I heart New York...

So this past weekend, I went to NYC to visit Kimmy for a long weekend. It was great to have a local to guide me around and of course she's always fun to hang out with. We had a wonderful time just walking around, shopping at Chinatown, haggling, eating ice cream and seeing shows, etc. I think one of my favorite parts was just walking around in Times Square and 42nd street the first night I got there. It was hotter during the day than I would've liked (after all I was trying to escape the Texas heat) but at least it never hit 100 degrees... so I guess I can't really complain; the evenings were generally the perfect temperature.

This was only my second visit to NYC, but it was probably the best. The first time I went my mom was so worried that someone would mug and/or kill us that we didn't get out and do as much as I'd hoped we would. We did see quite a few shows though, so it has a leg up in that department. My most recent visit was more relaxing and laid back, so it felt more like a vacation than a sight-seeing, pack-it-all-in kind of trip. I actually spent quite a bit of time roaming the city by myself, which was great and amazingly I never felt unsafe. I loved going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and being able to look at it all at my own pace and with my own soundtrack (provided by the "shuffle songs" feature on my ipod mini); I highly recommend it! On the cab ride over, the cabbie asked me about art and what my favorites were... and then said, "perhaps you will be an artist in a future life; you never know, you could be an artist inside." It was really cute, and took me by surprise how persistent he was in this belief. I have always wanted to try out be an artist, but never got to take the classes (too many other fine arts classes). If med school doesn't work out, maybe I'll go to photography school (and/or be a back up singer, of course)!

I did some shopping on Fifth Avenue to pass the time (I stayed out of the hoity toity "designer" shops; I've seen "Pretty Woman" and how they can sense "those who don't belong"!) I got a really cute skirt at Ann Taylor (on sale of course, to make it jive with my med student budget) and then shopped around for a shirt to match. It was a lot of fun... despite the fact that my original plan was to go to the Museum of Modern Art on my last afternoon. I showed up at the museum at 10:30am (the open around 10am) and the line was already almost all the way down the block. I decided that I didn't want to spend my last few hours in the city in a line and then not have time to actually look through the museum.

My celebrity sightings for this visit number three. I saw Wendie Malick (the "old" model on "Just Shoot Me"), she walked past me on the street; David Hasselhoff and Brandy from about 30 feet away at the Today show. I'm not sure if Al Roker and Ann Curry count or not, but I took pictures of them anyway, since I watch them most mornings!

Kimmy and I also tried out for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" on Saturday. We had to take a multiple choice test with thirty questions and out of about 50 people, they took about 6 to interview. Neither of us got an interview, so I guess we didn't cut it! I've decided I don't watch enough TV shows to be good at a show like that... I've never seen Bernie Mac, so how would I know what his youngest child's name is?! It was a fun experience, allowed us to see a different part of the city (I even got to walk by Julliard, which made me feel more musical!) and I got to chat with some native New Yorkers who were really friendly. It's another random thing that will be fun to tell my grandchildren someday. New York has such a palpable, exciting energy... I hope to visit again soon. That's it in a nutshell! I've posted some pictures from the trip too for your viewing pleasure.