Shag-a-delic

I already gave my review of August: Osage County from a couple of weekends ago in New York, but I didn't ever come back to recount the REST of that day. And it was a very good day. Until literally the very last moment.

After the show, we headed down towards the Village since we knew we'd later be meeting up with Stacy at The Pinch for her birthday. We called Ally to come meet us and at Nick's suggestion, we popped into a fun, funky bar called Shag to grab a drink before landing somewhere else for a proper dinner.

But Shag wound up being such a fun surprise (with an equally fun bartender who took a liking to us, especially after the loud obnoxious foursome from Louisville departed) that we ended up bunking in for over three hours. A few drinks, one round of shots (compliments of our new favourite bartender) and two Pu Pu Platters* later, it was nearly time to make our way to the birthday festivities.

We were still running a bit on the early side for The Pinch, so we killed some time in the Marc Jacobs store AND had our group photo taken with a giant skunk in the MJ window display. We made a small stop-over for freshmade crepes and then finally landed at The Pinch with Stacy and her crew.

By this time it was around 11 pm and since Nick, Oda and I had been out-and-about since literally 1:30 in the afternoon (and probably peaked at Shag around 8 pm as a result), we were fading fast and after a drink with the birthday girl, the three of us headed back uptown.... but not without walking at LEAST a mile (ok, perhaps I exaggerate, but not much!) trying to actually get to the right subway platform. Once landing in midtown, we walked for what felt like ANOTHER mile before I could find a cab to take me the last few blocks to my building. (Too shady to be walking around at midnight by myself.)

My feet (which were in high-heeled boots) were killing me by this time and when I finally got a cab, I gratefully sank into the backseat and my thoughts immediately went to how wonderful it was going to feel to peel back the covers and slip into bed in about 2.5 minutes. I paid the cab driver and walked into my building, saying hello to the new doorman, Norman, as I passed by the front desk.

"Oh, just one thing, Shari," said Norman.

I slowed my pace as he continued "There's no elevator service at the moment." He then added "At all" for emphasis.

I stared at him for a couple of seconds, having not yet processed what he just said.

"What do you mean, no elevator service?" I asked.

"They're both out of commission right now -- we've called the repair service and they should be here in a couple of hours."

A couple of hours. I shuffled off across the lobby to the stairwell entrance.

I opened the door and stared up the first flight of stairs. They stared back unblinkingly. My high-heeled feet were already protesting after the gauntlet they'd been through in simply trying to get home from the Village.

I sighed, peeled off my heavy winter coat and started up the stairs.

Did I mention I live on the 17th floor?


* A surprisingly tasty medley of edamame, mini burgers, grilled cheese sandwich wedges, chicken taquitos and our favourite, "Pigs in Bondage", served on a three-tier tower.