Sample Sale Shopping & Other Sports

Shortly after I arrived in NY, Lena asked if I would be interested in going to see a Rangers game with her.  I texted back, "Are you talking about baseball?" before I thought to look it up.  "Oh - ice hockey. Ok! When, where, and how do we get tickets?"  I had to backtrack and decline once I found out that it would be a Stanley Cup final game, at Madison Square Garden, for about $400 a pop.  We did meet up at Bryant Park one evening after work, to watch it with Rangers fans on a big screen.  The energy there was great and I felt no disloyalty to any San Franciscan teams when I rooted for the Rangers (who lost the cup to the L.A. Kings). 

Eduardo, on the other hand, bought a Yankees cap as soon as his plane touched down at JFK, even though the SF Giants reportedly have more Venezuelans playing this year than any other MLB team.  I am excited to see the Yankees and the Mets play in their home stadiums this year, and I'm hoping the food is on par with the Crazy Crabz sammie, my favorite, at AT&T Park.

I can't write about sports in this post without mentioning the World Cup, although I've been watching many of the games this past week, flat on my back, in great discomfort and pain after I threw out my low back.  It might be my body's way of saying either, "Slow down. You're trying to do too much", or as my mom so bluntly put it, "You're not that young anymore!"  In any case, I love watching Messi work his magic and can't get over the image of Luis Suarez holding his teeth.  Least favorite moment: Neymar getting kneed in the back.

Amena and I had signed up to do the "Color Run" on Saturday.  Still recovering from my back issues, we agreed to take it easy by walking it and stopping if necessary (not that I had planned to run it anyway).  We met up in Flatbush, boarded yellow school buses, and arrived at the site.  It says a lot that while the first wave of runners were hitting the starting blocks, Amena and I were perusing the food samples, getting packets of chia seeds, mango fro-yo bars, and honest-tea samples.  While it was a new experience having colored powder thrown all over me, I was most happy to catch up with Amena about life, love, family, and other important topics, over the 5 km walk.  Later, we went for Jamaican food take-out and sat near the lake in Prospect Park.

So how is sample sale shopping a sport, you might ask.  After texting about a Diane von Furstenberg sample sale with Amena, a long-time New Yorker, it occurred to me that sample sale shopping here is surely a sport.  I've been to a few sample sales in California, including a particularly frenzied one for athletic wear with Heather as well as a handbag sale with Emily, who was shocked at the ferocity and fervor of women holding 10 handbags and grabbing for their 11th.  But, as Amena texted me, "the DVF sample sale is not for beginners."  Well, it has been almost 2 months since I moved, and I've tested my sample sale mettle at J. Crew, Ralph Lauren (not really a sale IMO when a plain tank top is marked down 70% and still costs $200), and Yumi Kim.  The simple guidelines I learned from Amena and through my own trials and tribulations: (1) Go tag-team with a friend; (2) Wear a leotard or something like it so you can strip down and try on clothes without having to wait in the long dressing room line (if there is a dressing room); (3) If there are no mirrors anywhere in sight, carry your phone (but you'll have to check in your bag) to substitute as a mirror; (4) Don't get carried away by the blaring dance/house music and end up buying something hideous that you'll never wear; (5) If you do buy something hideous, there's always consignment.