No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn

Hey there world, how's it hanging? I've gotten a little irresponsible with my blog posts as of late, and for that I apologize. Weirdly enough, I've been pretty preoccupied with real life adventures as opposed to surfing the interwebs. Anywho, I'll take a few paragraphs to catch you up. 

Last time I posted I'd just creeped my way into reserving free tickets to the Daily Show, but my frugality does not end there. Oh no! 

Last Saturday, I along with my trusted sidekicks Amanda and Mirei braved the trek to the Bronx Zoo once more. Once again, we got there a little too close to closing time. But because we're cute females like that, the staff let us come on for the last half hour before all the animals went away - FOR FREE. So we took the express lane through all the animals and it was great. Afterwards, we took the train down to Brooklyn. It was my first time in the borough, and it did not disappoint. In all honesty, I fell in love. It's like Manhattan's hipster cousin to the south, and I'm all about that life. 

The first Saturdays of the month at the Brooklyn Museum are free for one and all, which was the nature of our visit. But after so long on the subway, a girl or three can get a little hungry. Recently I've discovered the lazy magic that is Siri on my new iPhone 5, so I asked where to get some eats in that neighborhood. She directed us to a small diner down the street which the three of us were all for and along the way we found some community art, which was another incredible experience to add to my repertoire.

The museum itself was crazy cool, because along with being free there were also concerts and an impromptu break dance competition on the second floor, because you know... It's New York City like that. The museum has a very eclectic, high quality feel to it. And I'd definitely say it's my favorite museum I've been to out here. It has a long history of involvement in Egypt, so obviously there were mummies all over the place, and there was even an exhibit dedicated solely to cats. Meow! 

On the way back, we stumbled into Big Gay Ice Cream after getting off at the Christopher Street stop and Amanda realizing she knew that part of town. It was an incredible, free day. With absolutely no regrets. Except maybe not getting a photo with the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh, and also seeing a lady drop her trousers and uh... Relieve herself... Right there in the PATH station in Hoboken. I definitely regret seeing that. 

Sunday I did a few more caricatures in Central Park and Times Square before getting some homework done. It was a pretty chill day. 

Just yesterday, I had a campus tour and interview with the director of the art therapy masters program at the Pratt Institute's Brooklyn campus. I was running a little late that morning (story of my life) and in my rush to make the train across the Hudson I leapt through the closing doors in one of my most impressive feats of physical coordination to date. Unfortunately, I'm still Danielle, and in doing so, one of my shoes fell off... On the platform on the other side of the closed doors. So there I was on my way to Manhattan... With only one shoe. 

A couple girls attempted to console me by saying they would have offered their flip flops to me if they had them on me, but because I'm the eternal optimist like that I just took it as an excuse to hit up the Shoegasm store just a block from the Mashable office I've gushed over since I started there. I'll take any excuse to go shoe shopping. While I was hobbling down 23rd Street (considering amputating my city-stained feet with every step) a random man on the street yelled out, "LINDSAY LOHAN! WHERE'S YOUR SHOE?!" So uh... that happened.  

After that morning's fiasco, I made it to Pratt no problem. The campus was GORGEOUS, with sculptures, artwork, and design literally around every corner. The art therapy department head was AMAZING and answered all of my questions thoroughly and was also incredibly entertaining. I guess twenty six years of working as a prestigious art school does that to a lady. Furthermore, she joked that there are cats that have stock in the institute, and they sleep all over the campus. If I wasn't in love already, the Pratt cats got me there. Easily one of the places I've felt most at home at since I got here, but hey that price tag might just kill me. So, I'm still keeping my option open. But if there's a way, I might just have to make that happen. 

After Pratt I decided to rectify my mistake by crossing the pedestrian path on the Brooklyn Bridge. I mean honestly, it started as just one of those "you can't go to NYC and not do that" sort of things, but midway through the skies open up and I saw the entire expanse of the city, from the Statue of Liberty to the Empire State Building. In a word: it was remarkable. 

Fingers crossed, I'll be hitting up another borough tomorrow. And toes crossed, it won't take me a few more weeks to keep all you readers waiting. We'll see, stay tuned... 

Oh and... BONUS VIDEO: