A few weeks worth of words

Oh. Em. Gee. How is 4th of July this coming weekend already? Shwhaa? OK so now that June is almost done and out, I reaaaaally need to catch ya'll (totally not NYC talk, I know) up to date with the insanity otherwise known as City Life.

So I guess we'll start the way I always do, but THIS time I'll actually give you as much of the run down as I can ... not just stuff on "The List." Seriously, I really need to just spend less time on PerezHilton.com -- I admitted in class today that it's my biggest guilty pleasure -- and spend more time jotting on here all my daily shenanigans.

Week 5 -- Fun & Fearless List:

2) Go to a Broadway show.

Promises, Promises. Well, I promise you this, it's a show definitely worth seeing. First, get your tickets from TKTS and please my touristy friends, avoid the Times Square location at all cost. There's another location in the South Street Seaport down in FiDi. (That's my new favorite way to refer to the Financial District ... me love abbreves? Never.)

A short run down of the plot: Set in the 1960s, young Chuck Baxter (Sean Hayes), a low-on-the-totem-pole employee at an insurance company, is willing to do whatever it takes to climb the corporate ladder -- even if that means loaning his one bedroom apartment to his unfaithful superiors who are looking for a little one-night action away from their Mrs. Throw in the lovely Fran Kubelik (Kristin Chenoweth), a waitress at the company cafe with many a problems of her own, and it's one delightfully funny tale of romance and work, shaken and stirred into the perfect blend, that I must say packs quite a punch (That can also refer to Chuck's drink in the Hi-LARIOUS bar scene).

What also made the musical? My aunt having to explain the meaning of "pervert" to my 7-year-old cousin. Ahhh, another reason why marriage is nowhere near even a consideration. (I mean... what Fun & Fearless girl has the time for that!?)

Check out more about the show on the official web site.

View leading up to the Broadway Theater:

Outside the theater with my ticket!

A sneak peak inside the theater before show-time. Shhhh. Cameras aren't allowed inside.

32) Take a picture with the Naked Cowboy.

Well, actually the Naked Cowboy hasn't been roaming the streets lately seeing that he is in the midst of a legal battle. It's a modern day (naked) country-western battle for Times Square stomping grounds and Trademark infringement with none other than she-version of the Nakedness himself: $andy Kane, The Naked Cowgirl.

Heart-shaped booby pasties, a decorated guitar, a constant flip of the bird and all, this former "entertainer" looks like she might need to put her recent earnings from laughter-ridden tourists toward a new suit. Or at least a decent bra.





Read more about the controversy here.

42) Eat a hotdog, pretzel and Philly cheese steak from a street vendor.

OK, so I've been warned about eating food off the street. It's contaminated. It's been sitting in the dirty, bacteria-infested air. You'll get sick. There's been so many reports on how bad it is for you. Etc.

You know what I say to that? Wah wah. It's delicious. I love hot dogs. I love pretzels. I've yet to see a Philly cheese steak cart actually, but I have gotten a mean street bagel. And guess what, I'm alive to blog about it. Next cart visit? Foursquare keeps telling me there's a taco truck nearby... um, YUM!


61) Go to a Good Morning America Concert.

Let's be honest. I'm generally not exactly thrilled to go to class. Especially when it requires me to take off (precious) days at the office. But the past Friday was an exception. After waking up at THREE AM (only because I naturally procrastinated my paper due that morning, woops) I got ready and headed off to Central Park's Rumsey Field. Arrival time -- 6:25 AM. I hadn't had my morning cawfee. My hair was unwashed. But, there I was surrounded by the lovely 18 other Mizzou journalism ladies in my program, standing maybe 10 feet away from Good Morning America's concert stage. The coolness factor totes trumped any crankiness factor.

Yes, our professor got the hook-up for the first of our three media visits that day (the others included ProPublic and the Wall Street Journal). VIP bracelets for the Alicia Keys concert. And let me tell you, in the words of my favorite (guilty pleasure) celebrity blogger Perez Hilton -- Alicia looked FABOOSH (read: fabulous). I mean like really FABOOSH. Not only was she glowing from her very talented stand-by makeup crew, but also the glimmer of her baby bump slightly popping through her romper.

Her rendition of Empire State of Mind sent chills through my blood and made goosebumps prickle on my skin despite the sweltering heat. I even (embarrassingly) made it on TV! *Side note: the camera guy told us to do this awkward sway clap thing, where, well, anyone who has rhythm (read: most normal people) would look totally cool and fun doing it. Me? Not so much.

Look for awkward teal shirt & headband girl at 0:14.

Told you so.

Of course my camera died at like the beginning of the show, so here are some otherwise "borrowed" photos from my friends' FB albums:

A bunch of the girls from class before the show.

Natalie, Mallory, me, Jessica, Morgan.

ALICIA KEYS!

Thanks to Kat for her awesome DSLR camera.

We really were so ridiculously close to her.

It's OK. You can be a little jealous :)

46) Visit Katz’s Deli.

This awesome delicatessen is no secret in NYC. Tucked away along the dives of E. Houston in the Lower East Side, this famous gem is well-known for it's pastrami sandwiches and links (is that what they're called?) of salami. It is a bit pricey at $15 - $18 a pop for a sandwich, but the meat is hot off the grill and cooked to perfection. Jessica opted for a burger and fries and gave her seal of approval. The plus for her, a burger is much cheaper.

Also totally great about this place: they serve matzo ball soup. If you've never had matzo ball soup, find a Jewish friend and ask for a recipe. So good.

Photos of famous celebrities and politicians such as Bill Clinton and Rudy Giuliani line the side wall. On the other side is the food counter. Now, when you first walk in, the scene is a little overwhelming. There's 5 or 6 different lines forming, a single one for each server behind the counter. What I recommend, and what you don't first realize they have, table service. Get a waiter. Ask their opinions. Sit down and enjoy the fact that you have no idea which line serves fries, which serves drinks, which has the condiments, which has the sandwiches, etc. The counter is a mess unless you're a Katz's veteran. Otherwise, the extra tip money is so worth it.

Cool thing No. Whatever: Katz's is also the famous deli in Harry Met Sally. You know the famous line. "I'll have what she's having." And you know what, when you're in there, you want what everyone's having. It all looks just so damn delicious.

Here's the menu. Let the mouth watering begin.

82) Go antiquing/ vintage clothes shopping.

Brooklyn is home to a many cool people and things. The Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Museum. Coney Island. Steve & Miranda's place. Household automobiles instead of cabs. Michael Jordan. But the non-Brooklynites are unaware of some of the most legit vintage shops housed by this mostly residential area. After chatting up a local bartender last night, Jenny and I were told we needed to visit northwestern Brooklyn. Just to check it out. Our 'tender (a 10-year Manhattan inhabitant) said he always swore up and down he'd never leave Manhattan, yet after moving to Brooklyn not long ago, he swears he never wants to leave.

So we took his advice. Hopped the L over to Bedford Ave., the first stop in Brooklyn, and wandered around. What we found: it has some ritzy boutiques and some crazy vintage stores. We're talking vintage, vintage. Also Jenny taught me a fun TV Anchor trick -- scour the blazer rack at the Salvation Army. Ten times cheaper and half the time the tacky-on-the-hangers actually make flattering on-screen attire. Who woulda guessed?

Either way, saw some cute stuff. But, I ended up making a trip to Union Square's Nordstrom Rack before class and got myself the slouchy bootie flats I've been yearning for. Only $40. Not a bad find in this city. Really.

