So New Year's Eve in Times Square was E.P.I.C. About the only thing missing was alcohol, but honestly, it was so fantastic that I didn't miss it. That being said, my friend EH and I did a good job of making up for a sober NYE by drinking no less than 7 mimosas at brunch on January 1, followed by bloody marys and a long island iced tea at a bar after. Hey. The mimosas were free because our waiter fell on us, knocked our table over, and spilled ketchup on my jacket. What were we supposed to do?
Anyway, who doesn't love a good drunk Niki story? That's what I thought. So I present to you a collection of sent text messages from yesterday afternoon/evening. It all began really with the one I sent to Twitter at 2:46pm: I am fucking wasted! I have to get on bus in 1 hour! Holla! 2011 is the best year EVER!
To Twitter: Whoops. 2 hours. Yes! More time to drink!
To JL: I love being drunk so e cking much! Woot!
To JH: I'm on the bus with Chris. Midnight. (note: JH was picking me up at the bus station; I had called him an hour or two before asking if he could pick me up the next morning because I wanted to change my bus ticket to 1030pm instead of 5pm. No dice.)
To EH: Yes! I'm with chris. The coolest seventeen yr old ever! Too young? ;)
To JH (in response to "Who is Chris?"): Idk but he's my new bff. Will call. Have to turn phone off bc battery dying.
To EH: Lol. I woke up at a gas station with chris in the seat across the aisle. Fuck I have to pee. You drunker yet? I can't believe antonio and the bathroom?! WTF?!
To EH: PS I drunk dialed XX and he answered. Clearly he is in love with me.
To EH: I think I'm hungover, too. I need pretzels! Where is timo when you need him?
To JW: It was legendary! I am drunk on the bus! I love you! Next year we're going! It's the best nye ever!
To EH: I'm about to pee in the bus bathroom. Wish me luck! I would cut a bitch for some dominos.
To LR: L. I got so drunk in the daytime! You would've been proud. Just getting to bus station. Ugh. Gotta drive home soon. Party foul. Hope you had a good new year's!
To EH: E! WTF was that voicemail? Amazing! I am so hungover!
To EH: Just got back. Literally slept the whole way. I want to do it again! Our lives rule!
To JH: We're here. If you see pizza on the way, i'm gonna need it.
To EH: Also I think i listened to back to december no less than 112 times.
To EH & Twitter: There is a nearly full bag of cheetos laying on the sidewalk. It's taking more self control than you know not to eat them.
You're welcome. I am happy to sacrifice my dignity if it will entertain you even a tiny bit.
HAPPY 2011!! Gonna be a fantastic year!
Showing posts with label wanderlust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wanderlust. Show all posts
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Saturday, April 03, 2010
SXSW: Tacos, Beer, & Cupcakes. Oh, is there music here, too?
It's been a couple weeks since I got back from SXSW. Epic - the only word to even come close to describing it. Since I suck and forgot to pack a travel journal, my tweets from the trip will have to do. Instead of trying to write it all out narrative-like, I present to you the timeline of my tweets below. They don't do the trip justice, but it's all I've got to commemorate it. (Additional commentary follows)
No one cares, but I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve today. My insides are jumping up & down. Leave for SXSW tomorrow. I heart my life! 11:13 AM Mar 16th via web
Holy shit. This SXSW stuff is overwhelming. Will never, ever see it all. Must have strategy meeting tonight.
I give up. Scheduling SXSW is impossible. Just going to let it happen. Now I'm going to drink w/friends before leaving. Then pack. Obvs. :) 9:05 PM Mar 16th via web (Typical Niki form: I stayed up til like 1-1:30am, didn't pack until the next morning. I think I have mad-rush packing down to an artform. About 30 mins flat and I'm good to go.)
St. Pat's day, 70s and gorgeous, on my way to Austin and Federer lost last night. I love my life!
Fuck yes. Irish pub in layover airport playing rafa! (Seriously. I was beside myself with glee. Found a seat a table right near the match. Crazy dude playing a keyboard? guitar? something. Was a bustling little Irish pub. Oh, and an $8 Harp. WTF? It wasn't even green. I didn't care. It was a perfect moment. Another perfect moment: most beautiful, vibrant sunset from the airplane. It was almost a perfect color spectrum. Glorious.)
Isner looks like he's wearing Umbros circa 1991.
Goddamn. Sensory mother fuckin overload. Austin is like Athens on steroids right now. (Seriously. It was CRAY-Z. Hipsters everywhere. Bars all over the place. St. Patrick's Day made SXSW blow the fuck up. Was awesome, awesome people watching like I haven't seen since last Halloween at West Palm Beach's Moonfest.)
