Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Okay, so I know I said I'd post this the other day, but well, I didn't.  SORRY.. sucks to suck.  Anyways, last week was Thanksgiving and each year Macy*s hosts the Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC.  I had watched it a few times on TV but being in New York, it was something I just HAD to experience myself!

Macy*s Balloon Inflation

So, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving I went to 79th St at Columbus where the parade balloons are inflated. It's a great opportunity to see the balloons before hand and up close and personal!  It was incredibly crowded but again, there are a lot of "once-in-a-lifetime" (or a long time) experiences that I just cannot miss out on while I'm here in NYC.  The balloons were humongous and I could not imagine the process of inflating them.  For instance, this is the instructions to inflate SpongeBob SquarePants:

SpongeBob SquarePants inflation orders

The event wrapped around the American Museum of Natural History with the balloons located on 77th and 81st.  There was only one way in but likely 4 ways out.  In all, it was great to be able to get pictures with the balloons before the parade and see what the magic is all about. :)

Me with the Macy*s stars that lead the parade.

The next morning was the parade! It started at 9:00 at 77th and Central Park West.  It then traveled south to 59th Street, over to 6th Avenue then down to 34th Street where it finished in front of Macy*s.  I decided to go to 59th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue so that I would see the parade end and be able to get to Grand Central before the masses of people that were closer to Macy*s.  In order to get a front row seat (and no, there were no actual seats, just a spot to sit on the ground) I woke up at 5:00am and was at my spot around 5:45am.  It was one of the last available places to sit up front and pretty soon the whole sidewalk was filling up.  Here are some of the highlights from the parade:

First there was this Cop Clown that decided to put on a show when he saw my camera.

Sunrise morning of the parade

Crowd that formed before the parade

First balloons of the parade: 2 yellow Macy*s stars and Hello Kitty

US women's gymnastic team aka the Fierce Five

Fairy Clown

Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and an elf

2 red Macy*s stars to end the parade

My front row spot for the entire parade

There were a lot more balloons, performers and clowns but with the lack of sun in the area that I was, not only was it FREEZING, but the pictures were not always the best quality.

It was fun to be there, talk with the people nearby (a family from Brooklyn and a family from Missouri) and most importantly, see the parade.  However, I probably would never do it again, that is, at least until I have kids.

xoxo, Caitlin

NYC Week 4 & 5

Whoops!!! I've been so busy I've sort of forgotten to make time to post updates!  Despite the lack of updates, the past two weeks have been so full of excitement.


To start, I finally went out on the weekend! I haven't really had the urge to go out in a while but for some reason I was finally excited to go and it was a great night!  The place we went was called Highline Ballroom (HLB for short) and it was full of men in suits.  Sadly the night ended in a less than stellar way with me leaving my license and credit card in a cab.  Could have been worse but sucks all the same.

Waiting to get into the club

The next day, I explored some of the financial district making stops outside of the New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall, and the Wall Street bull to name a few.  As a numbers person, I was so intrigued to see so many people taking pictures with the bull!  It was not quite something I expected probably because I don't think that many people are interested in numbers, Wall Street, etc.

The Wall Street Bull

The rest of the week was full of work and a little shopping here or there until Thursday.  Thursday night I took a train from work to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.  I met my uncle there and we saw the Boston Celtics (my favorite team) play the Brooklyn Nets.  It was exciting to finally see my team play outside of Boston and I was so amazed to see so many Celtics fans there!! Despite the 97-102 loss, it was a fabulous experience and I was proud to be wearing my Paul Pierce jersey.

View of the Nets vs. Celtics from our seats

The next day I headed home to do my laundry go to a family birthday party.  The party was a blast, the food was delicious and it was great to have most of my cousins together before Thanksgiving.  Upon returning to NYC, Monday and Tuesday were relaxing.  I enjoyed walking by some of the 5th Avenue window displays and a little shopping in Bryant Park but the week became very exciting on Wednesday night!

