I always fancied myself a "big city gal".  When I was younger, I remember decorating my room with a poster of a city skyline and gazed wistfully at it; dreaming of one day living "where it all happens". 

I grew up in a small suburban town until I was 15 years old, then moved to a very rural area; the culture shock was quite huge:  In my prior home, there were 500 students in my grade, in the new one, 500 in the entire high school (grades 8-12!).  Because of this, I kind of felt that I never really fit in well, and as soon as I turned 18, I moved to the capital city of my state, Richmond, VA.  Ever since, I've lived with the notion that I'm a savvy "Sex in the City" kind of gal.  Yes, I even drink cosmos occasionally!

All of my "self notions" were exposed as "self illusions" however, when I made my first trip to New York City in early April with my BFF Lisa.  I am a "big city gal" no more!

We took the train from Richmond, VA to NYC.  It was actually a very pleasant 6-hour ride as Lisa and I can always find ways to entertain ourselves!  When we disembarked underground in NYC, I had no idea what was to come.  We traveled up the escalator from Penn Station and began walking the busy streets to our hotel, I was quickly overwhelmed (and by overwhelmed, I mean, HOLY CRAP!) by the enormous height of the skyscrapers blocking out the gray sky...then there was the constant honking and the swarms, I mean SWARMS of fast moving people.  I felt I better almost run or get my ass run over real quick!  Instantly, I said to my friend, "well, I could never live here!".  A native New Yorker gave me a dirty look so I felt a little bad.  I probably needn't have bothered; it's likely she heard my Virginia accent and just wanted me to get OUT OF HER WAY!  LOL

We made it to our hotel and checked in easily.  Whew!  I was just happy to be off the street for a minute.  Lisa used to work for a company that had her travel a lot and she had earned many hotel points so we stayed at the Hilton Garden Suites in Chelsea for 2 nights gratis!  Woo hoo!  We freshened up and made our way out to Times Square.

I was thrilled to see many of the sights I'd only seen on TV before:



But I was quickly stressed out.  I'm very sensitive to energies around me and there was SO MUCH frenetic energy in NYC that I thought I might pass right out!  I got really tense and a little snippy!  Thank goodness there was a Starbucks on every corner...a familiar place to find refuge from the storm .  We'd duck in every once in a while so I could ground myself.  Poor Lisa, she LOVES the energy of the city...I hope I didn't freak her out!

We did lots of fun things:  We went to Martha's  (Stewart, not that you needed clarification, right??) television studio in Chelsea:




We saw an amazing Broadway play (Legally Blonde, the Musical!) that I don't think is touring yet, and even if it did, I can always say I saw it with the original cast! 



We dined at an amazing Organic Vegan restaurant called Angelica Kitchen in the East Village and made friends with a cute waiter named Mike, who so sweetly brought us a chocolate dessert just to be nice!

Also, we found three amazing stores that just aren't back in VA.  The Iron Fairies, ABC Home and Fishes Eddy.  All three are worth the 6 hour commute just for shopping!

As for the rest of NY, I have to sum it up by saying:  Chaos,  Taxis and Starbucks.  I believe that those are the 3 key ingredients of the Perfect Storm of NYC!



I now truly appreciate home.  I still live in the city (update: as of 5/1 I moved to the suburbs, more to follow!), but have a small yard with GRASS, birds (besides pigeons!) and pets.  I can walk down the street without touching anyone unless I choose to!  The other day, I had my car washed at Car Pool and sat in an adriondack style rocker, closing my eyes and letting the sun shine away the cares from my day-something I can't imagine doing in NYC.  (CAR?  Car wash?  Sun??)  *Sigh*

More NYC pics can be found here:   NYC Pictures




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