new york, new york

a week ago, i returned from an exciting albeit exhausting vacation in the fabulous city of new york. i've been told by enumerable friends and acquaintances on countless occasions that i would love new york, that they could "totally see me" in new york, so on and so forth. i attribute generalizations like these to my penchant for multi-colored wackadoodle fashions and my aversion to all things that resemble anything that could be under any circumstances dubbed "outdoorsy". my expectations were high and i'm happy to report that i wasn't disappointed.


as i mentioned earlier, this vacation was anything but relaxing. i'm fairly confident i walked the entire breadth and length of the island of manhattan at least three or four times over during my nine-day stay. although i'm usually not a fan of excessive physical exertion, there was so much to see and it's a beautiful city to explore on foot. perhaps the greatest advantage of my pedestrianism was the opportunity to indulge my celebrity-obsessed depravity and put my IMDB-like robot brain to good use. NYC is chocked full of celebutantes and i've got a keen eye for even the most obscure specimen. i only had one day sans celebrity sighting so for my fellow perezzians and people-watchers, i present to you my definitive NYC celebrity sighting list [as maintained via my handy centro memo function]. hold on to your britches, young lads and ladies, there are some good ones!


DAY ONE:
- Ben Harper - the Shake Shack in Union Square Park. He was wearing a weird vinyl plaid coat and some pretty fly sneakers.

DAY TWO:
- Wilson Cruz AKA Ricky of My So Called Life - streets of the West Villiage. I don't think I can explain how excited I was about this one. I was hoping that someone could magically cue "What is Love" so that I could witness first-hand the glorious dance moves he demonstrated at World Happiness dance. I know you probably don't know what I'm talking about and I've thus disengaged 99% of my already meager blog readership [not your fault, I know I'm an inconsistent blogger] but trust me when I say, he is AMAZING [skip to the 5 min mark for the fabulosity].
- Courtney Cox & David Arquette - the Spotted Pig in the West Villiage. As my friend and I were making our exit, much to my shock and delight, none other than Monica Geller Bing was making her grand entrance! In my excitement, I accidentally kicked her husband in the shoe on my way out but I think he was too busy looking after his wife to notice or care. I'm happy to report that she's absolutely gorgeous in person not nearly as overly-botoxed as she appears as of late.

DAY THREE:
- no sightings. :(

DAY FOUR:
- Elijah Wood - streets of Soho. When I first spotted this diminutive hottie, I thought I was just checking out one of NYC's many adorably nerdy offerings. It took just a split second to realize that the mini-hunk I was beholding was none other than Frodo himself [although he'll always be North to me].
- Jesse L. Martin of Law & Order Fame - streets of Soho. This is probably one of those sightings that only a weirdo like me would spot but between my fellow Law & Order obsessed companion and myself, we spotted this tall drink o' water instantaneously. Admittedly, it took a lil IMDBing to figure out was his name was but his face was unmistakable.
- John Mayer - streets of Soho. He was zipping across the street late that night and again, it didn't take much to recognize his face. Thankfully, he wasn't making this face at the time.

DAY FIVE:
- James Franco - in front of NYU. It's one thing to be good-looking. Anyone can do that. But to be SMART too??? Ugh. Be still my nerdy heart! James Franco is currently pursuing a master's at NYU [i know this because of my aforementioned perez addiction] and as evidenced by the backpack he was wearing the time, he was actually GOING to class! Needless to say, I was beyond impressed.

DAY SIX:
- Al Roker - streets of Soho. I thought about asking him to wish my grandma a happy 97th birthday but besides the fact that my grandma is nowhere near 97, he was on his cell phone at the time.

DAY SEVEN:
- Michael Phelps' mom and (presumably) his sisters- near Time Square. Many friends have disputed Michael Phelps' mom's celebrity status but I would argue that since the camera was constantly cutting to his mom's reactions during his ubiquitous Olympic coverage this summer, she's a celebrity by association.

DAY EIGHT:
- Seth Meyers and a very preggers Amy Poehler - West Villiage. We spotted these two SNLers enjoying Sunday brunch and being generally very sweet and adorable. While they seemed to be quite friendly co-workers, the bun-in-the-oven actually belongs to none other than Gob of Arrested Development, Amy's Blades of Glory co-star.

DAY NINE:
- Maura Tierny - Pastis. I know that most of you just asked "Who the +bleep+ is Maura Tierny?" She's most recently known for her role on the post-Clooney seasons of ER but to me, she'll always be that girl from News Radio [one of the many 90's sitcoms that I LOVED].


there were undoubtedly celebrity sightings that even my keen eye missed but i think i did pretty good for my short stay. i also want to give honorable mention to a few other sightings that may or may not have been actual sightings:
- Jorge Garcia or Hurley, to you Lost fans. I asked my companions to confirm this sighting but we all concluded that it may or may not have been a random beardy big dude with curly hair and not necessarily Hurley himself.
- Regina Spektor. I don't quite know her face well enough to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was her but after reviewing my google image results, I'm moderately confident that it was indeed her.
- Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter Fame. This one was definitely him and um-- ALL of him but I don't know that I can count it as a sighting since I did pay to see him. I caught his Broadway performance of the scandalicious Equus. I'm happy to report that despite the controversial premise of the play and the highly-publicized nudity, it was actually a exquisitely written and beautifully acted performance. I felt a little pervy enjoying it as much as I did but whatchugondo. I'm flesh and blood, damn it.


all in all, it was a WONDERFUL trip. i look forward to future visits and although i don't anticipate leaving seattle any time soon, i'm not discounting the possibility of NYC residence some day. stay tuned, kiddos.