Life in the Fast Lane?

This past weekend I ventured to New York City to rendezvous with some friends. Christina and I packed up my car on Friday afternoon and made the 5.5 hour drive into the Big Apple to begin an adventurous 3.5 days of laying out in Central Park, walking the city, shopping, dining, partying and people watching.



Life in the Fast Lane.

New York City is an intense place. Maybe intense isn't the right word. It is almost an over stimulation of the senses. You have anything you could possibly dream of at your disposal. Have a busy day and get home late, shower quickly and go out for dinner only to realize it's 1am? No worries, they still serve dinner at most restaurants...often until 4am! Not to mention that on a weekend night, at midnight, you might have to even WAIT 40 minutes for a table for dinner. Want to go out for drinks but not walk more then 2 blocks? No problem! Want some chinese food, bagels, groceries, flowers, whatever delivered at any time of the day? Sure thing!

It is easy to see how people get sucked far into debt and gluttony while living in the city. If you aren't part of the swiftly moving river of trends and partying and dining and strolling the city, you are quickly pulled in the undertow. Upon entering the current "it" club of NYC and being ushered to the VIP table complete with bottle service and models, I quickly realized how seductive that kind of life can be. Being a woman in the city is not a bad thing either. While waiting a few minutes for even the smaller, less "it", more divey local bars I was pondering whether there'd actually be any males in the bar considering that the doormen seemed to only be letting girls in. Apparently guy get in either through a back door as VIP or with massive swarms of good looking woman. They WERE inside the bars, but I'm not sure how they got there.

One thing I noticed about the city that I really liked, aside from the cute little corner cafes with amazing coffee and paninis, was that, for the most part, people take pride in themselves. Granted, I live in a city where a hoodie and tshirt is not only acceptable at bars and restaurants but also pretty much standard. It was nice to see women in fun outfits, great hats or scarves or accessories, nice shoes even while hiking through the subway. Even better was the men. Nice jeans, button up shirts or at least very nice, fitted, clean non-button up shirts, nice shoes, and so on. It reminded me of Paris where people walk out of their house representing themselves, marketing themselves, taking pride in themselves and leaving the loungewear and hoodies for, well, lounging!

I am not sure if I could endure the city on a permanent living basis, but it could be fun to have a residence there as a second home. Granted, being in the upper echelon of earning would make it even better but we seemed to do pretty well with the right connections. It was an exhausting weekend but refreshing in the sense that there is an unmistakable energy in that city that invigorates and intoxicates. The view at night from the Empire State Building wasn't bad either.