New York New York!!!

Alright, so let me just start off my mentioning that yes the first picture is of me long long ago. I was just about to turn 17 yrs old, and I went to New York with 2 of my very best girlfriends Meredith and Valerie, and Merediths mother and my band teacher(obviously not pictured) This was us at Sardi's the night we saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. For those of you who know me well, know that I am/was obsessed with this musical. I have seen it a total of 5 times,lol. Anyway....I look at that picture, and yes I was MUCH skinnier, and thanks to the popularity at the time, my hair was permed. Boy was I naive. I didn't have a job other than working for my mother, I had a boyfriend that drove me everywhere so there was no need for a driver's license (secretly I was too scared to get one anyway) and I had barely ever been out of Ohio. I mean, sure I had been to other states, but I was not prepared for NYC. If you asked me then what I though of New York, I would have said...big, smelly and scary, dirty, but fun. I was at that time the same age as some of the girls I went on the trip with this time. They are part of a group called The Young Women of Distinction. I wish I had something like this when I was their age. I will say that from the first moment I was very impressed with these girls, with their maturity, their caring and generous spirits. Heck, they hung out with my 11 yr old son and made him feel special, and that says a lot.

My first trip to New York was packed with the usual touristy stuff, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, The Met (which I am dying to get back to one day) Ellis Island, blah blah....I was excited then just to be able to say I went to Saks.Whatever. I had the worlds worst camera back then...you know the kind you had to stand 6 ft from anything to get it in focus. And *gasp* it was film of course. This time I swore I was not gonna miss a thing about NY. NOT the touristy stuff, but the people, the stuff, the actual NY. Pictures that I could tell what it was, and not some blurry mess,lol. This trip was what Mike calls the backdoor tour, a tour of places people usually miss about NYC.

The picture after my lovely flashback is from the day we walked Harlem. If you asked me now what I thought of NYC I would still say big, but now I say colorful, exciting, and if you go to Sylvia's like we did, NYC sure tastes good too. Adam especially enjoyed Sylvia's fried catfish, and I loved the Tomato/Okra gumbo. We actually met Sylvia herself, and she is the sweetest most lovely little lady.

The collage after that is of Timesquare of course. This is where all the excitement happens in New York, and since I tend to be slightly clausterphobic, is definitely at times overwhelming. We did a photo scavenger hunt, and I am happy to say Adam actually kicked my butt with his team,lol.

Next would be Brooklyn. Its a little rundown, but I dig old rusty things anyway, so it was just my style :D You'll notice that in one of those pics, my son developed an attachment to one of the adults, Jeff. I was totally ditched for Jeff on the trip...which was ok, it was so nice to see Adam bonding with a guy. After that is pictures from the Metro Ministries sunday school. While in Brooklyn, our group broke up into 3s and 4s to ride school buses with the children of Brooklyn to their sunday school. It was one big Jesus party :D This event was definitely the most rewarding and emotional part of the whole trip. I met 2 brothers that I would have liked to have taken home with me.

Next would be random pics of the subway. Adam LOVED the subway. I honestly have no idea how NYorkers do it everyday, it was exhausting really. You meet some really cool people on the subway though. Next collage are just some random pics of NY. I love all the street vendors, and markets...oh and you might recognize the restaurant from Seinfeld.

The last full day in NY we spent shopping in China town and a food tasting extravaganza in Little Italy (the next 2 collages) Holy Canoli...I ate some very yummy things, and also some things I hope to never taste upon my lips again,lol. I saw things that I am guessing were supposed to be food...who eats these things I will never know. Dried Octopus, things I SWEAR were petrified poop in jars. The ladies in the fish market were not please at me photographing their fish...not sure why...still mulling that one over,lol.

The last collage is of all the teen girls. Girls the same age I was when I went to NY the first time, and yet so much more mature than I ever was. The pic of the group was all the ladies that went, the teen girls of course, and my single moms group....missing is our fearless leader Mike, and of course Adams sidekick Jeff, and my little Adam. BTW, some of the pics in the collage were taken by Adam :D

Oh...did I mention that we met Bob Saget??!! Um, yeah as you can see Adam was beside himself.