You'll have to see tomorrow's post to hear all about Wednesday night and Thursday when I saw the Macy*s parade balloon inflation and the parade itself!

Until then, xoxo

NYC Week 3!

Sunday I decided to be the laziest. I laid in bed for way too long watching Law & Order SVU.  I finally made it outside the apartment and explored a little more of the city with two other students from school. In a city like New York, there's so much to see every way you turn so it was great to be able to see more. I also tried out a new wide-angle lens on my camera which has since taken some great shots.

We started by Grand Central where we saw Pershing Square.  I will HAVE to try this breakfast spot sometime during the next few weeks!

Pershing Square - The busiest and best breakfast in New York

We then headed towards the United Nations where we say some damage from the Hurricane.  Next to the UN there is this beauty of a globe.

Globe at the United Nations

A city like New York also inspires some deep thoughts on occasion.  Seeing all the cars speed past at night was one of those moments.  No matter what's going on in your life, the world keeps moving so try to keep up!

Gotta keep moving cause the world never stops

Monday was just a typical day.  We finally were able to return to work and really get moving on our project.  After a full day back in the office, I was too tired to do anything else.  

However Tuesday was Election Day!!! I hade voted a month ago with an absentee ballot since I wouldn't be in my hometown all day but I was super excited to find out the results!  Once polling sites began closing across the country, I headed out with a few friends to see the city and most importantly go to Rockefeller Center, which was lit up as "Democracy Plaza" for the night.

Empire State Building

The first thing we spotted was the Empire State Building specially lit up for the night.  Normally when the Empire State Building lights up, there are three horizontal layers of lights.  However, they made it SUPER special this night but doing three vertical stripes!

We then walked North to get to Rockefeller Center and on our way saw the New York Public Library.  With the lens I bought on Sunday, I snapped this picture.  I'm absolutely in LOVE with the lens!

New York Public Library

After seeing those two beauties, we finally made our way to Rockefeller Center.  It was absolutely beautiful.  It looked so patriotic but it also showed the deep divide in this wonderful country of ours.

The photo on the left shows the plaza as a whole while the photo on the right shows the Rockefeller Center tower.

The crowd would cheer each time a state had enough data to project a winner and it was as though there was a bar graph on the building.  Each candidate had something like a window cleaner cart with their name and the current point estimate on it.  As they were projected the winner of a state, the number on their cart would be updated and the cart would raise to show the relative position of the candidate compared to the needed total and the opponent.  The picture below is of the moment that Obama was projected the winner of the presidency and the cart was raised. 

Obama reaches 270

It was a moment that I can't quite explain.  With this being the first presidential election I could vote in, I felt accomplished (strangely, I mean what did I really accomplish? I filled out a ballot? Great job! You can fill in a bubble!), excited, but potentially most important, nervous.  While the majority of the people were cheering (New York City being a fairly democratic area) I knew that around the world, country, state and city the reactions would not be quite the same.  No matter who ultimately was elected, the country would be divided and it really is going to take some great effort to get people to compromise and do what's right to get America back to where it should be.  Where we are now is not one or two people's fault. We all must take accountability.  If you don't have the money, don't spend it.  It's basic accounting for each citizen AND for the country.

Okay, my rant is over now. 

Oh, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all lazy again.

<3 have a fabulous weekend!

Back to NYC!

The power is back on!!!! That being said, I returned to the city Saturday with my dad.  After dropping my stuff at the apartment, we explored more of the city.  On our walk to Central Park we saw a segment of the Berlin Wall.  It was placed inconspicuously between 2 buildings with only a little seating area.  It's crazy to be able to walk around and see the old right next to the new.

A segment of the Berlin Wall in NYC.

Bethesda Fountain

After checking the wall out, we continued to walk to Central Park where we saw the zoo.  What craziness! A zoo, in the middle of the park?  I mean maybe it's not that crazy but it's amazing how much there is to do at Central Park.  Every corner you turn there is something new to see!  As we kept walking we found this fountain area.  My dad (who knows way to many random facts) claimed a lot of movies have used this as a filming location.  I was hesitant to believe him until I googled it and found that Enchanted (a movie I've never seen) filmed a large choreographed dance scene here.

