NYC, oh how I miss thee!

April 30th my childhood best friend got married which prompted a trip to NYC for the weekend. It was a very good weekend overall. Friday I got to hang out with Steve... pardon, "Aris," at (of all places) Brighton Beach!!! That's a place I wouldn't go to with my Russian friends, and here I am heading there of my own free will to hang out with Americans. It wasn't just hanging out though, there was business involved. I hadn't been to Brighton in a few years and was quite surprised to find a massive "upscale" development: Oceana. Apparently, the ghetto of Brighton is getting gentrified. If I had a few million bucks sitting around, I might actually get a condo there. It's on the beach, with a pool, gym and all that other good stuff, and a few minutes from the B/Q trains which take you into the heart of Manhattan in ~40 minutes.

Friday night I went out with the bride, groom and a few of their friends to a hooka bar. Saturday I went to the city to meet up with the lovely ladies of the G&D department up in Washington Heights. Dallas BBQ fun for all! Off to the museum of natural history for the new planetarium show "cosmic collisions" (which was awesome!), a stroll through the street fair outside the museum, a cream puff from Beard Papa, and Thank You For Smoking at the Lincoln Center movie theater.

Being with friends all weekend made me realize how much I miss everyone and how lonely it is here in Pgh. I still don't really know anyone I can call up to hang out :(

On to Sunday, the purpose of my visit: the wedding! Alex and I rode in the limo with Elena and a few others to the restaurant. The ceremony was beautiful. The food was plentiful. I did not catch the bouquet, but I did manage to spill red wine all over my cream colored dress. Alex did not catch the garter, but we're both kind of glad he didn't. The guy who caught it had to put it on the leg of the bouquet-girl. The bride's father intervened, and sat in the girl's stead (the garter-guy was blind folded). We have video of it, it's quite hillarious. For anyone interested, pics can be found here.