Seeing that my hotel advice for New York City is currently the most popular topic on my blog - I'll entertain you a bit more.
On The Ave Hotel - Upper West Side This hotel in the past was running a little too high in it's price range for what you were getting...but they have finally gotten a reality check. This is a very nice hotel, modern rooms and decent neighborhood. If you stay here you are not in the thick of the tourist area but you are near to the 1 & 9 trains, near some great eating and getting a good bargain. They are advertising a $159.00 winter special on the website - though the site doesn't go into the specifics of what nights need to be booked and how long the special runs. If you are willing to spend a little more money ...some of the suites are affordable and have a terrace.
Wall Street District Hotel - Financial District Right now this hotel is advertising a special for $179.00 a night (I looked at St Patrick's Day weekend and it was $171.00 a night if you prepaid in advance) - I'm not going to kid you the financial district is not the hottest place to be - its dead at night and there isn't too much going on in the actual area around the hotel....but you are walking distance to South Street Seaport and shopping at Century 21. And then a quick subway trip to any other neighborhood. Its a decent hotel -its clean, polite staff and rooms that are a decent size. But it does cater to business travelers.
So in case anyone is wondering - my missing aunt (well only missing to me really) hasn't been found yet.
Here is a picture of her from 1987 - I'm sure she hasn't changed all that much. Though I really hope she doesn't have that sweater anymore.
When I was in Taiwan in April, my relatives said that she is in Taiwan and that she is currently married and has children. Of course, no one is in touch with her and no one knows how to get in touch with her.
So with that said, I am hoping to somehow find her this year. Though I have no idea what to say to her at this point - she might even know that my mother passed away and want's nothing to do with my grandmother and myself.
So the boyfriend and I finally took "the big next step" and got engaged. Please refrain from asking me the following questions:
When is the wedding? Have you picked a date? When is the big day?
If you ask me any of the questions above - I will hunt you down and throttle you. Seriously.
Here is the situation. Being a former music industry slave turned travel agent to the stars turned massage therapy student kinda means that currently I have absolutely no money. On top of that I am helping the "future partner for life" out while he begins his new career.
BY THE WAY: If anyone out there needs an apartment in Manhattan to rent or buy or has an apartment to sell or rent - please contact Eric - he would be pleased to help you and I can guarantee that he is not the usual "hard sell pushy real estate guy"
So , we have no money for the wedding and I am telling everyone we are getting married in 2008. People have had mixed reactions - so in turn - I am now miserable and do not want to think about anything wedding until I have some money in the bank.
Lucky enjoyed the snow - even though she needed us to clear a path for her
Here is my future husband in the snow with Lucky - note the dog's terrified look Once the path was established - she ran back and forth until she tired herself out
I knew my mother was going to die the day she told me she was sick. I was coming in from a night out in the city and she stopped me on the way to my room. “I went to the hospital today” she whispered. She didn’t want my grandmother to hear, which I found odd because my grandmother is hard of hearing and knows very little English. “They told me I have Cancer. Don’t worry, the doctor said I have to get this surgery and I’ll be okay.” I stood there looking at her and wondered when she suddenly became an optimistic person. I stood there in my black furry coat clutching a Gucci bag I had just received as a Christmas present and I wanted to scream at her. It all rushed through my head and I knew if I opened my mouth it would all fall right out. Why didn’t you go earlier Why did you wait so long when something was obviously wrong Why didn’t you take care of yourself What am I going to do?
I must have cried a little because my mom stayed up for a little while with me and we talked about random things. We talked about the bakery she worked at. How much she thought she made it better and how they wouldn’t do well without her. This thinking is most likely the reason she felt it necessary to work there every day for 12 to 14 hours. We talked about her current relationship. She told me that he had asked her to marry him – but she refused. She said he was strange, that he smoked too much and he didn’t know how to run his business. I asked her if she loved him. And then she got up to go to bed.
In January – she want in for a hysterectomy. But she thought that she still may want some children with Steve, the current relationship, so she didn’t get everything fully removed. She wanted to still bear children. About two days after she was recovering – my grandmother called me in a panic. My mother went on deliveries for the bakery. The new driver didn’t know where he was going so they picked up my mother to help them out. She felt some strange obligation to that bakery – she was in so much pain but she still got in that truck. I stopped by there later that day to confront the owner, a former lover of my mother, and tell him off. He brushed me off and said she was going to be fine. He also leered at my cleavage and made some kind of sexist remark.
I really hope that little shit felt some kind of pang of regret when he heard that my mother died.
Of course neither one of her lovers, past or present, made an effort to show up at her funeral.
Four years ago, I lost my mother to cancer…sometimes I realize it's changed my life in ways that I couldn't have imagined. I may have not have had the strength or courage to accomplish what I've done so far - it may have been the best thing that has ever happened to me.
My mother was an extremely strong woman. She had married an American man and moved to the United States away from her country and family to start a new life. She did not love the man she married; she simply thought it was time for her to be married. She had been struck by the beautiful children that had come from mixed couples she had seen in Taiwan and thought that she would like a child just as beautiful. She married my father, who was in the Air Force, even though my grandparents didn't really approve. When she first arrived in California from Taiwan, my mother and father settled in at the Air Force base. Soon my mother got pregnant and started looking for a job, my father didn’t make enough money to really support them both (at least in the eyes of my mother). Her first job in the United States was working at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Soon I was born, the only child from their marriage, and my grandmother immediately flew over from Taiwan to help raise me. Things were not great between my mother and father, she had a dislike for the way he handled about everything and he had an abusive streak. My father finished his service in the Air Force and decided to move to Florida. My mother was finished with my father after four years of marriage and decided not to join him. My mother filed for divorce and decided to start a business in New York. She agreed to let me stay with my father while she set herself up in New York. For a while my aunt, grandmother and grandfather stayed with my father and myself while we lived in Daytona Beach, Florida. But at some point my father’s temper flared and after an incident that I don’t remember that clearly except for my grandfather’s bloody head and the police being called – my aunt and grandfather left Florida. My grandmother remained behind to protect me.
At some point my mother established a life in New York and came to get me, but my father asked me if I’d rather go with him to Pittsburgh and see my grandma or go to “scary” New York….it was an unfair choice for a 5-year-old. Especially because of the fact that I was terrified to say no to my father and his infamous temper. So, I left my heartbroken mother behind and went with my father to Pittsburgh – where he discovered he couldn’t afford to take care of me on his own and he shipped me off to my mother in New York.
I have been drowning in a lot of responsibility lately - I finish school in April , I have been dealing with some grandma issues (she's fine) and the boyfriend (now the fiance!) has a new job as a real estate agent and until he sells something - I'm helping him out.
I've also thought about taking a new direction lately.......