Bethesda Fountain in Enchanted

After the fountain we kept walking to where I really wanted to go to, Strawberry Fields.  In a world of so much hate, it's nice to remember people like John Lennon who encouraged people to accept one another for who they are and to imagine the world living as one.

Imagine mosaic

Around the mosaic people were playing music and just enjoying the chilly afternoon.  We then wandered across the street to see The Dakota, the apartment building that John Lennon lived in.  We finally decided to start making our way back to my apartment.  On the way we went by where the New York Marathon finish line was supposed to be.  Originally, the marathon was planned to be the next day (Sunday November 4) however because of Hurricane Sandy, it was cancelled.

New York Marathon finish line

While it is completely understandable for the marathon to be cancelled in order to get the necessary supplies to those in need, I had been so pumped to see the marathon finish! Just over 6 months ago, when I was finishing my Junior year project in London, I saw the finish to the Virgin London Marathon.  It's awe-inspiring to see people finish running 26.2 miles with the biggest smile on their face!  Despite the pain in their muscles they are so thrilled to have finish that it can block the pain!

LASTLY, as we walked back to my apartment we spotted this gem!  It's the building that was on the news for hours because in the middle of Hurricane Sandy the crane on the top collapsed.  While it didn't fall, it was even more terrifying as it hung 90 floors above the ground with many more hours of strong wind.  Now, the crane is reattached to the building however no one is allowed within a 2 blocks radius of the building.  

Crane reattached at 57th St

It was quite a busy day!  But in all, I'm just so happy to be back in the city!

Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Vegetables

Today for dinner I made Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Vegetables!  I found the recipe after searching on allrecipes.com (one of my favorite sites to find recipes!) and it was absolutely delicious!

I made a few changes to that recipe so here it is:

Ingredients:

• 4 yellow bell peppers, tops removed, seeded
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 zucchini
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• Oregano, basil and paprika to taste
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Parmigiano reggiano 
• Shredded mozzarella

All the ingredients

Yellow peppers with the tops cut off

Directions:

1. Chop the peppers, zucchini, onion and spinach.

Chopped veggies

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
3. Wrap the yellow bell peppers in aluminum foil, and place in a baking dish.  Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven.  Remove from heat.

4. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the turkey until evenly brown.  Set aside.  

5. Heat oil in the skillet, and cook onion, mushrooms, zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and spinach until tender.

6. Return turkey to the skillet.  Mix in the tomatoes and tomato paste, and season.  Stuff the green peppers with the skillet mixture.

6. Return peppers to the oven, and continue cooking 15 minutes.

7. Sprinkle mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano on the top and return to oven for 5 minutes.

I also cooked rice pilaf.  To plate, put rice in a bowl and add a stuffed pepper on top.

ENJOY!!!

In the future, I would have more meat and less veggies as well as more seasoning.  Additionally, I would add rice to the mixture instead of just serving the pepper over rice.  But all in all, it was delicious!!!

Hurricane Sandy and NYC

So I left NYC on Sunday on one of the last few trains leaving the city before Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy.  When I left NYC, I questioned if it was truly necessary.  NYC was likely to get hit badly by the storm, but a slight change in the storm's path and the city may be spared or it may be far worse.  Likewise, a change in the storm's path could make the situation far worse in my hometown.  After returning home and watching the storm's path and destruction, I realized how lucky I was for having decided to leave.

Sandy ended up making landfall in New Jersey creating a large amount of damage.  Additionally, because of the combination of a full moon, high tide, rain and the wind, the water in the Long Island Sound piled up with no where to go but NYC.  It flooded buildings, road tunnels and subway tunnels and will take a long time to fix.

The first trains and buses heading back to NYC started running this morning however since there is still no power at our apartment building I'm waiting a little longer to return.  In the meantime, I've been chilling at home attempting to get more research done for my project.  I hope to return to the city on Saturday, but if there's no power, that's a no go.

