New York, I Love You (Part 1)

Lovely Readers,

Anyone who knows anything about me knows one thing is for certain: I am in love with a little place called NEW YORK CITY. Yes, it is true. I do not get to visit nearly as often as I would like but I will be going to college there next year so I will finally be able to call this glorious city my home. Until then, I will have to settle for a short visit. I leave tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. and will be spending 5 days/4 nights in Manhattan.

Today has been a crazy day of packing and pumping myself up for the trip. I also had the very exciting experience of being able to stop my iron chelation medicine! I've been hooked up the medicine pump since December and it felt sooo good to be able to unhook myself. I'm very thankful that the medicine has been working so quickly because it has resulted in my doctor giving me permission to stop the medicine while I am away so that I can actually enjoy my trip.

I will update this post as often as possible throughout and/or after my trip to fill you in on all of the juicy details. For n ow, I thought I would give you a little background on the amazing friend that I am going to stay with while I am away.

Her name is Laura. She's pretty awesome. Laura was actually raised here in the KC area and moved to NYC after college to pursue journalism. (sound familiar? fast forward my life ten years.) She now works for MTV and has connections to just about everyone/everything worth knowing in NYC. We met about two years ago because my hairdresser used to do her hair when she was in KC. Over the past two years, she has been responsible for so many of the great opportunities that I've been able to experience. I've visited her MTV offices twice in the past, she got me on TRL where I got to sit on the VIP couch, she introduced me to a woman at ABC who let me hang out in the ABC offices twice AND she got me access to meet Diane Sawyer,

Robin Roberts and Charlie Gibson. She also took me to the MGMT/beck concert when she wa

s in town and we ended up hanging out with MGMT in Westport afterwards. Needless to say, she has soo many connections and I am so thankful that she has shared many of those connections with me.

This trip is the last time that I will be in NYC until after transplant and probably the last time before moving out there for good. It will be the first time I fly alone, first time I catch a taxi by myself and first time I'm alone in a big city! I'm very excited. I know Laura has a few tricks up her sleeve but I won't give them all away now. You'll have to keep checking my blog for updates about the exciting things that happen. For now, I'm going to go finish packing and head to bed. I have to be up at 4 a.m.! Yikes.

Thursday: My flight left KC at 7 a.m. and I arrived in NYC a little after 10.

I managed to be the first off the plane and grabbed a cab to head over to Laura's apartment. After meeting Laura at her apartment, I dropped off my stuff and we walked over to her MTV office. I spent the rest of the morning hanging with her and her co-workers. For lunch, we walked over to the Chelsea Market area and ate lunch at Friedman's . After that, we headed upstairs into the Food Network building. Laura and I met her friend who showed us a taping of Ten Dollar Dinners. In case any of you were wondering, they aren't real houses. They're sets. I knew it. Here's a picture of the set:

It was really interesting to see how much cooking actually happens behind the scenes and to see how much it takes to make the food look good. We also got to take a look at the test kitchens, where the chefs and their assistants spend most of their time testing recipes and such. I even saw Miriam Garron, Bobby Flay's Assistant on Throwdown with Bobby Flay, working in the kitchen with another chef. Here's a picture of the test kitchens, if you look closely on the left you can see Miriam:

After that, we walked The High Line. The High Line was originally used for freight trains but it has now been turned into an elevated park. It's beautiful! I forgot to snap a picture but they've created a walkway with plants and flowers growing among the old tracks. It's really neat.

Later that day, I got ready for my night on Broadway by getting ready in the MTV offices. Laura and her co-worker, Becky, decided to make an impromptu hair salon. Here's a picture of Laura doing my hair and Becky doing Dre's hair. You can't tell from the picture but Dre's hair is really long and he got it braided.

Once my hair was done I headed over to see opening night of The Addams Family. Laura's friend, Jason, has a sister who is one of the producers for the show. She was able to get Jason tickets. Since it was opening night, there were celebrities and important people everywhere. The actual theater had two boxes and our seats were in one of the boxes! It was hard to spot celebrities but I did see Andy Dick who was seated a few seats away from us. I also heard of several other celebrities being there. One of them was Hugh Jackman. I didn't personally see him but this article says he brought a girl from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Two years ago, I received a wish from The Dream Factory, a similar charity, and know how great it feels to have a dream come true while dealing with a serious illness. Props to Hugh for being so generous. Also note, I got a picture in front of the same background as him! Here are a few pictures from he night:

The show was really great! I didn't know much about The Addams Family before seeing

the show but I was pleasantly surprised at how funny and well-done it was. After the show, we were lucky enough to attend the after party. The party was fabulous. There was great food, an open bar and a dance floor. Jason kept pointing out all of the billionaires and important people we passed. Jason also made me take this really cheesy picture.---->

By the end of the night, my feet were quite tired so I fell asleep shortly after returning to Laura's.

**Reason of the Day: Jason's sister, Eva, was the one who gave me a free box seat ticket to the show. Eva hadn't even met me but had heard about my blog and wanted to do something nice. The kindness of strangers is always a reason to smile (RTS). **