On Wednesday night I went out with Leigh for a mellow night on the town. ˆ leigh ˆ me ˆ

You know, a couple of flowers in our beers... ˆ leigh ˆ flower ˆ

...a little pony tail action! ˆ leigh ˆ me ˆ ponytail ˆ

Leigh snapped this pic of my trying to see how long I could keep my eyes crossed for. Which ended up giving me a whanging headache. ˆ me ˆ wonky ˆ

Which she thought was funny! The end! ˆ leigh ˆ smile ˆ

On Thursday night, I was walking down Ludlow Street with Grant and one of the girls who was a contestant on the show "America's Next Top Model" passed us and Grant started FREAKING OUT! "That's Mollie Sue! Holy shit, THAT WAS MOLLIE SUE!" (Grant's a HUGE fan of "America's Next Top Model" and he used to come over my apartment every single week to watch it with my roommate Niki). Anyway, he ran down the street and grabbed so he could tell her how much he loved her and so I could snap this photo of them together. ˆ grant ˆ mollie sue ˆ antm ˆ

A few minutes later, we met up with Niki and Grant (who is clearly still starstruck in this photo) was like "YOU JUST MISSED MOLLY SUE! MOLLY SUE WAS JUST HERE!" and then recounted his whole "Molly Sue Experience" for Niki. ˆ grant ˆ niki ˆ

A few days later, Grant's mom (Pauline) and Grant's grandma Pam were in town visiting from England! (FYI, Grammy Pam, who I met back when we stopped in England during our European Vacation, TOTALLY reads this website! Hi Grammy Pam!) I met up with the three of them to do some NYC exploring! Pauline and Pam were pumped, but someone (hint: the guy in the middle) was being a Grumpy Gus! Here we are headed uptown on the subway to... ˆ grammy pam ˆ grant ˆ mrs stoddard ˆ subway ˆ

...The Museum of Natural History! ˆ museum ˆ natural history ˆ wooly mammoth ˆ

We spent a few hours checking out the exhibits. ˆ museum ˆ natural history ˆ

And then after we left the museum, we walked around the grounds and admired the blossoming cherry trees... ˆ bloom ˆ museum ˆ natural history ˆ trees ˆ

...all over the place! Pretty! ˆ bloom ˆ museum ˆ natural history ˆ trees ˆ

Then we headed back down to the East Village and took Grant's mom and Grammy Pam out for dinner at a Japanese BBQ restaurant! Check out Grammy Pam laughing about her chopsticks! I love this photo so much! ˆ grammy pam ˆ mrs stoddard ˆ chopsticks ˆ food ˆ laugh ˆ

Group shot! ˆ grammy pam ˆ grant ˆ me ˆ mrs stoddard ˆ food ˆ

Here we are leaving the restaurant. Grammie Pam couldn't believe we took her to a place where they didn't have forks and you had to take your shoes off to eat. Hahaha. ˆ grammy pam ˆ shoes ˆ

After dinner, we put Pauline and Grammy Pam into a cab back to their hotel, met up with Catrinel and Meredith, and headed back to my apartment for a game of Cranium! ˆ catrinel ˆ grant ˆ cranium ˆ

We played a quick four-person game. Me & Mer VS. Grant & Catrinel. Here's Mer reading off a question! ˆ meredith ˆ cranium ˆ

Oh, snap! Looks like they got a "Sculptorades" question! That's where you have to try to get your teammate to guess the answer to a question by sculpting it out of Cranium Clay with no talking, letters, or gestures! And the answer is... ˆ grant ˆ clay ˆ cranium ˆ

...labia? ˆ grant ˆ clay ˆ cranium ˆ

Here's Team Grantrinel deliberating over a Factoid question. ˆ catrinel ˆ grant ˆ cranium ˆ

And here they are doing "Sensosketch!" That's where you have to get your teammate to guess the answer by drawing on a piece of paper with your eyes CLOSED! ˆ catrinel ˆ grant ˆ closed ˆ cranium ˆ

Grant's the master of the sensosketch! Check out what he drew to get Catrinel to successfully guess the clue "BRAIN STORM!" Keep in mind, he drew this with his eyes closed! (Yes, we watched him carefully! Because, despite all his talent, NOBODY likes to cheat at Cranium more than Grant.) Hahaha. ˆ cranium ˆ drawing ˆ

Here's Cat acting out a "Cameo" question (that's where you have to get your team to guess the answer by doing charades). I have no idea what she's acting out in this pic. ˆ catrinel ˆ cranium ˆ laugh ˆ

