So Nice They Named It Twice

Sometimes I blog about funny things that I see on the Internet. Sometimes I write about quirky things that catch my interest.

Sometimes I reminisce about vacations I took a long time ago. This is one of those times.

Feel free to stop reading whenever you get bored.

So this one time, my parents and I decided to go to New York. I think I was about a senior in high school then, but we never set a date. Three years later I was 21 and a year away from graduating from college. I also got a nice shiny ring on my finger.

Right about then, Dad booked plane tickets. I think it was kind of a last-trip-with-Mom-and-Dad-before-I-grow-up-and-leave-them sort of thing. It was a strange feeling that way. Kind of like my last trip as a kid.

Dad told me on the flight that I would either love New York or hate it. It's either a magical place with an indescribable energy all its own or a dirty concrete jungle with subways that smell like ... never mind. But, he said, he absolutely loved it.

Like father, like daughter.

If you can fall in love with a city, NY and me were a match made in heaven. Love at first sight. And I it was possibly the best going-away present they could have given me. (For the record, they still haven't really gotten rid of me. I call constantly.)

It's been almost two years since the trip, but I remember a few highlights.

1. I wanted a purse so my parents took me to Chinatown to get it for cheap. Going in, I wanted to play it cool. You can't let them know you want what they're selling. It makes the price go up. But right as we were creeping along through the crowds of shady salesmen, my dad's friend calls out, "Hey, Breanna, didn't you say you wanted a purse?!" I felt like a movie star at the mall—completely mobbed. Barely made it out alive.

2. Visiting the Plaza Hotel and Tavern on the Green with Mom. She had always talked about going to both those places with me, and finally getting to do it was wonderful. Even if we didn't stay long at either.

Not the best picture, but Mom got in trouble with the security guy for taking it. So we have to get good use out of it.

3. Mom and I bought my wedding dress from the funniest little red-headed Jewish lady. The dress had been featured on The Apprentice just the week before. (I know, right?) I loved it. It loved me. Mom loved it. And when Ryan saw it a few months later, he loved it too.

4. Speaking of Ryan, I missed him so much I saw reminders of him everywhere.

 5. "You have half an hour to find yourself a dress for dinner." Consider it done, Dad.

6. Seeing Dad teach at a conference at Columbia University. We had to justify the trip somehow, and he really is the best teacher ever. Win-win.

7. Celebrating my birthday at Planet Hollywood with Mom and Dad.

Now that I think about it, it's probably not the city I love so much.

Thanks again, Mom and Dad.