Who's with me?

via kate spade ny

In case you need me in the middle of the night...

... there's a good chance I'll be on E. 37th Street between Second and Third Aves from 11:30pm until 2:00am.

What's that? Why, pray tell, would I not be snuggled safe in my bed? What could possibly get me to wander the corners of Murray Hill during the wee hours of a Monday evening?? Well, I'm glad you asked... because I have a very logical explanation for my questionable nocturnal behavior:

Elephants.

Elephants walking through Manhattan.

That's right, friends! The circus is coming to town - my town! And cute little elephants, ponies, heffalumps, and the whole gang will be on parade from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel right on across 34th Street to MSG.

Sometimes I shudder at how much I hear this overused phrase in this crazy city, but in this case, I think I'm allowed to make an exception: Only. In. New York.

Oh hello, Outlook Reminders...

Thanks so much for filling my morning with sunshine:

After buying our tickets a month and a half ago, the Texas Independence Day concert is finally just around the corner! Only 5 days until a fab night with all of my Texas/NYC Loves (in case you hadn't noticed, there are quite a few of us)... Featuring pretty much my dream TX Country lineup: Reckless Kelly, Pat Green, Eli Young Band and Roger Creager!! Between those performances, and the many, many cowboys who are sure to dust off their very best boots and Levi's for the occasion, I'd say we're in for a pretty swoon-filled evening.

And "ATLANTA with the girls!!! Weeeeeee!!"... well, that pretty much speaks for itself. Just 10 short days - approximately 240 hours - until LJ, Angie and I are reunited with Miss Jamie in the ATL. There are no words to even pseudo-describe how happy the anticipation for this trip makes my heart. Can. Not. Wait.

Oh, and that silly Time Sheet reminder, you ask? Please just disregard. It's raining on my parade. And the particularly nasty "4 hours overdue" note...? We'll just go ahead and chalk it up as a tribute to the aforementioned trip to see Jamie, Queen of Overdue Time Sheets. :)

NaBloPoMo: Check!

Well, it's arrived: November 30th. 30 whole days since NaBloPoMo began. And by some unexplainable means, I actually managed to keep up with it. Every. Single. Day. 30 straight days of blogging! Can y'all believe it??

Sure, some posts were more thoughtful than others that were really just a lot of swooning. Some days were particularly giggle-worthy, a few were of happy memories I'd made, and there was even a handful of sportiness. Some words brought on the tears that I needed to stop holding back. And others were about His Word, the Word that truly matters most.

Regardless of how silly or serious the last 30 days have been here at PTTP, it's been great having this extra incentive to keep up with my little bloggy. And I hope y'all have enjoyed dropping in to catchup every now and then. Thanks for joining me in this 30 Day Blog-venture. It's always lovely to have you stop by!

xoxo

Live from New York!

The short story: We camped out all of Friday night for standby tickets to see Taylor Swift host and perform on SNL. And we didn't get in.

The real story: We camped out all of Friday night for standby tickets to see Taylor Swift host and perform on SNL. And we didn't get in, but the entire experience ranks up there with some of my favorite New York adventures. 

Jamie staked out a spot in line around 6 p.m. Friday, and was later joined by LJ, then Hannah. I met up with the ladies just before midnight and it was already a chilly 38 degrees. We were armed with chairs, layers upon layers, our puffiest puffer coats, and blankets galore. Not to mention the Papa John's we had delivered to 30 Rock, plenty of treats, and oodles of optimism. 

As the hours wore on, the temperature went down, and the silliness ensued. By the time the wind chill had the thermometer at 31 degrees, Jamie was reading to us from Harry Potter, voices for each character and all (her "Ron" is ridiculously impressive, I must say!). Hannah burrowed down in her pile of plaid blankets, displaying her excellent survival skills. LJ documented my need to attempt to lay horizontally and I stared in disbelief at her impersonation of a snowman in need of a hug... Before we knew it, the sun had risen. It was almost 7 a.m. and time for us to collect our standby tickets - we'd survived!

After getting home and spending some quality time with my big comfy bed (I may or may not have slept until 2:30 in the afternoon. No judging.), it was time to head back to 30 Rock for our shot at the dress rehearsal. With tickets #42 - #45 in hand, we were nervous but convinced that the Country Music Fates were on our side. Heck, we'd been Tweeting to Taylor all night and day - maybe she would come out with special tickets for @BethanyNYC, @LaurenJ27 & friends! Right, not likely, but like I said: We had oodles of optimism.

So when they only had room for tickets #1 - #27, to say our bubbles were burst would be an understatement. But it didn't take us long to realize that the night was young and full of potential. With that, we set off for Jamie and Hannah's apartment on the UWS for a New Yorky movie night followed by watching our girl Taylor live. After a quick stop at the grocery store and wine shop for "supplies," we were happily watching Sex and the City, ooo-ing and aww-ing over the outfits and love stories we'd all memorized long before.

Taylor's fab performance on SNL was the icing on the cake (though Amy Poehler's surprise appearance for the Really!?! segment with Seth Meyers was decidedly more like salt in our wounds...). Her monologue and spoof on Twilight had me in exceptionally long fits of giggles... Goodness, I love her.

So that's the real story: A cold slumber party outside of 30 Rock and a weekend of memories with some of the best friends a girl could ask for. As LJ so eloquently put it Saturday evening as we were seeking out Puppy Chow ingredients, "This will no longer be the night we didn't see Taylor Swift on SNL. It will be the night we drank lots of wine and had a fabulous time with each other."

