We went and did the “touristy” Christmas thing- see the Rockefeller Christmas tree. On the way there, we had found that the decorators had left a big mess! Very large Christmas lights and ornaments on the side-streets.

When we got to the tree, I was a bit disappointed by the size of it… The lights and ornaments were so large.

:) I hope you know that I’m joking….

This year, I spent my first Thanksgiving apart from my family. I stayed here in NYC and intended to make it to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but had such an incredibly long week at work (because we moved the office the weekend before). So I did not make it to the parade, sadly. :( Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to go at somepoint, preferably with a good view from a building rather than on the street. :)

I also made my first Thanksgiving meal! While at the grocery store earlier in the week, a few non-marked chickens were placed right next to the turkeys. I was very close to bringing home a “Thanksgiving chicken”, but thankfully ended up with a turkey.

Everything I made I had never made before, so it made for a long day of cooking. It was well worth it! The only failure was the lemon sauce for the asparagus. It was faaar too sour, so I won’t be using that recipe again. I made a turkey rubbed with thyme and rosemary, gravy from scratch, candied yams, asparagus, and deep-friend corn fritters. I had bought homemade rolls and pumpkin pie from the farmers market, and those were also amazing.  The meal was complete with some Pinot Grigio. :)

My first Thanksgiving meal was a complete success!!!! I was very nervous about it, but it was great.  We ate our meal late and watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special.

I’m definitely looking foward to making future Thanksgiving meals, now that I know how to do it!

Actually, it IS riding a bike.

Last weekend, my dear friend Gail was in town. She challenged me to go out and do something new each week. That could include exploring an area, going to a new place, meeting new people, etc. I’m tempted to be a home-body sometimes, so it was a good challenge. Although I might have overdone it last week with 3 things last week. :) (Karaoke with new people was the 1st item… if you decide to count)

This weekend, I finally went biking with my friend Sarah. This might not sound like a big deal… but I haven’t ridden any more than maybe 1 mile at a time since I was in high school. I rode 12 miles on Saturday. Here’s my trail, roughly.

We took a break for some Mr. Softee in Brooklyn. While at the Brooklyn Bridge park; we saw 5 different wedding parties taking pictures, people trying to maneuver 5 huge racing kayaks onto a trailor, a man loading port-a-john’s onto a boat, and much more. All from one bench… it was quite the people watching spot.

There was a sudden flash flood on the way to East Village, which made the ride even more interesting. Then, I biked home at sunset. I didn’t know if I’d make it home considering my lack of cycling abilities, but I made it! And it was great. :)

On Sunday, I explored Tribecca. I was prety amazed, I had no idea how pretty it is.