I heart New York

I've been back from NYC for a few days now. It has just taken me some time to recover from it! We were so busy and ran, ran, ran all weekend. We started off at 7:30 on Saturday morning aboard the Bolt Bus.

When we got off the bus, we headed immediately to the Manhattan Temple. It was my first time in that temple, and I thought it was just beautiful. It is different than most temples, being in the middle of a large city and all, but it was wonderful. It was amazing the quiet peace that we could feel inside, knowing that just outside was all the hustle and bustle of New York.

After the temple, we hurried back to our hotel to check in. We stayed at the Millenium Broadway Hotel. It was nice, but due to a Priceline mix up, we only had one kingsized bed. No problem, since we didn't really attempt sleeping anyway.

After a quick bite to eat and resting up at the hotel for about 5 minutes, we headed out to see the Broadway show "Wicked." It was incredible!!! When we left, I wanted to go right back in for a second showing.

Sunday morning, we slept in a bit. Well, most of us did. Amanda woke up at the crack of dawn and showered and got ready before the rest of us even knew it was morning. Apparently, she has some sort of self discipline and went to sleep while the rest of us sat up chatting and laughing well into the early morning.

We went to brunch at Jane's and stuffed ourselves with French toast. Afterwards, we went to the matinee showing of "Curtains," which was quite good. During the show, however, I thought to myself that I maybe should have seen "Wicked" last, not first, because I think it set my expectations of other shows a bit high.

During intermission of curtains, Amanda and I left the theatre to sprint 3 blocks to the TKTS booth (discount show tickets you can get day of for about half price). We scored some great seats to "Legally Blonde." I literally laughed my way through the entire show. Great singing and dancing, just what a Broadway show should be. I think I liked it just as much as I did "Wicked."
After "Legally Blonde," we went to dinner at Junior's. It was the first really good food I had had all weekend. Jenni, Jill and I had wonderful salads. Amanda, for some reason - either wanting to save money or calories, decided to order just a baked potato. When the food came, we all enjoyed these:

while Amanda choked down this:

Doesn't it look appetizing? She did, at least, share the yummy desserts with us.

Monday morning, we got up before the crack of dawn to go to a taping of "The View." Since we didn't have tickets, we needed to get there extra early to wait in the standby line. Unfortunately, it was pooring down rain, and we had not come prepared for the weather. Some of us (who shall remain nameless) did not even bring umbrellas. I think those are the same two that got washed over by a rain puddle on the curb when a cab sped by. We ended up at The View soaking wet and freezing. But it was worth it - we got in!!!

We even got to hang out with our new best friend Sherri Shepherd!

A definite highlight of my trip was seeing one of my BFF's Erin. She lives and works in Manhattan and is getting married in July. You know those friends that you have where months can go by without seeing or talking to a person and then you get together and it's like no time at all has passed? Well, Erin is one of those people for me. She's gorgeous and even nicer than she is beautiful. Plus, she introduced me to Scott on a ski slope more than ten years ago, so she'll always have a special place in my heart.
On the way to Erin's, I went on the Subway. I did it by myself, with no directions from Erin or anyone else. I went straight there, and was feeling very independent and confident. Perhaps overconfident, because when it came time for me to leave Erin's apartment and head back to meet my friends for the bus ride home, I somehow ended up in Brookly, with no idea how I had gotten there, and not really much of a clue as to how to get back to the bus. I had a panic attack in the subway, thinking I would get very lost, miss my bus back to DC, and have to sleep on the streets of New York. Somehow, I got myself figured out and made it back to the bus stop in time to both get a ride home and eat some PinkBerry. I'm not sure which I was happier about!

I also leared more about my friends than I ever cared to know. It takes a girls weekend to really get to know a person, and I think I really got to know them this weekend. Who knew that Jill could command such attention with a bat of her eyelids, that Jenni could do a better herky than a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, and that Amanda is a peeping tom?

Thanks for the fun memories, ladies!