The One With Lots of Shows

Oh man, for real where does the time go?! I'm serious. Whoever keeps speeding it up, give it back to me! All right, where did we leave off last time? Oh yes, not so little brother graduated and I headed to back the city again. I only had to wait a few days to see old friends again though, because Memorial Day was just around the corner, and my dear old Trail Maid Katie agreed to come celebrate in the city with me. She lives in Philly now, she it is so easy for us to go back and forth and see each other!

On Saturday morning, we decided to head to midtown to get student tickets (yes, we still use our student ID's all the time) to a Broadway show. We wanted to see Death of a Salesman with Andrew Garfield and Phillip Seymore Hoffman, but when we got in line (3 hours before the box office opened) the theater attendant told us that they had already given out wrist bands for tickets because people had been waiting in line since 11:30- THE NIGHT BEFORE. Ok, I love me some Broadway, but I've never heard of people doing this except for Saturday Night Live tickets (don't try it- you won't get in). Unless it's Brad Pitt on the stage, I'm not waiting all night long. And I might not even wait then. Anyway, we got coffee and traipsed around town to see if there were any other plays we would like to see. We ended up choosing The Best Man, starring James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, Eric McCormick, Candice Bergen, and John Laroquette. Yes, they are all before our time (except for Eric- Will and Grace anyone?) but they are seasoned on the stage and were wonderful. It was Katie's first Broadway show ever! We had a great time.






I also forced Katie to go see the ships at Fleet Week with me. I'd always heard about it and I really wanted to check it out. Yall, it was HOT. I know I'm from south Alabama where it's really really hot during the summer, but this day here was HOT. We were drenched in sweat by the time we had finished touring a ship. But, it was really cool to see so many different ships in the harbor and we toured a carrier and the view of the city from the deck was amazing. (The sailors weren't so bad to look at either.)

The next day we walked down to church, as it was my Sunday to keep the nursery, and then had a fabulous pancake brunch at one of my favorite places on the Upper West Side. We decided to try for the Wicked lottery (Katie was bitten by the Broadway bug and was dying to see the show- as was I) and sadly did not win tickets. She had never been to FAO Schwartz before, so we walked across town to 5th Avenue and explored the famed toy store and the shops on the famed money pit street. After hours of this, our feet were killing and we were hot (yes, it was really hot again) so we decided we wanted to see Men in Black 3. We headed back over to the West side and ate dinner at this amazing little authentic Italian place. Our pasta was homemade and it was delicious. The movie was (to my surprise) really, really good. I definitely recommend going to see it. It's really different than the other two and answers some fundamental questions about the series. On Memorial Day, we packed up a lunch from Whole Foods and had us a little picnic in Central Park. There were a lot of people celebrating and it was a really relaxing way to end the weekend. I love when Katie comes to town!

The next week, I found myself bored on a Wednesday and decided to randomly check The Colbert Report's website to see if they had any tickets for the show left for the day. They had 1 left, and I was the lucky winner! I headed down to my old neighborhood (Hell's Kitchen) and picked up my ticket for the show. They needed one last person to sit on the front row, and as I was by myself, I was the lucky winner again! Yes, I was one of those people who got to high-five Stephen. It was really fun and truly something you can't randomly decide to do in the middle of the week anywhere other than New York. I also caught one of the wristbands he throws out at the beginning of the show, so I got a little souvenir. The whole thing ran really smoothly, and everyone was incredibly nice. Another experience I would definitely recommend!

Next up, two of my sorority sisters are living in New York this summer (Meredith and Virginia), and my good friend Jac Shealy came to visit, so we all went out for drinks and it was so good to see everyone and catch up! That weekend was filled with lots of really good food and great friend time!

I think this catches me up for now. I have some really exciting news coming up next week, and boyfriend is coming to town this weekend for our 2 year anniversary so I will have plenty to post next week! 3A has seen lots of visitors this month already, and we've got a lot more in store :)

HAPPY SUMMER!

Planes, Plays, and Preschoolers on a Rope

My view for the past month

From the end of April to this week, much of my time has been spent traveling, hosting guests, and fun adventures! The end of April/first few days of May, I took a much needed week vacation back home (I hadn't been home since Christmas). I spent a lot of time in these pool chairs giving my skin some desperately needed UV rays.

My slice of Heaven 

I got to see SO many people who I love and miss. Sadly I forgot to take pictures with all of them, but know that you truly warmed my heart!

My Chauncey!

20 years later we're still going strong!

I love my home!

