New York, New York!!

Well, I got back last night from my NYC trip with Malori and Chet.  I've taken today off work to rest up and unpack and do laundry and such, and it's been a lovely lazy day! =)

So here is a ridiculously lengthy recap of our trip:

Malori got here and stayed with me on Wednesday night, then Chet Lee and Jeffrey Edward came over early Thursday morning.  Chet brought some Airborne tablets (which I excitedly mistook for a pack of mini-M&Ms -- lol) to help keep our immune systems strong.  Jeff was kind enough to drive us to the airport, and we reminisced about our VCGO Vegas trip on the way!  Chet mentioned that he'd looked at the pics of our hotel online (chosen and booked for us by Malori) and said it looked "quaint," so that was hilarious. :)  The Tulsa Airport was surprisingly smooth and fast, and both flights were mainly smooth and motion-sickness-free! :)  We touched down at LaGuardia around 3:30 and took a cab to our hotel.  I'll say more on this later, but some of the NYC cab drivers really scare me!

BFF pic by the big tree!

We checked into our room at the DaVinci Hotel... nice enough - especially for NYC, but as Chet put it, "It's not the Bellagio!"  (Malori says it was European style, because everything there is apparently miniaturized.  This is something I DON'T look forward to when I see Paris and London!  A nice hotel is high on my list of travel priorities, and a reasonable amount of space and cleanliness are HIGH on my list of hotel priorities, and I'm not sure Europe will offer either at a rate I can afford.)  Anyway, Chet and I unpacked and got changed, then we all headed out to walk around Times Square.  We stopped at the Hershey store for a minute, rode the Ferris Wheel inside Toys R' Us, then went to Roxy's for a tasty Italian dinner.  After that, we finally headed over to see the big Christmas tree, which was as magical as I had hoped it would be! =)  We watched the ice skating and took pictures by the tree and watched the light show at Saks, then went into Saks because we'd been told it had a great view of the tree... but the view was totally covered up by curtains... lame!  We walked around Times Square a bit more, went to a little bakery and grabbed some cheesecake, then back to our hotel for the night.  Ugg boots = a terrible decision for walking around in NYC.  I knew I had to go buy some new shoes the next day.

Hershey's Store = one of our first NYC stops. lol

Sleep was elusive.  Our room had the loudest-ever radiator, clanging metal on metal sounds followed by the sound of rushing water off and on through the night! lol  The room seemed to go back and forth between being sweaty-hot to shivery-cold as we tried to adjust the radiator back and forth. lol  (And by we, I mean Malori and Chet, because to adjust it, you had to get underneath the tiny desk in the corner of the room.)  Malori was sick with a cold... she'd had a cold since a few days before the trip, and the coughing, as usual, got worse at night.  I remember hearing the radiator several times and assuming it was almost time for our early 5 a.m. alarm, then looking at my phone and it was only 12:28... UGH!  I now feel more sympathy for those with insomnia.  It was incredibly frustrating!

The Today Show!

So speaking of 5 a.m., Chet and I got up and got ready and headed to the Today Show bright and early.  Well, technically, dark and early.  We stood around for a couple of hours and watched the show, and Chet jumped up and down trying to get on TV. lol  Then we bought donuts from a random street vendor because Chet had heard they were fresh and great... another false piece of advice from an NYC fan! lol  At least it was only $1.  We were freezing and nothing was open... and we couldn't find a McDonald's or Starbucks on any street we turned down, so we finally went into Saks (where the store itself was closed, but their front lobby door was open).  We had to stand up, but we were at least a bit warmer there, so we laughed and ate our sad breakfast there and waited around until 9 a.m.  Then we headed to the Sketchers Shape-Ups store to try to buy me some shoes, but that store literally only sold the Shape-Ups, which are $130 a pair instead of $50 a pair, so we had to walk a few extra blocks to the regular Sketchers store.  My feet were so worn out!  Really unhelpful salespeople (what else would I expect in NYC), but I bought some semi-cute shoes, and that was exciting!  Chet and I took a cab back to our hotel to change my shoes and get Malori, who had opted to skip the crazy-early, crazy-cold fun. lol