******

The stuff you've been waiting for:

No Fun & Fearless girl sticks just to a list. We deviate. We wander. We explore. So here's what I've done on a whim, on someone else's list, by recommendation or just by getting lost. I'm sure I'll forget to tell you some of the things. And most of these probably deserve posts of their own. But in a nutshell, I'm going to attempt to fit in all the notable stuff I've left out the past few weeks. Here goes everything... (in order from longest ago to most recent)

Meatpacking District Excursion:

If I haven't clarified this, I'll clarify now. My roommate Jenny and I are the only two of the bunch to have an unusual work schedule. I have three-day weeks. She works weekends. Thus, we both Mondays and Tuesdays off together. So what we like to do is pick an area/ neighborhood and wander it. No destination in mind. Just get lost and see where it takes us.

So some time in Week 3 (IE - most likely a Mon. or Tues.) we decided to hit up the Meatpacking District. It's known for its rich nightlife and swanky eateries. So we got lost and this is what we found:

Actual old, real meatpacking factories.

The corner of Little West 12th St. and 10th Avenue. Soon to be our favorite nighttime hot spot. Also soon to be realized the entry to the High Line Park.

Cute, little cobblestone streets. Reminiscent of Main Street St. Charles with an older, more historical feel.

A&F Marketing. For all my friends with the company, this photo's for you. See, in the retail world of Abercrombie & Fitch, it's not hard to see that we really don't do billboard marketing. The customers sell the brand via the logos they bear on their clothing. Needless to say, when I saw this ad, I nearly had a heart attack. It really does exist.

An art gallery. I wish I could have taken more photos, butttt that seemed like a quick way for us to get kicked out of this awesome exhibit.

Then we stumbled our way back into Greenwich on accident. But we weren't upset. We found:

Christian Loubotin -- Designer of the most fabulously crafted footwear ever:

And we snuck a peak at the lady inside who was walking through the store like she was shopping Payless's BOGO deal. Like it was NBD at all that she was wandering barefoot, examining only the finest pairs that caught her fancy. *Sigh.* Maybe one day, we thought.

Carrie Bradshaw's Brownstone Stoop.

Even though she lived in the Upper East Side, Carrie's stoop was shot down in Greenwich Village -- only a few blocks away from where the real SJP lives!

Does it look familiar? (Photos via Google Images)

When I make it big one day, this is the neighborhood where I'll live. Fosh.

After-work strolls through FiDi:

Nothing is worse than being cooped up in a mini "apartment" when a big, busy world is at your doorstep. So, naturally, the roomies and I make it a mission to get out of the apt. as awf-ten as pawssible. And thanks to Allie's celeb fanaticism and constant Twitter updates from OLV (On Location Vactation -- they tweet movie and TV filming locations!) a lot of these leisurely strolls turn into hectic prancing down the narrow walkways of FiDi searching for the next celebrity to grace our neighborhood. I might not have seen any movie stars yet (Allie has!) but hopefully one day soon I'll spot more than just their trailers!

Film Crews for Something Borrowed starring Kate Hudson parked at Water & William.

Look for this scene in the movie!

Production Signs for a TV show called Lights Out, located literally a BLOCK from our apartment:

NYC Media Site Visits:

Like I said previously, our summer journalism class isn't glamourous (however you look at it, even if class IS in Times Square, it's still class) BUT it sure does have its perks. The obvi being Alicia Keys, but also just as (almost) great were these visits:

Wall Street Journal. (Shout out to Alecia Swasy, the best journalist WSJ has ever seen. Also known as the best writing professor at the J-School. It's OK, I've already gotten my grade so it's not sucking up, right?)

FOX News. Didn't get to see Bill O'Reilly though. Um, Shucks?

CNN. We got the to tour a bunch of sets and even saw the stage for the presidential election coverage. NEATO!

Just chillin' in Nancy Grace's desk. NBD.

Central Park Adventures:

If I could pick one favorite place in NYC, well, that'd be Central Park. Hands down. It's beautiful. It's green. It's enchanting. There's always new people to watch and a new secret grassy spot or bench or rock to find. I haven't even seen half of it yet. But what I have done: found the most amazing boathouses, like, ever. And for about $3/person, you can go on a double date (or in our case an awkward gaggle of girls), row-boating away on the lake.






