The City that never sleeps... literally. New York City!

Since my family didn't love me enough to fly me home for Thanksgiving this year, my first year EVER away for the holidays, I was forced to make alternate plans (since being along without turkey to eat sounded miserable). I ended up going back with two friends to Long Island, New York, where they are both from. The drive is only about 4 hours long, and we took the ferry from Connecticut to Long Island, which was really cool. We got in on Wednesday night and later went out to an area on the water known as Port Jefferson. The area was really neat, it was loaded with restaurants, shops, and fun bars. We met up with a bunch of their (Krystle and Stephanie) high school friends at a local bar named Billies. I was pretty tired from the week, but those New Yorkers party hard. The bars in NY don't close down until 4 am... it is INSANE. I was so tired, but we rallied... for a while at least.

Thanksgiving dinner was fun, different not being at home, but it was good considering the circumstances. There were about 10 people over for dinner, and those Long Islanders can be loud! It was really fun to just watch and listen to them all interact with their crazy accents. We ended the night by watching one of the holiday classics.... Home Alone.

Friday morning we explored a little bit of the local area, and then decided to jet off to the city for the night. Stephanie's uncle works on hotels in the city and was able to get us a FREE hotel room right in Times Square!!!! We took the train into the city, Stephanie, Krystle, and I. The train takes only about 1 hour and 15 min and takes you right to Penn Station. We got to the city about 5 PM and set off to explore.

Our hotel was amazing. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard in a newly re-finished room. It could not have been a sweeter deal. We quickly grabbed a bite to eat and got ready to go out. We were headed to this bar on the upper east side known as Pat O'Brian's. It is apparently the "Boston College bar of New York City". They play all of the BC football and basketball games there and lots of BC alums go there to hang out. That night there was supposed to be an alumni event going on too. My friend Krystle also knew the bartender that was going to be there - he is a 2009 graduate of BC and rowed on the crew team with her boyfriend.

The bar was really fun - the people there were fun, but it wasn't too crowded. They had beer pong tables in the back, and since we knew the bartender we got lots of free drinks.... which is always good.

We stayed there for a while, and then left for the hotel about 3:30 am.... these city people were wiping me out. I was EXHAUSTED - I don't know how they do it.... We finally got back to the hotel around 4 am... only to set my alarm for 7:30 since we had tickets to go to the Radio City Rockette's Christmas show the next morning at 9 am. I was SO excited.

Just before we got up I was graced with the best news EVER. My new little beautiful niece, Leila Lyon Miller was born at 4:47 am Pacific time. I can not wait to meet her. I am so excited for Kelly and Robin and am so glad she is healthy and happy. I am going to spoil her like crazy!

We accidentally overslept a little... I wonder why... and had to rush out the door to make the short walk to Radio City. Thankfully we had time to stop for coffee along the way!! :)

The show was absolutely INCREDIBLE. The Radio City Music Hall in and of itself is stunning. It is lined with gold inside and so beautiful. The show was amazing. The Rockettes were so fun to watch and the show was so well choreographed and well put together!! It really felt like Christmas season was here!

After the show we wandered around the city for a bit: we visited Rockefeller Center and saw the tree and the ice rink, wandered up to Central Park and saw another ice rink (Central Park was beautiful - it was a gorgeous day and the light was hitting the trees perfectly), walked along 5th Ave., and just had a fun time exploring.

Around 3 or so, the ever-so-fabulous New York City weekend came to a close.... What an incredible, lively, fun city!!

I will post some pictures soon so keep on the lookout! Missing everyone back home!