I don't think Grant did either. ˆ grant ˆ cranium ˆ

And here's me with a pony tail again! For the second time in this entry! ˆ me ˆ ponytail ˆ

Later that night after we'd finished Cranium, Niki the Roommate came home and Grant reminisced with her about how awesome it was to get to meet Molly Sue from ANTM. Which then led to a conversation about how different girls on the show did in recent episode where they had to walk down a runway in heels...which then led to Grant talking about how good he would've been at walking down the runway in heels...which then led to him suiting up in a pair of Niki's high-heeled boots... ˆ grant ˆ niki ˆ antm ˆ boots ˆ cross dress ˆ

...and showing us all his runway strut! ˆ grant ˆ antm ˆ boots ˆ cross dress ˆ

Hahahaha. ˆ niki ˆ laugh ˆ

There was even a saucy spin-move at the imagined-end of "the catwalk!" ˆ grant ˆ antm ˆ boots ˆ cross dress ˆ

If any casting directors read this, keep the Grizz in mind for America's Next Top Cross-Dressing Model! He's got sass and he's not afraid to show it! ˆ grant ˆ antm ˆ boots ˆ cross dress ˆ

After work on Monday, I walked just a few blocks down the street to a restaurant called Ninja... ˆ ninja ˆ sign ˆ

...to celebrate Vin's birthday! Ninja is a theme restaurant and when you walking in the entrance, all you find is a 5' x 5' room with a hostess and two big, stainless-steel elevator doors. The hostess gets your name, quietly whispers something into a walkie-talkie, and the elevator opens. It takes you down one floor and then you're led to your table (by a ninja!) through a dark, twisty passage where all sorts of other ninjas jump down off of platforms and pop out of trap doors and scare the shit out of you. Here's Vin waiting for the elevator to open! ˆ vin ˆ birthday ˆ ninja ˆ

Here's Aya with the birthday boy! ˆ aya ˆ vin ˆ birthday ˆ food ˆ ninja ˆ

We all ordered differently-themed tasting meals, which each consisted of several, crazily-presented dishes! Here's me with my veggie appetizer. ˆ me ˆ food ˆ

Ooooh! Fancy! ˆ food ˆ

And check out how bad-ass my entre was! A ninja appeared out of nowhere and delivered it in this box that had smoke pouring out of it! ˆ dry ice ˆ food ˆ ninja ˆ

Hahahah. ˆ me ˆ dry ice ˆ food ˆ ninja ˆ

Open the box! ˆ dry ice ˆ food ˆ ninja ˆ

It was some sort of cold noodle dish (surrounded by dry ice). After we were done with dinner, a Ninja/magician came by and wowed us with a few tricks. And then it was time for... ˆ dry ice ˆ food ˆ ninja ˆ

...dessert! Aya shows off her ice-cream and cookie frog sculpture thingy! ˆ aya ˆ birthday ˆ dessert ˆ frog ˆ

And here's Vin with his bonsai tree cake! ˆ vin ˆ birthday ˆ dessert ˆ trees ˆ

On the way out, we totally killed a ninja (only a ninja can kill another ninja!) and took his sword so that we could each pose for an awesome "Holy shit, I'm wielding a ninja sword" photo. Here's Aya. ˆ aya ˆ ninja ˆ sword ˆ

Here's me! ˆ me ˆ ninja ˆ sword ˆ

And here's the BIRTHDAY NINJA! Hahaha. Happy birthday, Vin! ˆ vin ˆ birthday ˆ ninja ˆ sword ˆ

On Thursday night, I went out and met up with Leigh for another really mellow night of making stupid faces. Hahaha. ˆ me ˆ tongue ˆ ugly face ˆ wonky ˆ

Hahaha. ˆ leigh ˆ ugly face ˆ

Yay, wonky eye! (Leigh's really good at making her eyes go in different directions and it never fails to crack me up!). ˆ leigh ˆ tongue ˆ ugly face ˆ wonky ˆ

On Saturday Fatty and I went to go sneaker shopping in Soho and ended up running into a huge anti-war protest that was coming down Broadway. ˆ crowd ˆ protest ˆ

We stood off to the side and cheered on the protesters. ˆ crowd ˆ protest ˆ

Then later that night, I went out to Brooklyn with Meredith to attend some sort of prom party that Blackbook Magazine was throwing at the Brooklyn brewery that Aileen had invited us to! Here's Mer and Aileen. ˆ aileen ˆ meredith ˆ dressed up ˆ

Hahaha. We had a few bee-yahs, then called it a night! ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ

Happy April 2006! ˆ balloons ˆ