Last week was my craziest in New York yet. My good friend Paul from Denver came to visit, I worked full-time at Nick Jr., and was still freelancing. Basically, my sleep depravation will take a few weeks to recoup but I had a grand time.
I was absolutely thrilled to get to work at Nick Jr. this week for a temporary freelance gig. Pictured above is the street from their office in Time Square, not nearly as crowded as it usually is because it was early in the morning. I worked in their creative, off-air print division creating new assets for an upcoming show. It was so fun! The show is just in the beginning stages and so it was really working on creating the the feel and potential style-guide assets. I got to make patterns, architectural sketches, flowers, and flourishes…It was such a great experience and super creative exercise for me.
Here’s what else I did (ate) this week:
- Elysia, the president of the AIGA Colorado chapter, was in town setting up for an exhibition so I met up with her to have drinks at The Rye House and delicious late night unhealthy food from Central Bar (think mac & cheese and fish & chips). The bartender at Central was so funny.
- Sushi at Go Wasabi in Astoria
- Il Caffe Latte in Harlem. Scrumptious breakfast which included at green tea latte–the best morning drink I can imagine. Super cute atmosphere as well.
- Saigon 48 in Time Square for lunch. My food was ok, Paul’s was delicious.
- I insisted in getting a knish at a street vendor and it was absolutely disgusting. They’re usually quite good, Paul.
- Irish Rover in Astoria for drinks. I had to take Paul because there’s one in Denver he always goes to. We came in dripping wet from the rain. The bartender was super friendly and it had a great low-key/local atmosphere.
- Tandem restaurant/bar in Brooklyn. One of Paul’s friends works here so we made the treck down after work. Lovely little place that I would definitely recommend! Delicious food. We eventually met up with Paul’s friend Vaughn here. He was such an eccentric fellow, an artist right out of a Hunter S Thompson book (check out his tumblr or instagram).
- Bossa Nova Civic Club for more drinks and talking with Vaughn. It was charming to hear them reminisce, they’ve been friend since elementary school. Vaughn runs a monthly party at this night club.
- Shorty’s for philly cheese steaks. It was really good. And it’s not just because I haven’t eaten meat in a while.
- I met up with another one of Paul’s groups for dinner in Manhattan because it was one of their’s birthday and two other friends flew in from San Diego. After dinner at their charming house we walked to the Waterfront Ale House for drinks. One of the servers was either drunk or crazy and kept yelling at us. We all decided not to come again.
- Pug Uglies. A much better, roomier bar nearby. And they had a shuffleboard.
- Queen’s Comfort in Astoria for brunch with Katie, Shanna, and Paul. Delicious! Definitely should make a stop here again.
- Radegast Hall & Biergarten awesome, gigantic beer garden in Williamsburg off the Bedford stop. The hip in this area was harder than my grandma’s replacement, but worth it.
- Luzzo’s for pizza in the Lower East Side. D-e-l-c-i-o-u-s.
- Vazac’s Horseshoe bar. We spent a good while here playing arcade games.
- Opal Bar. Definitely not our usual vibe…we came because we new one of the bar tenders. Had an interesting dance party.
- Afterwards Paul & I went to the nearby Plaza Diner for the much-coveted cheap diner food. I love breakfast foods!! Their slogan should be “come here because we’re open!”
This morning I shuffled Paul out the door after some bagels and slept.
Back to work though!