I heart breakfast tacos! Do not heart saddle creek and merge records doing showcases at same time at diff venues. Austin rocks.
Mini golf while drinking. Austin just keeps getting better. (For real. More places should have mini-golf where you can bring your own beer. So. Much. Fun. I got sunburned, but whatevs. Also, my terrible streak at mini-golf continues. I suck. Hard.)
Sugar Mama's cupcakes in Austin, TX. Highly recommend. My butt will be Texas-sized by the time I leave here.
Heading out sans cell phone bc don't want to lug purse. Slightly scary. Sad. Good times ahead though.
FYI: it is entirely possible to live off tacos, beer, and cupcakes. Life. Is. Good.
Free drinks at free concert. Goodbye sobriety, hello bloody mary!
(Note the time: 1:55PM, barely after the morning. I think I'd already had one at this point. Turns out only my first bloody mary was free, but 16oz Lone Stars were free. We were at the Birmingham show to see Taylor Hollingsworth, one of the Mystic Valley Band that plays with Conor. Taylor is from Birmingham, Alabama. He tried to eat lunch with me outside on the patio, but his brother tried to sit in my friend's seat while my friend was on beer run. Tried to get them a different chair, but they switched tables. :( Later on introduced myself to Taylor and got a picture which is now my phone wallpaper. Such a sweetie. Also played a good set!)
Lol. Drunk at three o'clock. Did i mention i love my life?
I love boys.
(Sometime in between the previous tweet and the next tweet I began drunk dialing almost everyone I know. At least, that's what I found out later on, the next morning, and over the next few days as people started telling me about our conversations. Yeah. NO recollection. ZERO.)
Fuck this vegetarian shit. That dog's bbq looked awesome! Sxsw is so. Much. Fun!
Omg. Bbq is delicious. (Yeah. Ya'll read that right. I ate some fucking BBQ. In my defense, a) Had been drinking since 1:30ish, b) Had not eaten, c) Could not find anything else to eat, d) Was super drunk, e) It's mother-fuckin' Texas. I had to experience the local "culture," right? Will not tell you how many times I made Shawn go buy us a sandwich to split, but uh, yeah, it was more than one. Per Tempe, I apparently called her after this and said it was "life-changing" BBQ.)
Just found out rafa and marc in dubs finals and rada in semis today. Can't watch or otherwise follow. Vamos!
I am the anti- hipster. Pink shirt, girlie t, blonde hair.
40 Watt free party rocks.Athens music is the best. Listen to Futurebirds! (Futurebirds is a really good band. Check them out. Band I saw before them was also really good. No recollection of their names, but the bloody mary I had while watching them also stellar.)
Venice is Sinking. Best band so far. Check them out!
Just saw bathroom graffiti that said 'miri is hotter than smoking.' @nadalnews (Was at The Broken Spoke. They have filmed part of Friday Night Lights the TV show there. Met a cowboy. Borrowed his hat for a photo. Another awesome day. Oh, and Miri is the name used by the creator of Nadal News, so that's why I was tweeting her. On another note, she lives in Austin, ergo, could've been about her :)
Thank goddess i don't live in texas. The mexican food is killing me. Must've gained ten pounds in 3 days.
(Saw She & Him this night. Was fucking cold. Didn't care. M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel were awesome, awesome. God, I love them. Buy their cd. Now. You'll thank me later.)
I'm a little too excited about the o.g. Whole foods.
At something called chicken shit bingo. Um...i love my life?
Apparently it can take this chicken up to 1hr 45mins to poop on a number and declare a winner. I'm gonna need another beer.
(Umm. . .had WAAAY more than just another beer. We did not win despite having #38 and also the line. Still tons of fun.)
Best night ever. Met a guy who could flip me while dancing. We might get married. Heh.
(If you haven't been flipped while swing dancing, you haven't lived. That's all I'll say about that. Oh, and he really did propose to me. :)
Migas tacos are my new fave food. Great ending to a great SXSW. Thanks, Austin. Definitely coming back!
Hartsfield, I got nothin but love for you but would it be too much to ask for some people movers if you have to run from north to south ...
(Dude. I had like 30mins to get from one end of the terminal to the exact opposite end. . .lugging my giant backpack. Was not fun, but I made it. Thanks plane being delayed!)
@nadalnews Just got your tweets from when I was in TX. Have ghetto phone. Was totally going to do Hey Cupcake compare but not enough time!
