I am terrible about keeping this updated! First, let me give a recap about Tyler's visit here.

So, he flew in last Thursday.  After his nap, we walk towards Little Italy looking for a place to eat.  We just happened to stumble upon Lombardi's, which is the first pizzeria in the US. I think it's been there since 1907 or something like that.  Needless to say, considering they have a reputation to uphold, the pizza was SO good. 

After dinner, we decided to go to Times Square so he could see what it's like at night.  I was pretty excited about seeing his reaction... I wondered if he'd be as amazed as I was the first time I saw it.  Well, he was.  He LOVED it.  We walked around for a while, went to Toys R Us (which by the way, has a carousel inside?) and the Hershey store, ran into the jerk from "Pretty In Pink", then found the building where Tupac got shot. We snuck inside to see the elevator he was near and so Tyler could throw up  the westside gang sign (probably a bad idea in a crowd, huh?)  

After taking a few minutes to relax inside the restaurant near the Tupac building, we decided to go get some sleep so we'd be ready for the next day.  We took a detour to Union Square, I showed him where I worked and a little bit of the East Village (my hood).  He was totally in love with all of it.

The next day, our first stop was the Dakota. (He got to see where Tupac got shot, it was my turn to show him where John got shot.)  We took a couple pictures, then walked across the street to go see Strawberry Fields.  Tyler was amazed at how big the Imagine monument actually is.  We sat there for a little while because, wouldn't you know it, it was Paul's birthday and this hippy/huge Beatles fan was playing "12 o'clock Beatle Power Hour" on the radio.  

We walked around Central Park for a while.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day- perfect for a first time Central Park-er.  We then went to the Met and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon.  Tyler loves history, so it was like a playground to him.  For dinner, we went to Serendipity.  It turns out that Serendipity has a lot more history behind it than just the movie named after it.  We were downstairs reading little things about the restaurant, and it turns out that we actually sat at the exact table where John & Yoko used to always sit.  Pretty ironic, huh?  

After dinner, we met up with Amber and Jeremy at an Irish pub near the Empire State building (another thing that Tyler was just blown away by. I think he made me take about 15 pictures of it from different locations in the city.)  Jeremy wanted to go to an Irish pub in the city, and it turned out that I actually knew of one because my mom and I ate there during both of our visits to NY. Later, we went to the lower east side for a little while and walked around a bit. After a while, Tyler and I were both ready to pass out after our long day, so we decided to be old people and leave early so we could get some sleep.

On Saturday, our first stop was Greenwich Village.  I read that the bar/restaurant "Cafe Huh?" on Across The Universe was actually based on a real place in Greenwich called "Cafe Wha?"  It's actually a bar where Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Bill Cosby (random) used to do shows.  It was closed for lunch, so we just got a few pictures and walked to this other place called Groove Lounge (did I mention Greenwich is awesome?) Oh, and by the way, if you ever go there, go to a coffee shop called Cafe Reggio and just drink one latte. It will change your life. True story. But don't get the capri salad... it's just ten tomatoes circling mozzarella and basil in the middle of the plate.

Jimi and Tupac on the same wall=happy Tylerissa.

After Greenwich, we walked to Chelsea so he could see the other place that I work (well, sort of. ha. All 4 hours of the week.) We walked around Chelsea Market.  Again, Tyler loved it.  By the time we were done in Chelsea, both of us were pretty wiped out.  We went to my dorm to relax for a bit (as much as you can in a room with no AC.)  Later, we met up with Amber and Jeremy again for another lower east side night.  And again, we left early because we were so tired!

Sunday was the day we planned to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.  First, we went to Steamer's Landing (my favorite restaurant in New York.)  It was SO beautiful outside.  Steamer's Landing faces the Hudson River, so there are tons of sailboats around and it is absolutely gorgeous.  

