To Wherever And Back: Friends in New York

I had to chose from about 400 pictures (not exaggerating) so here are the ones that sum up our weekend. As always, they are completely out of order.

In Central Park. The boys were playing football and the girls were visiting and playing with the dogs.

Brett, Ryan, Michael, and Dave

At the Knicks/Celtics game

Eating lunch in Central Park

Details on Statue of Liberty. The big room is the room all the immigrants waited in at Ellis Island.

Frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.

Dinner at Keen's

The Plaza at the entrance of the park

On the menu at Serendipity - $1,000 sundae

Ice skaters at Rockefeller Center

Grand Central - what Ryan walks through to get to work everyday.

In Greenwich Village

At Lombardi's in Little Italy - I loved this place!

In the park

Cupcakes :)

We have done so many things lately and it would take me forever to blog about them all, so I'll just stick to our friends' visit for now. Paige, Dave, Beth, and Michael got to our apartment around 10:30 on Thursday night. Beth and Michael stayed with us and Paige and Dave stayed at Achelle's apartment on the upper east side. We went to an Irish pub to eat and visit and when I got in bed that night the clock said 3:00! Friday morning I headed over to audition for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I was so excited and I got there 15 minutes before my arrival time on my ticket. When I got there they told me they were already full and that my only option was to come back at 2:30 and I would have to commit to staying through all of the taping (which could last til 7:00) and then audition after the taping was over. I couldn't commit to staying that whole time because our friends were in town and we had plans with them! Plus, I wasn't guaranteed to be a contestant anyway...so I left. I was SO sad! To try to cheer myself up I walked over to the All My Children studio and watched for the actors to show up for work. I got to see Jake Martin, so that really brightened up my day! I've watched AMC for 11 years, so I feel like I'm best friends with all of them - they do not feel the same way about me. Since I didn't win any money on the game show I didn't want to pay for a cab, so I walked 30 blocks to go meet P,D,B, &M. It was a beautiful day and tons of little kids were playing in Central Park. People were riding horses & carriages and the leaves were really pretty, so I enjoyed my long walk. We all went to Soho and then walked to Little Italy and ate at Lombardi's, which is now on my top ten NY restaurant list. After lunch Beth and Michael went to do touristy things downtown and I walked to Greenwich Village with Paige and Dave (Ryan was at work). We went to Magnolia and got cupcakes, which I think that place is way overrated. I like my cupcake truck cupcakes much better! Friday night the six of us had dinner at a wonderful steak restaurant in Midtown called Keen's. Beth and Michael were so sweet and took us to dinner there to thank us for letting them stay in our apartment. We had such a great time and Ryan said it was "the best steak he has ever had". You should know that Ryan does not take statements like that lightly! After dinner P,D,B&M went to see White Christmas and Ryan and I went to Serendipity to meet our med school friends for dessert. We went back to Serendipity with P,D,B&M after their show. We just can't get enough of that place! Saturday we took the ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island to see where all the immigrants went that came to America from 1892-1954. Beth's great-grandparents came from Sweden in the early 1900s, so she was able to see her great-grandmother's boat records! I couldn't look for any of my relatives because I think they were all here before the Civil War. After our little boat trips we went to Central Park and had lunch and the boys played football. Ryan had so much fun and put that on his top 3 NY experiences. :) P,D,B&M went to River Cafe for dinner and since that was an even more expensive restaurant than Keens, Ryan and I had to opt out. Adam and Karen were in town so we met up with them and Rabbi and Lisa in the park and watched people ice skate. Then we walked over to the Plaza and Adam offered the guy at the check-in counter $100 for a room. :) The man was very nice and said that unfortunately they were booked up but they did have a suite available that would cost $3,300 per night! We all went to dinner (med school friends) at Dos Caminos, which is also on my top 10! It was so much fun! After dinner we met back up with P,D,B,&M and went to another restaurant where Brett and Achelle were to just hang out and visit and have some dessert. Of course it turned into another late, but very fun, night. Sunday was the Knicks/Celtics game which was a blast! We thought the Celtics would kill the Knicks, but they ended up only winning by 2 pts in overtime and a last second shot almost sent it into a 2nd overtime. I was screaming and cheering like I had been a fan my whole life. To make things even more exciting, Will Ferrell and Mark Walhberg were at the game filming their new movie The Other Guys! I spent the whole first half just watching them! Other famous people there: Brooke Shields, Rosie Perez, Tracey Morgan, Spike Lee, Jor Girardi, and others that I can't remember their names. One guy (don't remember his name - he is on Law and Order) started the wave and it went around several times with practically everyone in Madison Square Garden participating. So much fun! After the game we met Paige and Dave at J.G. Melons for dinner and that is another place we now love! Ryan said it was the "2nd best burger he's ever had". :) We loved having our friends visit and were really sad when they left. Sad because we miss them but also because they were getting to go back to Nashville and we weren't! We are enjoying it here and experiencing so many fun things - but it is safe to say we are homesick!!!