Cupcakes!!

New York tries to claim everything---fame, opportunity, pizza, and now cupcakes!  I was told that I HAD to eat a cupcake in New York, so of course I didn't complain.  Every one I've had so far tastes the exact same--not homemade, they taste like they come from a factory in the midwest or something--and they are HUGE!  I still haven't found one that compares to my funfetti homemade ones, but I'll keep trying! :)

Christmas in the City

                                               The Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center

There is no place that will put you in the Christmas-spirit like New York can. (Ok, ok, Gatlinburg wins...but besides that...)  I'm so glad I got to interview for my job before Christmas so that I could see all the beautiful decorations.  & I'm so glad that they don't really take down the decorations until the end of January-kind of weird-but I love Christmastime, so it's a good thing. :)

Ground Zero-another one I'm not a fan of

Even though it's just a short trip from anywhere on the Downtown E train.  Ground Zero isn't really worth the time right now.  This is what you'll see :

It's just a big construction site right now.  They are going to make a really cool memorial with waterfalls and cool things, but right now, it's a bunch of cranes.  However, it IS quiet! I had always heard that it was quiet down there & it truly is, except for the people saying "Is that it??"

Central Park-not a fan.

So while my friends were here, of course we thought Central Park was a must see.  Well, we must have seen the wrong parts of it.  The one good thing about the trip was this pretty cool picture we took via self-timer.

Our first mistake was that we took the subway to the 103rd stop on the East Side--aka GhettoVille!  Then we finally found the park after asking a few people, "Which way is Central Park???"  They just pointed and laughed.

We went to the information center to ask where the ice skating rink was.  Once we saw the rink, we decided maybe that wasn't a good idea.  Half of it was closed and it looked pretty dirty.  So then we walked around hoping to find something cool...it never happened.  I wanted to at least be scared or something-that comes from watching too many CSI: New York shows, I suppose.

All in all, it just made my feet hurt for no reason.  I'm going back in the summer when apparently it's super fun and everyone lays out.  We'll see.

Enjoy the GO!

So what do you do when you've been walking around Manhattan all day & you suddenly need to use the bathroom?  Most places do not have bathrooms due to limited space so imagine our surprise when we found a huge store in Times Square devoted just to bathrooms---the Charmin "Enjoy the Go" superstore!

First, we had our picture taken with the Charmin bear.

(Notice the toilet girl dancing in the background)

Then, we went upstairs to the restroom oasis.  There were many stalls with many different types of Charmin paper you could choose from to use!  There was a karaoke stage, painting stalls, and many picture opportunities.  The staff was so energetic and excited.  We just couldn't stop laughing and smiling, not to mention we were SO glad we got to use the bathroom for free.  We even got our postcard picture made on the big toilet.  My friends said it was their favorite New York moment! haha