SNL After Party

The season premier of Saturday Night Live was a couple of weeks ago. Lucky me, I was on the guest list for the after party with a male companion of mine.

We arrived at a culdesac street that had been blocked off especially for the event. As we approached the venue, we were informed that it was a restaurant that hadn’t even opened yet. Guests were dressed in everything from jeans to full-length sequined gowns. We were dressed at a nice medium. I wore Willow head to toe, and my companion rocked his ankle boots and leather.

We knew that Katy Perry was hosting the event, and were super excited at the possibility of rubbing shoulders with her. However we didn’t expect the reality of what actually happened.

Not knowing anyone else at the party, we became friends with a group of people within minutes of receiving our first round of drinks. We got talking and found that one of the girls is in the new movie ‘Social Network’. That was cool, however I had no idea who she was, and didn’t really think much of it.

About ten minutes after meeting them, my male companion informed me that Justin Timberlake was sitting about ten metres to my left. As his back was to me, and the party was so informal, I chose to snub the comment off, and didn’t believe him for even a second.

That was until JT hopped up out of his chair, and walked straight in to our conversation. He kissed his co-star from ‘Social Network’ on the cheek, and went on to shake everyone else’s hand in the group.

“Hi, I’m Justin.”

NOOOOOOO……..Really!!! Absolute classic.

I then went on to have a one-on-one conversation with him. He heard my accent and immediately wanted to know what bought me New York, why I left Australia, what I do for work…and it went on.

The level of respect I have for Justin after that conversation went through the roof. I honestly didn’t believe it was him, he was that down to earth.

As my companion and I decided we’d had enough of the party, we went to make a quick pit stop via the loo and bumped in to a very familiar face in the corridor.

“Katy!”

Oh my god….we had literally bumped straight into Katy Perry, all on our way to the bathroom. Once again, such a casual introduction, “hi, I’m Katy”. We were both loving it! She was too cute in her floor length, fully sequined gown, and her hair was amazing!

Oh what a night!!!

An Australian Minute in NYC

I was at work a couple of weeks ago enjoying another monotonous day, when I noticed a few heads turn the corner. Jet black hair, over-sized bow headband on head, ruby red lips, black tutu skirt and white glowing skin. As she turned around, I noticed a familiar face. Instantly I thought of Alannah Hill. My only doubt was, she looked about half the size I thought she was.

I continued to follow her, and then offered to put some dresses she was holding in the fitting room. On hearing her open her mouth, my doubt had been turned around. She had a VERY Australian accent and had picked up a dress much too big for her. She was going by Australian dress sizes, and not US.

A moment later, she walked back to the front of the store, where a hell of a lot of commotion and noise started coming from around the corner. I looked around, and low and behold, a small Australian celebrity crew had gathered near the entrance to the store.

Alannah Hill and Master Chef's George Calombaris were standing with their possy's, causing much havoc among other customers. Customers were staring at the loud Australian voices, and the girls I work with were staring in wonderment also. They could tell they were somebody, but had NO idea who the hell they were.

I was excited of course!

Another one of my customers who was visiting New York from Singapore asked me what all of the commotion was about. When I told her it was Alannah Hill, she nearly dropped to the ground. As a huge fan, I took it upon myself to later introduce the two parties. The Singapore customer was so cute, and Alannah was the sweetest to her.

Once the commotion was over, and George realised he had stumbled in to a girls store instead of a man's store, I helped Alannah with a few dresses. She bought up big, and we had a fantastic little chat.

Sweetest, most down to earth, cutest person. I loved every minute of it. She loved every minute of it. It was a cute little NYC moment all around!

Knife fight

After what had been a truly tame night, (well as far as my nights go) something crazy happened.

I had been at Eloise's apartment; actually she was homeless for the week and sleeping on the couch. But all the same, it was Eloise's humble abode on this particular evening. I had made the executive decision to be a good girl and get an early night, with only a small amount of alcohol involved. I took this challenge on board very seriously, and with Eloise by my side, we successfully achieved a mere two glasses of wine, and I was home by 1am.

The night was so much more entertaining without all the alcohol anyway. I rather enjoyed sitting, watching the other ten people in the room get drunk and high. It was one of the funniest experiences I have had yet.

As my curfew approached, I was off. And believe me, leaving the apartment and saying my goodbye's was not such an easy task. Well with the state of the people I was saying goodbye to. In fact, they put me a little behind my curfew by the time I was "allowed" to leave.

Eloise ever so kindly offered to walk me to the station to ensure my safety. However, I made her aware that then that would put her safety at risk when she walked back home alone. Great thinking 99!

As I approached the L station on 1st Ave I heard commotion a little ahead of me. Pretending I was oblivious to the whole thing, I continued on my path and walked straight in to what turned out to be a knife fight. Well let me rephrase; not a fight as yet, but an extremely drunk and drugged up girl pulling a knife on her boyfriend, a dog, and some homeless people.

