New York, New York!

This past weekend, some girlfriends and I took a trip to the Big Apple. It was a nice getaway, but just enough time to realize how much we love our husbands and life in the rolling hills of Virginia.

On our first day we slept for only 4 hours so that we could wake up and go see a taping of the Regis and Kelly show. Unfortunately by the time we got there we discovered that they weren't even taping that day. We were pretty bummed, so we walked from there over to Rockefeller Center to see the Today Show. After a quick bagel and some hot chocolate we walked down 5th Avenue and made our way towards Canal Street for some bartering. Though it was really sketchy walking up 7 flights of stairs into what looked like sweat shops to see some knock-off purses, we had a fun time. From there we walked up to Greenwich Village, had lunch at a swanky restaurant, then walked over to Magnolia Bakery for some of their famous cupcakes. Afterwards we headed down to the WTC site. Though most of the area is blocked off and under construction, it was a very somber scene. We thought we'd take a stroll past Wall Street before we headed up to Times Square to see it at night.

By the time we were done at Times Square we headed back to Harlem to Angie's brother in-law's apartment. He and his roommate were so nice to let us sleep there! They live in an older building in a more ghetto part of town and if you were to judge it by the hallways of their building you'd probably say it was disgusting, but the inside of their apartment was gorgeous! Anyway, we were all so tired and all our limbs were so sore so we got a good nights rest and slept in 'til about 8 or 9.

We felt refreshed the next morning and took our time getting ready for our day. We decided to eat at Ellen's Stardust Diner, where your wait staff sings Broadway to you while you dine. It was pretty funny, even though the prices were outrageous and our waiter was particularly snooty. From there we had about an hour or so before Wicked started so we walked around the Theater District a little bit. The show started at 2 so we headed over a little early and left Angie to roam the streets of NY by her lonesome. She ended up staying at Macy's the entire time we were in the musical. Kat, Cheryl and I didn't sit close to one another, but we all still really loved the show. It was so good! Even if I was in the nosebleed section of the theater, I felt fairly close. The music, set, voices and everything was amazing!

After the musical was over we all met up with Angie and walked around before we met up with her brother in-law for diner. We ate at this modern chic restaurant in Chelsea called Cafeteria. The food was delicious, but the service was ridiculous. I think our waiter talked to us once, and that was to take our order. Needless to say that punk got a crappy tip. It was pretty late by the time we were done with dinner and we still wanted to go on the ferry to see the cityscape. We didn't end up getting on the ferry until 10:30, but once we were out on the water, it was worth the wait. I wish my camera could have taken a better shot of the view, but since it was so dark and the boat was so unsteady, I only got about one decent shot. We took the long subway ride home that night and got to bed pretty late.

The next morning we woke up, packed and got ready for our last few hours in the city. We took the subway in and got some breakfast (well Kat and I got lunch at Subway). When we met back up with Angie and Cheryl in Starbucks they pointed out that Renee Zellweger was sitting at the next table. We were all a little star-struck, but acted completely nonchalant about it. While waiting in line for the bathroom I was about 2 feet from her and overheard her and her friends talking about Bridget Jones's Diary and Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 documentary. It was pretty cool, though I never ended up talking to her. Cheryl offered her and her friends our chair when we left and she said thank you, but that was the extent of our conversation with Renee. Still, pretty cool! We took a little stroll through Central Park before we headed out and met a couple teenage girls who took our pictures and asked us about the Church a little. We probably weren't the greatest of examples since we were skipping out on Church, but it's always nice to share a little bit with perfect strangers.

We ended up heading out around 2 and made it home by 8. I may be a little more broke than before, but I think it's going to have to become a yearly tradition to take a girls trip to the city. We all had such a great time together and I realized that I am really going to miss these girls when I move to Rochester! Luckily NYC is just a hop, skip and a jump away.