Little Italy:
It's the cutest little alley only a street and a few blocks long that's filled with stings of lights, corner gelato shops, the glorious wafting aroma of garlic and butter and cheap accessory stands. It's loud and touristy ALL the time, but its got a vibrant energy about it. All and all, thumbs up -- but be willing to accept some not-so-great table service from the servers if you're with a young-looking group.

******

OK, so that gets us caught up in (mostly) full to about week three. It's late. I'm a wittle sweepy after last night's midnight showing of Eclipse (EEEE! I KNOW!). And secretly I've been working on this post for the past three nights. What can I say, I'm picky about what I put in print ... and I'm eager to just publish this already. If I go into week four, well, that might take a-whole-nother three more days to write.

Until next time.

Keeping it Fun & Fearless & (as Jessica added on for me) Fabulous!

Bucket List - Week 4

Okay, so it's only been 5 days since the last post... that means I'm getting a little bit better with the updates, right?

Well, in terms of knocking stuff off the Fun & Fearless list, it's been a rather slow week ... but in terms of just experiencing the NYC life ... well friends, that's a completely different tale. So I got to thinking the other day -- while sitting on the Subway, as I naturally do because I mean, aside from looking at creepy strangers (I don't recommend it) or brushing up on my Spanish skills by reading the ads, what ELSE is there to do -- I decided that it's time to make another list. I'm ONE month in as a New Yorker now (it's officially the 30 day mark) and it's time to add onto my list: and not just the touristy stuff, er, no offense to my friends who helped me create my original list.

But before we get to that, here's what I accomplished this week on "the list":

48) Walk the entire length of the High Line.
So. Freaking. Cool. As a huge photography buff *cue thanks to Matt Schott here* all I kept thinking the entire walk was "Oooh! Great angle!" "WOW, amazing nature shot!" "OMG, perf contrast shot!" Now, if I had an awesome Digital SLR (cough grad present cough) I mighta been able to take some more legit shots, but either way ... the photographer in me went camera crazy. Just ask the roommates.

All I could think about was the gorgeous contrasting theme that went along with this "park." See for those of you unfamiliar with the High Line, it was originally created in the 1930s as an above-ground freight train system. It was above the ground because often times, well, these trains were potentially dangerous. Now, come of an age with air travel, awesome highway systems, and so on, well let's just say these railways aren't so necessary anymore.

So what does the City of New York opt to do with this mile and a half long piece of above ground railway track? Turn it into a park. *Cue cheers here.* Anything that adds a little greenery into this enormous slab of concrete and metal known as a city, is "A OK" in my book.

So basically, while walking in the gloriousness of one of my new favorite hangouts, the theme "Urban Jungle" kept popping into my head ... and let's admit, that could be because I watched WAAAAY too much The Devil Wears Prada before I came here. But it really was the epitome of an Urban Jungle. You walk for nearly a mile (most of it is still under construction) and you see this beautiful wildlife blossoming up from the rusty tracks of the old freight train routes. And behind it: a city backdrop of steel skyscrapers and bright yellow taxis flying down winding streets that stretch for miles.

I HIGHLY recommend checking it out if you're ever in the NYC area. It strolls you over 10th Ave. in the Meatpacking District and Chelsea. Totally close to Greenwich, too. Definitely an area you want to see that's somewhat off the beaten touristy path. Thanks for the recommendation Ben!

Totes beautiful, right? Right!

43) Try a new Tasti D-Lite flavor every week.

This week's flavor: Latte Fudge. Location: 60th & Broadway. Cool perk: Checked in on FourSqaure for a 99-cent small cup. Booyah.

******

Alright. New Fun & Fearless List additions. 2 months left. Here goes nothing:

56) Visit every borough in New York. There's 5: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx.

57) Have a movie/TV famous spot day, where we stake out all the best "famous" spots from various TV shows and films. First to see: the cafe from Seinfeld. Yes. Don't laugh.

58) Visit the Museum of Sex. Uh huh. SEX.

59) Visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage. L'Heim!

60) Take a Brooklyn Bridge Bootcamp class. It burns up to 800 cal. in ONE hour. Phew.

61) Go to a Good Morning America Concert. Alicia Keys is this week. Empire State of Mind, anyone?

62) Stake out a sample sale on refinery29.com or dailycandy.com and get some designer goodies! They dish the DL on all the best sales in town.

63) Eat a cupcake from Crumbs. Sorry Magnolia, I'm cheating on you.

64) Vow to find the best Fro-Yo in town. Tasti D-Lite is good, but it's time to dig the spoon in somewhere else.

65) Meet boys in the dorm and FINALLY hang out with them. Enough with this elevator chit chat. It's time to make a move -- Helloooo Wall Street interns!

66) Buy and sport a fedora hat. A fedora SCREAMS city chic.

67) Each morning, read (and post) a tid-bit from a (free!) book I got from the office: "1000 Awesome Things." Bonus points for posting my own awesome things.

68) Become a true NYC Twi-Hard: Midnight Eclipse showing in the city. Um, you better be Team Edward.

69) Scour the city for a (somewhat) cheap cut and color. My roots are starting to show: no bueno!

70) Beat Pat Hyatt in our FourSquare badge war. I refuse to lose.

71) Chow down at a Zagat rated restaurant and blog my review. Gotta keep practicing that Vox Voice somehow...

72) Buck up for a gym membership. Fearless points for chatting up a cutie in a yoga class.

73) Bust out a chorus of 4th of July's best patriotic songs on, well, July 4th. My country tis of theeee, sweet land of libertyyyy!

74) Picnic at the park. Grab a blanket, a bottle of wine and the best PB&J you can slap together.

75) Take a trip to Chelsea Market. Am I the ONLY one who hasn't been here yet?

76) Plan an outdoor bar crawl like this one on Time Out New York. Now that screams summer.

77) Visit Grand Central Station. Sometimes I feel like I live in Grand Central Station... who knows the song? :)

78) Go shopping at the Macy's in Herald Square. It's the largest store in America.

79) Ride every Subway train in Manhattan at least once. (If I haven't already done it, I'm sure I'm close. Points for making a blog about each train ... they're all SO different. Seriously.)

80) Travel to Atlantic City. I've never been to a casino, so why not go here!?

81) Go to a parade. They have 'em all the time in the city. Doesn't matter the subject matter. The more random, the better.

82) Go antiquing/ vintage clothes shopping. It's not just for grannies, TONY recommended it. I swear!

83) Champagne cruise on the Hudson. It's fairly cheap and it sounds breathtaking. Skyline view at sunset. Yes, please.

84) Club it up at Webster Hall. It'll smash Ten14 to shame. Sorry STL.

******

And that's about all I can think of for now. I'd go on, but it's 4:33 am. See, this is why I don't blog every day. Get a writer on a roll and she'll never stop going.

Keeping it Fun & Fearless.

XOXO,

Schall

Bucket List - Week 3

Saturday will mark my ONE MONTH period of living the life of a Fun & Fearless young New Yorker... uh shhhwhattt?? 1 month? Time. Flies. That being said, I'm still absolutely amazed by all that one can see (and hasn't seen!) in the city in under 4 short weeks.

So on to the point... here's what went down the past week -- and I keep saying this, but I PROMISE I'll get a hang of posting more than once a week. New York has a strange way of making you want to slam the laptop screen shut and just run out the door (rather see it, than read about it, right?).

And for the record, I've done so much I can't even think of it all off the top of my head -- I have to start backtracking through the million (okay 198) FB photos I just uploaded. FB friends, appreciate. That was like a 4-hour feat. Tagging photos and writing captions could literally be a full time job for someone... hey wait -- I need money. Any one need a photo tagger? Sorry. Rambling.

OKAY. Back on topic. Bucket List Week 3:

47) Eat a world-famous cupcake at Magnolia

A sweet tooth succumbs to the sugary goodies in this city, big time. Tantalizing aromas of warm milk chocolate fill your nostrils as you walk by cake and frosting filled bakeries, only for a few seconds though -- then its back to the foul stench of garbage and urine, um, yum? But regardless ... the short, sweet smell is enough to make you want to pop in and try the most raved and ravished about treats. Now, I was told I had to go to Magnolia Bakery, and despite I heard it was overrated, I still needed to see for myself.

It's actually funny how I came across this cute, corner shop in Greenwich Village. Jenny and I were out on our daily adventure (the goal was to conquer the Meatpacking District, but neighborhood boundary lines blur quite easily and we took a wrong turn into the Village. We heard a commotion down the street and like the curious, budding journalists we are, naturally we had to see what was up. Four bright red fire engines and scours of NYC firefighters (Heeellloooo Mr. February! Is that you?!) swarmed the streets as flocks of passerby (mostly locals for once) chimed into the commotion.

As our prying eyes finally determined there wasn't much to see, and just as we're about to turn away, oh lookie! Right there in front of us! How could we miss it? The navy and white sign above a little brick shop: The Magnolia Bakery. Knowing that it's on my Fun & Fearless list, I turned to Jenny and squeaked, "Magnolia's!" Enough said.

*A quick aside: It really is SO funny how much you stumble upon in this city. It's like on every block there's something new waiting to be discovered.

Two seconds later (thank you supposed fire, the usual 10-minute line out the door was displaced -- they must have been gawking in the street, too) we were in the door. Approximately 3 minutes later -- it took a little time to decide on the PERFECT cupcake -- I was biting into a chocolate cupcake concoction. Overall rating: 3 Stars. Good, fatty icing. Slightly dry cake for my liking. A wee bit pricey (alas, thats NY). But in the end, fairly delish none-the-less. Next bakery to devour: Crumbs.

34) Visit Ground Zero and say a prayer.

Trying to get some exercise in -- putting my new Reebok EasyTones to work! -- Jenny and I skedaddled through the rest of Greenwich, down through SoHo (South of Houston) and TriBeCa (Triangle Beneath Canal) and back home into the Financial District. Usually I don't make it over to the west side of the FD, but as we were walking I noticed a bunch of construction. Ground Zero, I thought. I snuck up to the big blue barrier and peeked inside -- Wow. Were the Twin Towers really that small: This space seems so tiny? Was this really where it all happened? Silly tourist. At least Jenny knew a little better. Nope, wasn't it. Just another block under construction in NYC, typical.

One street down and one corner turned: There it was. No doubt this time. The numbers 9 & 11 were plastered to the sides of looming, bright blue boards that encompassed and blocked out all view of the site from the ground. In the evening skyline cranes of all sizes were halted in mid-air. A symbol of patriotism, the American Flag -- my flag -- flapped in the cool summer breeze that also prickled over every inch of my exposed skin, drawing it tight into tingling goose-bumps. But it wasn't the wind that gave me chills.

I stood in awe at the site where American life as we know it changed.

Rewind. I remember leaving school early that fateful September morning, all the teachers were in a panic. CNN was plastered to my old boxy TV set all day; I was a seventh grader and I hated the news -- but you can bet I was watching it then. Smoke. Debris. Chaos. That's what filled the Financial District. Chaos filled the world.

Fast Forward. People are still hustling around me as I stand at the street corner looking up, but they're in no actual hurry. There's no more smoke. No more debris. No real sign that anything happened here other than the small notes mentioning the new 9/11 Tribute Memorial to come. It looks like any old construction site -- like when the new Busch was being built in STL. But the chills remind you -- there's no celebration here. And there won't ever be.

It was eerie, yet prideful. All at the same time. A complete whirlwind of emotions if I've ever felt one. I believe it's a feeling all Americans should experience in their lifetimes.

"Fading light dims the sight,

And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.

From afar drawing nigh -- Falls the night.

