whatshouldwecallme:

If I’m sober:

If I’m not:

I’ve been at Bro J’s for about 5 months now and I’m really starting to get to know some of the regulars.  By choice and force… I mean, it’s pretty much in my job description.  When you’re held captive behind a bar, it’s inevitable that you’re going to have some solid conversation time with the people sitting on the other side of that bar.  And you can only imagine the words said between a group of grown, mostly single, men.  I may not be the SOLE reason they stroll into Bro J’s (yet) but without fail, I am graced by their presence for the majority of my shifts. 

These men honestly do want to go to a place where everyone knows their name, have a few (too many) drinks, watch some sports, and give each other shit.

These crazy cats are a hand full sometimes, but they really do listen to you and even care about you.  They always ask me how I’m doing.  How Nebraska was, how dance is going, how my roommates are, what I did over the weekend.  Hell, I even walked away with a ham one time! Yes, an 8lb cured, smoked Easter ham.  Just when you think the conversation you had with that customer will be forgotten immediately upon walking out the door, you’re wrong.  Because even though I had one conversation with Bill about the meat markets in New York, I still some how walked away with the main course to my Easter feast. First ham. Thanks Bill!

The regulars are always fully invested what ever you talked about. It MIGHT BE the one true coversation they have that day.  Some are divorced, some widowed, and some single.  Whatever their story, they come to Brother Jimmy’s to feel welcome and accepted.  And even though these people aren’t necessarily the folk I would go out on a Friday night with, I still enjoy and get a kick out of their wacky stories and lives.  I mean, somebody has to keep me entertained during my slow happy hour!

I’ll introduce you to everyone in my next post.

Until then,
CHEERS :)
Mar    

Had a much needed trip back to the heartland this past week.  It kind of felt like I was gone for forever too.  Probably because I did absolutely nothing while I was there.  It was funny…

My mom: “What’s the first thing you want to do when you get back?!”
Me: “Ughhh… I don’t really know?”

I mean, it’s great being home, but it’s not like rolling into New York and being like, “I want to go to Times Square, Central Park, and Lady Liberty!”  No no, when I go home, I really just want to sit.  And be.  And I did.  Diane took off work THE ENTIRE TIME I was home.  I’m sure she was also taking full advantage of an opportunity to take off of work too.  We did some serious bonding time.  Dinners, movies, grocery shopping, gym, errands, you name it!

Then it was off to Lincoln for the weekend for some graduation festivities!  Which was the real reason I came back in the first place.  (Congrats to my little grad Braden and all of the other husker grads!) A little overwhelming seeing everyone.  It was like catch up time overload!  The sentence, “Yess, I love New York, it’s really great!” was on repeat all weekend.  I wish I could have had a little more quality time catching up with everyone.  Buut, taking numerous rumpy and lloyd shots was a great alternative.  I did my best to say hello to everyone that I could though.  Except for I missed my old bosses S&G and I couldn’t be more sad! They’re like ghosts, I swear they are so sneaky…

Not sure when I’ll be back next but excited for some upcoming visitors… Jess, Jenna, Braden. Hollaaa.

Back in NYC now, Jack shots and all.  It’s starting to feel so right though.

Until next time,
All my NE love,
MAR

I’ve already mentioned a little bit about my new Super, Rob.  But I want you to get to know him a little more.

He hates me… Already.  I told him we were going to move our stuff in at noon on Sunday but showed up at 10am without letting him know that we were there.  Sorry for the inconvienence on your “day off”, Rob.  All he had to do for us was put up drapes in the elevator mind you.  So you can imagine when I asked if we could move some more furniture in on a different time, he was not so willing.  Apparently I, “burned bridges with him”.  Good god, what a great start.

At a later time, I called Rob at 6pm on a Tuesday.  We needed a step stool so we could tape and paint our kitchen.  But before I could even finish my request, he stops me mid-sentence with, “No no, I can’t do anything for you.  My hours are from 9-4.  Only for emergencies.”  ….. Uhhh….. You are our SUPER! You are supposed to be there for your tenants.  I could care less if you have been at this job for the past 10 years, ROB.  All I need is a stool.  Which requires ZERO work from you. 

Paired with various awkward run-in, Rob and I are just not destined to get along.  It’s going to be a looong year with that cat. 

I did, however, get a sweet giggle at this gem that Rob left in the elevator one day. Looks like hooked on phonics did not work for Rob…

Haha

Tenant Love,
Mar

So naturally we chose the day after St. Patricks Day as the day we wanted to move our entire apartment. Not only were KT’s parents there to see me in my finest hour, but I was pretty much useless all day. 

