Wednesday, November 02, 2005

9 Nights Away From Home

The big trip I am on (and I mean long when I say big) is one I have known about for months. I left Dallas on Friday Oct 28th after work. I made the 4 hour trek to Houston for the continuation of wedding festivities in anticipation of Pam’s big day.

Houston
The drive to Houston was uneventful, thank heavens. Pam and I had dinner at Momung’s (sp) and planned our very full weekend schedule.

Saturday we had a lot to do. We needed to pick up the wedding bands, some fancy pages for the tables at the wedding and the ingredients for the favors at the wedding. Pam had a very specific idea about how the favors would look on the tables and we needed to get started.

Unfortunately, our most of our volunteer force, which were to help us dip 150 Oreos in chocolate, wrap them and tag them, couldn’t be there to help. Luckily, Pam, her cousin, Mrs. Tyner and I get along well and got straight to work. It was a busy afternoon, both Saturday and Sunday, but we got them all dipped, dried, packaged and tagged without killing each other or coming to blows. I am very proud of how we worked together on that project. Plus there was the added benefit of teasing Pam as much as possible throughout the day.

Saturday night was Pam’s Bachelorette Party. We had so much fun. There were 7 of us ladies (+ Natalie, Cathi’s daughter). We started at Pam’s with a champagne toast and “dressing Pam”. We headed to dinner at Farrago’s in mid-town Houston and then took the train to downtown and hit a bar. It was a very fun evening and to protect the innocent, I’ll omit any explicit details. Suffice it to say, we had a great time.

Sunday, was another day dedicated to the favors. Exhausted, Sunday night, I was very glad I was traveling on Monday. I hoped for some rest.

HA. Monday brought weather to Texas. Weather means flight delays. So, my 9:30 flight out of Houston landed in Dallas at 1pm. (That should have landed at 10:30) I missed my connection to LaGuardia and was put on the 4pm flight. When we pulled back from the gate, we were number 47 in line for take off. I landed in NY at 10:30 that night and got to my hotel about 11:30. What a long day!

Snakes and Parrots in NYC

Have you ever walked around Times Square at 10pm on a Tuesday night? I can personally guarantee that there are more people there at that time, than I have seen in downtown Dallas at any given time.

Last night I got the opportunity to visit NYC for the first time. This year I have been to New York about 5 times, BUT I have always headed to our Rye Brook office and stayed in that area alone.

Last night, a group from the conference I am attending, decided to head to the city. I couldn’t miss it.

We took the train in from the White Plains station and stopped at Grand Central Station. We walked around and went to the arch where you can speak into one corner and hear the comment on the other side. It worked. That was way cool. Have you ever been? What a beautiful building! Train stations today would never look like that.

Kraig who lived in the city a few years back was our tour guide for the evening. We headed to Harlem on the subway to have dinner at a diner near his old stomping ground.

After dinner, we took the subway to Times Square. It was lit up and very bright even though it was 10pm. Those who know me are probably surprised I was out that late, but I can tell you the energy of the city is electric.

While walking around Times Square, I literally saw a man with a large parrot on one shoulder and one very large snake in each hand. He was walking around among the crowds. I AM SO GLAD HE DIDN’T COME CLOSE TO ME. It was too freaky for me. What great people watching!

Did you see the Today Show on Tuesday morning? Katie Couric was on top of Rockefeller Center with the Rockette’s, because it was the first day you could go to the top in 20 years. Of course, we needed to see it. The experience was very cool and well worth the $14. It was a clear and beautiful night. I was most enraptured by the Empire State Building. It was so beautiful.

Finally, we grabbed the subway back to Grand Central and the train back to White Plains. I got back to my hotel about 1:30. It was a late night for me but well worth it.

I must get back to NYC to spend a little more time looking around. It was a great evening.

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