As I promised I would begin with Heather and my trip to the premiere of the Radio City Rockette's Christmas Spectacular! It was fabulous, and we felt super New York going to an opening night.
I'm a little behind on my blogging (again) so lucky for yall I have a lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing to do but update my little online diary! (Also, this helps me stay off Twitter and other social media where everyone is going nothing but arguing about whether or not Alabama will make it to the National Championship. Sheesh people.) After Ellis left, I had 5 days to prepare for mom's arrival. She got in early Saturday morning, and we started exploring immediately. If you know my mom, she doesn't sit still. We are not exactly alike in this aspect. So we went out and began our tourist weekend. Mom had never been to Top of the Rock, and as it is, in my opinion, the best views of the city, I was on board with this idea. Plus it's only 2 avenues over so it's a short walk! (See above picture)
After basking in the magnificent views, we headed to the Upper East Side (via a short trip up 5th Ave. for some window shopping) to meet with Heather and try out Serendipity! In case you don't know, it is a quirky tiny restaurant with loads of character that serves the world famous "Frozen Hot Chocolate". Also, a movie was made about it starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack. If you haven't seen it, check it out and you'll see what I'm talking about! Well, the wait time was 2 hours just to get the drink. Luckily, Bloomingdales and Dylan's Candy Bar are on the same block (coincidence? I think not). As mom had never been to either of these, we overwhelmed her with the pure amounts of sugar at the candy bar, and took in some holiday cheer at the famed clothier. We headed back to Serendipity, and we got in a little early! Being the chocolate connoisseurs we are, we each ordered a different version of the frozen drink: original chocolate, peanut butter, and mint chocolate. After much consideration, we decided peanut butter was our favorite!
After we were filled to the brim with chocolate goodness, we had to catch a cab to make it back to my neck of the woods for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring...wait for it... HARRY POTTER! Ok, actually it was Daniel Radcliffe, but that counts right? I have been begging people to go with me to see it because he is leaving soon and it will be Joe Jonas, and who wants to see that?! After some reluctance, she agreed. I was feeling great finding us decently priced seats and went up to the box office to pick them up, while the lady just stared at me and told me we didn't have any on file for that night. Turns out, I bought them for the NEXT Saturday. Wow. Being the great mom she is, we bought the only good seats they had left for the night, which were a tad more expensive than my cheap nosebleed seats. We got lucky because they were about 6 rows back from the stage and were awesome. I'm here to tell you the boy can act! He did a fantastic job and it was really evident he loved what he was doing and gave it his all. We laughed hysterically throughout the whole thing. Needless to say, mom was glad I talked her into it. We waited outside after to meet the cast, but hundreds of screaming teenagers kept me from meeting Harry, uhh... I mean Daniel. However, we did get to meet John Laroquette, who mom loves. Here's my (illegal) picture of him talking to us after the show:
On Sunday, I, in true only me fashion, woke up with a head to toe rash from an allergy to a medicine. After dousing myself in benadryl cream, we headed down to the Meatpacking District for our lunch reservations at the Spice Market. It's right across from where I work and I've been wanting to go so I was really excited mom suggested it. Heather met us and we, yet again, gorged ourselves on fine food. It was beyond delicious, and we ordered lots to try from. I showed them where I work, then we headed to Chelsea Market for a bit of shopping. Mom had really been dying to hear Tim Keller preach (we use his stuff a lot at church in Fairhope, and he is the pastor at mine and Heather's church), so we headed to the UWS for the 5:00 service. After leaving satisfied, we headed home and conked out for the night. Monday I had taken the day off to be with mom, and I woke up to a much worse rash. What would her trip be without an ER visit right?! I am happy to say that the ER here got me in and out in under 45 mintues. On Thanksgiving week. Truly unheard of. They dosed me up and the rash started clearing in less than an hour! We then headed to Macy's for many many hours. Tuesday I went to work, and met up with mom and 2 of her high school friends for dinner at Hundred Acres in SoHo. It was, yet again, delicious. Wednesday we headed to the airport to go to Atlanta for Thanksgiving.
As we were the next in line to take off, on time, on Delta, the day before Thanksgiving, we are told that we have to return to the gate for a passenger. Some man was having a "panic attack" (I know panic attacks, and he was not having one. He was beyond calm, no sweating, no heavy breathing, nothing) and needed to get off the plane. It "happens to him all the time." Uhhh then why are you flying on the busiest travel day of the year?! After a mockingly unapologetic "apology" from the man, we got back in line and finally took off. Thanksgiving was too fast but so much fun to be in Atlanta with my family! I truly missed them all and am so grateful to my uncle for buying me a ticket!
Stay tuned for some big news later this week, and also, Megan (my college roommate) is moving up a week from today to be our new intern! Happy December everyone! :)
It is fabulously spectacular. After employment was out of the way, we started frantically searching for a place to live. Now, this would be really easy in practically any other part of America. However, finding my third apartment in 3 months as well as hunting for a new office location for our company put me in real estate hell. Seriously yall, brokers here have a special ring in hell dedicated to them. They are the slimiest human beings I have ever come in contact with (definitely no Christmas spirit with them!). Aside from it being just me and Heather, my college roommate Megan moved up here and is now our new intern! So after looking at multiple beyond small 3 bedroom apartments, I stumbled upon a 3 bedroom for rent by owner. Jackpot! This meant no brokers fees, no paying for walls to be put up to turn it into a 3 bedroom, and best of all, it was in our price range. After Megan had been in NYC a whopping 45 minutes, we drug her (drug literally...she was still on a relaxant from her fear of flying) to an open house for an apartment on the Upper West Side... on Central Park West. Love at first sight. It has original hardwood floors, awesome big windows that we can turn into window-seats to read in, lots of light, half a block from the subway, and did I mention it is on Central Park West?! Let me reiterate by showing off this view:
