Friday, Day 1 in NYC

Because there is so much to talk about and so many pictures to post, each day I'll blog about just one day of our NYC trip :)

Friday:

About 4:30 am my alarm went off... . I got ready, finished packing up a few last things, held my breathe hoping the suitcase would close (it did :D) and headed off to Claudia and Rocky's at 6:00 am. Our flight wasn't until almost 9:00 am but we had to drop off the car, get shuttled to the airport, check in and then get through security, which can sometimes take forever. We got lucky though and there were practically no lines at the check in counter or at security. Once we got to our gate I stocked up on some water and snacks (since we wouldn't get a meal on the airplane) and I got a breakfast burrito. By this time Amy and Phil had joined Claudia, Rocky, Bree and I.

Waiting for our flight in Oakland

Our flight was packed, but pretty uneventful. I got a window seat in the exit row so I had LOTS of leg room! I spent most of the flight watching tv, did a little snacking and hydrating and took one short little nap. Around 5:30 pm we arrived at JFK. Jeanette had already arrived and so met us at baggage claim and Petra was down at another terminal so once our limo arrived we went to pick her up. As cool as it was having a limo pick us up, it's wasn't the ideal choice for 8 people and all our bags :( Plus our limo driver was not the smartest guy so we had to help him pack up the limo. We had a few bags in the trunk, a few in the front seat, and a few in the back with us :( The limo ride into the city took us about an hour so we got dropped at the Hilton on around 7:00.

Waiting for our limo at JFK

In our clown car limo

A pile o' bags :D

Our dinner reservation was for 8:00 at Carmine's so we quickly checked in, dumped our bags and met in the lobby for the walk to Times Square. It was so cool to be walking around NYC and through Times Square, which was PACKED! Carmine's was about a half a block up from Times Square and it was packed too! Claudia and I went to check in (they would only let one person in from each party because it was so crowded). It took a little while for everyone to arrive but by about 8:30 we were all seated. One table with Claudia, Rocky, Phil, Jeanette, Lael, Anthea, their two friends, Amy and Petra was upstairs. The other table with me, Raji, Lakshman, my parents, brother, his friend and my godfather John was downstairs.

Waiting outside Carmine's with my brother, his friend, my mom and dad, and godfather John.

Carmine's is a family style Italian place so everything comes in huge portions. We ended up getting a big salad, two Eggplant Parmesans, Chicken Marsala with pasta and Penne with broccoli. I'm not usually a big fan of eggplant but this Eggplant Parmesan was SO good! Even though the waiter was worried we wouldn't have enough food, we ended up with more than enough! After dinner we couldn't resist sharing a serving of their strawberry shortcake... yummm :)

Yummy Eggplant Parmesan

Some serious conversation going on here...

After Carmine's I walked back to the hotel with Raji and Lakshman and we made a short detour along the way to pick up some water and gatorade. Once I got back to the room I was sharing with Phil I unpacked a little and hit the sack...