Then we took a cab to the Metropolitan Museum of Art... our cab driver was angry at this bus that almost hit us, and he reached back across the passenger side and flipped him off for the longest time... his finger right in our faces, with awkward silence from the three of us sitting in the back.  It became kind of hilarious the more I thought about it, but I tried not to laugh out loud in the cab.  Anyway, we got to the Met and looked around for a while.  I enjoyed most of it, especially seeing the Van Gogh and Monet paintings up close.  I found it really interesting (and by interesting, I definitely mean funny, not enlightening) to listen to the groups around us discussing the mood the artist might have been in when he painted that particular piece.  Oh, the pretentiousness - make it stop! lol  Chet mainly sat down on the benches as Malori and I looked around. lol  Then we got to the modern art section, which was more exciting, but also even more ridiculous.  There was a solid blue canvas titled "The Blue Panel" and a "color study" which consisted of several canvases, each one solid color, displayed side by side in rainbow order.  Ahh, so exquisite - the artistic talent is just overwhelming. lol

Annnnyway, we had lunch there, then walked over to Central Park...

Malori and I on Bow Bridge

I LOVED Central Park!!  I am fully confident that if I were ever forced to move to NYC, I would spend as much time as possible hanging out in Central Park!  It is the only place where things feel a bit slowed down and more simple, the only place where I could really breathe.  We walked around, took fun pictures, saw several memorable movie spots, stood inside the famous Central Park fountain (turned off), and rested there for a while.  It was pure and relaxing in the middle of a city that I find quite over-stimulating, and it made me think of my calendar quote this month, which says, "The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man."   

We shopped in a little marketplace at the park, then slowly walked back to our hotel.  On our walk back, we saw a crowd on a street corner where they were filming a movie... we asked around, and it was a movie called Tower Heist with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller and others, but sadly, no celebrities were in sight.  So we continued the walk back to the hotel.  (We most definitely walked over a half marathon that day. One small perk to living in NY would be being in great shape!)  

We rested and watched TV for the next hour-and-a-half at the hotel, which was fantastic!  When we finally got up again, we ate at Joe G's, our hotel restaurant, which was also pretty great!  Then we headed to the Minksoff Theater to see The Lion King musical, which was fun and entertaining!  I love the Lion King songs and story, but if I'm being honest, I still prefer the animated movie to the people prancing around in lion makeup and headbands.  I know the play was Chet's favorite moment of our trip... he was highly impressed!  I was laughing at the ridiculousness of the dancing goats and the lion headbands, then looked over to see Chet and Malori both tearing up after the opening song and wondered what I had missed. lol  Hmm, I was *not* quite that emotional, but it was good, and I was definitely thankful to be sitting down for that long. That was my favorite part of it! lolol

We got back to the hotel, and Malori was already feeling really nauseated.  Then that night, she got terribly sick. :(  She loves New York more and knows the city better than me or Chet, so it was really sad for all of us that she had to miss out on our last day!!
 

Our view from the Staten Island Ferry

Saturday morning, Chet and I went to Duane Reade Pharmacy (our 3rd time there) to get Gatorade and crackers and such for Malori.  We stopped at the McCafe next to our hotel for breakfast and contemplated whether we could go home a day early. lol  Yes, we were that miserable from lack of sleep + sore feet + a sick roommate + an aggressive city.  Then we showered and got ready for the day.  We were kinda nervous about navigating NYC without Malori, but the lady at our hotel explained the subway system to us, and we didn't have too much trouble!  

