It's crazy how many people I know in New York who were raised in Oregon... Anyways. A friend of mine and Abby's from high school is currently living in Chicago, he's Abby's best friend and came to New York for 5 days! He and Abby stayed at my place and by golly did we do a lot.Thursday morning we had to wake up at 5:40... but for a good cause! We had to get up early enough to make it to Upper Manhattan in time for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Of course we needed some seasonal caffeinated beverages from Starbucks before standing in the tourist crowded cold. The parade started at 9:00 so we only had to wait for about two hours before it started -- which wasn't bad because we had a lot of jokes to tell and a lot of catching up to do.
I personally don't watch the parade on TV every year, so I didn't know what to expect. The marching band started playing, the clowns starting walking, and the floats started driving. The balloons were huge especially when the wind would start to knock them over and you'd have to brace for potential impact! The marching bands were phenomenal, the balloons were beautiful, and the crowd was wild. I enjoyed the SpongeBob, star, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Pikachu balloons the best. The parade felt as though it went by fast however, by the time it was over it was only 10:30!
To be honest I don't remember the majority of what we did on that Thursday. The most memorable visit was to the World Trade Center. It was a long haul downtown but it was well worth it. The memorial fountains are beautifully engraved with everyone's name who passed during 9/11. The park service keeps track of everyone's birthday and puts a flower out on their names. On 9/24 there were about 7 birthdays; I didn't know this but you can Google the names engraved around the memorial (or on the memorial flag) and it takes you to a blurb written about them by their family. It's beautiful. For our Thanksgiving feast we went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant and had a "feast for three". The food was delicious -- the spices, the textures, the sauces -- all of it. After walking all up and down Manhattan we were all a little loopy and drew a lot of attention to ourselves while irrationally laughing in the restaurant. After 30,000 steps taken, we earned a good night of sleep.
But! We didn't get it. We decided to watch The Titanic until 2am instead and then proceeded to wake up at 7am. Abby and Matt are vegan so we found an amazing vegan doughnut shop to go to for breakfast, honestly they tasted better to me than regular doughnuts. Friday was a lot: doughnuts, puppies, shopping, pizza, Central Park, The Met, Whole Foods, and a lot of walking. After only 5 hours of sleep and 30,000 more steps, I was pooped. Matt, Abby, and I went back to my place and cooked some dinner before watching The Never Ending Story.They left early Saturday morning to have a day to themselves before Matt had to go home. All in all I had an amazing time exploring different parts of the city and partaking in many tourist activities. I'm still feeling good, I realized after eating doughnuts and pizza and junk that what you eat really does take a toll on your body. I'm happy to be eating yogurt and granola for breakfast, quinoa stir-fry for lunch, and veggie patty's for dinner this week. I'll be happy to go back to the gym tonight and I'll be delighted to get on an airplane in 24 days.
I'm still feeling great and I know that it'll last because it's completely intrinsic. I've been spending a lot of time just thinking about the person I'd like to be, the things I'd like to do, and the way I'd like to feel; it's been helpful.
Also! I'll be posting a few pictures from this weekend on my Google+ account which you can view by clicking on my name in the top right hand corner!
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