After the resting and relaxing came to an end, I headed back to my other home in the city. I came back to an engaged roommate!! Erica's boyfriend proposed on her birthday, and this meant only one thing for us: A TRIP TO KLEINFELDS. If you don't know what this is, we probably shouldn't be friends. Just kidding (sort of). Kleinfeld's is the dress boutique where TLC's Say Yes to the Dress is filmed. We had a blast, and Erica now has her dream dress in sight! 

They were filming while we were in the store

Also the first week of May, dad came to visit. When he moved me up here in October, he caught wind of the annual 5 Boro Bike Tour, where 32,000 riders come to the city and ride 40 miles through all 5 boroughs. Not only did he fix our air conditioners, but he took us to see Matthew Broderick's new play, Nice Work If You Can Get It. I should also mention it was Cinco De Mayo and Derby Day, so where else would we got but an Irish Pub? (Wait, it's not how normal people celebrate? Oh well!) 

The next couple of weeks, it rained. Literally every day. As I'm writing this, it's raining. I don't understand how it was sunny and hot in March, and the entire month of May has been nothing but rain. The sun has tried to come out a few times, and when it does, we run out to the park! Our part of the park is so stinkin cute. There have been little kid birthday parties consisting of butterfly hunts, lots of puppies, and of course the ice cream man. My favorite time of the afternoon is when the little Pre-K kids go on their walks. They wear bright vests, tied to a rope, and toddle along. They love it.

Time continued to fly by, as it so often does, and it was time to head back down south to watch little brother graduate! To me, he is still 5 years old, but apparently he's going off to college now. My whole family (minus Haley who is interning in Nashville this summer) plus Ellis joined in the festivities. There was no rain in the forecast, but when we pulled up to the (outdoor) stadium for the ceremony, it was a full on torrential downpour with impressive lightening. This turned into us all sitting in our cars for an hour, which made for some pretty hilarious fam time. Finally we went back in the stadium, had a shortened ceremony, grabbed the diploma, and headed to McDonald's to get the new Cherry Berry slushy we had talked about the ENTIRE time we were cooped up in the car. Fast forward to the guy telling us that the slushy machine was broken, and I'm pretty sure we busted his ear drums screaming. Do we sound like hillbillies yet? Either way, it was a blast and brother is now officially off to college. 

 

Whew, I think I'm finally caught up! Lots of exciting things coming soon, so stay tuned!

P.S.-Forgot to mention that we saw Ben Stiller filming his new movie in our neighborhood!

Let's Do A Little Game of Catch Up...

Ok, I am officially the WORST blogger EVER. Shame on me! I now have a month and a half to catch up on! Let's get started and travel back to mid March and journey on:

I truly started to fall in love with my neighborhood around this time. The weather was finally starting to be more cheerful, and flowers started to bloom in the park!

The Reservoir 

Springtime!

 I really, really love our pond

Also around this time, The Hunger Games came out in theaters and Heather and I introduced Erica to her now favorite series. Our movie theater is massive and themed and since the movies are so beyond expensive, seeing the Hunger Games was a treat for us! (yes, we are nerdy):

We found some Quidditch players in the park

March was a strange medical month for my family, as Christopher had an emergency appendectomy (I will spare you the picture my dad thought was "really cool" of his surgery). He and mom came up the week after for his spring break. I had to work, but they got to tour the UN, and the Met, and do lots of fun tourist things. I got to do a few things, some great lunches and another movie outing and the Knicks game! Unfortunately, Jeremy Lin and Amare Stoudemire were put on the injured list the day of our game. Brother was extremely upset at first, but the game was a lot of fun and the Knicks killed the Magic. Not too long after they left, I headed back down south for the first time since Christmas for Jamie and Cameron's wedding! It also happened to be Easter weekend, so the traveling worked out really nicely.

 Jamie was a beautiful bride and it was so fun for me to have a wedding that included both college and high school friends! There is nothing like southern weddings :)

When I arrived back in NYC, spring had completed its transformation! I spent my first spring Saturday lounging in the park. I suspect there will be many more like this by the time summer is over!

 Painting classes in the park! (please excuse my appearance, the onslaught of spring also brought out some rough allergies!)

Picnic at Bethesda Fountain!

By this time, it was time for another 3A birthday! Erica turned 23, and to celebrate, we headed down to Calle Ocho, a fantastic Latin restaurant located in the Excelsior Hotel at the Museum of Natural History.

Yummy desert

Birthday girl!

 So, this gets us caught up until almost the end of April! I'm sure I had more details to add before, but sadly as I neglected my blog, those thoughts slipped away! The rest of this week will be devoted to catching up the last few weeks, with much more details :) Thanks for stopping by!