UPDATE: From Facebook to Face

For those (two or so people out there) hanging in suspense, wondering if I made it safely home from my NYC visit with Elizabeth, I am reporting in.

I had a super-duper amazingly great time. And I did not end up in the garbage disposal.

Less than three minutes after arriving at Elizabeth’s apartment, my shoes were off and we were chatting as though we’d done it a thousand times before. For the entire weekend, we laughed and played Scrabble and drank incredible wine and shopped for fabrics and ate over-the-top yummy Chinese and Mexican food and drank margaritas. Mostly, we talked and talked and talked.

I made a new friend this weekend… there’s simply nothing better than that.

This was also my first time in New York City, except for those brief, half-day forays in for the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. Small-town New Hampshire Girl, welcome to Gotham! Soon as I stepped out from the train station, I wanted to dance my Marlo-Thomas-Mary-Tyler-Moore-Holy-Shit-I-Am-In-A-Big-City-On-My-Own spin – but refrained from doing so for fear of being publicly mocked (besides, I had no hat with which to remove and toss in the air). It was exciting!!

And I learned lots while popping my cherry on the Big Apple:

It takes forever to get a cab in front of Madison Square Garden. Pee before you get in line.
Subway seats can be very sticky.
It takes nearly a thousand hours to travel from Battery Park to 78th Street. Bring provisions.
Stave 28 wine is magnificent.
Not all New Yorkers are assholes (or axe murderers). Everywhere we went, I met wonderful, kind, funny people.
Amtrack is not the way to travel if you need to be somewhere on time.
The garment district is Mecca to those of us smitten with fabric.
Garbage disposals are not permitted in NYC. Probably because it cuts down on missing persons…

The best thing I learned is that someone needs to invent a word to describe the feeling (that click!) we get when we find ourselves instantaneously comfortable with someone we’ve never before met. It’s bliss!

I am not only going back to NYC for another Elizabeth fix, I am also venturing out next year to consummate other Facebook friendships with those I feel equally compelled to meet.

It’s gonna be a great year!

By the way, Elizabeth writes a fun blog about her adventures in sewing… go peek!