Flashback Friday - New York City

In December 2007, I thought of the perfect Christmas gift for my mom...I took her to New York City!!! She had never been and, at the time, I was planning on moving there. Other than living the fabulous life in NYC, the reason I wanted to move was actually work related. I always wanted to get my CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner). The only place you can really work as a CFE in the US other than Washington DC was in New York (lots of fraud goes through there, obviously). I loved the idea of working in a department that puts people like Scrushy behind bars. So I actually had an ulterior motive in taking her. She knew I was beginning the interview process with some firms in NYC and she WASN'T a happy camper about me moving to New York City by myself. I guess it didn't matter that I moved to Nashville by myself without knowing a soul, but I think she was okay with that because at least it was in driving distance. Either way, my mom wasn't happy because she didn't like me being so far away in the biggest city in the US all by my lonesome. So in an attempt to make her feel better about me living in a city with tragic stereotypes, I took her there for a week at the beginning of December. Here's some pics of our trip:



This is my mom and I on the top floor of the Empire State Building



This is at Ellis Island where the immigration museum is. Love the city in the background.



This is in central park. I have no idea why, but it's one of my favorite pictures.



My mom and I went ice skating at Wolman Rink in central park. So.Much.Fun!



The joys of being in NYC at Christmas can't be beat. Lights were everywhere and everything was decorated. We even got the chance to go see this bad boy....



We didn't make it to the actual lighting ceremony. It happened while we were there, but there was SOOOO many people and we didn't feel like fighting such a crowd so we came back the next night to see it.



This is at Trinity Graveyard. I went to this church last time I was in New York, but I didn't go into the graveyard until this time. It was BEAUTIFUL!



Last time I was in New York I went with a bunch of Accounting and Marketing majors that were all in a GBA class with me. My good buddy Edria was in the class too and we had a BLAST at this bar one night. It was our favorite. I think it's been closed now though.



This is the other favorite picture of mine. Something we were NOT expecting to happen while we were there was to experience the City's first snow of the season. We woke up the morning of our last day in NYC and the ground was covered in a couple of inches of white heaven :) I was SO excited to see snow in Central Park (in case you can't tell by the picture).



Me and my momma enjoying Central Park in the snow. I think Central Park was my mom's favorite thing. Either that or the Mary Poppins play that we went to see. We didn't have time to see the Rockettes while we were there, but that was my Christmas present to her the next year. We saw them at the BJCC, AMAZING!!

By the end of the week, my mom was feeling a bit better about me moving there. She realized I knew the subways lines very well and how to get around in the city in general. I showed her some apartments that I was looking into, some in Queens, some in Brooklyn. She was not a fan of those, but the image in her head of Queens and Brooklyn started to change to be more realistic instead of what you see in the movies. I remember on the plane ride back she said "okay I guess you can move there". However, four months later I started dating Justin and all those plans went down the drain. Not that I regret my decision to move back to Birmingham instead of to New York by any means, I just sometimes wish I would have done it, even if it was for just a year. New York is still my favorite city in the world and no matter where I go from here on out, I don't think anything is going to change that. She has my heart :)

Going back to New York City is something on my 101 List. I plan to go back with Carina, one of my besties that lives in Tuscaloosa. The original plan was to go this December, but since Justin and I pushed up our Africa trip, that is pretty much impossible due to funds :) I do want to go with her though and I'm hoping to go next spring sometime. And speaking of the 101 List, how awesome is it that all my friends are doing one?!?!?!?! I mentioned in an earlier blog that Tiffany is doing one. I saw last night where my friend Allison has made one as well. This is so exciting!! I hope everyone enjoys crossing things off the list like I do :) I also added (and deleted) two things from my list. I added to finish the P90X program because that is SERIOUSLY a huge accomplishment, trust me. And I also added taking Anderson to the Atlanta aquarium. My mom and I are doing that sometime in the next month or so. Anderson LOVES fish and at the Atlanta aquarium they have some HUGE ones...like a whale shark. Justin and I both want to go diving with the whale shark at the aquarium. They let you for like $300 per person or something. Maybe I should add that to the list. Hmmmm....