WICKED!!!!!

I have been looking forward to this quick trip up to New York with a couple of my friends for a long time. Mostly because we were going up to see Wicked on Broadway!!! At the last minute one of my friends couldn't go :( she has a new baby who suddenly refused a bottle. So I called my cousin Shelly to see if she wanted/could go and I was so excited when after a little figuring she was able to come!

The car drive was great and went a lot like this: yack, yack, yack, yack, yack yack, yack! A lot of talking. And the closer we got to New York the more excited I was to see the great New Jersey Turnpike. I of course knew it was 'great' because Simon and Garfunkel sang about it in a song, "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike, they've all come to look for America". So I sat up in my seat and paid attention as we approached but after going through a toll it all just looked like your run of the mill freeways. So I asked Christy, "so where is this turnpike?" and she says, "that was it." I frantically started taking pictures out the back window but the illusion was speeding away faster than we were. Shelly took a picture of me giving my "that was it?!", look which I feel illustrates the moment well.

When we arrived in N.Y. we walked around the Times Square area and Rockefeller Center and did a bit of shopping before we went and fell asleep for a couple of hours in our room -which we were all grateful for, having been up since the wee hours of the morning. Then we got ready and had a great dinner before going to....

WICKED!!! I was so giddy and excited. I could whip out a bunch of descriptive words to describe the show but I feel like they would fall so short. AMAZING!!!! SO AMAZING!!!! It was so entertaining and the voices these people have...it just isn't normal...or fair. Seeing this musical will forever be a highlight of my life. Seriously.

After the show it was late but we changed and walked a block over to Times Square and grabbed a hot chocolate as we took in the sights. One of which was...wait for it...my first celebrity sighting, Carly Smithson from American Idol. Well, actually Erica saw her first and she and Christy were freaking out. It was hilarious. But Carly and her tatted-up husband were very cool. Shelly generously offered to take a picture for us and I was really glad Erica insisted Carly's husband be in the picture too. As we were walking away in shock, Shelly patiently asks, "Okay. Now who was that?" No wonder she was so willing to take the picture! She hasn't been watching American Idol this season! Thinking of the scene we made through Shelly's eyes makes me laugh even now. She must have been wondering why were freaking out over those two. Funny.

It was really a great trip and I have to thank Nathan for encouraging, helping, and supporting me to be able to go. He was great- they were even on time to church! Kennedy's quote of the day was, "Dad, it's okay that my hair is ugly. You're just not a good doer. But that's okay." She said this regarding the braid that Nathan attempted which was down-graded to her hair down with a barrette in it. Aly and Kohen's hair though...not bad. Not bad at all.