Monday, January 31, 2011

My Gang Of New York, Part I: It's On

So, in case you missed my Facebook posts, or my Twitter feed or that airplane I rented pulling a banner, I just back from a trip to New York with Rigel and the girls. And, since I'm into this newfangled blogging fad, I'm going to write about here in painstaking detail. Remember a few years ago when I went to Japan and I wrote about it forever and it seemed like the posts would never end, like you were in some bad dream where you couldn't escape someone's neverending vacation slide show? Yeah, like that.

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A couple of weeks before Christmas I was offered a trip to New York for the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, and I came up with the brilliant idea of turning it into a family vacation. We hadn't taken a trip for awhile, and I was eager to visit New York again since the last time I was there was when I was in my twenties. (I said 'In my twenties' not 'during the 1920's' all you smartasses. Although, come to think of it I was driving through Central Park in a Model-T while wearing a flapper hat.)

The hardest part about preapring for the trip was getting everyone clothed. How do you get a family of Angelenos, who are used to 80° weather in the dead of winter, to make a trek into a land where people wear strange things called 'scarves' and 'coats'? I tried to tell Kira and Kiyomi that they would have to pack some warm clothes, and I swear one of them said, "Does that mean anything with sleeves?" Kiyomi was convinced she'd be running around in her usual getup of shorts and tank top except the difference was she'd be wearing socks with her sneakers.

(And get this – they both informed me that they only own ONE PAIR of long pants. I'm not sure how that happened, but I suppose that's what I get for letting teenagers do their own back-to-school shopping. In a related story, I did find nine Lady Gaga t-shirts and sixteen halter tops while I was cleaning their room.)

Then there was my clothing angst. Not only did I have to pick up some warm clothes, but they had to be stylish since I'd be hanging out with some pretty hip client-type-people and blogger chicks, who'd probably frown on my usual cold-weather solution of tucking thermal underwear into a pair of boots and topping it off with a 10-year-old ski parka. Oh, and that Dukes Of Hazzards hat that I got in 1987 probably wouldn't go over very well, either, although if you ask me burlap never goes out of style.

So I did what any normal person would do when faced with a clothing crisis: I bought $40 worth of fashion magazines and dilligently studied their pages for hours trying to find out what the hip 2011 woman was wearing in cold weather. Much like the scientist who might pour over fossils for insight into prehistoric man, I was scrutinizing Vogue for some clues into the correct heel height for the newest winter footwear. Both valid, important endeavors, but I win since my research resulted in a trip to the mall and a cute pair of fur-lined leather boots.

Long story short, after plunging ourselves into debt with numerous trips to Macy's, Forever 21, Tilly's, Urban Outfitters, DSW, Sports Chalet, Victoria's Secret (I needed a warm bra) and Rite Aid (everyone needed new lipgloss) we were finally off to New York! Although, after all of our foraging and scouring and researching in the name of fashion – the items that ended up being the most coveted were these, bought off the street in Times Square for $20:


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Next Up: My Gang Of New York, Part II: Really Touristy Photos With Clever Captions

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