Sleepless Eyes

So here we are, it’s my last night in the city, I’ve just toured around central park after dark (don’t worry mom, I had a body guard), strolled through grand central station, basically galavanting in the streets - you would think my legs would have been Jell-O by the this point, but I was determined to finish the trip with a bang. So, I took some time to freshen up, change out of the workout clothes I’d been wearing all day*, and hit the town in search of more jazz. As it turned out, Thursday was not the best night for live jazz unless I had money to spend or the gumption to head to Brooklyn. Neither of which were sounding very appealing at 11pm on my last night in town. So back to Fat Cat we went! Jazz is so much more enjoyable when it’s shared. The music was perfection, the cover and drinks were cheap, the seating was comfortable and the company was second to none. It was the most perfect way to end an educational, inspirational, and eye opening visit to the city that never sleeps. 

*Look, my vans were still soaked from the downpour, and I wasn’t about to spend the day walking about in heels. My only option was the sneakers I’d brought with the intention of running in central park. That didn't happen, but the shoes came in handy. When it comes to fashion, I commit, so with the runners came the lululemon getup. You’re just lucky I wasn’t wearing UGGs.

Beauty on Broadway

Eventually, I decided it was time to go and check out some broadway.

I got absolutely drenched walking from the garment district to Time’s Square to buy some cheap* broadway tickets. I couldn't help but laugh and smile the whole time thinking, I specifically chose not to go to Vancouver this week because of the rain, and here I am. There must have been holes in my umbrella because I was still getting big ‘ol droplets of NYC rainwater right smack dab in the middle of my face. My sneakers we’re soaked, hair a mess, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. 

After stopping off at the AirBnb to freshen up, I headed to the show. Peep toe black heels, skin tight black leather pants, soft as silk v-neck tee, fitted black blazer, lavender floppy felt hat, a creme coloured clutch tucked under my left arm, and a camel crush silver gripped like a joint in my right hand. Hey! I had to protect the little gem from what had now become a slight drizzle in comparison to the downpour I trudged through earlier. With my hat pulled down over my face, to fight against the wicked breeze which would have taken it for a spin, I felt like this city was home; like this is where I was always meant to end up.

Beautiful (the broadway show) was… words don’t describe it. Albeit this was my first broadway show - so I have nothing to really compare it to, but it filled me up with immense joy and enough inspiration to last a lifetime. 

*And by “cheap” I mean, half price don't mean shit when tickets still cost a hundred bucks. But it was SO worth every pretty penny!

Princess of Politics

It was an early morning. Relatively gloomy outside. Definitely packed the umbrella. I picked up a coffee and headed to the garment district where I would meet Mike, my tour guide. I feel so lucky to have taken a tour with this man on his 74th birthday. Having grown up in the city, him and his family worked in the garment industry at it’s peak. He tells his stories with such passion; he’s seen the district grow and subsequently decline over the years. He attributes a large part of the industry’s decline to the fire in 1910. To this day, no one knows how the fire started. What we do know is that if the fire codes and regulations had’ve been enforced at the time, we might not have lost so many lives that day. The adherence to newly imposed regulations and fair wages increased manufacturing costs and thus the price of merchandise. In order to keep costs low, manufacturers moved out of the city where labour was cheaper and, according to Mike, that was the beginning of the end. We visited a number of spots, my favourite of which was obviously Mood Fabrics but I also really enjoyed visiting Grinnell Designs and getting to see some BTS* jewelry making.

Kid in a candy store is a wildly inaccurate way to describe my experience at Mood Fabrics. I was more like a 6 year old girl who’s watched every single Disney princess movie about 100 times and who’s mother has already conditioned her to believe she’ll one day find her prince charming and live happily ever, getting to host a tea party with all of the princesses and other magical woodland creatures at disney land while wearing a sparkly gown, high heels, and a real diamond tiara, and maybe a magic wand, just for kicks. THAT’s what it was like. If I had access to more credit, I’d have likely gone into enough debt to require me to claim bankruptcy by the age of 25. I’m 24.

BUT thankfully, the bank has access to my credit score and so I just bought the one thing I came looking for…. and by that I mean, I went to the grocery store hungry. FML.

Moving on… Mike suggested a great Kosher Deli (Ben’s) around the corner so I hid from the rain there for a while and enjoyed some super tasty pickles, pastrami, coleslaw and a heap of wine. The rain wouldn’t stop! I had to stay dry… also I got into a heated discussion at the bar about politics. Typical Keegs. I won’t go into details although I will say this: partway through the discussion (I was listening intently most of the time) I brought the conversation to a screeching halt.

“OK before we go on any further,” remember I’d had a few glasses of wine, I was feeling pretty confident, “I gotta say two things. Number one: I’m super stoked about the fact that I’m sitting at a kosher bar in New York City talking about politics and that you’re entertaining all of my questions, so thank you. Number two: if you can believe that Hilary Clinton would be responsible for the bombing of the American Embassy in Libya, you have to at least consider the possibility that Bush may have been behind the whole twin towers debacle. I mean, these are people who are supposed to be taking care of their country. What I’m trying to get at here is, what would Hillary’s motive be for keeping her emails separate? And if the email server had such shitty security it’s not that she was trying to hide having fucked up from her boss, cause you’re telling me anyone could have read her emails!”

Yea, pretty heavy shit, am I right?

I love talking about things I know very little about. It’s educational, I get to challenge peoples opinions with my curiosity, and I think, usually, we both walk away having learned something. That’s what conversation should be about folks. A mutually respective exchange of information and opinions. I’m all about it.

*Behind The Scenes - just incase I’m the only person who hashtags that shit