NYC

We started off Sunday morning with a trip to the Guggenheim Museum.

A.           1.  I don’t have as much appreciation for museums in general as I should.

B.                   2. The building is REALLY cool.

C.                  3.Free audio tour.

D.                 4. Lots of art (generally with bright colors and pretty shapes)

E.                  5. Van Gogh painting—this one was awesome.

The combination of all these things brought around a mostly pleasant experience. Frank Lloyd Wright always does a knock out job of designing buildings with purpose and grace and beautiful external presence (among the skyscrapers).  

As we headed back out into the sunny NY weather we decided it was time for lunch—this time at a classic NY hotdog joint called Papaya. This place was obviously popular and for good reason. The hot dogs were delicious and the freshly made smoothies were to die for. With a little delay, I also got the highly coveted curly fries. They’re only highly coveted because everytime I get the craving for some curly fries (say, on a roadtrip home) we’re always one exit too late or the fryer has just been shut off. You may say this is a sign I shouldn’t indulge in the greasy mess of potato goodness, but I was determined to get them…and SUCCESS! 

Post lunch meant a trip to the Empire State Building (we really take the term tourist to heart in this family). The number of velvet ropes and stands gave me an idea of how long you could actually wait to go up the 80 some floors, but luckily our longest wait was about 5 minutes. We hung out on the observation deck for quite awhile and saw the city from…well all angles.  

Just bein' a lil artistic I suppose

Surprise, food time…again! We headed to Mario Batali’s “Eataly”—combination grocery store and 5 restaurant-ish counters.  Walking through the doors is basically stepping into an Italian Sam’s Club—except with pricey samples and everything imported straight from Italy. The idea is you can sit down at any of the restaurants and enjoy pizza, pasta, paninis, salads, gelato, espresso, wine, fresh pasta yadda yadda yadda—and then you can go buy the ingredients to make the stuff at home. Awesome. So we got paninis, some fancy Italian pop, and then assorted dessert things (many more visits to this locale in the next few days...). 

Check out that DESSERT!

After Eataly we went to visit a family from the summer camp I work at who lives on Park Ave in a very impressive apartment. It was fun to visit them and talk about summer (which will probably be here far sooner than I realize). 

Rene and I at the fancy schmancy Park Ave apartment

Then we jumped on the subway downtown to see “Avenue Q.” This is an off broadway production which is a take off on sesame street with puppets etc. The theme is about graduating college and thinking you’ll make it big right away, only to find the world just isn’t so nice once you leave the comfy confines of campus. Hmmm…maybe I should slow down with that hurry to get to graduation?? The story was really cute and there were some seriously raunchy scenes/songs, but definitely worth seeing.  

After what felt like ten miles of walking on this gorgeous day, we FINALLY made it back to the apartment and I’m pretty sure it only took me a few minutes to fall asleep on the couch to get ready for another crazy day in NYC.

Welcome to the cityyyy: Saturday, February 26, 2011

First real day in NYC and we had to traipse across the city with all our luggage. Public transportation is great, but a full size checked suitcase doesn’t really move very suavely through the metro gates (ask my dad…haha). Eventually we made it to 83^rd St. and 2^nd Ave to pick up the keys for apartment 4G from the tailor next door to the building. I’m kind of surprised he handed them over so easily, but I think my parent’s friends have a pretty excellent rapport around here (as the lady from 2G told us she was so happy we were friends with them). The apartment is small, cute, and MUCH more cost effective than a hotel.  My mom kept warning me the apartment would be really small…well it’s about the same as my apartment at school so I wasn’t really shocked. After we dropped off all the luggage we headed off into the city (of which there was sunshine and gorgeous weather all weekend). 

Our not-so-welcoming arrival to 4G. Boo MSU.

Living area. aka MY couch-haha

We stopped for a light brunch at a mexican taco restaurant where we had baked eggs with some sausage and spicey-ness. Highlight of the meal (or maybe lowlight??) was when the poor waiter knocked over my mom’s water glass which conveniently fell into our purses. Poor guy felt so bad, but we weren’t too torn up about it (no harm no foul). 

K well picture wouldn't rotate, but you get the idea-YUM

Mom had lined up tickets for TWO broadway shows on Saturday. We made it through Times Square for the first of many times in the week and saw the gazillions of people gawking at the huge screens and advertisements just like us. First show was “Billy Elliot” about the miner’s strike and a young boy with a talent for dancing, but a family far more concerned about the matters of the coal miners. The music and story were fantastic and the 12 or 13 year old boy who played the lead was an incredible dancer.

After the show we got lunch at Ruby Foo’s, an upscale Chinese restaurant with a fresh atmosphere (aka. Hip music playing and wait staff looking incredibly chic).  A few sushi rolls to start (with some bud light…haha) and then shrimp and scallops with double pan fried noodles. YUM. Parents had Pad Thai and probably won’t be able to eat at No Thai ever again. Shame-not much can keep me from that restaurant.  Then it was back to our second show, “Driving Miss Daisy” after some time wasting around Times Square. James Earl Jones is playing Hoke in DMD and he was incredible. The show only has three actors, but it is an incredible story about human connection and racial barriers of the 50s and 60s in Georgia. I highly recommend seeing at least the movie if you haven’t before. 

Afterwards we were ready to head back to the apartment (with sore butts from the day at the theatre) but stopped to listen to the most interesting group of people in the subway playing Beatles and other music of comparable genre. They were AWESOME! But I couldn’t stop thinking about what an interesting conglomeration of people they were. People were dancing and it was just a really cool atmosphere. We stuck around for probably an hour and then made our way on the subway and to the apartment. 

Awkward Beatles Group in Times Square Subway-SO good!

Definitely not hard to fall asleep that night (or any night, for that matter) after waltzing around the city all day.

First time in Times Square

The Sidewalks Sparkle in NYC!

Just in case I wasn't aware...the luggage belt reaffirmed my location as being NYC

As mentioned in my previous post, I was REALLY ready for spring break. This is the first time in four years in college that all my midterms lined up like flowers in a window box in the days leading up to freedom (for a week at least). To put it lightly, that week was HELL. But its over and I didn’t bring a single textbook or piece of work with me to NYC. So the plan was to leave Friday morning at the crack of dawn, but the threat of another snopocalypse cancelled our flight and we got pushed to Friday night, which was fine-a day to sleep in and leisurely get ready for the crazy trip.  So we went through the rigmarole in DTW airport while running into half the UM campus (including my roommate happy to be heading to warmer climates in Palm Beach).  

Hanging out in DTW waiting for flights across the country :-)

Flying is one of my favorite ways to get to vacation destinations, mostly because of the intense people watching which can’t really happen driving along I-94 (unless you want to judge people on their car choice or backseat video).  Anywho, minor luggage squabbles and we were on our way into NYC with the threat of terrible weather for the whole weekend. Unfortunately, because of the flight being pushed back, we had to stay in a hotel for one night because we couldn’t pick up the keys to the apartment we planned to stay in the rest of the week.  So we suffered (paha) through a night at the Marriot across from LaGuardia. 

Waiting for the shuttle outside LGA to the Marriot

First meal in NYC was an awesome Greek flatbread pizza at the bar/restaurant in the hotel.  Food just tastes different in new places, and it’s a taste I could get used to. You’ll probably find that most of my adventures are centered around food. AND I’ve provided a fair number of pictures of the awesome food I ate to build up that jealousy (might I remind you to stop drooling on your keyboard…). That first night in the Marriot had quite possibly the most comfortable mattress and pillows I have ever slept on—heavenly.  A little ipod action and the parental snoring was but a distant white noise.