LOVE from New York, if you will.

12:30 a.m: Prior to the temperature dipping below freezing... i.e. sanity still intact.

2 a.m.-ish: Story time. It was about now that Jamie realized the true brilliance of the Snuggie: "I need a blanket... but one with arms!"

3 a.m., cold and silly: "LJ, I just kind of need to be horizontal for a moment."

"B... Will you hug me? I think it will make me warm..."

4 a.m., colder and sillier: "B! You're an elephant!!"

7 p.m. Saturday night: Back at 30 Rock, fingers crossed...

10 p.m. Saturday - 2 a.m. Sunday: A happy happy ending, indeed!

My view at 7 a.m. today...

Well, Good Morning 30 Rock! So lovely to spend the whoooole night with you on the sidewalk. Even with the 31 degree weather, Jamie, LJ, Hannah and I had a delightful time waiting with you for standby tickets to SNL tonight.

More details to come on our Puffer Coat Party, but for now I'm going to rest up before meeting the girls - cross your fingers that we make it in to see the lovely Taylor Swift (She's the host AND musical guest... ahhh!!). But even if we don't make the cut, the company and giggles from last night were more than worth the risk of becoming a Popsicle... Side note: if I were to become a Popsicle, I think I'd want to be Cherry. Or maybe Root Beer. 

I think it's worth noting...

... that I ate octopus tonight. For the first time. Ever.

I had exactly two bites of said octopus, actually.

More than one bite... because it was rather delicious.

But less than three bites... because then I started thinking about it too much.

And I had to stop. But still...

I ate octopus tonight.

Kites, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

As many of you might recall, NYC lost a couple of its really good ones this past Spring. I pretty much started a countdown to Kristen and/or Alyssa's return the second their planes took off.

So when Alyssa told me a couple months ago that she: A. got a great new job (wee!), and B. wanted one of her first big splurges to be a trip back to the City, well, let's just say there was much skipping and squealing down Third Avenue that day. And the best part? She was coming in for the weekend of Megan's Half Marathon in Philly! This clearly meant only one thing, two syllables:

Road. Trip.

By the time our double decker bus rolled out of Penn Station at 9:15 the Saturday morning before last, Meg had an entourage of 8 of us girls. We were ready for a touristy-and-fun-filled trip to the City of Brotherly Love, armed with Pumpkin Spice Starbucks and maybe just a bit too much luggage for an overnight trip. As we flipped through our NY Mag's, Glamour's, and In Style Weddings' (ok, I guess that was just Amy...) we tallied up our collective goals for the trip:

• Carbing up with Megan Cheering Megan on, obviously!
• Pictures. Lots. Of. Pictures.
• The Liberty Bell (more specifically, "Kiting" it with Tracey and/or Amy, my fellow Thetas on the trip. Kidding. But not.)
• Reid Rosenthal (See him? Hug him? Marry him? All of the above him?)
• Running up the Rocky steps, even though I'm pretty sure none of us have seen any of the movies... meh.
• Philly Cheesesteaks? For sure. Cheez Whiz? Undecided.
• Avoiding any and all people dressed in costumes
• Brunchy brunch brunch

I'm happy to report that in our 29 or so hours in Philadelphia, we successfully checked just about everything off our lists, and then some. These photos can't possibly do all of the giggles and delicious calories justice, but here's a peek at one of the best weekends ever:

Oh, well hello there, Reid. Thanks for welcoming us to Philly... Alyssa and I will now fight for your affections.

Despite our best efforts, we hadn't been wandering historical Philly for more than 20 minutes when we ran into our first Costume Situation. Sorry Meg. We tried.

Oh yes. Yes, we did. Theta Love.

I really do love history.

"Hey guys. Give me your best Patriotic Pose..."

I may or may not have Googled "Chick-fil-A, Philadelphia" within 10 minutes of checking-in to our hotel... NYC doesn't know what it's missing.

Cheers to Meg! Sure, she may have been in bed at this point, but it's the thought that counts.

Check out those pink (Meg) and blue (Stephanie) shorts go!

The Cheering Section

Theta Love for Megan! (p.s. two Kites in one trip?! Oh, I'm a happy girl.)

Meow (Video to come... Get excited.)

xoxo

Chick-fil-A v. Boys

All I've wanted to do since last night was blog about the fabulous time that was this weekend, i.e. Alyssa's Return to NYC/Philly Road Trip '09 for Megan's Half Marathon!! However, life/sleep/lack of proper lunch hour just haven't allowed for such things. It will come eventually, but in the meantime, please enjoy Kristen's and my brief and to-the-point Gchat convo on the events:

Kristen: i know you're busy, but i just thought i'd tell you that i'm patiently awaiting a blog post on this weekend :) that's all

me: hahaha you read my mind! it’s annoying when life is too busy to blog ;)

Kristen: i know it

Kristen: i hate it when corporate america rains on my parade

Kristen: btw, any Reid [Rosenthal, a.k.a. Alyssa’s and my adorable husband-to-be Philly native of the latest season of The Bachelorette] sightings?!

Kristen: i figured there would be hysterics

Kristen: so i'm going to err on the "no" side of things...

me: hahahha… sadly, nope. other than Alyssa finding a local Philly mag with his face on the cover

me:but there WAS chick-fil-a involved... which is perhaps just as delicious

Kristen: haha, absolutely

Kristen: chick-fil-a never disappoints, boys do

Ha. Done and... done.