The Week's Events

What an exhausting week - and it's only Tuesday???? Last week was hell on wheels. I worked late Monday and Tuesday (and by late, I mean 10pm Monday, and I mean I left at 5pm Tuesday and returned at 11pm Tuesday finally leaving at 1am). I flew out Wednesday evening to go back to NYC for my friend's wedding (yes, finally!!! after the bridal shower and bachelorette, the big day finally came). And I had a major deadline to get all of my plan information in the system by the end of the week because I would be locked out this week. The trouble was I work very closely with my analyst to get the info in, and he took 3 whole days to get it done (despite the fact that I told him the week prior that it was our #1 priority since I would be out for two days). I must have asked him about it 20 times on Tuesday and kept getting "I'm working on it." By Wednesday at 4:30pm when it still wasn't done and I had to ask my boss to do it for me in my absence, I was livid. If I hadn't been so busy with the wedding stuff over the weekend I probably would have still been livid over the weekend. When I came into work this monday I had made a mental note to discuss with him what the hold up was. That was until our team manager came to my desk and notified me that my analyst's father passed away over the weekend (and I was wondering why he wasn't at his desk when I got in - he's always in before me). Of course then I felt horrible. Apparently the death was unexpected - they had a trip planned to Mexico next month and they had just spent a weekend up at their cabin in Canada a couple months ago. And my analyst is an only child and his parents were divorced, so it sounds like he is taking care of all of the funeral arrangements. Things like that just help you put everything in perspective. So, with my analyst out indefinitely (we have no idea when he's coming back - I was told to expect it to be at least a few weeks), suffice it to say that my week has been Hell on Wheels part 2. I have a major milestone meeting on Thursday that is part of a brand new process so its a ton of work - partially because it's normally a lot of prep and partially because it's a new process so that always takes 10 times longer just to understand what on earth you're doing. Then I have to hash out my plan info so that when the system does open back up next week I know what I need to enter. And on top of that I have forecast prep (the worst time of the month) this week. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.
On a different (but not any lighter) note, the weekend was crazy. I got in Wednesday night and spent Thursday during the day at the hair store trying to figure out what type of hairpiece I was going to get so that I didn't look a hot mess in my friend's wedding. I settled for a curly ponytail piece. While I was out, I went to Revolution (this cheap trendy store in the Bronx) and found this purple dress with a ruffle bottom that I fell in love with. Yes, I bought it. Paid $35 and thought it was a great deal until I saw the exact same dress when I was out shopping on Saturday for $9.99 on clearance at another store downtown. Bogus! There was only one left though, and it was a size large, so that made me feel a little better :-). I also got a NY & Co sweater (I have no idea when Revolution started selling NY&Co product but it was $5.00 so I wasn't passing that up) and a cute little tunic top. Thursday evening I trekked myself out to Brooklyn for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, but of course I picked that moment to accidentally leave my cell phone at home. It wouldn't have been a problem if I weren't supposed to call my friend from the train station to pick me up. Yeah, a little problematic. I ended up asking the token booth clerk to point me in the right direction, and of course I had to pass all the crazies to get there (yes, I have many BK jokes - can't help it, I'm from the Bronx). I didn't get back to the Bronx until very late - my friend and her now husband drove me back home. Friday I was up early to pick up my bridesmaid dress from the cleaners (it was wrinkled from the travel so I got it pressed) and style my hair. I was back out in BK by 1:30pm to meet my friend and ride out to Long Island for the wedding. I won't get into the details of the wedding because a) I would be here all day, b) it was a long, stressful day and thinking of it will give me a headache, and c) I'm tired. Suffice it to say that in true wedding style, everything was behind schedule, there were many moments of mass chaos and complete confusion, and I had about 5 minutes to get dressed, recurl my bang and get to the wedding site. Yeah, that about sums it up. My family all came to the wedding too and we didn't leave until about midnight or so, so suffice it to say I was exhausted by the time I got home. Except Saturday morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn (ie. 7:30am - yes, that's my crack of dawn, lol) to go with my mom to take my sister to her fencing class. It was a new experience - I've never really watched anyone do fencing before. We didn't stay for the