Finally feels like the holidays

Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve/Day is my most favorite time of year. I absolutely love love love the holiday season! For some reason, though, this year hasn't quite felt the same. Our apartment is so tiny there's really no room for a Christmas tree and we don't have any other decorations. My neighborhood has some lights up but it's not crazy. I have no money to go gift shopping so I haven't really been out in the excitement. Maybe all that combined has something to do with it. After yesterday, however, I'm feeling much more excited and ready for this.

Charley and Fun Dan

My dear dear friend Charley and her boyfriend Fun Dan were up visiting Dan's family in New Jersey and they decided to come into the city for the holiday sights. I met the two of them and Dan's mom and sister Kirsten at Life Cafe for brunch and then we headed uptown. As soon as I saw Macy's, my Christmas meter filled right up. So many lights and Christmas songs were blaring over the speakers -- it was fantastic! My favorite part was the mechanical "Yes, Virginia" window display. Macy's holiday campaign, Believe, makes my heart so warm. Cheesy? Yes. I love it.



We went ALL over to see the holiday sights: Macy's, Bryant Park, New York Public Library, the swanky shops up and down 5th Avenue, Ralph Lauren (Dan's mom works for the company and we went to see the new store. AMAZING!), Trump International Towers, Columbus Circle Holiday Market, The Plaza, St. Patrick's Church, a light show, Times Square and of course the highlight: Rockefeller Center.

Rockefeller Center

All that and the fact that I was spending time with some of my wonderful friends completely put me in the holiday spirit. It was a long (fantastic!) day in the cold so by time I got home I practically fell into bed and slept like the dead.

This morning I woke up so excited because my great friend Stephanie, who I know from JMU and now lives in Los Angeles, was in the city for the weekend and we were meeting up for brunch... at Life Cafe! We had the same waitress I had the previous day and she remembered me which was cool. Goal of becoming a regular at Life Cafe: definitely on the way. Our brunch actually turned into a 3 hour catch up session and we could have stayed longer but I knew Steph wanted to head to Ellis Island and I had to help my roommates cook for our dinner party tonight so we had to wrap up.

Steph and Me

Stephanie and I hadn't seen each other since probably February - there was definitely snow on the ground that last time - but we talked like no time had passed. We're kind of living parallel lives at the moment and it was great to talk to an old friend who is in the same boat. She picked up and moved from Northern Virginia to follow her dreams in Los Angeles a few months before I came to NYC to follow mine. A lot of the challenges I face in being in a new city she's also been experiencing so it was great to be able to swap some stories. We had loads and loads of laughs - we've both been in some pretty awkward situations in the past few months - and apparently it showed cause our waitress mentioned something about all the laughing we were doing and looking like we were having so much fun. We totally were. Glad it showed!