NYC: Part 2 of 3.

Matt Benyo is blowing me away with his recollection of the trip. Nice job, MB.

Nathan tried to wake me up at 8:45 am. He was real sweet about it, "Chelsea? It's 8:45..." and all I said, while still covered and mean as hell, was: "AND..? I said 9:15!" We got up and got ready and off we went to visit our friends, The Jackman's. We arrived at 11:30. I was so excited to see everyone! Nadine was there and Nadine is great! We got a tour of the house. Here's the VERTICAL COUCH:We went to the play room to draw. I was SO THIRSTY. Deb said drinks would be provided and I drank an entire vitamin water (only providing Matt with a little) and some Mango Juice. After that, we drew. I could smell SOMETHING being cooked and Deb came down and said, "Come upstairs in 4 minutes." Clearly, we would be fed. This mostly meant bad news for me because I am the pickiest eater IN THE WORLD. I had this look of horror on my face and started kicking Matt's feet under the table, but I didn't wait 4 minutes. I instantly went up to scour the kitchen and find out what we'd be eating. Turns out, I'd survive. Nadine made a great spread. We had chicken, arugula salad, some weird potatoes, and bread. I took a piece of chicken, a little serving of potatoes, a portion of arugula, and a piece of bread. I started with the potatoes, but they weren't bad so I ate those. The chicken was good and I ate that, but then I got to the arugula. I thought for some reason that arugula would taste like lettuce. When I put it in my mouth, my mouth instantly registered that it was a foreign food that had never touched my taste buds prior. My instant reflex was to gag and puke and it honestly took everything in my body to not make a gagging sound, but my face was HORRIBLE. I'm almost positive Matt saw my face as this was happening and I don't know how he didn't bust out laughing. I quickly gulped down my vitamin water to get the taste and vegetable out of my mouth. Then I got down on the bread like it was no one's business (and had like 5 slices). The lunch was great. We sat around, shared stories, and laughs and it was a great time. Near the end of lunch, Hugh came home and made himself lunch. Matt and Nate tricked me into thinking the Jackman's had a talking microwave and Nadine went along with it. That video is on Matt's blog. I stood there yelling at the microwave for about 2 minutes before I realized what they were doing. After a bit, Hugh suggested we go to the park across the street to play Cricket and Football (soccer). This seemed like a great idea despite not having the proper shoes or attire. It was a beautiful 70 degree day so a handful of us went to the park.

At the park, I was shocked to find several paparazzi photographing us. Cricket was played first and we sat out for that one as Hugh and Oscar played along with Oscar's best friend, Trystan, and his best friend's dad, Paul. Here is a picture of Matt and I sitting behind Oscar as he played cricket (as taken by paparazzi):After cricket, Hugh asked us if we were going to play football and of course we were! So Trystan was a team captain and Hugh was. Trystan picked first and of course he picked Oscar. Then Hugh got to pick and he picked ME FIRST. GOOD CHOICE, HUGH! Trystan picked Matt (but I think he was picked last) and after me, Hugh picked Nate. We had an all star line up. I decided to be goalie because I had on my pointy witch shoes and I didn't want Hugh to kick me in the shins or something while engaging on the field. Here's a picture of Matt, Trystan, and Hugh playing while I'm in the back defending the goal with obviously a monster calf:It was all fun and games until disaster struck. The ball was headed right for me and I did an omega kick and the ball impaled Oscar's arm. Tears instantly started falling and so did my jaw. Oscar sat down on a picnic table, real sad, and Hugh was sitting next to him. I looked at Hugh and mouthed that I was sorry and he said it was okay, but it actually wasn't okay. Oscar was claiming his arm was broken and at that point I realized the games were over and I felt horrible. We stood around, mostly awkwardly, for a good 15 minutes and finally everyone got their stuff together and we started walking back to the apartment. Here's our walk back. Matt is on the left.We got back and Hugh gave us hugs and kisses goodbye and I apologized to Oscar. Matt found a few sites where the paparazzi referred to us as "life long friends". After that, we headed off to Highline Park up on a railroad track.I acted like a creep and stood behind Matt for all of those pictures except for this one where we're laughing together because that's what we always do:We headed to the Apple Store and ran into Nadine! We hung out with her for a bit and she took us to this rad place called Chelsea Market which reminded me of Quincy Market in Boston. There were shops and restaurants inside. It was so neat.While leaving there, we crossed the street. Nate and Nadine were paying attention. I was not. Matt was right next to me, but as we were walking in the street, he got in front of me. I didn't look and this car was coming and WAS NOT SLOWING DOWN. Matt told me to watch it and grabbed my arm and yanked me across the street. I was really thrown off by the fact that I almost died; no exaggeration. As I was coming down from that adrenaline rush, we crossed the street again, but THIS TIME, Matt and I ended up behind a BUS that was IN REVERSE and almost ran us over. TWO BRUSHES WITH DEATH! I'm the unluckiest person ever. Good thing I had Matt!

That night, we went to Brooklyn and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge. I hadn't done that before. I also haven't seen the Statue of Liberty before, but I saw that from the Jackman's balcony. Exciting. After the bridge, we headed to John's Pizza on Bleecker Street. This place has THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD. I swear by it. I'll die by it. I'll probably eat it right before I die. I got down on this pizza like a ravenous lion. NO SHAME. Matt and Nate really enjoyed it too so that made me happy. While in there nommin, I heard SOMEONE say "JONAS BROTHERS" so I freaked out and thought they were there, but they weren't. Afterwards, we ended up in Times Square because that's the best place to go in the middle of the night. We got drinks from McDonald's and hung out on the steps. Here's a nice photo:After awhile, Nate was OBVIOUSLY tired and wanted to go to bed, but Matt and I kept stalling. After about an hour, we headed to the Subway and that was one of the most memorable moments of the trip. Matt and Nate were sitting down and we were waiting for the train. I was at the tip of the platform rat watching and Matt Benyo got up to join me. I told him, "Last one to see a rat has to jump down on the track and touch it." At that moment, I was going to pretend to see a rat, but then I ACTUALLY SAW ONE and Matt Benyo saw it at EXACTLY the same time! So we hit each other and screamed and we started laughing SO HARD. It was like, 1:45 or 2:00 am, and we were just DYING on the platform and we turn around and some guy took Matt's seat and sat right next to Nate (when there were two open seats not next to Nate) and that just made us laugh harder. Through our laughter, we told Nate he had to jump down and touch it, but he just stared at us, emotionless, and acted like he didn't know us. I completely lost it at this point. Matt and I were falling all over each other trying to compose ourselves, but it was a fail. Then the other seats around Nate were taken up and Matt tried to take photos of the people in the seats so he pretended to take a picture of me, but didn't point the camera at me at all and the people got up because they were creeped out. This doesn't sound funny, but it was SO HYSTERICAL. Everyone probably thought we were wasted, but prior to this, we went to Jamba Juice (best place ever) and got free energy boosts. We clearly didn't need it. Here's a picture of us on camera (I look like Janine; gross):The train showed up and we got on and the laughter spell continued. I think everyone on the subway was high because their eyes were bloodshot and this one guy had skittles and he dropped one and it was like he dropped his heart on the ground. SO SAD. Another guy was falling asleep standing up and that made me laugh. People kept looking at us. Most of them hated us. I think two people smiled at us.

When we got back, Matt and I were beyond exhausted, but we stayed up until 4:30 am watching X Factor together. This was a horrible idea considering we were waking up at like 10 the next day to prepare for our last day/night in NYC as well as drive back, but we didn't care! After some of X Factor, we fell asleep. The next morning I was way meaner than the previous. TO BE CONTINUED.