One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years...
This was my week, in an email to Sarah Reid:
I figured since we haven't been talking much lately, since we've both been so busy, that we should reinstate the emails for a little while. Here's my break so far:
On Tuesday, I looked really cute in the airport. I wore my booties and grey skinny jeans, and a black shirt layered with a teal tank - it was cute. I even got up early to do my hair! And that meant getting up at 5:30. Yeah, that's commitment my friend. Anyhow, by the time I even GOT to the Columbia airport, my feet hurt. But oh well, since I looked cute. I sucked it up, and flew to Atlanta. Which reminded me that I really want to go to Atlanta and see the darn place, and go to a Braves game and the CNN building, etc, etc. I don't know if I told you any of this - when was the last time we talked? Anyhow, my aunt was flying home from Hawaii that day, and we were in Atlanta at the same time, so we met up and had coffee and went our separate ways. Then we flew into Dulles. I could actually see the mall AND our favorite Starbucks from the sky. Never thought there would be so much to miss about Woodbridge! Then mom bought me some lunch and I got home, hauled my crap up to my (clean!) room. Then five minutes later I left. Haha.
I went to the school to watch One-Act Play Rehearsal. The minute I walked into that school I saw a million people I knew. But I definitely felt out of place, like there's no room for me at that school any more. It's really odd to try to rekindle friendships, especially since I didn't talk to most of these people the entire time I've been gone. So after that me and SJ and Christina went to Starbucks, then dinner at this local restaurant called Armettas. Then the choir concert was that night. I never realized how freaking LONG those concerts are! But when Troubs went up to sing Carol of the Bells with us alumni, that was awesome. That song is just so amazing. I missed the rest of Troubs performance because the former troubs were all out in the hallway talking and catching up. After the concert I talked to like a squillion people, and then went home at the respectable hour of 9:30. Haha.
The next day I pretty much just stayed home, except for a few errands in the morning, like mailing your present, eating Chipotle, and buying gift cards for peeps. On Thursday, me and mom drove up to that theatre where you and I saw Pirates 3, and saw Atonement, which was all kinds of amazing. Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory, and I had the Godiva cheesecake. SOOOO effing good.
Friday I had planned a dinner at my gifted teachers house - she's Caribbean, so she cooked all this fabulous food for us. And it was so great to have stimulating conversation again. That was one of the best nights home so far. Good company, good food and good conversation. And people I actually cared about seeing.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. About the best days of my little life. Early Saturday we drove in Chinatown in DC to catch our bus. It left around 8 and we got to NYC by noon. And the bus was only $40 round trip. Anyhow, we were dropped off in Madison Square Garden. We walked a bit to Times Square and saw the MTV store and TRL studios (not like we really cared), went in the giant Toys R Us, saw the Macy's Christmas windows, the Hershey store, all the jumbotrons. It was such a bombardment of sounds and lights.
Our hotel was a few blocks away so we walked there and put our stuff down. Then we walked to Rockefeller Centre and saw the Christmas tree!! And the ice skaters. That was amazing - like quintessential New York City. Then we saw the NBC store so of course we had to stop in! They had an entire Office section, and an SNL, Friends, Heroes - basically any NBC show you could think of. Next time I go to NYC, I have to take the studio tour. Ooh, also while walking around we saw the David Letterman show sign. Next we saw Radio City Music Hall. After all this we walked back to hotel to rest our feet. We watched a couple hours of the Discovery channel. =P
Then we had to meet the Jones' cousin who is in the show for dinner. We were going to go to this place called Juniors, but the wait was too long, so we went to this little restaurant/bar called Social. I had a really yummy burger and famazing fries. We asked their cousin if Matt Damon was ever at the show, since Jennifer Garner leads to Ben Affleck, which leads to Matt and OMG he said Matt was there FRIDAY NIGHT. Grrrrrr. And according to my fave celeb gossip site ONTD, he was there Saturday too. In the city, not at the show that is. So we walked to the theatre, and saw a ton of other signs for shows like Spamalot, Mamma Mia, The Little Mermaid, WICKED, just tons of them.
The show was really fab, except for Jennifer Garner. Kevin Kline as Cyrano de Bergerac was so wonderful! And I never realized what great lines that show has - but then again I have never seen it. So after the show we were supposed to meet up with their cousin. He told us to go to the stage door and find Jimmy and tell him who we were. There was a big crowd already at the door, so Mr. Jones yelled to this guy "Are you Jimmy?" and he was, and then we got to walk through the crowd and go backstage! It felt so cool, like everyone was wondering who are they?! We went through the stairs backstage and ended up onstage, which was awesome. I mean we were on a broadway stage! And me and my friend SJ looked around and marveled at the prop table, and the scenery. Then their cousin came out, and we met one guy from the show. We didn't meet Kevin Kline or Jennifer, but I didn't really mind. We walked back to the hotel and INSTANTLY crashed.
The next morning we had some Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and then left for the subway. We rode the Subway to Central Park. There was a little Christmas market set up, so we looked around their for a bit. Santa was there, and in typical New York fashion, he was promoting a book called "When Santa Turned Green", a picture book about the environment. Anyhow, he gave us directions to FAO Schwartz, so once we walked around the park a bit, and saw the ice rink, we found FAO. We got pictures with the Toy Soldiers out front, and then went inside, saw the giant piano from Big and shopped a bit. FAO was SO much nicer than Toys R Us. Plus we were on the Upper East Side. What could be better. Then we looked at the windows of Bergdorf Goodman - which I've decided once I get some doggies, I'm going to name them Bergdorf and Goodman. Ha!
Then we took the Subway back, went to the hotel to get our stuff since it was checkout time, then we went to this place called Papaya and had some amazing hot dogs for lunch. After that we took the subway all the way to the Staten Island Ferry, took that out so we could see the Statue of Liberty, then took it straight back. We got off the Ferry and walked to Ground Zero which is literally a hole in the ground, but still really fascinating to see. Then we had to start the LONG walk to Chinatown to catch the bus back to DC. It was about a mile of walking - with all that crap in my bag. But we made it, hopped on the bus and away we went. We were back to DC around 10:15, and I was home by midnight. New York was just amazing, spectacular, fabulous, and I cannot wait to go back. Hopefully with TOI.
Love you dearly. I am currently wrapping Christmas presents for people, then I have to go out and buy another for my dad. Hope you have a fab Christmas! Write back soon! Au revoir.
Love, Lizzie