"Day is done, gone the sun,

From the lake, from the hills, from the sky.

All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

"Then good night, peaceful night,

Till the light of the dawn shineth bright,

God is near, do not fear -- Friend, good night."

- Taps, General Daniel Butterfield

33) Spend a day trying to talk with a New York accent.

I want a New York accent SO bad you don't even understand. I don't know what it is about it that I just absolutely love. Maybe it's just my desire to immerse myself in New York culture and achieve ultimate NYC status: a local. Hopefully one day an Upper East Sider local. But for now... local will do. I spent all night out talking to various people in my makeshift wannabe accent, and surprisingly, nobody called me out on it (although people tell me a lot that I'm too friendly -- a dead giveaway that I'm a Mid-Western -- wah wah). And the funny thing is, after a little active trying, it actually kind of stuck. Little things I say during the day will sound slightly New York-ish. "I love my Cawfee." "I'm awn my way to tha Awffice." "Drop me awff at Jawn (John) Street." And by the end of the night, I had almost convinced myself I had it down... ehh or so I thought I did. My best friend Jen will tell you all about it.

15) Get into VIP at a club.

The Meatpacking District is where the real ritzy night life is at in NYC. And it doesn't disappoint if you're looking to get real dolled up like the good ol' Mizzou girls do. But it comes at a cost. Price ranges I've seen for a single well drink range from $9 - $18. On a Thursday night at Big 12 in CoMo, that would buy me, eh, roughly 9 - 18 TRIPLE well drinks. And generally you won't find college boys here. This is where the men come out to play. It's totally Sex and the City-esque. Young, pretty women and slightly older, richer men (ehh we'll say probably like 26+ in age).

SEA. Little West 12th Street. This is where we met Steve from Brooklyn -- talk about SATC, right?! As we patiently waited in the long basement lines, he politely taps us on the shoulders and asks if we'd like to join him for bottle service upstairs. Free. Of. Charge. VIP rooms in NYC are exactly what you'd expect. Hot girls, swanky lounge decorations -- did I mention the seating upstairs was a compilation of Tempurpedic Mattresses? Oh yes. Private DJ. And bottles of vodka served up however you want it, poured to you by Steve and friends. THANKS GUYS -- we heart our new friends.

38) Sit on the steps at the Met like Blair Waldorf.

Seriously, what a gorgeous building. The Met is set in Museum Mile in the Upper East Side on 5th Ave. It's backdrop, the ever-beautiful landscape of mid-Central Park.

It's forefront, the glorious apartment buildings of NYC's most wealthy inhabitants.

It's stairways, covered in flocks of tourists munching on hot dogs, casually reading a book and old men carrying signs saying, "Will you date me!?" -- okay, well, one old man I guess.

We didn't get a chance to go in since our aching feet were swelling under the extensive journey we had taken to get there. We literally walked up and down avenues and streets and Central Park pathways all the way from 42nd Street (Times Square) to 82nd Street. Here's an example, if it were just a straight-shot walk -- which even still is quite far:

So we all took a break to rest our callused soles and blistered toes (Cute imagery, I know. At least I won't show you them!) and hung out on the steps of the Met. Let's just say it was so Blair Waldorf.




50) Find the Balto statue in Central Park.

We totally passed him on our way up through Central Park, so after leaving the Met we had to backtrack our way to find him. Allie was the first to spot him through the throngs of passerby in the park. Slightly impatiently, we waited our turn to take a photo with our fine four-legged friend Balto! Totes worth it.



43) Try a new Tasti D-Lite flavor every week.

This week: Moose Tracks. Location: SoHo. (The first was Times Square and I missed the 2nd -- woops! I'll do a make up double try week!) Yum, yum, yum.

There's so much more to share, but it's a work night, and alas, I am quite tired. It's time to put the Fun & Fearlessness to bed for tonight. More to come about Week 3 -- Not on the list, but still awesome and NYC Street Fashion -- Is there such a thing as what-not-to-wear here?

Ciao Bellas.