the big apple!

I can finally say that I've been to New York! What a fun, crazy trip. So much to see and do it's overwhelming. I flew out on a red eye with my friends Natalie, Kerrie, and Angie last Thursday at 11:30 pm, and we arrived at JFK at 5:45 am New York time (so 3:45 am at home). None of us could fall asleep on the flight, so we were beyond tired! Lucky for us, the hotel had a room for us early...upgraded too at no extra charge! I think they were jut trying to find a way to get us out of the lobby where we were laying around like a bunch of homeless people! What an amazing surprise when we opened the curtains in our room and saw the Chrysler Building. "It's just like in the movies!" Kerrie said.

We decided to go explore before we took a nap, so we grabbed some bagels and headed up to Rockefeller Center to see the Today Show. We spotted Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer (who looks like a combo of a grasshopper and Mr. Rogers I decided), then we walked to Times Square where we hopped onto the red bus tour. We were so tired, so it was perfect to get an overview of the city without having to walk anymore. We sat on top of the double-decker and enjoyed the sunshine! We took a nap in the afternoon, then ate dinner at an Italian restaurant near the hotel. The bread and salad were AMAZING but the pasta wasn't that good, dang it! Kerrie and Natalie had tickets to see Wicked that night, so Angie and I did our own thing and went to see the new Tim Burton, "Alice in Wonderland." The theater was five stories up in a building at Times Square. After the show, we tried make-up on at Sephora until about 11:30 pm...so much fun!

Saturday we slept in until 11am (gasp!). So we had to hurry and get ready...after all, it was our shopping day! We spent the first part of the day just grabbing some pizza and shopping at H&M, and later we headed downtown to Canal Street. I wasn't as good at bartering for purses as Kerrie was, but I still got some cute bags at decent prices. I had never been so scared in my life until that evening as we were trying to find our way out of Scaryville...especially on the subway when the doors shut and two big guys announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the interruption..." At this moment I thought they were going to pull out the guns and tell us to toss them our wallets and then we would all die. I squeezed Natalie's arm and we all stared at the ground. They went on, "But we are homeless and haven't eaten today, we would appreciate any money you give us." I never felt so vulnerable in my life, trapped in a moving subway. Kerrie whispered, "We are getting off on the next stop, I don't care where it is." And we did. At one point that night, we had hot dogs for dinner at Gray's Papaya, along with some yummy coconut drinks. Then we had a Michella Obama sighting and Kerrie yelled, "Tell your husband to stop ruining this country!" or something to that effect. Haha! And we eventually made our way to Serendipity for Frrrozen Hot Chocolate! Well worth the one and a half hour wait.

Sunday morning Angie and I walked up to the Museum of Modern Art, and passed St. Patrick's Cathedral on the way. At the Museum there was a Tim Burton exhibit going on, and this was one of the main things I was excited to see on the trip...which is why I'm sick to my stomach that I didn't actually get to see it! The museum was absolutely packed, and the tickets for that exhibit were like Disney Fast Passes. We got there at about 12 pm, but our tickets for Tim Burton were for 3 pm! And that was the same time we had tickets for Mary Poppins on Broadway. I wish now that I'd stayed at the museum, even though I really liked Mary Poppins. It's just that I'll probably never get a chance to see that exhibit again. It's moving to Australia after April. So I'm sad. After I got home I read online about the exhibit...so amazing! The original costume Johnny Depp wore in Edward Scissorhands is there, the puppets from The Nightmare Before Christmas, handwritten letters between Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, and all of Tim Burton's sketches, paintings, and sculptures from the last 40 years, etc. Ugh.

So that was the saddest part of the trip. But I think my favorite part was just being with my friends, having a long weekend of sleepovers, laughing, and girl talk, and just having a little break from my usual routine. But I was so excited to get home when the time came. I couldn't wait to see Clayton and the kids, and driving into Herriman was so refreshing after being in such a big city! My house felt extra nice and big, after seeing all the apartment buildings in NY. Clayton did an awesome job taking care of things, and even made Swedish pancakes, brown sugar bacon, and Orange Julius on Sunday morning. He's so cute, he said, "Heath, you have a hard job!" after being in my shoes for a few days.

I'm so happy I could go on this trip, make some closer friendships, explore a new city, and finally come home to a big hug from Olivia!