Brought home wicked sinus infection/cold from SXSW. Just got to work. Suffice it to say I'd rather be in Austin.
@julesdc It's already on my calendar next yr. Mark yours. We'll make it a date!
(Definitely going next year. SXSW is the best. The. Best.)
@nadalnews And yes, it was totally Peter Pan. That place alone is enough to make me want to move to Austin! Good times. Am envious of you!
(Peter Pan = mini golf place w/scary cartoon character statutes and BYOB policy. Oh, and I'm totally moving to Austin. In. Love.)
@julesdc Chose Merge, but long-ass line + needed "official" badge. Went to Saddle Creek, also needed badge. Ended up at random free fun show
@nadalnews So true-grass is always greener. My Peter Pan experience was followed by tacos & cupcake-best beginning to SXSW ever!
No one cares, but I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve today. My insides are jumping up & down. Leave for SXSW tomorrow. I heart my life! 11:13 AM Mar 16th via web
Holy shit. This SXSW stuff is overwhelming. Will never, ever see it all. Must have strategy meeting tonight.
I give up. Scheduling SXSW is impossible. Just going to let it happen. Now I'm going to drink w/friends before leaving. Then pack. Obvs. :) 9:05 PM Mar 16th via web (Typical Niki form: I stayed up til like 1-1:30am, didn't pack until the next morning. I think I have mad-rush packing down to an artform. About 30 mins flat and I'm good to go.)
St. Pat's day, 70s and gorgeous, on my way to Austin and Federer lost last night. I love my life!
Fuck yes. Irish pub in layover airport playing rafa! (Seriously. I was beside myself with glee. Found a seat a table right near the match. Crazy dude playing a keyboard? guitar? something. Was a bustling little Irish pub. Oh, and an $8 Harp. WTF? It wasn't even green. I didn't care. It was a perfect moment. Another perfect moment: most beautiful, vibrant sunset from the airplane. It was almost a perfect color spectrum. Glorious.)
Isner looks like he's wearing Umbros circa 1991.
Goddamn. Sensory mother fuckin overload. Austin is like Athens on steroids right now. (Seriously. It was CRAY-Z. Hipsters everywhere. Bars all over the place. St. Patrick's Day made SXSW blow the fuck up. Was awesome, awesome people watching like I haven't seen since last Halloween at West Palm Beach's Moonfest.)
I heart breakfast tacos! Do not heart saddle creek and merge records doing showcases at same time at diff venues. Austin rocks.
Mini golf while drinking. Austin just keeps getting better. (For real. More places should have mini-golf where you can bring your own beer. So. Much. Fun. I got sunburned, but whatevs. Also, my terrible streak at mini-golf continues. I suck. Hard.)
Sugar Mama's cupcakes in Austin, TX. Highly recommend. My butt will be Texas-sized by the time I leave here.
Heading out sans cell phone bc don't want to lug purse. Slightly scary. Sad. Good times ahead though.
FYI: it is entirely possible to live off tacos, beer, and cupcakes. Life. Is. Good.
Free drinks at free concert. Goodbye sobriety, hello bloody mary!
(Note the time: 1:55PM, barely after the morning. I think I'd already had one at this point. Turns out only my first bloody mary was free, but 16oz Lone Stars were free. We were at the Birmingham show to see Taylor Hollingsworth, one of the Mystic Valley Band that plays with Conor. Taylor is from Birmingham, Alabama. He tried to eat lunch with me outside on the patio, but his brother tried to sit in my friend's seat while my friend was on beer run. Tried to get them a different chair, but they switched tables. :( Later on introduced myself to Taylor and got a picture which is now my phone wallpaper. Such a sweetie. Also played a good set!)
Lol. Drunk at three o'clock. Did i mention i love my life?
I love boys.
(Sometime in between the previous tweet and the next tweet I began drunk dialing almost everyone I know. At least, that's what I found out later on, the next morning, and over the next few days as people started telling me about our conversations. Yeah. NO recollection. ZERO.)
Fuck this vegetarian shit. That dog's bbq looked awesome! Sxsw is so. Much. Fun!
Omg. Bbq is delicious. (Yeah. Ya'll read that right. I ate some fucking BBQ. In my defense, a) Had been drinking since 1:30ish, b) Had not eaten, c) Could not find anything else to eat, d) Was super drunk, e) It's mother-fuckin' Texas. I had to experience the local "culture," right? Will not tell you how many times I made Shawn go buy us a sandwich to split, but uh, yeah, it was more than one. Per Tempe, I apparently called her after this and said it was "life-changing" BBQ.)