whole class - it was 3 hours long! Instead, we went shopping (of course, my suggestion). I wanted to check out the new JCPenney store in Herald Square for work, so we did that and then walked around Manhattan Mall. I got two pair of sandals from Square One for $10 (nice) - yes, I know summer is over (especially where I live) but I'll be nice and prepared for next year. After shopping, we came back and watched the last half hour or so of my sister's class. After the class ended I left them and went down to Soho to check out a couple spots. I wanted to get to Top Shop (I've been trying to get to that store the last 3 or 4 times that I've been back home, but I always have too many other things going on). It's a London based store and the one in Soho is the only store in the U.S. There was so much buzz about the opening that I was really hyped to check it out, but when I got there I was pretty disappointed. The Kate Moss collection was just average (there was a lattice top which was more air than fabric and I think it was $50 or $60 - really???) and despite walking all four floors, I never found the Christopher Kane collection, despite the fact that there were signs everywhere promoting it. The store was so crowded that I felt like I was fighting just to get a good look at the product. Let's just say it was not a pleasant experience. There were a few gems in the mix though. Overall, there was a lot of purple, gray, and black from a color standpoint, and the heavy metal, bling, and feminine ruffle trends were everywhere. That's what I took away from the 15 minutes or so that I managed to stay in the store (y'all know I'm not all that patient when it comes to crowds). While I was in Soho, I also checked out the Tokidoki store, Anna Sui (who just did a collection for us - its in stores now!), Anya Hindmarch (who also did a collection for us in the past year), Replay and G Star Raw. When I was in Replay, the sales lady came up to me and kept complimenting my jeans (I had on my Ed Hardy jeans with this design of a lady on the back pocket - I bought them years ago and I rarely see anything like them now since Ed Hardy has gone commercial with the skulls on everything). She asked where I bought them and I couldn't remember (that's how long I've had them - I think I may have bought them at the Warehouse Sale where I buy 90% of my denim). G Star Raw has some excellent (although pricey) denim fabrics. I only buy stuff from their outlet though - they have one up at Woodbury Commons. Oh yeah, and I found a chocolate shop in Soho called Vosges Chocolate. Of course I couldn't just walk on by. I went in and sampled some of their chocolates....oh man, talk about heavenly. I bought a bar which has almonds, hazelnuts and milk chocolate. It tastes so good. I also bought their Costa Rican cookie - I highly recommend both. After shopping downtown I met up with my mom and sister and my church (they were at a rehearsal for Family and Friends day which was the next day - my sister played the piano too, I'm so sad that I missed it). I tried to go visit my grandma after church but there was a Yankee game going on and my mom couldn't find a park so I just went upstairs for a few minutes to say hi then went back home. I was in the rest of Saturday and flew back here Sunday morning. I would have liked to stay until Sunday night but my flight was paid for with frequent flier miles and there were no free flights available after 8am Sunday.
Towards the end of this week things should get a little better. It occurred to me today that there is a lot of fun stuff going on in this city, it's just a matter of knowing the right people (or being on the right mailing lists) to find out about them. Today, I had to turn down two events that I was interested in going to because I already committed to attending another event with my friend on Saturday night. This week is Restaurant Week here, so I arranged a dinner Thursday night with my favorite ladies here to take advantage. And guess where we're going??? My favorite place. Really. Are you still trying to figure it out??? THE MELTING POT!!!! Yes, three fondue courses (cheese, entree and dessert) for $30. Sounds good to me. And prior to dinner, Erin and I are going to a wine tasting (it was free and sounded like fun - they're supposed to have over 45 different wines to sample). Friday night I have a chapter meeting...yes, it's that time of the year again, back to sorority business. And I missed the last one because I was in NYC for my friend's bachelorette party. Saturday night, I'm going with Erin to a club party (yeah, seriously - I haven't 't really been to one of those in ages). The flier looked "interesting" - it was for the "discerning party-goer who is looking for something a bit different" (well those weren't the exact words but it was something like that). We were both thinking "what on earth kind of party is this???" But of course we're curious enough to go. They mentioned food and dancing, so it sounded pretty safe. After all that, suffice it to say that Sunday will be a day of rest. Anyway, I need to go find something to eat. Until later...