We took the subway to the Staten Island Ferry, which was great... it's about half an hour to Staten Island, then half an hour back, and we got some great pictures and had some good time to talk and hang out.  We grabbed some hot chocolate at Starbucks, and Chet finally got his hot dog from a street vendor, then we had lunch at Au Bon Pain, tasty and much like Panera.  After that, we took the subway over to Ground Zero.  Everything was blocked off and there wasn't much we were able to see, but we visited a museum that had the design for the future Memorial, and that was really interesting.  (And one of few reasons I actually might visit NY again in the distant future.)  We tried to find Trinity Church, but no one was helpful with directions, and when we finally stumbled on it, it was 3:57 and they closed at 4:00.  Booooo!  I was so hoping to relive National Treasure in there. lol  Back to the subway again.  We stopped at Times Square and shopped around a bit, purely because we had paid for four rides and wanted to get our money's worth. lol  Then we finally headed back to the station by our hotel.  And to end our eventful afternoon, we stopped at Crumbs, an awesome cupcake shop which I highly recommend... my Devil's Food cupcake was delicious! 

We rested up and told Malori all about our day, then headed to meet Holly Dei and Matthew for dinner at Serafina.  Their friend, Josh, was also with them.  I was really sad Malori didn't get to meet Holly, because I'd love to know how they'd get along.  Dinner was tasty, and it was good to see Holly again, and very interesting to hear about her life and her new plans for the future.  My favorite part was the convo between Holly and Chet about whether it was ridiculous for her to have a tummy tuck right after giving birth.  You probably had to be there for that one. :)  We got a group pic, but Holly made us wait until we were out of the restaurant to do so, because, "C'mon, we don't want to be those tacky people who use flash photography in the middle of a restaurant."  That made me and Chet laugh!  Hello, we are most definitely those people. And proud to be!  :)

So Malori felt much better on Sunday morning after getting a chance to relax.  We got packed and had another breakfast at the McDonald's next to our hotel.  On our way out, we saw a bunch of pigeons standing around, and Chet randomly decided to try to scare them off.  So happy I captured that moment on film... possibly my favorite picture from our trip! :)  Then we took a cab to the airport!  I was wearing a hoodie, which they asked me to remove... but it was all I had on, so I explained that I couldn't remove it, therefore they had to do the infamous airport pat-down.  It was a woman and waist up only, so it wasn't that bad.  The only awkward thing was that it was just right there in the middle of everything with Malori and Chet both looking on.  Umm, awesome.  Needless to say, we were all ready to be home, and for me at least, the flights back felt longer than the flights there.  Brittany met Chet at the airport and drove him back, and Jeffrey brought me and Malori back here. Home at last! :)

I can officially say I am happy that I have been to NYC at Christmas time!!  I love that I've finally seen the big tree, the Met, Central Park, The Lion King, and the Today Show!  But if it isn't clear yet, I would sincerely hate living in New York City.  And unless something drastic changes, I probably will not visit again...

Some would say the city has a great energy, but I would characterize the atmosphere as exhausting and aggressive!  Angry drivers honking at each other and flipping people off every 5 seconds, fast-paced crowds that are way too easy for a slow-walker like me to get lost in, and surprisingly rude and forceful people trying to get us to come to the freaking comedy club.  (Wow, we must've been approached 50 times in one night!  NO.)  All the restaurants are extremely crowded and space is limited, and even the hotels feel cramped.  The whole mood just puts me on edge and makes it hard to really relax and enjoy things (other than Central Park, as I said.)  So yeah, aggressive, cramped... and dirty.  There are several bags of trash piled on random street corners, and as I recall, the smell gets pretty bad in warmer weather.  We searched in vain for a clean public bathroom (no bathrooms at Starbucks or the drug store, and the bathrooms on the Ferry and at the Hilton hotel were disgusting.)  Oh well.  But above all that, the thing I truly don't care for is the arrogant attitude shared by so many New Yorkers - it's irritating, and one of many reasons that I am happy to be back in OOOOOOOO-klahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain! ;-)  

That's all for now.  Good night!