Moving to and from an apartment in New York is not easy or fun.  It might be if you are willing to fork over a couple hundred dollars for some professional movers to do it for you.  However, like most people in New York, we were trying to save a couple of pennies and use our resources.  The kind man, Dave, who we stayed with in Westchester, drove down to the city with his truck and KT was nice enough to offer up time with her family, who was visiting, so they could help us move our things.  It was pretty much a great situation and it saved us hundreds of dollars!

We were lucky to have moved in on Sunday because our new Super, Rob, informed us that we were only allowed to move in on weekdays…

“Umm… but why Rob?”  ”Because weekends are MY days awff! (in is Long Island accent).”  What aSuperSuper we have.

BUT because I had a bit of an emotional day the first time I met him (all thanks to Eugine), he felt bad and let us move in on a weekend!  Hooray!

Our next couple of attempts to move furniture in and out of the apartment were not so easy.  But after all was said and done, we pretty much have everything IN here.  It’s just pretty much, scattered all over our apartment.

I think it’s going to look pretty cool after we are all done with it!  We plan to create a new room (my room), paint the kitchen, put up to home decor and some other little things!  So here is what it looks like BEFORE:

First Floor- Living Room/ My room.  It will make more sense when it’s all done

The lofted bedroom

First Floor- Different angle and our kitchen!

It’s going to be a bit of a project, but thanks to Pintrest, I have been allll over this decorating thing.  Hopefully I’ll have the AFTER photos sooner rather than later.

Until then…

All of my Love,

Mar

So I moved to a new place. Definitely bittersweet.  Never thought I would say that about the little box I called home.  KT and I’s apartment on 90th and 2nd was our first place in NYC though! It was awkward, small, and a little filthy at times but we made it a home. 

Change is a good thing though and we have moved onto bigger and better things! But it wasn’t easy getting here.  It alll started with a 2 bedroom craigslist post….

I met a real estate agent name Euvgeni who prefrerred to be called Eugine.  Ha OK.  After he showed us a couple places, we decided to kind of stick with him.  He seemed like a stand up guy. Wrong.  EUGINE took us through so many twists, turns, ups, downs, and lies I can’t even keep track.  I won’t bore you with all of the details, but lets just say that I think I know what hell is like. And Eugine is the ruler.  To think, we even paid that yuppie makes me want to barf.  Hopefully Eugine with get a kick out of the fact that he will be featured on Yelp now.  With this many rating stars              . 

I learned a lot about my experiences with him though and never again will I ever make the mistakes I made again.

Enough about him though. What’s done is done and I love my new pad.  And with the addition of new roomie, Miss Courtney Nuss, HOLLAA, it makes it that much better.  Operation: NEBRASKA TAKES OVER MANHATTAN continues. I’ll tell you more about the move in my next post, but here is a preview of the view from the roof top of our new place:

                    

Thanks for the new pad, but I still hate you Eugine.

Always,
Mary

It has been quite some time since I last posted.  So, I’m not going to make this post about EVERYTHING since then.  So I’ll just start with my hot mess of a St. Patty’s Day. 

I bartended yesterday at good ol’ Bro J’s and it was absolute madness.  I have never in my life served a crowd of that volume and that drunk before.  St. Patty’s Day in New York is a city wide event.  Irish, German, Japanese, Greek, it didn’t matter.  I think everyone and their kids was inebriated yesterday.  It’s amazing how one holiday is capable of gathering a bunch of people together, encouraging them to wear green (which I decided looks pretty good on just about everyone), and then drink beer, Jameson, and Irish car bombs all day.  By 4pm we were completely out of Guinness and I was dishing out cases of beer to people.  The person who invented the festive green BL cans was a straight idiot however. I don’t know how they ever thought it would be easy popping those caps off when serving crowds of people. 

I didn’t quite feel on my ’A’ game yesterday, but tried my best to keep a smile on and move fast.  Definitely glad I was working with some major vets who probably picked up much of my slack.  I may not be the quickest bartender, but I still had a damn good time. And learning more and more each time I work.

One of the best things about bartending, especially on days like yesterday, has to be that we get to have just as much, if not more, fun than everyone who is there drinking.  We get the pleasure of having some shots, good conversation, and a spacious bar to do it in.  Not a pushy, drunk crowd.   

After a solid 9 hours of work, I left from behind the bar.  My shoes and socks were soaked and my hair smelled and felt like I had mopped the bar down with it.  So the other bartender, waitresses, and I decided it was time for a drink.  Not that we hadn’t been doing that all day, but for some reason the effects of the alcohol didn’t quite hit me until I sat down for the first time after being on my feet for 9 hours.  After one too many celebratory cocktails, I’m embarrassed to say that my night started to get a little blurry. Needless to say, it didn’ end well.

But I survived. I’m happy to say I made it through my first St. Patty’s Day in New York.  I still hate Irish Car Bombs though.

Until next time,
MAR

Well, 5 to 2. My schedule is flip-flopped with most of my friends and it definitely has it’s ups and downs.

I’ve been busy busy since I’ve been back from my little Christmas break in NE.  Well, busy for only having a bar job ha.  But it DOES take a lot out of you!  When I was slingin drinks at the DT I would usually mozy on in at 10pm, have a fun little chat session with my fellow co-workers, slowly count my drawer, then wait for it to get busy. I would work hard for a couple hours, dance behind the bar with Jess and Courtney, make countless shots for all of our friends and gleefully clean up and go home. Mayyybe head on over to after hours. It was awesome.

It’s quite a bit more exhausting here.  I leave for TJ’s at 4:25 so I can get there at exactly 5pm.  There is already a small happy hour crowd when I get there and I immediately start workin the tables.  Each day is different in terms of crowd volume, but for the most part, I’m consistently busy.  The personalities are all variant too!  We get everything from your cheap NYUer to local neighborhood goers, to small business groups and foreign families and friends who stumbled upon the corner bar.  I wish I could say that I’m a kickass server who makes my customers fall in love with me, but for those of you who have ever served a day in your life, you know it’s not easy.  You are going to have those customers where, no matter how attentive, kind, and flexible you are, they just suck.  By the time the kitchten closes at 12am, it is time to start winding down my tables or decide if I want to work a little harder, stay and cocktail, and make $15 more dollars.  By the time I close everyone out, head out, walk to the train, and arrive home, it’s usually around 1-2am. Woof. But I’m not necessarily complaining…

One thing I can say about a serving/bartending job is that it makes for some interesting encounters and stories.  I feel fortunate to work in an environment where I get to meet new people, with a different background and story, every time I go to work.  Regardless of any shitty tip I may get or a-hole person who complains about their food or drink, it all makes for an interesting experience.  I could be working a 9-5 (or 6 or 7), go home exhausted every night, maybe find time to work out, eat a quick meal, go to bed, get up, and do it all over again. While this stability and organization is a completely satisfying notion for me, it just not an option right now!

I don’t want to serve the rest of my life, but I’m kind of diggin’ it right now. I just hope the economy doesn’t go to complete shit because that means no money for me.  So have a drink, eat good food, and don’t for get to tip :)

Cheers!

Mary

Just to clarify right away, this blog is not about sex. 

If there is anything I learned from my Women in Pop Culture class (turned Ethnicity of Women in History and How They Impacted Society) I learned that the show Sex and the City is a completely unrealistic and a fantasy.  Okay, I know it’s a fictional show, but we ALL thought that Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda seriously went to lunch/brunch/out for Cosmos/shopping like that was their actual jobs. False.  Unless they were shitting $20’s, there is no way they could have afforded any of these things. But, this is all besides the point.  There is one thing that I did get out of the harsh lesson… The bond these women had was irreplaceable. 

Since I promised myself I would be more thankful, I would like to express my next Thankful Thought: Friendship.  I would, without a doubt, be lost without friends here in the city.  I think moving to a new place, meeting new people, and creating new bonds is wonderful.  However… there is something great about knowing there are people in your life who you can always make dinner plans with, who create false alter-egos to chase away (or not) creepy guys, who spend Sunday afternoons with you drinking unlimated mimosas and bloody marys, or can just be your source of a piece of home.  We have this little Nebraska (and a little Texas) bond going on here in NYC and I kind of like it.  I feel so blessed and fortunate to have such wonderful friends here with me in what could be a very overwhelming and lonesome city.  Though not exclusive, we are always thinking of ways to make new friends… because we all decided we need to all be in the Hamptons this summer with our new friends :)

And I cannot wait for our little Nebraska club to grow when Miss Nuss makes it out here.  And visitors are alwayss welcome. Nebraska is taking over Manhattan.

Best,
Mary