Mary C Wolff.

This past month I have fallen in love with the show Pan Am.  Stewardess’ in the 1950’s and 60’s on the Pan American Airline were like the supermodels of air. And I envy their ability to travel and see the world!  I know that the shows portrayal of the beautiful stewardess’ lives were not as glamorous as that but I love the time period and it’s especially cool when they throw bits of history in the mix.  Totally worth your time if you’re a history and vintage buff.

abc.go.com/shows/pan-am

Katie and I are no longer drifters in NYC.  Thank god.  Dragging multiple 40lb+ suitcases through the city is hell.  We are finally in our small studio apartment and slowly pulling it together.  

Upon arrival our apartment was equipped with on lofted bed (Katies), a futon, mini fridge, a doll size stove and oven, and one bathroom.  So Katie and I dedicated the majority of this past week to furniture hunting.  We are probably one of craigslists’ biggest fans at the moment.  Finding furniture is the easy part.  But shipping it and putting it together is a whole new ballpark of fun.  So far this week we…

1. Found a $30 microwave on craigslist (yes we didn’t even have one of these) and scored a wooden shelved cart for it to sit on for a bargain price of $40. *BUY OF THE WEEK*

2. A $5 toaster off craigslist

3. A bed set for me off craigslist- Full mattress, box springs, and frame for $200.  But don’t forget the $100 for a moving company to move it.

4. Ikea lamp for $8 and candle for $2.  So now our apartment doesn’t look and smell like a dungeon anymore. Oh and if you ever get a chance to go to an Ikea. Do it.  However, I think Nebraska Furniture Mart would give them a run for their money.

5. One loaf of bread, peanut butter, vanilla wafers, goldfish, yogurt, carrots, bananas, tomatoes and a hand full of packaged silverware which I grabbed from the to-go food section at the store.

I would post pictures of the apartment but there would be nothing to see except for a sad bunch of suitcases on the floor and our other 2 pieces of furniture. 

Momma Heckman and Momma Wolff are sending boxes of apartment wares our way so we won’t be feeling like we’re living in a hostel anymore. Yay!

Cold front coming in…
Stay warm and grounded all :)

Always,

Mar 

This past Sunday we went to the NY Giants football game and it was… definitely an unexpected, new experience…

Thanks to our fellow Husker turned NYCer, Prince, hooked us up. A hungover EG, kalou, Hayley, Connor, & I rolled up to Met Life Stadium in a limo-bus.  We proceeded into the Club seats entrance and met Prince who gave us 3 club seats, 23rd row-35 yard line, and 2 suite passes.  Kalou and I went up to the suite while the other 3 went to the amazing club seats. 

After being escorted to the suite I, immediately spot the trays of sushi & shrimp, hot pans with gourmet dogs & roasted turkey and veggies, club sandwiches and desserts (yes I did a full scan).  I used my self-control as long as I could.  Prince first introduced us to a middle aged man who he called “his boss”… THE boss.  It was Steve Tisch, co-owner of the NY Giants and 2008 Lombardi trophy recipient, AND producer of Forrest Gump, American History X, 7 Pounds, The Taking of Pelham 123, and The Pursuit of Happiness.  Holy Shit.  After we started breathing again, Katie and I took our seat in the outside balcony of the suite on the 50 yard line.  I have NEVER felt more badass & out of place in my entire life.  We played it cool though and cheered for the Giants. Obviously. EG, Hayley and Connor eventually met us up in the suite and we watched the remainder of the game and quietly gossiped about all of the rich & famous in our presence: David Frankel (producer & director), restaurant owners, and other various movie producers and directors.  We clearly did not belong.  But we enjoyed every minute of it.  The unfortunate game ended and everyone disappeared.  We then left the suite and stepped into a completely opposite lifestyle as we took the New Jersey train home…

Definitely a surreal experience.  And needless to say, that is probably the last time I will casually be chatting it up with a 3.9 billionaire.

Love,
Your less than average NYCer
Mar

I’ve been in NYC now for 2 weeks but it really feels like a month.  Even when I have nothing to do, I feel like I’m always on the go.  But it’s actually one of the things I enjoy about it too.  There is SO much to do and see here.  It’s unbelievable.  And it’s been a GREAT last week …

Last Thursday I had 2 interviews for some bartending positions.  The first one was at a more popular bar which included a chain of bars called the Pourhouse.  The guy who interviewed me was intense and slightly intimidating especially with his first question, “If you could rate yourself as a bartender from 1-10 what would you give yourself?”  Umm trick question? Well according to him all of his bartenders were 9’s,10’s & 11’s.  I gave myself a safe 7.  He said he would let me know by tonight. 