Just found out rafa and marc in dubs finals and rada in semis today. Can't watch or otherwise follow. Vamos!
I am the anti- hipster. Pink shirt, girlie t, blonde hair.
40 Watt free party rocks.Athens music is the best. Listen to Futurebirds! (Futurebirds is a really good band. Check them out. Band I saw before them was also really good. No recollection of their names, but the bloody mary I had while watching them also stellar.)
Venice is Sinking. Best band so far. Check them out!
Just saw bathroom graffiti that said 'miri is hotter than smoking.' @nadalnews (Was at The Broken Spoke. They have filmed part of Friday Night Lights the TV show there. Met a cowboy. Borrowed his hat for a photo. Another awesome day. Oh, and Miri is the name used by the creator of Nadal News, so that's why I was tweeting her. On another note, she lives in Austin, ergo, could've been about her :)
Thank goddess i don't live in texas. The mexican food is killing me. Must've gained ten pounds in 3 days.
(Saw She & Him this night. Was fucking cold. Didn't care. M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel were awesome, awesome. God, I love them. Buy their cd. Now. You'll thank me later.)
I'm a little too excited about the o.g. Whole foods.
At something called chicken shit bingo. Um...i love my life?
Apparently it can take this chicken up to 1hr 45mins to poop on a number and declare a winner. I'm gonna need another beer.
(Umm. . .had WAAAY more than just another beer. We did not win despite having #38 and also the line. Still tons of fun.)
Best night ever. Met a guy who could flip me while dancing. We might get married. Heh.
(If you haven't been flipped while swing dancing, you haven't lived. That's all I'll say about that. Oh, and he really did propose to me. :)
Migas tacos are my new fave food. Great ending to a great SXSW. Thanks, Austin. Definitely coming back!
Hartsfield, I got nothin but love for you but would it be too much to ask for some people movers if you have to run from north to south ...
(Dude. I had like 30mins to get from one end of the terminal to the exact opposite end. . .lugging my giant backpack. Was not fun, but I made it. Thanks plane being delayed!)
@nadalnews Just got your tweets from when I was in TX. Have ghetto phone. Was totally going to do Hey Cupcake compare but not enough time!
Brought home wicked sinus infection/cold from SXSW. Just got to work. Suffice it to say I'd rather be in Austin.
@julesdc It's already on my calendar next yr. Mark yours. We'll make it a date!
(Definitely going next year. SXSW is the best. The. Best.)
@nadalnews And yes, it was totally Peter Pan. That place alone is enough to make me want to move to Austin! Good times. Am envious of you!
(Peter Pan = mini golf place w/scary cartoon character statutes and BYOB policy. Oh, and I'm totally moving to Austin. In. Love.)
@julesdc Chose Merge, but long-ass line + needed "official" badge. Went to Saddle Creek, also needed badge. Ended up at random free fun show
@nadalnews So true-grass is always greener. My Peter Pan experience was followed by tacos & cupcake-best beginning to SXSW ever!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Heaven.
New York City and the US Open were perfect. I had such a good time there are no words to describe the elation I felt for 4 days straight. So many stories, so many blog posts. But for now, I don't have much time. I'm winding down after cleaning my house for hours, and I need to sleep asap.
Just wanted to share my favorite photo of the Rafa from my first day. And Megs, guess what? I took this one myself. That makes it extra awesome. : )
Just wanted to share my favorite photo of the Rafa from my first day. And Megs, guess what? I took this one myself. That makes it extra awesome. : )
Sunday, April 19, 2009
I Have No Idea
I felt like I should post even though have little to no brain power and desperately need to be in bed. Boone retreat with girlfriends was excellent, and I am missing those bitches already. Today I hiked alone at Grandfather Mountain. Sure that place is sort of cheesy, but it's relatively safe and easy to find the trails; the trails themselves, kind of treacherous. I could've spent all day there, but cut it short so as not to arrive home at 2AM (am slightly responsible, boo). More on this adventure later. I leave you with Cody, one of the bears in the bear habitat.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
My Final Answer
For more than a year I have been promising myself a handsome reward of AWESOME TRAVEL ADVENTURE (ATA) to celebrate/cope with turning thirty in August. The original idea was to finally track down the gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda, something I have been dreaming about for quite some time.
After a little research it became clear that gorilla trekking was not going to be financially feasible right now, so the ATA got put on the backburner until I figured out where the hell I wanted to go that I could afford to go. As the weeks and months inch closer and closer to my birthday, and the demands of family and work pressure me to finalize days off eons in advance, I have been pondering the ATA a lot in recent days.
This morning as I dried my hair and put on my makeup I tumbled around thoughts of Costa Rica, Thailand, or even revisiting Australia. I spent a good 45 minutes looking at various flights and time tables before grabbing my co-worker and hitting the local coffee shop for a break. "I have a dilemma," I whined to co-worker, because clearly this was the most important thing on my plate for the day.
Co-worker, as I had guessed, was totally into helping me solve my crisis. He also has the affliction caused by the bite of the travel bug, so he completely understood, and dare I say, was living vicariously through my own planning. As we strolled back to the office, tea in tow, we discussed Spain-Morocco and oddly enough, Croatia (his sister had been recently, apparently it's the new "hot spot" for beaches - who knew?).
We hit the web as soon as we got back. Cheap flights from various European cities to Marrakesh and Fez. Delicious local food. Vibrant culture. It all seemed to be falling into place. One minute I was totally on the Morocco bandwagon. . .and the next minute I just. couldn't. do it.
I realized that I was psyching myself up for Morocco, that my heart wasn't really in it. I was telling myself to appreciate the consolation prize. That's all well and good, but what the hell? This is my thirtieth birthday celebration. This is a present to myself. I want it to be meaningful. I want it to be special to me. I want it to be the ultimate wish fulfillment. I want it to be gorillas.
And so we stopped. We stopped Morocco and Spain and Gibralter and Casablanca. We shifted course. For the next hour or so we researched the hell out of Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya until Co-worker needed a lunch break. Then we stopped at my house, grabbed the Lonely Planet: East Africa that's been on my book shelf over a year, and we researched more when we got back.
Uganda, as it turns out, totally kicks ass. They have white-water rafting, kayaking, the most powerful waterfall on earth, and lots of typical safari animals.
It's not going to be cheap; the permit to see the gorillas alone costs $500, with a "good" airfare ringing in at $1,000. I'll probably have to wait another year to save up the money. But it's totally going to be worth it. I'm not going to accept the consolation prize this time. 30 is a big deal. This trip is going to be, too.
After a little research it became clear that gorilla trekking was not going to be financially feasible right now, so the ATA got put on the backburner until I figured out where the hell I wanted to go that I could afford to go. As the weeks and months inch closer and closer to my birthday, and the demands of family and work pressure me to finalize days off eons in advance, I have been pondering the ATA a lot in recent days.
This morning as I dried my hair and put on my makeup I tumbled around thoughts of Costa Rica, Thailand, or even revisiting Australia. I spent a good 45 minutes looking at various flights and time tables before grabbing my co-worker and hitting the local coffee shop for a break. "I have a dilemma," I whined to co-worker, because clearly this was the most important thing on my plate for the day.
Co-worker, as I had guessed, was totally into helping me solve my crisis. He also has the affliction caused by the bite of the travel bug, so he completely understood, and dare I say, was living vicariously through my own planning. As we strolled back to the office, tea in tow, we discussed Spain-Morocco and oddly enough, Croatia (his sister had been recently, apparently it's the new "hot spot" for beaches - who knew?).
We hit the web as soon as we got back. Cheap flights from various European cities to Marrakesh and Fez. Delicious local food. Vibrant culture. It all seemed to be falling into place. One minute I was totally on the Morocco bandwagon. . .and the next minute I just. couldn't. do it.
I realized that I was psyching myself up for Morocco, that my heart wasn't really in it. I was telling myself to appreciate the consolation prize. That's all well and good, but what the hell? This is my thirtieth birthday celebration. This is a present to myself. I want it to be meaningful. I want it to be special to me. I want it to be the ultimate wish fulfillment. I want it to be gorillas.
And so we stopped. We stopped Morocco and Spain and Gibralter and Casablanca. We shifted course. For the next hour or so we researched the hell out of Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya until Co-worker needed a lunch break. Then we stopped at my house, grabbed the Lonely Planet: East Africa that's been on my book shelf over a year, and we researched more when we got back.
Uganda, as it turns out, totally kicks ass. They have white-water rafting, kayaking, the most powerful waterfall on earth, and lots of typical safari animals.
It's not going to be cheap; the permit to see the gorillas alone costs $500, with a "good" airfare ringing in at $1,000. I'll probably have to wait another year to save up the money. But it's totally going to be worth it. I'm not going to accept the consolation prize this time. 30 is a big deal. This trip is going to be, too.
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