New York, New York!

New York, New York...how I love it! I had a great time with Elyse this past weekend. It was great to see where she lives and work.

I flew in Thur. evening and Elyse met me on the bus going into Manhattan. She took me to her old apartment on the East Side, so I could meet her friend Candice. They have a balcony that I could spend all day on.

Then, Elyse treated me to dinner at Sala Thai, one of her favorite Thai Restaurants. I ordered Drunkin' Noddles. It was yummy and spicy!

Finally, we caught the bus to the Upper West Side. Elyse's new apt. is on the corner on Columbus and W 90 st. Way nice...on the 15th floor and a corner apt. so windows with views! The whole side of one wall is a window and looks west to the Hudson River. I can see Jersey!

And Central Park is a only a block away, down a beautiful street filled with brownstone houses. We spent a lot of time in Central park. Friday morning we got up and went to the Good Morning America Concert. Third Eye Blind was performing. It was fun!

We went back that night for the NY Philharmonic Symphony Concert on the Great Lawn. You just take a blanket and some dinner and sit listening to beautiful music with a view of the city behind you. They were suppose to do fireworks, too, but it started raining.

Friday afternoon we went to the Hayden Planetarium and watched "Journey to the Stars" narrated by Whoopi Goldberg (whom we later saw while walking down Central Park West!) We went back after lunch and took a tour of the American Museum of Natural History. It was neat!

On Sat., Elyse had a Bridal Shower at a place on Park Ave., so I went to the Park and walked around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I came out on 5th Ave. at the Museum Mile and just sat and people watched.

Where the double towers are is Elyse's street on the Upper West Side.

That evening, Elyse and I caught a cab and went down to Time Square to try to get lottery tickets to see "West Side Story"...We didn't get tickets, so we went wandering down Restaurant Row (46th St.) where they were filming a movie (Elyse had my camera and she only got a picture of the old taxi cab, but I saw the actors, which was exciting!).

We went over to the Hudson River and then went up to the High Line. There are some old train tracks that run up between all the warehouses and someone came in and built a park. If you look, you'll see the tracks in between the flowers. Elyse treated me to Gelato, an Italian variant of ice cream. Finally, we went home and order Margarita Pizza :-)

Me on the Hudson River (Behind me, New York is on the left and New Jersey is on the right).

View of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building from the High Line

We went to church Sunday afternoon. Elyse's new ward meets in the same building as the Temple which is straight down Columbus, across from the Lincoln Center. Way cool! After Church, Elyse took Armineh and I to her work. She works on the East Side, off of York St.

To get to the airport, you catch the M60 on 125th Street, right across from the famed Apollo Theater!

Harry Potter

I went to the midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" last night, with Cheryl, Anna, and Mary. It was good (way better than the last one!)

Between the music and watching Draco, I was in heaven...When Tom Felton stepped onto the screen, I literally gasped. I've never really cared for Felton but, he's grown in the last two years (Everyone is so tall-Daniel Radcliffe is now officially the shortest one) and he looked sleek and sharp all dressed in black. He did an amazing job portraying Draco Malfroy as a tortured soul in this movie.

The movie was 2 and 1/2 hours long and I didn't get out until 3 am, but again it seemed too short. I was, however happy to see Ron in so many scenes.

Now begins the waiting for 7...

FYI: I'm off to the Big Apple tomorrow to visit Elyse (yeah!) and I'll try to take lots of pictures to post.

Lonnie :-)

One long sentence...

This past week was crazy! Here's a summary in one long run on sentence... :-)

First, my car wouldn't start (I had to get a new battery), my toilet exploded (the valve in the tank broke), I got carded when trying to buy a ticket to see the midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" (apparently all movies after 9:15 pm are considered "R" and the guy at the ticket booth thought I was 17 instead of 27... I should be flattered that he thought I was 10 years younger!), I bought a plane ticket to New York to visit Elyse, and finally, I got up at 4 in the morning on Sat. to drive to Baton Rouge and do a Temple Session (it was awesome!).

Adios!