The 2^nd interview was immediately after at 5:30 and the guy was completely opposite.  He was fidgety, slightly awkward but totally chill.  I talked myself up, smiled big, and tried to convince him confidently that I was great.  So he said come back in at 7 and he’d give me a shot (at bartending and in my mouth actually haha).  Well, I passed the bar exam, hahaaa, and here I am employed at a bar in the lower east side called Thunder Jackson’s!  It’s a suuper chill bar that serves bar food dishes and your average bar drinks.  My first day was on Saturday during the day and I surprisingly made great money.  It was a long shift from 11-7 though and I was exhausted afterwards.  But the one thing that made it better was the fact that I had a DELICIOUS slice of Artichoke pizza waiting for me.   OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS, HEAVEN.

The nightlife here is quite different than dear ol’ Lincoln.  You can definitely have your favorite bars but there is just no way I could go to the same one every weekend.  There’s almost too many places to go out here.  And the craziest part for me… We didn’t leave EG’s apartment until 1:30am each night!  I was crazy exhausted the days after and will be for a couple days still.  Worth iiit. Disclaimer: While going out here is truly awesome, reality sometimes sets in.  EG was mugged on Friday and its quite frightening.  Check out EG’s blog for the full story… http://eelizabethg.tumblr.com

Last night EG and kalouheck and I took advantage of BYOB and brought our own wine to a tiny restaurant on 9^th ave.  It was quite lovely.

I didn’t get to cover my Sunday afternoon activities but that requires a whole blog in itself.  It’s going to be a good one.

Stay Tuned.

Love,

Mar

Last night Katie and I took the Metro North into the city and for the next week we will be staying with old time roomie and best frand Erin Grant, new fav Hayley Jurgensen and sweetheart Sam Rendon.  Their place is MUCH nicer than our will be and so homey.  LOVE it here and so glad their having me :)

Today I had my first interview for a bartending postition at the Hi-Life Restaurant & Bar. It had a super cute 1940’s diner feel with deep mahogany wood finish. Wellll I didn’t get it. But the drink menu was a mainly a bunch of mixed cocktails from Cosmos to “Manhattans”, Mai Tai’s, Mango Bellini’s or Mojitos.  All of which I would laughed at if anyone ordered those at the Downtown. Earl, my interviewer, was truthful when he said I wasn’t qualified for the position.  I wouldn’t hire me either.  He went on to offer me a waitress or hostess position, but he was understanding when he learned that I need to make a litttle bit more money. So I can survive.  After that, I went bar hopping, but nooot for drinks unfortunately.  I cruised 2nd Ave. to see if any bars were hiring/needed help/leaving my resume just for the hell of it. I intended on doing much of the same thing tomorrow.

BUT I do have another interview tomorrow.  Its called Thunder Jackson’s and when I went to their website their was a girl with a tight white blouse on and another pic with a girl breathing fire from a liquor bottle.  Hey, I guess I’m up for learning new things while I’m here. Should be an interesting visit.

Until then, Shalom.  Because its still Rosh Hashanah and it’s a pretty big deal here.

Love, Mar

I experienced a different sort of game yesterday…

The Huskers played last night against Wisconsin for the college gameday of the week and it was a BIG DEAL.  I love it here in New York so far but I was SO jealous of everyone who went to Madison.  I was definitely living vicariously through everyone from reading their exciting tweets. 

Even though I was a little down from the husker blues, the one thing I was excited for was that we were going the husker bar in Midtown NYC to watch the game!  It’s called The Irish Rogue and had a huge husker flag on the outside of the bar. 

We thought it would be packed! So we got there at 2.  We were the 2nd group there.  SO we bargated/railgate/nomed until the game.  It was our own form of tailgating!  Once more people started showing up like 4 hours later it started to feel like a little slice of home.  Red (and lots of black) was everywhere!  Most of the husker NYCers showed up and it was spectacular.

Three 100oz towers of beer, baskets of chips and salsa, and one heartbreaking loss later we decided to leave and sprint from the bar to Grand Central to catch the 12:06 train home.

Oh yeah and while I was running, I hit someone with my umbrella, tripped on the sidewalk, fell to the ground, while I was surrounded by a tunnel of people yelling, “OOHHHH”. Gameday has not changed.

I miss this…

GBR in NYC

Cheers