I got a taste of home when Jen came to visit over Veteran's Day weekend. It was nice to see a familiar face and show her around New York - from an insider's view, not the normal tourist stuff. We covered a good amount of ground - Times Square, Herald Square, the East Village, Central Park, Gramercy and of course our local neighborhoood. Makes me look forward to Jen and Kim coming to visit over New Year's!
Thanksgiving was quite the experience! First we were so excited to find out about a company called Fresh Direct. After getting referrals from a couple friends we decided to try it out for our Thanksgiving grocery shopping needs. We jumped online and started loading items into our cart. I closed my eyes as I hit the check-out button - I was worried what the damage was. Imagine our surprise when the total was only $120! Needless to say we decided to add on a case of wine. And we still ended up well below the $200 mark. And when the guys delivered the goods they carried it up the stairs for us! This will no doubt be our new go-to for grocery shopping.
Lucy and I decided early on that we wanted to go to the parade - and we were determined to stick to the plan. We ventured to the Upper West Side the night before to view the staged balloons with our buddy john. After seeing the crazy amount of people waiting around we bailed on that idea and set out for cocktails and dinnerr. On our subway ride home we encounered a typical panhandler (everyday sight in NYC). It should be noted that John & I had a run-in with one on the first subway ride that night. I've mastered the blank "I'm not interested in your schpeal" look. John even complimented me on it :)Anyways, back to the guy on the way home - he approached saying he had just got out of the hospital and needed money for food. Plus, he was sporting a faux-lookng boot on his right foot. He approached me and didn't seem happy with my lack of sympathy and failure to providde money for his cause. The train pulled into the 33rd St station (our stop) and as we made our way to the stairs the guy fresh out of the hospital with his foot in a boot went running by us - taking the stairs two at a time. We stood at the bottom of the steps laughing with the other riders behind us. The best part was as we exited the subway he was hailing a cab and hopping in. So really, he didn't need the money for medical bills or food. He just wanted to catch a cab instead of riding the train. Lesson learned from this hysterical incident: The city is one big scam. Keep your guard up.
Thanksgiving Day was a success overall. We managed to pull ourselves out of bed at 6am and made it out the front door by 7am. We packed our fresh baked cinnamon buns, bananas and thermos' of bloody marys and mde our way to the parade. As luck would have it we scored a great spot off of Central Park West and 66th. After the parade we made our way home, put the turkey in the oven and went back to bed for a few hours. I eventually got up and pulled the rest of dinner together and opened up some wine :) The home cooking was just what we needed.
Now it's time to move onto the Christmas festivities the city has to offer. The store windows are decorated with funny Christmas themes and it feels like it could start snowing any day now. We finally both ordered decent down winter parkas in a last effort to prepare to live in this weather for the next three months.
Our New Year's resolution: to keep everyone back home updated on a more regular basis :) We'll take this to heart and start in December.
Cheers!
Victoria
