Good weekend with a great friend

This past weekend our wonderful friend (and matron of honor at our wedding) Lauren came to visit! She and I have been friends since the beginning of college when we both tried out for drumline - and conveniently lived in dorms that were right next to each other. Now, our arrangement isn't so convenient, as she lives in Georgia and I'm in Connecticut, but we make sure to stay in touch and really look forward to the opportunities we have to get together.

Lauren flew into New York City late last week, and Shaun and I took the train down to meet her on Saturday morning. Our friend Liz also made her way up from the Philadelphia area, and we all went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka "The Met"). I ended up not taking any pictures there, and I will admit I'm not a big art person, but it was very cool to see the assortment of artifacts from various points in history - like Egyptian scrolls from 1300 B.C., statues from ancient Greece, and full suits of armor. It made me wonder what kinds of things from our era might end up in a museum someday!

After that, since the Met is right next to Central Park, we took a little stroll to Belvedere Castle.



Shaun and I visit NYC occasionally, but this is a part of Central Park we had never been to. It was nice, but as you can see, the algae-topped water was pretty gross! We felt bad for the ducks trying to churn their way through it.

On the way back to Grand Central, Shaun had to stop and take a picture of the Plaza Hotel...aka the place Kevin McCallister stayed in Home Alone 2. Watching Home Alone 1 & 2 is part of our holiday routine every year, so of course we had to point out the landmark!



Here is where Kevin gets picked up in his limo...yeah, I know it's just a movie.

After dinner and seeing Liz off, Shaun and I brought Lauren back to our place for the night. We were exhausted from our day of walking in the city, so Sunday was pretty low-key. We showed her around our town and took her to see a pretty view at Lover's Leap park.



It's hard to see here, but I'm wearing the awesome shirt Lauren brought me from the NBC store as a belated birthday present...it simply reads, "I want to go to there". 30 Rock fans will get it!

We had a great weekend for the most part, but unfortunately we got stuck in MAJOR traffic Sunday night trying to get Lauren back to LaGuardia and she missed her flight. It was absolutely ridiculous - it usually takes us 1.5 hours or less to get there, and this time it took at least 2.5 hours. We got her to a hotel right by the airport and she was rebooked for Monday morning, but we were all pretty aggravated for awhile there. On our way back Shaun said, "I don't care if it's more expensive to fly out of Westchester or Hartford...I never want to drive to LaGuardia or JFK again!" I can't say I blame him...at least we might have enough airline miles to get a free ticket soon.

I'm so glad Lauren was able to come up to visit. We hadn't seen her since the wedding! It was harder to say goodbye than I expected...it's kind of the same with my family - I don't think about being away from them a lot on a day-to-day basis, as I've gotten used to the distance. But then I get used to spending time with people and realize how much I've missed them. Guess I just have to keep building up those miles...