Thanks to Facebook memories, I realized this week is the nine-year anniversary of my very first visit to New York City, a trip my mom and I went on for my ~golden birthday~ (14 years old, baby!!). This trip set the stage for me wanting to move here to be a Broadway S T A R, and I think it’s only fair that I walk you all through this life-changing vacation.
Obviously, Debbie and I stayed in Times Square as that was the #1 place I wanted to visit. This also gave us convenient access to the Broadway shows I chose to see — Chicago, Wicked and Mary Poppins. Prior to this trip, I had already seen Wicked TWICE, but it had to be so much better on Broadway, right?! Sure, whatever. (Now I’ve seen Wicked six times? Seven, maybe? And it does keep getting better, so I guess I was onto something).
On the first night of our trip, we went to a post-show dinner at The Standard, where I met Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl). The sinks in the bathroom there are super hard to turn on, so my mom helped him and then asked if he’d take a picture with me. Best wing-woman ever, even though I didn’t watch Gossip Girl at that point and had no idea who he was.
Taken with my Blackberry!!
After that, our trip consisted entirely of musicals, shopping and food. We might have gone to the Guggenheim, but I apparently did not document that. Instead please see below for some cute pics taken in an Anthropologie changing room with my lime green digital camera I thought was soOOOo cool (it was).
This trip got really exciting when we arrived at the airport and discovered our flight home had been delayed for two hours. Two turned to four, turned to six. Eventually our phones were about to die (because in 2010, apparently phone chargers weren’t an essential carry-on item). We had to go back through security to find new chargers and eat lunch (because the Newark airport SUCKS), and a nice security woman let me borrow her Blackberry charger for a bit, so we wouldn’t have to buy a new one.
Ultimately, our 11 a.m. flight got cancelled at 10 p.m., so we got our luggage back and returned to the city. It was my actual birthday at this point, so we celebrated with midnight crème brûlée at Pastis, which was, for the record, supposed to re-open a year ago but it still has NOT and I am very disappointed. Anyway.
I wore this Wicked jacket every day for the next six months
The next morning, we found out I had been booked on a new flight, but my mom didn’t make the cut. She decided not to send me back to the hell that is the Newark airport on my own, so we spent another day in the city, venturing down to FiDi to admire the Statue of Liberty from a distance and visit our friend Erleen at work.
still cannot believe Debbie let me take this picture
F I N A L L Y we were able to fly home that night, only a short day and a half after we were supposed to leave. Somehow, after all of that, I still thought, “yeah this place seems really cool let’s go back.” And visited maybe nine more times before ultimately moving here. I only fly out of Laguardia now, though. Newark sucks.