I'm back from big pimpin' up in NYC.
And yes, we *did* spend tha G's.

Left Friday at 10:15 A, ran into a bunch of shitty traffic on the way to DFW to discover all remote and express parking lots were full. DFW could be a city in itself and yet there was no parking anywhere but the terminal, which cost 16 bucks a day. After check-in I realized American had switched my flight at the last possible minute. I wouldn't have been able to make it if it weren't for that new monorail thingy. So I give DFW a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

I got to Newark at 5:30 P. My dad picked me up and took me to where we were going to stay in Morris Plains. Took the NJ Turnpike the whole way; where I got visions of The Sopranos, guys getting whacked on The Godfather, and of course...Garden State. I swear I had " New Slang" by The Shins in my head everytime we left the hotel through the thick forests of trees. Doooo do doooo do do do do dooooo...

We ate a great dinner at Bensi's, where I had pan seared chicken arrugula, crab cakes, and bruschetta. We had a lot of wine too; had great philosophical conversations with dad. I give Bensi's 4 out of 5 stars.

Back at the hotel, I was exhausted but kept waking up, dreaming I was getting bitten by something. Had to resort to taking benedryl to knock myself out. When I got my 6 AM wake-up call, I turned on the light to discover several of these crawling around:




Bed bugs. You know, "good night, sleep tight, don't let the..."? Yeah, they really do exsist and they are my new most hated bug. Not your friend. They will suck your blood til they explode. Aparently they're a new epidemic in the Northeast. Anyway, even though I got to switch rooms, I still have the heebie jeebies/creepy crawlies. A few even tried to stow away in my suitcase from that nasty room. I threw away my pajamas. The new room was smaller and the A/C didn't work. This was a 175 dollar/night place. So. Candlewood Suites of Morris Plains, NJ, I give you 0 stars and will tell everyone I know never to stay at you!! DO NOT EVER STAY AT CANDLEWOOD SUITES IN MORRIS PLAINS NEW JERSEY ( unless you like parasites. )

Saturday my dad and I took the Pulaski ( but not the Casamir Pulaski ) Bridge to Jersey City to take the Port Authority Train into New York. My dad had mapped out a tour that would take no more than 4 hours. He had times, subway stops, and street names all interary-ized. We thus took the Richard Cox Efficiency Walking tour where I got to see pretty much everything you'd want to see. Snapped a lot of pictures...saw The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which you may remember from reading " From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler".Pretty much, there's a bunch of old old furniture and sculptures. I think I would have rather seen the MoMA or the Guggenheim, but this was nice. I walked Central Park from end to end...loved that. It was a beautiful day. All in all must have walked 10 miles. Central Park I give 5 stars to, subways....3 stars ( too hot, crowded, and few and far between ).

We came back later that night to see Monty Python's "Spamalot" on Broadway. Loved it, loved it, laughed hard. Time Square late at night is really quite a sight, too.

Slept in on Sunday in my bedbug-free bed. Drove 2 hours again on the NJ Turnpike to Atlantic City. Again, beautiful day...great daddy/daughter bonding at the casinos. I won 27 bucks on video poker at Bally's. I don't think I'll ever get into gambling, though. We walked the boardwalk and had a few margaritas and went back. Atlantic City gets 4 stars.

Oh , NY pizza gets a jillion stars. I now understand why Matt refuses to eat pizza here. Hell, we shouldn't even get to even call it pizza.

I got to Newark Airport this morning at 6:30 AM, and now I'm back in Denton. I took a lot of typically touristy pictures which you can see to your right on my flickr link. Eventually. When I feel like it.

One more thing of note. Matt and I are working it out. Bear with me....if you've gone through this, you know. If you don't, well don't pass judgement. ( At least not to my face ). I can't help it, I freaking love him. It's scary. What's amazing is he feels the same and has proven this to me. We're both just scared out of our minds because we're in new territory. One day at a time, we say to each other....but this time, I know this is something big. I am very optimistic. :)

It's really good to be home.