The nice thing about being home though, was that today I got to drive to school to see some of the greatest friends I have!  I had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants with one of my best friends! I had some delicious sushi and nom nom nom it was good!  After dinner I headed to one of my sorority's chapter meeting and got to see so many smiling faces prepping for the second round of formal recruitment!  I can't wait to hear all about the fabulous women my sisters have met and meet the next class of members!

As fun as it was to be at school, I can't wait to get back to NYC and get this project DONE!  I only have 6 weeks left and my team is going to need every minute of it!

xoxi <3

Quote of the week

NYC Week 1: part 2!

Friday was my teams first FULL day at the office.  

One of these buildings is ours!

It was cut a little short though do to being stuck on the subway for approximately an hour due to a police investigation.  But the team began digging deeper into how to program and let's hope it's moving fast enough in the correct direction!!

After work I hustled out of work to go to Mia Chef Gelateria.  I had found a groupon not too long ago for a gelato making class and since I want to experience as much of the city as I can in my 2 months here, I bought it and was able to book the class nice and early!  There were 13 people (including me) at the class plus the instructor. It was very simple, fun, and tasty!

 We added the ingredients:

Mixed the ingredients:

The instructor took the gelato out of the machine (which cost approximately $20,000):

 Added topping to the gelato

Snickers Gelato, adding chocolate sauce

 And most importantly, took pictures and tasted the gelato!

Snickers Gelato from Mia Chef Gelateria

Each person at the class got to take home 4 pints of gelato, one pint of each flavor we made.  The flavors were: Cookies and Cream, Snickers, Double (or Dutch, I can't remember what it's called) Chocolate and Fig & Tequila!  It was so informative and the gelato I now have in my freezer is so delicious!

Today (aka Saturday), I ended up going shopping at the Forever 21 in Times Square.  It was absolutely amazing.  4 floors full of clothes and accessories.  It was interesting to see the range of ages of those shopping there.  There were girls no older than 12 all the way up to this much older woman (I'm guessing she's in her 70's) who I found in the shoes section checking out this pair of sparkly shoes:

After shopping, I did absolutely nothing except for eat some of the gelato I made yesterday and watching an NCIS marathon.  Unfortunately, it looks the Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy will be incredibly rough for this area so we will see how the next few days pan out.

NYC - Week 1!

So I've spent the last week in New York City working on completing my senior year project for college. I moved in on Saturday and spent the day unpacking then went to dinner with my parents at a great Italian restaurant, Marcony Ristorante. The meal included a sample of their fried mozzarella balls, butternut squash soup, butternut squash ravioli and finished off with crème brûlée.  It was all absolutely delicious! After saying goodbye to my parents, I joined some other students from school and we went to Gallery 32 in Koreatown.  I enjoyed Nutella froyo with crushed oreos and fruit (nom nom nom!!!). The next day I chose to explore some of the city to start taking pictures. It was amazing to see where my family used to have businesses and to see many of the NYC landmarks!

The former location of my grandfather's business

The former location of my great-grandfather's family store

Entrance to Macy's

The ice rink at Rockefeller Center

Grand Central Terminal

Radio City Music Hall

The naked Native American

Monday through Wednesday we weren't allowed to go to work due to legal issues, so Monday I went on the Circle Line boat tour around Manhattan to see all of the major landmarks.

Freedom Tower & the financial district

Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

Concorde, a supersonic plane that can travel up to 1,350mph

USS Intrepid, a WWII aircraft carrier

Afterwards, I bicycles around Central Park with one of my project partners and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Tuesday and Wednesday were much more lazy, only including some shopping (only bought a few pairs of shoes), Law & Order: SVU watching, and laying in bed.

We FINALLY started work on Thursday although it was only a half day.  We found out much more about our project and after returning home from work, fell almost immediately asleep. Friday and Saturday will follow in the next post!!