The previous days of so so much – I mean sooo much walking, so much taking in just SO MUCH – wow.  It showed as we struggled to the Starbucks on Broadway,  grabbed anything we could to crank us into awake mode, and off to…

SOHO – wow.  We were able to split up and really soak in the elements of what Soho provided – it reminded me of Georgetown outside of D.C..  Trendy, upbeat, polished, professional.  We spied Scholastic’s office and I entered there, loving the calendar of ideas left by children, the Harry Potter display,  some great things happening.  I enjoyed seeing the elements of classic bookstores that take their time to prepare books in their stores, and we came across a cool store one of the staff was shopping in, wooden floors, cool 80’s music, and just a sense of taking our time.  This lulled us into a sense of slowing down and off to –

The MeatPacking District. I liked the fact that we saw the cobble stone streets, the Chelsea Market which we walked through and saw the remnants of factories that made up the decor of current trendy stores – from speciality stationery stores, to restaurants to alot of artist-based venues.  GREAT GREAT place.

The highline was awesome. Yes, it was winter, but no being able to wlak through the citie’s buildings and seeing the city from a different perspective, seeing everyon enjoy their meals in random places – this was what the highline was built for.

The Whitney was unfortunately closed on Tuesdays but we did see how a factory style architecture was influenced by its neighborhood, from just the outside.  WOW.  When we saw how HUGE it was – hours, – it would have taken DAYS to get inside 😉   Maybe a blessing it was closed.  Then we decided, the tree of us (2 staffers and me) to sit – and we headed to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafe – right on the cobblestone corner of the meeting place where we originally met.

We headed back to the hostel, and crammed the details we needed – to allow ourselves as one group to be prepared for the Workshops the next day at Columbia – all of our groups were putting in the time and cranking it out.  After about 2 hours of planning, creating, organizing, we headed out to The Phantom of the Opera.  We had time for a quick Shake Shack – ate and hurried over to The Phantom of the Opera….to find….

…that 8:00 PM was NOT the time do the show, not at all.  Turns out the time to be there was 7:00 – my face dropped and so did my heart.  One hour and we missed it but – a slight glimmer of hope we were told we could back pay tickets, meaning see if another show was available, and trade our missed show and most likely for a matinée on Thursday, as long as there were tickets available.  This fact did not lighten my mood and to be honest, ruined my whole night, I felt I let everyone down.  Feeling sick to my stomach, I wondered at how I never had opened the tickets, not something I will ever, EVER repeat again.   eeing tI made a call to a friend, and found that the tickets could in fact be reversed for the cruise, if we happened to move the musical to Tuesday, the cruise to Friday, and voila – a slight chance it could work out…   You’ll see what happened in a next post  🙂

Despite the crappy crappy fact of this, we moved onto Times Square spent the evening shopping eating, and while one half headed back to the hostel, in somewhat downed spirits, the other half headed to one of the best Korean restaurants in Korean town and WHOA – this has to be detailed.

Newonjo is an amazing place.  We climbed up to the top level, had an AMAZING view, and the food JUST KEPT COMING.  It was so so amazing, from the soups, to the bowls of rice and roasted meats and sauces, vegetables, and midnight came, birthday – I was 44 years old.  I have to say the staff I was with wow, in such great company, it was a great birthday as were not dodging rain, we were not running and pacing ourselves to a clock, it was just easing into the 44th year of being with amazing, amazing people that inspire me every day.  I can say between the staff and the mishaps that happened, and the nervousness building inside me for the first day of CSPA, that evening was a great topper for so many things, I was truly privileged.  Seeing the night slip into my 44th birthday, and such a relaxing, delicious, and great place?  – a memorable birthday indeed.

I remember little when I hit the bed at 12:30 – but knowing this, at 44 years old my birthdays always were unusual and different and so much appreciated for the things many tend to overlook.  The details that many tend to take for granted, look quickly past without stopping, and usually fast-moving, truly matter.