She is living in an age of light

I stopped here at random a few months ago during a trip to Seattle with a friend – I go back now each time I’m in Seattle! The selection is good, the food tastes incredible, and the smell? It’s hard to walk by Piroshky-Piroshky without having your mouth water.

I just read about the Ann Arbor Urban Fairies tonight online (http://urban-fairies.com/) and was so enchanted with the idea that I’d like very much to go and see these little places.

Wrote about this on 43 Things as well, but here it is again…

Well, this is overdue, but better late than never – I went to New York City in May of this year (2006), and it turned out to be a very pivotal experience in my life.

I didn’t do the things a lot of other people do when they go – I didn’t go to the Empire State Building, or the Statue of Liberty; I didn’t set foot on a sight-seeing bus around the city. I flew in and met a long-time friend from the Internet for the first time and we spent the entire time walking around the city.

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent an afternoon gawking at the amazing artwork; we stood within mere inches of priceless paintings. We walked through Central Park and soaked in the amazing atmosphere there. We went to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and wept at the sheer beauty of the gothic architecture, the stained glass, the statues of saints.

We went to Palace Theatre and saw the now-closed musical Lestat, twice. I’m terribly saddened that the showed closed, as it was one of the most touching and amazing theater-going experiences I’ve had; we met the cast at the stage door and talked with them – that experience alone was worth the trip, to meet such incredible, talented people that were genuinely nice people, and that loved their work. I was so thankful to experience that and I’ll never forget it.

I cried the entire flight home, and I’ve already booked a second trip back within the next 12 months. I can easily see myself moving there within the next 5-6 years. It was incredible, I’ve never seen or experienced anything like it before, and I want to be able to fling the curtains open in the morning again, look outside, and say, “Oh my gods, it’s New York City!” again like I did every morning that I was there. I have found so much motivation in my life again just from those brief few days. It was a culture shock, but a much needed one.