apple tree

In addition to being fairly productive with school work, I've had a bit 'o fun this weekend, too. For lunch on Saturday, I went with Alison and her family to a narrow, barely there restaurant in Chinatown for authentic dumplings at dirt-cheap prices (at least by US standards - 5 for $1). After ordering an assortment of boiled and fried pork dumplings, bready pancakes with chives, and warm soy milk, we wedged ourselves into a corner at the back on and amongst the six bar stools, the locals, and the production line. So yummy; I can hardly wait to go back. From there we visited a Chinese bakery for traditional egg custards. Alsion and I split a strawberry one, and her mom tried a melon one. Aside from being unnaturally lime green and hot pink in color, they were pretty good. Together we wandered through Chinatown, and then I trekked on to Soho for some shopping. After browsing through some little boutiques, I ended up in H&M where I bought a shirt dress and soft pink sweater that was on clearance for $9.90. A stop at K-Mart (for tissues to combat runny noses because of the cold) and another at Dunkin' Donuts (for hot chocolate also to combat the cold), I made my way back home to do reading, work on papers, and attempt an early bedtime.

Saturday morning I met Alison and Jenn at 7:30. That's right - 7:30 AM. Hence the early bedtime the night before. We headed down to Studio 54 in hopes of getting $26 Rush tickets to The Apple Tree, starring Kristin Chenoweth. Luckily, we not only beat the rush, we were the only ones there. We got to stand, shivering, in line with ourselves for the next two hours! We did make a quick run to Bagel and Bean around the corner to grab breakfast, and after about an hour and forty-five minutes the security guard let us in to stand in the lobby.

The saga continued later that night when we met at 7:15 for the 8:00 show, only to discover that the subway had inexplicably stopped working. We run-walk-run-walked all the way to 94th from 120th before we managed to get away from the crowd and catch a cab. (So much for looking good.) We only missed the first number. And from then on, the night was great. What a wonderful, hilarious, creative show! Check it out here - http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/ Afterwards, we decided we deserved a margarita for our harriedness, so we went to Chevy's just down the street. Mmm-mmm good. (And by the way, Jenn and I didn't plan to match!)

And today has been a day of aerobics, errands, cleaning, e-mailing, reading, and doing more school work. That's it in a nutshell!