New York City

We got up at 6 am and got our things together for our drive to New York City.  The drive takes about an hour and a half.  When we got to the Lincoln Tunnel traffic began to pile up as people were heading into the city for work.  There was an American flag on the Lincoln Tunnel as we entered it.  In the tunnel, there is a dividing line on the wall separating the New Jersey/New York state lines which was neat.  We made it to the hotel to get our luggage checked in as we made our way around the city.  Thanks to Katy's brother-in-law who works at the W in Dallas, we got to stay at the W Times Square for a discounted rate.  It was awesome!

The W is all about being Modern.

These chairs are cool but lets face it.  My ass is gonna hurt.

We got our luggage squared away and left for our journey to our first stop: Rockafeller Center.  We passed by Radio City Music Hall and NBC Studios (my future work place - we'll I'll be the janitor maybe).  Rockafeller Center wasn't too busy but still full of people.  

After doing a bit of walking around, we got in line to go up to the Top of the Rock.  The line went pretty fast.  However the poor people that work there have to wear the WORST uniforms.  They all look like gay sailors.  Here are some pics of the amazing view:

View of the City & Central Park

The view was amazing, there are three different levels you can view the city from.  Naturally we were all thinking of something that is very common I'm sure.  We discussed the different ways of how people can launch themselves off the top.  Well, thats why they're my friends.  Because we can talk about these things like it's normal.  Cause it is.  Right?  We saw the Empire State Building, Central Park, our hotel and 5 million other buildings.  I started to get a little dizzy though so we headed off to our next destination.  We decided to stop and get something to eat.  This is when I foresaw something I didn't know about one of my friends.  It was both terrifying and gentle.  Both alarming and calm.  Stephanie is scared shitless of birds:

We made our way to FAO Schwartz so we could see the really expensive stuffed animals and play on the piano.  There was a line at the life-size piano so we waited a bit.  I would put up photos but cannot because some people haven't sent out there photos like THEY PROMISED.  FAO was fun but we did our business and got out.  We walked to Central Park and Katy Anne tried to arrange for us to take a carriage ride around the park.  But there was a catch, she couldn't go because they only allowed 4.  Silly, silly girl.  We got off it immediately so we could hang out together.  We walked around the park to see the various sites and people.  There were people laying out, reading, a homeless person sitting on a hill singing at the top of his lungs, runners & people playing sports.  We walked along until we got to a spot to sit and take a break.  

I was started to get a headache of course...  During our break, we witnessed a child and his mother.  The young toddler was having a tantrum and was literally hitting and beating his mother/nanny? in the face repeatedly.  We watched in shock.  We all wanted to get up and beat the kid to a pulp.  We reflected on our childhoods and how our parents would of never put up with that.  However, my stories were a little different.  I always ran away from my parents if I had done something wrong and they were always too tired to chase after me.  Good times.

After our break, we hailed a cab to the Metropolitan Museum of Art/MY HAVEN!  

We decided to meet up in a couple of hours and go our separate ways so each of us could view what we wanted to.  I have been there once before but you could spend a week there and still not see everything!  I decided to hit up Medieval Art, Assyrian & Greek art.  I had studied Assyrian & Greek heavily in college and was excited to see things in person!  I ended up having extra time to I went into the European paintings wing again.  Saw some of my favs: Caravaggio, Turner, Cezzane, Manet, Monet, Seurat & van Gogh.

Norte-Dame-de-la-Garde (La Bonne-Mere), Marseilles by Paul Signat

van Gogh

They were having a Picasso exhibit which was neat.  I'm not a huge Picasso fan but definitely admire him.  I finished up my MET day at the Egyptian area.  I also did a lot of Egyptian research in college but have been through this exhibit once before.  Met up the rest of the girls at 3PM and we made our way to the exit.  There was a man outside singing so Bari & Stephanie proceeded to stare at him.  Then they gave him their money.  They seemed to keep getting suckered into the constant entertainment that was NYC.  We got in a cab and made our way back to the hotel.  I was not feeling well because of my headache.  We had a while before we had to get ready for dinner/going out so I decided to stay and rest while the rest of the girls went to Forever 21 to shop.  I fell asleep pretty quick.  The girls came back, all with purchases.

Of course I took this light fixture and pretended to be a K-Mart Worker:

"Attention K-Mart shoppers..."

I couldn't figure out how to turn the sink on/off.  Fucking Modernism.

My friend from high school, Heather, lives in New York and was going to swing by after work to see me!  I was super excited so I started to get ready for the night.  We were meeting one of Katy's Roadhouse regulars at 8PM in Chinatown for dinner.  He is a New Yorker and was going to introduce us to Chinatown's best food.  Heather came over and hung out.  It was so great to see her!  She recommended us to some great places to go to after dinner!  We were all really excited but pretty rushed.  We finally got to the subway station to make our way to Chinatown.  After some problems with the machines, we all made our way onto the platform.

Glamour shots at the Subway station?  I think so.

