No Me Diga

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I had no idea I knew so much about booze...

It's Fate!

ManDanie and I are coming up on our two-week mark for leaving to Costa Rica. It's coming so quickly!


So after we bought our tickets, we kinda shelved it. Like, the big thing was taken care of, and we both were so busy that we hadn't thought through many of the other details.


Well we (and by "we" I mean "she") found some motivation, and, with a little help from our Mamacita Basmita, booked our accommodations.



We're going to a very quaint village called Cahuita. It sits right on the ocean on the edge of a large forest reserve/national park. We chose this place because it's off the beaten path, offers snorkeling in the only coral reef in Costa Rica, and horseback riding through the rain forest canopies.


This is where the fate part comes in - we will be staying at Spencer Seaside Lodgings.


See? If that's not fate...


Here are a couple of pics I snagged from a backpacker's blog. He was there pretty recently, and his recommendation is what I think made ManDanie choose this place in particular.

Apparently it's like the only place in the village with Internet access. But, I'm sorry, who goes and stays on the beach and spends there time online??

A garden of palms and hammocks. Our room is apparently on the upper level, which I guess is better. I don't know why... better view perhaps?

Upper level rooms come with hot showers, two beds, and individual terraces with private hammocks.

The view (excuse the leg...)

The Beach!

So ya, needless to say I'm getting totally psyched to get out there!

Woot WOOT!

25 and Feelin' It!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes kids, that's right - the big Two-Five has finally arrived. You know what I love about getting older? I spent the whole weekend convincing people that I truly am as old as I am.

For real - Do I really look like I'm still in college? (That's a rhetorical question - feel free to not answer...)

So a little recap, eh? My actual birthday was Sunday, but the celebration began on Friday night. My dear friend Jarett had a busy weekend, so we had planned to celebrate on Friday. So it was him and me, and my friend Brian. The three of us met up down at Union Square - I have wanted to try Max Brenner's for so long so that's where I chose to have dinner. And let me tell ya - it's fantastic! I had the Salmon Wellington (yum) and... actually, it was so good that I don't even remember what it was served with. A salad? Hmm... I don't remember. After dinner came desert - which is the whole reason you go to MB's in the first place! There was a melted marshmallow chocolate crepe (w/ gummi bears for Brian) and a churro fondue - Both unbelievable rich and decadent! I'd go again just to get desert - so worth it! And the place is decently priced too. I think the most expensive entree was $15 and deserts were like $7 to $10. I'd hit it up for sure!

Just one suggestion: Don't bother drinking there. They have lots of Epicurean cocktail concoctions that seem really enticing... but in actuality they are far too weak for their price ($10-$14 each). So spend the money on desert, and then head out into the neighborhood to find a place to hunker down with a cocktail!

After dinner came a little karaoke, more drinking, and more drinking. Oh, and then more drinking. Jarett bailed early (like 1:00 AM) but Bri and I kept going. Made a quick trip to see David at Bamboo where we met a friend of his who was feeling lonely. Bri forgot we're in our mid-twenties and "called dibs"... but alas that lonely soul had other ideas. And that's all I'm going to say about that! *blush*

So now we're onto Saturday. Cue a bad hangover and an impending football game... ya, not a great morning! I got myself organized and out the door nearly on time. We played a good game against Team Jaeger. I mean, we lost, but it was still a good game. Mostly in the last ten minutes when we finally switched out our QB. I'm pretty sure that'll be a permanent change! So in the last 10 minutes we came back to do a little scoring, and kept the other team from reaching another score - aka we've still got hope for a successful season!

My team is great - I truly enjoy just about everyone on it! And there isn't a single person there that I dislike by any means. Great guys, and one unbelievable fantastic girl!

After the game, I went with Todd up to his place (Todd is Kiwi Katie's roomie) to get ready for the night - he and Katie had planned to have some people over to keep the celebrations going. All the girls and a bunch of the guys from the league showed up - it was a totally random grouping but it was so much fun! Everyone was mingling and enjoying meeting new people - gotta love it!

After some good pre-gaming we motivated out to the bars. It was a long night of drinking and laughing and enjoying each other - I couldn't have asked for anything more! Eventually I'll have to upload a few photos of the night -- but that will have to wait until I've got some more free time! (This post has taken almost two days to write! Work is killer right now...)

So Sunday morning comes around and I had to get myself motivated back up to Katie's - I ended up spending the night in Chelsea... le sigh... We caught the train and made our way out to CT to spend some time with the family. We did brunch in Westport at a cute little cafe, and then I went back to my sisters place to veg. Got back to the city around 11:00 pm, and slept oh so soundly!

So anyway, it was a great weekend. And aside from my BFF telling me over and over again how much cuter he thinks he is than me, I felt so much love! So a big ole THANK YOU to all of you who came out and made the weekend awesome!

Special shout out to my girl Katie (not the Kiwi, the other one!) who celebrated her b-day yesterday - LOVE YOU!

Also, to K - awesome meeting you on Friday night! I vaguely remember it... lol

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend, St. Paddy's Day, and remember - Easter is a'comin!

The Perfect Bedroom

Minus the strange masks and that tree-ish lookin' sculpture next to the window, I could definitely handle my room looking like this!



If only it was even slightly conceivable that I would be living in a space that could accommodate this design ANY time in the near future...

Someday... Someday...
(Source)

A Thousand Miles

How far is L.A. from NYC???

Damn...

Travis Returns!

My wonderful friend (iknowaboutpopular) just informed me that Travis Wall is coming back to SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE as a choreographer! Woo hoo!!!

I love this show - Best Reality Show EVER. And Travis is probably my favorite contestant from any season. So, while I'll miss Wade Robison and his crazy like a Fox tampon routines (did you catch that last season - ew!) having Travis around will greatly ease that pain :0)

Also now on board - Adam Shankman: the uber-gay director of HAIRSPRAY. Hmm, not sure how I feel about that....

Old Interests, New Opportunities

You know what I love?

I love how there are things that you can want to do your whole life, and then without warning you turn around and those things are presenting themselves to you. You don't expect it. Often you don't even remember wanting it in the first place! But then there it is, and desire has turned to opportunity.

And it just so happens that you're young and uncommitted and able to take these opportunities as they come.

I love that.

What am I talking about? Well - let me tell you!

When I was younger my parents had me heavily involved in competitive dance. It was priority. Because of the risk of injury I was never allowed to play sports. I was shot down at age 10 when I wanted to play football. "What would happen if your knee breaks? What would you do then?"

Let me tell you what I'd do - I'd buy LOTS of advil, get surgery if I had to, and deal with it. Cuz I'm make my own decisions now and I WANT TO PLAY FOOTBALL!!!

My good buddy T and my roomie both play in the NYGFL (New York Gay Football League) and were able to convince me to do it. MIND YOU - I don't really know what I'm doing. My roomie played in college, so that's kinda intimidating. But T - well, he played last season and it was the first time he had ever played too. So I get the impression that skill levels run the gamette.

Truth be told - I'm really into it for the social aspects. I realized recently that, while I have lots of friends, only two are gay. The rest are straight or girls (usually a combination of the two). And it's hard to make friends out at clubs that are so loud you have to scream to talk to someone more than one foot away. That setting doesn't really lend itself to creating good friendships, ya know? So ya, I'm really excited about the league - even the sport part!

I talk about my older sister a lot, I know. But Faith really is awesome and I've always thought so.

Well, she's always talked about wanting to travel and see/do more. When she'd list places she'd want to go, Italy and Costa Rica were always in the top three destinations. So naturally, being the adoring younger brother that I am, those became top on my list as well.

And within the next six months, I'll be going to both places!

First off, Faith and I started talking about going to Italy together last summer. Well we (finally) got our airfare booked - so it's official! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. Not only is it something I've always wanted to do - but it's been something that she has been passionate about doing and that makes it all the better for me! We're spending two weeks there - the what/where aspects of the trip once we get there are totally up in the air. Rome, Florence, Venice, and Cinque Terre are definitely at the top of my list :-)

Yesterday, my good friend at work and I were bored and, on a whim, bought tickets to go to Costa Rica in April. Def one of the most spontaneously things I've ever done! I mean, we'd been talking about taking a trip together for a couple of weeks, and Costa Rica was a destination we had lightly discussed.

But we got caught in the moment and now we're going! She wants to do a rainforest tour. I want to lie on the beach. So we're heading to the carribbean side of the country so we can do both. It'll be a quick trip - but I am sure well worth it!

So anyway, those are the latest updates in my world.

By the way - if you're in NYC - do yourself a favor and go see "Sunday in the Park with George". It's the most brilliantly designed show I have ever seen and you won't be disappointed!