in the Big Apple

After getting up at 5:30am because I couldn't sleep, I had to clean and pack before heading to work. I worked an abbreviated day, and raced off to Heathrow after a flurry of last minute e-mails. After a most wonderful flight on British Airways (apart from a Zimbabwean guy who got a bit too close), I landed in New York City.

I went to visit my cousin Tiffany in her cozy Manhattan apartment, then we went for Mexican food in her neighbourhood. After living in London for a while, I realized how unnecessarily large North American portions are. We went shopping all over town afterwards in search of shoes for me for the conference, and a purse to replace the cheap over-the-shoulder one that I usually travel with. Amazingly, for all the thousands of purses in New York, I wasn't able to find a single one to replace the one that I had. I ended up buying a pair of Coach shoes at Bloomingdale's (my first "brown bag") for a pretty penny. If it wasn't for the fact that I had NO room in my luggage, I could have done a lot of damage shopping that day. I'll be back for a shopping trip with some girlfriends soon. After chillin' at Fufi's for a little bit, we went for very yummy Thai food (Prem-on Thai).

I was pretty pooped on the Sunday so just slept in, did some work, and went to Central Park for a bit. My co-workers and I tried to find some decent sushi in the Times Square area, but ended up back at the hotel. I found out from my cousin later that good sushi costs an arm and a leg in NYC.

Since Fufi had to fly to Cornell, and my co-workers decided to take on a show, we got together for dinner on Monday night. We went for awesome tapas at Aspen (22nd street between 5th and 6th). I ate more during this stay than I would normally eat in a week or two in London. =(

I'll be heading back home tomorrow morning for a few days before heading off to London again. Can't wait to see some of you guys!