We made it to Chinatown where we waited on Katy's regular to meet up with us.  He finally appeared with... another dude.  We all sensed that we were getting ourselves into an eventful evening.  We chit-chatted as we made our way to the restaurant.  This other guy was awkward.  He would make weird comments like "Everything is bigger in Texas", etc.  We finally got to the restaurant which was extremely busy and TINY.  We waited for a table as we all began to sweat.  The other guy suddenly exits and says he is going to the store for 'cigarettes'.  We all get seated as Katy's regular is being a bossy New Yorker and ordering everything for us.  The other guy comes back sans cigarettes.  He says they were closed as he is twitching and staring into space with huge bug eyes like Jeff Goldblum had in The Fly.  I am shocked and begin to just stare down at my phone as I text away.  Bari makes the comment above a whisper as she is staring at my texting: "How do you know its cocaine?"  I looked at Cokey, then looked at her and said: "I'll tell you later."  Katy & Steph make an exit to the bathroom.  When they come back, Steph texts Kellen and says that we are telling them that we are too tired to go out and are going back to our hotel room after dinner.  The bossy New Yorker orders our food as it takes forever to come out.  

Coked-out-of-his-mind guy is staring and randomly making bizarre comments while we all try to act like its normal.  All of the sudden, the waiter comes by and drops two plates of huge smelly shrimp in goop sauce right in front of me.  For those of you that know me, you know what my reaction is.  I immediately begin to get nauseous and almost have to leave the table.  But I keep it together as Kellen quickly moves it out of my face.  I keep making comments that I'm sick so we can get out of this nightmare.  Dinner finally ends as most of us don't eat anything.  We manage to get out of hanging out with them after dinner even after Bari makes the comment of wanting ice cream...  She's slow but I love her.   

As we are leaving my huge wedges hit a crack in the sidewalk.  Well, its over folks.  As Bari describes it, my ankle is sideways on the concrete at one moment while I'm still standing then WHACK.  I hit the ground face forward as my purse and phone fly out of my hands.  And I feel like I'm paralyzed.  I cannot move because my knees are in such bad shape.  My girlfriends manage to get me up but then when I get up and can't stay standing up.  Cokey McGee is screaming: "I saw the WHOLE THING" as workers and people from neighboring buildings are coming out to see if I'm ok.  I say that I'm fine and that I just need a little air as coked-out man yells: "GIVE HER SOME AIR."  Officially the weirdest/worst evening ever.  But in my eyes, a regular Lauren night:

I was bleeding from both knees as the girls cleaned me up.  My hands were scraped but not bad.  My ankle (thank goodness) was fine.  Clutzy Lauren strikes again.  However, I think it scared the fellows off.  We parted ways at the subway stop.  We decided our next move was to one of the bars that Heather recommended.  We got in cabs and jetted off from our Chinatown experience.  The bar was laid back and chill.  Liquor was served in expresso/coffee cups and beers in bottled brown bags.  We chilled there for a little bit but decided to get back to the hotel and go somewhere local so we didn't have a hard time getting home at the end of the night.  We decided on a bar right next to the W.  It was a lot of fun.  We played Jenga and danced into the night.  Bari left early but the rest of us headed back to the hotel at 4:30AM.  Yup, thats how we roll - NYC style.  

The morning came and we had reservations at the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island at 11AM.  Steph & Bari still wanted to go but Katy & Kellen were out of commission.  I decided to go with Steph & Bari since I have been before and I can be somewhat of a guide.  We got on the ferry and it was a rocky ride for all of us.  Being on a boat after drinking all night/morning isn't ideal.  We took our pictures and toured around Ellis Island.  We tried to do some ancestry research but didn't have enough information.  We got back on the ferry and called to meet up with the other girls at the World Trade Center.  We walked there from the ferry passing Wall Street.  We got to the WTC where they are currently building the memorial.  I happened to find the current Memorial Center.  Walking through it was really emotional.  They had a wall up filled with posters of missing people.  

Outside there is a wall memorial:

I recommend to everyone to go visit the current memorial.  It is moving and reminds you of courage, bravery and the pride that comes with being an American.  I cannot wait for the planned memorial to be finished.  After that we walked to the nearby church that survived 9/11 that was built in 1779.  It is where George Washington's inauguration was.  A lot of police officers, firefighters & volunteers stayed here during recovery efforts and slept in the pews.  We got in cabs and returned to the hotel to get Katy's car.  We ventured to get some real New York pizza to eat on the drive back.  We headed back to Philadelphia because Stephanie had to make her flight.  That's a whole different blog in itself...  haha, Love you Stephanie!

Dropped Stephanie off at the airport and headed to South Street in downtown Philadelphia.  We did some shopping but most of the stores were beginning to close.  Katy took us to Pat's and Geno's which were notorious for the best cheesesteaks in Philly.  We also encountered this running group that has a couple people running ahead of them leaving flour (literally) directions of how to follow them.  Then when they get to there destination, they drink a Pabst.  Kellen & I indulged.  Well, let me rephrase.  We drank a Pabst but did zero running.  These groups do there run then head to the bar afterwards.  It's my dream group.  Minus the running part.  We later grabbed a beer then headed back to the house.  Time to recuperate!

"I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out.  I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich.  I love that you get a little crinkle about your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts.  I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes.  And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night.  And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve.  I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

-Harry Burns played by Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally