This weekend was a huge blessing.  It's always nice to have family and loved ones come visit me in New York and this weekend my Aunt Brenda was here.  We hit the ground running in a sense and ate dinner and did a night tour double decker bus the second she got in.

 The city is beautiful at night and we got to see it from Brooklyn where you can see the entire skyline lit up.

     The next morning we got up early and went to the Jason Derulo concert in Central Park for GMA. I have a friend interning there that i met at orientation that will always give me VIP wrist bands so we don't have to wait in line or stand in the back.

Neither of us had any interest in Derulo... turns out that's probably good because he sounded awful live.  We stood over by the anchor desk and watched them the whole time.  We were very close!

     Bren had heard of this place called Donut Plant in the Hotel Chelsea so we went there right after the concert and waited for the MoMath to open.  The donuts were delicious! They had unique flavors and the decor and music was very indie.

 We then walked to the MoMath which was very close to the Hotel Chelsea.  The museum was interesting.  Clearly not as awesome as some of the mainstream museums but unique in its own way.  It was very hands on.  We got to play games and experience everything first hand.  There was an exhibit that you got to step on and it would light up.  The woman manning it said it changed every couple of minutes to something new.  We experienced it making a maze and another time it would create a zone for you when you stepped onto to.  Pretty cool!  Didn't get too much bang for our buck though due to the museum only having two levels. But all in all pretty fun!

     This was the hottest day of the summer so far here, keep in mind.  So very sweaty and tired from GMA, we decided to go back to my place and regroup.  After about an hour, we grabbed lunch at a very tasty French place called Le Pain and headed to the tkts booth to try our luck at cheap broadway tickets.  Could not have gone better!

We got our first choice at tkts: cinderella!!!
      For TKTs, you have to wait in line in the middle of times square for a few hours and then reach a booth where you can buy heavily discounted tickets.  We got orchestra seats for Cinderella for 90 bucks... you heard me... 90 bucks!!!!
       So we went home, rested, and primped and headed out to grab dinner before our show.  We ended up going to an italian place right next door to our theatre.  Cinderella was really amazing.  The music was cute and the costume changes were awe inspiring!  Teared up several times because it was just that great and we were soooo close!

      That was a late night, so we headed to bed and slept in a bit the next morning.  We had heard of this  brunch spot called the Clinton Street Baking Co.  We arrived and they said it would be an hour and a half wait.  I was skeptical so we stayed.  Turned out, i was right... the wait was 30 minutes.  Score!!! Some of the best breakfast i've ever had.  Just look at the picture.. have you ever seen anything so delicious looking!!!??

     After that, we headed to the Empire State Building.  I hadn't been up there since i made my NY trip with my dad for my 12th birthday.  I remember, it was foggy that day so we couldn't really see anything! but that day when Bren and I went, it was beautiful.  Hot... but beautiful.  You can see everything!!

     We had big plans with World News that night so we headed home so i could change because i knew i'd be taking pictures and i don't know that a Texas Rangers shirt would have gone over so well.   So we rested our feet, enjoyed some air conditioning and headed out.  We made a stop by Big Gay Ice Cream on the way... not that that's on the way... it's in West Village... but still!  I firmly believe that is the best Ice Cream in the world.  I had a cone lined with Nutella... like... come on!

     I got to show her around ABC after that.  Again, i don't want all my readers to have all these ideas of grandeur about this building.  In all honesty, its more of an office building that happens to have a studio and some famous news people.  Its fascinating for us newsies and avid watchers of ABC News, but as for the general public... not much to look at.

But i showed her where i work and we stopped by the World News studio to wait for Ginger Zee who was kind enough to let us watch her do her thing as well as watch the rest of the show with David Muir hosting.  We met Gio Benitez, Ron Claiborne, Rob Nelson, David Muir, Ginger Zee and ran into Dan Harris in the elevator.  She got quite the ABC News celeb studded evening!! I gained a new love for the very sarcastic Ron Claiborne.  I was thrilled to share that with Bren!  It was a really good time!

    It wouldn't be a true New York trip, if we didn't get some New York pizza.  Lombardi's in SoHo was the highest rated one i could find in Manhattan.

 There are some great ones in Brooklyn but i thought we should stick to Manhattan.  It was delicious, very uniquely displayed and highly accredited.  The walls were lined with magazine articles and celebrities who had stopped by! So yummy!

     The last thing we did was go to an improv comedy show.  Those are a big thing in Chelsea and very cheap.

I thought that would be a fun thing to end the weekend with, though, i had a slight fear it would be very raunchy.  It was hilarious... laced with foul language on occasion... but the subject matter was just funny.  They did these impressions of women and little children with lisps.  Probably hard to picture.  Bren, i know you're reading... you know what i mean!

Anyway, we passed out very quickly that night and she left for the airport early this morning.
     This afternoon, i met some friends in washington square park for a free event called Comedy in the Park.  they had a bunch of Comedy Central semi-celebs that varied from funny to very funny!  On top of that, it was free... so even if they weren't funny we didn't lose anything but time and maybe some sweat!
     As far as the week ahead goes, i believe i have plans to see Despicable Me 2 and go to dinner with some folks.  My boss is setting me up with GMA to shadow the control room one morning which should be a blast!  I'm in the final stretch!  I miss everyone in Dallas and Norman very much and i can't wait to be back.