I was standing five metres to her side. My heart was jumping out of my skin, and still I continued to act as if everything was fine. As soon as I took the corner of the metro steps, I was away. It was one of those moments where I envisioned myself falling down the metro stairs, and then it seemed forever trying to find my metro card. And of course, when I finally found it, the damn thing wouldn't swipe.

But I am OK! Not even shaken up in fact. It was an odd end to my night. I mean, a knife was pulled right in front of me. But I think I did good!

Intern, High Heels, NYC = Disaster

I didn't make it home last night. I had been out, and it seemed easier at the time to just stay at a friends place.

Upon waking up with not enough time to return home to change, and with becoming a pro at packing for the next day in my evening bag; spare undies, deodorant, perfume, make-up, toothbrush, I was on my way to work.

Of course today was an intern day however, and this could potentially mean walking kilometres through the streets of Manhattan, from Soho to Midtown, up to Times Square and back down to Soho again. Potentially carrying heavy boxes, garment bags or anything else heavy and awkward. Of course, I wore heels out last night too, which meant I'd be wearing heels all day to work.

Big mistake!!!

Of course today was the day that everyone called on me to run across Manhattan. The entire day was a disaster. I was sent to three incorrect locations. I was given one incorrect package, and had to then go back to get the correct package an hour later. I dropped three garment bags over the ticket gate while attempting to juggle them as I got my metro card out of my wallet. And I literally spent my day going from the North to the South of Manhattan the entire day. My feet didn't hurt so much from the blisters that had formed and become permanent fixtures on my feet, but more the balls of my feet felt like they were on fire, burning through the soles of my feet and into the ground. I may as well have been walking on hot coals, straight out of an Arabian film.

I had been silently managing my disastrous fashion faux pas all day, when at around 5pm I couldn't handle it any longer. Armed with hangers, and garment bags flung across my body, as I was walking through Times Square I saw a huge flashing neon light, 'Sale Shoes $10'. In I went and bought myself the best pair of gladiators $10 could buy.

My feet had been through so much pain that day, I still felt as though I had my uncomfortable high heels on. The pain had got to the point where it wouldn't leave, even if I were walking through Times Square in my Ugg boots.

Lesson learnt; my havaianas are the newest edition to my going out evening bag packing regime!

The week that was...

Sunday 22nd Aug

Started my new retail job. Worked 10-8pm on 2hrs sleep!

Monday 23rd Aug

Started my new internship. Turned up at 9am to find out they don't open until 9.30. Thank God, because I really did needed a large, double-shot iced skim latte. Worked through until 8pm. BIG, LONG, DAY and the weekend that was, had caught up with me in a BIG way.

Tuesday 24th Aug

2nd day of interning. Once again, 9.30-8pm and no lunch! Ridiculous. So tired. But, when my new bestie Monica texted me to pop over to have drinks at her place at 11pm, I was up and out of bed, on on my way to the LES (Lower East Side). I arrived, and drinks at her place turned into, "we're going out!" We're going out turned into 5am walk back through the front door and passing out on her couch.

Wednesday 25th Aug

Working at my third job; another retail job working in an Australian boutique. Luckily the day was quiet, and I was able to sit at the desk all day staring in to thin air. 12-8pm shift! It was tough. I had friends attempting to get me out again tonight, but wisely I opted to stay in.

Thursday 26th Aug

Worked from 10-8pm again. Still running on some strange form of natural high. Lorien (a tough relationship to put in to words; so I won't) was in town with a couple of friends from Australia, and tonight was the night I had to show her how we did it in NYC! I met up with a friend at a bar for drinks straight after work. We met some gorgeous men (and some not so gorgeous men) and drank some beautiful drinks (mainly bought up by the not so gorgeous men). The night ended with three bars, one hotel, and five clubs. We sure showed the Aussie girls how we do it in NYC! Walked through my front door at 6am.

Friday 27th Aug

Work 11-8pm. Thank goodness I made it home to my own bed last night, and not my friends couch again. It was nice to have the extra hour sleep too.

Got home from work, and had a call from Monica saying I needed to get dressed up & in to Manhattan stat! We were invited to a VIP event for the US Open. Yummy yummy boys! Unfortunately I was too slow getting ready, and by the time I was on my way, Monica had called to say that we were meant to arrive half an hour ago in order to get in. But, we were all dressed up and hungry, hungry, hungry. To The Standard Hotel we went. A nice relaxed night, and home before 12am!

Saturday 28th Aug

Work 10-7pm. Finally I went to went to work on a full 8hrs of sleep, and it really did make all the difference. All refreshed, I was ready to hit the town one last time for the week. Sadly for me, this was the worst night yet. We started with drinks at a friends house. Then on to a few clubs. The night ended back at another friends place at around 4.30am. He ordered way too many burgers, fries and wings, and we all (all fifteen of us) sat around watching bad TV until 7.30am, at which time Monica and myself hopped in a cab, homeward bound. I started work at 10am, so barely had time for a 15min power nap, a long, hot shower, and on to work I went!

The week that was...and never will be again...65hrs of work...28hrs sleep (28hrs too little)...28+hrs of partying...and this is what they call New York, New York!