It was so good that we ended up canceling our dinner reservation in the Meatpacking district and making a reservation there for dinner.  We had to rush after lunch to get ready for The Lion King (thanks, Mom!).  We made it to the show just in time.  It was really, really good. We got out of the show earlier than we expected, so with time to kill, we decided to take a little walk to Hotel Chelsea.  I tell Tyler that we can go inside, but they only let you see the first floor.  Being the adventurer he is, he says, "and what's stopping us from going upstairs?" Nothing, of course.  You just have to act like you live there. So, he asks what floor Edie lived on, and we make our way towards the elevator.  It was SO cool. The building is very old looking and hasn't been updated whatsoever.  It's very charming.  There is tons of crazy art all over the walls and the. most. beautiful. staircase you will ever see. We walked up the stairs, stopping on pretty much every floor to take pictures and hiding the camera when we heard the elevator beep or a door open.  We went all the way to the top, where there is a skylight and a bunch of portraits hanging from the ceiling.  Upon reaching the top floor, we realize that we are actually very very late for our reservation (in New York, it literally takes 45 minutes to go 2 miles away.)  We leave Hotel Chelsea with every intention of coming back later that night. Because that's just how Tylerissa does things.

Andy Warhol pose.  Very appropriate given the occasion.

We arrive at Steamer's Landing and to my surprise there is a bottle of champagne and candles at our table. That sneaky Trick Tickler.  Dinner was amazing, and we sat near the window so we had an amazing view of the sun setting over the Hudson.

After dinner, we go back to Chelsea because, thinking we were eating in the Meatpacking District, I bought tickets to the Chelsea Cinema for Toy Story 3.  The movie was great but we both fell asleep towards the end.

The next day was Tyler's last day in the city, and we had some big things planned.  First, we were supposed to go to Good Morning America (again, thanks mom!) but we didn't wake up in time because we stayed out so late the night before.  Oh well. We actually didn't get a move on until around 1 PM.  First, we had to go to the Ed Sullivan Theater to pick up our tickets for David Letterman (for those of you who don't know the story, Tyler won us tickets to the show).  We actually didn't have as much time as I thought, so we just stuck around near the theater until the show was about to start.  The show was really good. Salma Hayek was the guest that day. I think we were actually the youngest people there.

After the show, we walked to 5th ave so Tyler could see the Rockefeller Center.  We stuck around that area and met up with Amber and Meagan for dinner.  After dinner, Tyler, Amber, and I went to Greenwich for the night.  First, we went to some really expensive Mexican place (on accident) because it said that NY Magazine rated their margaritas (one of 6) of the BEST in the city.  Yeah, they were good. No, not $10 worth. After our very expensive drink, we stumbled upon this sort of hole in the wall place that had $2 beers and 20 cent wings. My kinda place.  Amber was sweet enough to pick up the tab of the broke college students, then we all left to get some sleep.  Unfortunately, I had to work the next morning.  

Tuesday morning, Tyler walked me to work then went to Grand Central to catch the bus to the airport.  Well, as I'm sure you all know, he was asked to be an extra in a movie.  Of course.  He's here for 4 days and he gets to be an extra in a movie.  :) I must say that was probably a great way to end a first time New York trip!

Whew. Okay, so that was pretty much the whole trip.  If anyone is still reading, let me just add a few things from this week:

1. NYU dining halls have it figured out.  I had an omelet for breakfast yesterday morning.  First omelet in about 2 months. Yum.

2. I have a sinus infection and everything smells and tastes funnny. :(

3. I laid out in Central Park today, but couldn't last for more than 45 minutes. It's SO hot!!

I know, I know. It's been almost 2 weeks since I've written anything. I'll do my best to give a full recap.

First of all, TYLER IS HERE!!! His plane landed at 2 and thankfully Ford let me leave early for the day so we met at Grand Central.  He loves New York so far.  Little does he know, I am so about to wear him out this weekend.  We have a weekend packed of pretty much everything New York has to offer with absolutely no downtime. The thought of it alone made him sleepy, so he's taking a nap right now. :)

We have 2 new interns at Ford.  One is a super nice guy named Christian; he's in a broadway play and is just doing this internship on the side. (You know, the usual.) The other is named Marisa. She started last Friday.  It can get pretty hectic with 3 of us there (especially when Marisa and I are working together and someone says "Marissa/sa?" and we both turn around and say "yes?"), so they kind of spaced it out to where we all have at least one day to ourselves, and all 3 of us never work at the same time. It actually makes things go slower with more people there.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have more people to help with the overall project, but it's very difficult to teach the system I created. I think I'm kind of OCD. And I'm not a very good teacher, I sort of just assumed they knew this and that, so I'll randomly find something that wasn't taken care of because no one (aka me) showed them.  I'm sure it will get better though.  It took me about a week or two to get the hang of things.

One thing is for sure, I did realize the other day that I will not be working in this industry after I graduate.  My eyes were opened to the ugly side of the business a couple days ago. I'm going to just leave it at that, considering this is a public blog.

I started at Anthro on Monday. What a day to start! It was the night before inventory, so we had to pull out every single tag from every article of clothing in the store.  It was pretty intense. The store is really big too, I would say it's probably 3 times as big as the Ridgeland store... so that's a lot of ground to cover.  It was fun, though.  I met a lot of new people just in one night of working. Plus, it's in such a great location. I'm absolutely in love with the Chelsea area. If I ever live here, that is where I'm living for sure.

I know I have more to write, but I really can't think of anything else right now.  If it comes to me, I'll update this post. :)

First and foremost, I have a question. Does anyone want to donate to my fan fund? Our room has no AC in the dorm, we only have one fan, and I'm dying! It's so hot here. I'm sweating every morning when I wake up, and I don't even wear any covers. Even Haley Barbour said today at Missisippi Day that New York summers are way hotter than Mississippi summers. Fact.

Okay, now on to a few updates.

I love getting lost in New York.  Yesterday afternoon, I left the dorm and just started walking around... no destination really, just wanted to walk.  After getting to Union Square, I decided to walk to Chelsea and find where I'll be working.  Even though it was slightly out of the way, I walked about 8 blocks north of the Chelsea Market so I could go by Hotel Chelsea again. Hotel Chelsea is the previous home to Edie Sedgwick, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell (she wrote the song "Chelsea Morning" in her room there) , all the girls from Andy Warhol's "Chelsea Girls," and many more... that probably explains why I love it so much. This time, I asked a Janis Joplin doppelganger outside if it was possible to walk inside.  She said to just act like I was a resident and I would be fine, so that's exactly what I did.  I tried to quickly sneak a couple pictures, but I figured that would be a dead giveaway that I didn't live there.  The two pictures I did take aren't that great of quality, but here they are:

I saw a sign in the lobby about a tour of the building in a couple weeks.  They take you through the entire building, including notable bedrooms from the past. Hopefully I'll be off work so I can go. 

Here a few more pictures I took while touring the neighborhoods around there:

where I'm working on my days off of Ford

for all you SATC lovers out there

Starting work at Anthro tomorrow morning. Hopefully it goes well. :)

I got the job at Anthropologie, the one in the Chelsea Market. I'm excited! It's brand new and really nice.  Apparently, though, I'm not going to get many hours.  The manager emphasized "part-time."  Oh well, I don't want to have to work every single day I'm here anyways.

Our other roommate moved in.  She goes to Princeton and is working for Google.  Poor girl, stuck in here with two southern girls.

More later.

It's been a very relaxing weekend.  I never thought I'd want to just stay inside in New York, but that's what I did for most of the weekend.

Meagan is dog-sitting in this BEAUTIFUL apartment in Park Slope, so I went over there Saturday night.  The guy she's dog-sitting for asked what kind of groceries she wanted for the week, and she said lots of vegetables. Of all things, guess what he bought? Butternut squash. So, we searched for recipes involving butternut squash and ended up finding a pretty great one (thank you, Ms. Joy of Cooking).  I have this fear of gas top stoves, so I was having a hard time in the kitchen... I still don't understand why people have gas stoves. :(

Anyway, all day and night Sunday I laid in bed. Yep. That's it. It was fantastic. With Netflix at hand, you can keep yourself entertained for hours.  I watched the documentary "Food, Inc."  Just a warning... don't watch that if you like to eat... anything. Seriously. I'm glad I watched it, but it makes me long for my kitchen in Starkville so I can decide what goes into my meals again.

Yesterday, Memorial Day, was so fun! A group of people went to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and cooked out.  There was not a cloud in the sky.  We stayed out there pretty much all afternoon, so I got some sun (finally).  You would think walking around all day every day, I would have gotten a little tan before then.  Maybe the buildings are just blocking all the UV rays.

Unfortunately, I've been awake since 2 AM (fell asleep at 7 PM).  I think I'm sick.  I watched NY1 news for 3 and a half hours straight.  They played the same stories over and over the whole time.  I was so thankful when the 5 AM news came on.  When the sun started rising, I left Brooklyn and headed back to the dorm.  The sunrise was beautiful.  I watched it rise over the (imitation) Arc De Triomphe.

I'm so thankful for NYU dining dollars, even if we can only use it at Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.  And I'm also thankful that Dunkin serves mild coffee.  I couldn't survive in the mornings without it.