Labor Day weekend, Part I

Last weekend was the glorious phenomenon that is known as the Three Day Weekend.  Ahhh...it just rolls off the tongue, no?  Kind of like I Got a Seat on the Train This Morning or Free Refills.  Yes, the Three (actually in this case, Three and a 1/2) Day weekend is one of the little things in life that just gives you a little pick-me-up and makes your days a tid bit sweeter.

Such was Labor Day weekend.  My friends and I kicked it off with a great start by getting out of the office at 1p on Friday.  Bethany, Lauren, Lindsay Ann, Jeramey and I then headed down to Madison Square Park to enjoy the glory that is Shake Shack.  (It should be noted that Shake Shack is one of New York's finest meals, with the Shroom Burger topping my list of favorite meals EVER.)  After waiting in line for an hour and a half, we enjoyed our burgers and shakes under the last days of summer sun.  

Once we were fat and happy, we visited the other side of the park for a US Open screening in the middle of Madison Square Park.  A large screen and bleachers were set up, the Djokovic match was playing, and American Express had little stadium chairs available for rental.  (Hill Country BBQ was also catering, but heaven help us if we went for seconds.)  We nestled in the grass for a lovely afternoon of tennis and sunshine.  It really was the perfect way to spend the day, minus the fact that I have poor balance, and thus could not figure out for the life of me how to stay sitting upright in the little stadium chair.   I was still content, though, so I bobbled around awkwardly and watched the match, at least until it started raining.

Fortunately for us, the rain came at just the right time, as we were moving on to the movie theater.  What did we see, you might ask?  The Dark Knight?  Tropic Thunder?  House Bunny?  All excellent guesses, but no.  Instead, six friends and I packed out a row at Lincoln Square for Mamma Mia!:  The Sing-Along Edition.  SING-ALONG!  How can you not love that idea?!  It's a movie + a musical + karaoke words bopping along the bottom of the screen.  Seriously, if I could invent a movie-going experience to sum up myself, this would be it.

So there we were, filling up a row and surrounded by equally crazy women and a fair share of gay men, ready and waiting to sing along to 'Honey, Honey,' 'Winner Takes it All,' and, of course, 'Dancing Queen.'  The lingering question remained, though...would people actually sing?  I obviously knew I would (I basically sang and danced throughout the whole non-sing-along version), but the rest of the crowd was a wild card.  That is until the first line popped up on screen:  'I have a dream, a song to sing...'  OH YES, the entire theater erupted into song, and it was amazing.  In fact, I'm fairly certain that the audience chorus actually enhanced any song where Pierce Brosnan was singing.  It was nothing short of glorious.

And so went my beautiful 0.5 day of the even more beautiful Three (and a 1/2) Day Weekend.  Stay tuned for tales from Part 2.  (Teaser:  It involved a train yard in New Jersey, a motel and vampires...)