My Little Town blues....are melting away...

New York has a power all unto itself. An energy that just pulls at you and demands a "I am woman hear me roar" attitude.

Before leaving Seattle, I felt lacking in the confidence arena. Encounters with big boss left me feeling less than adequate. Yet, here, I feel as if nothing will stop this from putting a W in the column of life experiences.

Cute contractor guy met me this morning to go over the build out of the booth. He then promptly gave me several "suggested" spots to dine without the tourist. (Side bar here: I found myself yesterday wondering around Time Square and saying things like, "F*cking Tourists" as they got in my way.) Anyhow, CCG has everything under control. He's even called me every 40 minutes or so to let me know the status of the booth. In that case, I'm headin' out into the great wild yonder that's called NY.

I scoped out this restaurant we will be having our morale dinner at on Wednesday (Trattoria Dopo Teatro). I thought it prudent to make sure it wasn't a dive and the website described it perfectly. And I thought I might want a map for the team so they can find it. Anyhow, on the way back this "tourist" stopped me by saying, "You look like you live here, can you tell me where Macy's is?" Mouth dangling by the shock of "you look like you live here" I spouted off the directions. Because, in fact, I was a full fledged New Yorker now according to my FNE (Favorite Nephew Ever). Later I recounted this story to FNE and he laughed and told me Macy's was no where near where I told the woman. I told her 42nd and 5th...FNE reminded me of the moving "Miracle on 34th Street" Right, 34th Street. Oh well, I felt like I knew where I was sending her. (FNE later "tested" me on my directional ability about NY. I think I failed.)

FNE met me today to take me to Chinatown for an amazing meal. We hopped the subway and ended up walking through most of Chinatown. Soooo many people. I don't like crowds as a rule, and this was crowded. But FNE kept plodding us on toward the little slice of Chinese heaven we'd be dining at. The smells that assaulted me through this hike left something to be desired, I must say. But, into this "dive" we go and I was no where prepared for the delish meal that would send my taste buds into overdrive. I let FNE order since he'd been there before and since Adventurous Jenn is out in full force lately, why not try something new. He ordered these steamed dumpling things that had pork and crab in them ( When the waitress put the plate of steaming dumplings in front of us, my first thought was, "those look like testicles". I couldn't tell FNE they looked like testicles since I figured as a guy he might think that's gross. What? They did look like testicles...Scouts honor!). We then had chow mein with "meats" and shrimp. "Meats", I believe, translated into chicken and pork - I didn't really want to ask. And I couldn't figure out why "shrimp" wasn't classified as "meat". Anyhow, finally rounding out our meal we had General Tsao's. Can I just say, without risking repeating myself, Oh. My. God! I can't even begin to describe how out of this world amazing the flavors were in this food. Testicles and all. In the words of Rachel Ray, "YUM-O!"

After our feast, which by the way only cost the two of us $23 - cheap, we marched our way through SoHo. The streets were lined with "artists" selling their masterpieces. There were some amazing art out there. Too bad I didn't have $400 to spend on a unframed print. There were some real gems out there.

Trekking through SoHo, through Little Italy, and into another subway, we found ourselves back in Time Square - well thanks to FNE because coming off the subway I would have zigged where I should have zagged and wouldn't have ended up anywhere near the hotel.

I decided after a day of walking through what felt like ALL of NY, I would dine in tonight. Me and my sore feet drug ourselves down to the hotel restaurant, Encore. I ordered a simple Turkey Club sandwich that came with chips. $16! Yes you read that correctly. $16. Ironically, I decided to not order room service because I couldn't believe they would charge me $16 for a sandwich.

Samir - my cute waiter - was the real treat though. As he poured my water he asked if I wanted anything to drink (heavy on some Mediterranean accent - maybe Greek). I smiled and ordered a diet coke. He tilted his head to the left and stated with authority, "You have a beautiful smile." And I thought, "You just got yourself a big tip." Yes it crossed my mind he says that to all the girls...but I didn't care. An older lady sat in the table next to me and he didn't say it to her, so there. After eating every morsel of my $16 sandwich, Samir approached and said, "While I am sure you are sweet enough, would you like dessert?" Have I ever told you about my "thing" for dark skin, dark eyes, full accent guys? Yah, well, now you know. While I had to deny Samir his opportunity to "flirt" with me through a dessert course, I thanked him and flashed a 9.0 smile on the richter scale. And then slipped him my room key. OH pipe down, I'm just checking to see if you were still paying attention to this massive post.

And in other note-worthy news, not a peep from the crush in 7 days. This just reaffirms my thought that I need to have this chat. And since I have all this new found confidence courtesy of NY it shouldn't be too hard. I should check, though, the local souvenir shops to see if they sell "confidence" in a bottle. It'd be handy back in Seattle. I'm just saying.

Oh one other note. EXACTLY one year ago today (almost to the minute) I became a Project Management Professional (PMP). I'm one of 180,000 PMPs worldwide. Hmm, how small my significance now seems. But no worries...I am a PMP...for a year now.