The Return to an Empire State of Mind

Korrin B.

January 2, 2010 - 7:20 PM

"I'll have the chocolate tasting plate with a cup of hot chocolate and if it's not too much trouble I'd like to be surrounded in shoes and crystals," I said.

New York graciously replied, "Of course, why would you expect anything less?"

And so I sat at the chocolate bar in the shoe section on the eighth floor of Sak's Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, enjoying the one and only thing I could afford in the store - chocolate. It felt good to be back in the big city after making my debut earlier in the summer. After my last trip, I made the conclusion that New York City was all about teaching people the beauty, and more importantly the necessity, of being fabulous. I stand by this conclusion, as I soon came to see my second trip to New York as the refining practices any follower of Fabulousnessism must learn from his or her guru. I stayed in New York this time from December 25 until January 1, when I flew back to the Pacific Northwest. It was a short stay, but had so much in it that I could never be expected to fit it all into one blog post. Therefore, here, I intend to hit solely on the moments that made me feel as though I could dance ballet through New York's streets forever, all while wearing a leotard covered in everything bright and sparkly.

While in New York, I was lucky enough to be able to stay with a friend in Long Island. Where she lives is only a quick fifty-minute train ride into the heart of the city, so it is very convenient. I spent the first two days after returning from Israel in Long Island. It was the classic happenings of a traveler returning from an incredible journey - sitting around not doing anything and blaming it on the fact that you need to do laundry or catch up on sleep, when in reality you know that you're just hiding from the world in order to deny the fact that you're back and it's over. Don't worry, by day three, I used all of my might to pull myself out of the depths of the returner woes and onto the Long Island Rail Road Penn Station bound train. All I could hope for as my train began to chug away was that Manhattan would take care of the rest.

The second I walked off of my train and into Penn Station, I knew I was back. A spoon full of Manhattan helps the medicine go down. I took a deep breath of subway air, gained a large and sly smile, looked both ways, and began my strut. My speed racer feet were back as I, like the New Yorkers around me, zipped in and out of the crowded walkways, stepping with purpose. The night before, I had made a list of coffee shops throughout Manhattan. My first day would be a scavenger hunt throughout the city for the ultimate café experience. I hopped subways like a professional and even gave out directions to some tourists who assumed I was a local. I journaled my thoughts in each new location. It was interesting to see what different coffee shops made my mind wander toward. I stopped at a little hole in the wall place near NYU, sampled some of what I had heard was New York's best rugelach near Union Square, and defrosted while watching ice skaters at Rockefeller Center. My main wisdom acquired from the day was this: Sometimes you set out looking for one thing, but end up finding the Cupcake Café. I like what this statement means figuratively, but I also loved what it meant literally. I walked block after block looking for this one coffee place I had found online and just as my feet were beginning to tire and my sense of adventure was starting to fade, I looked to my right and read a sign that glamorously declared the building it hung on as the Cupcake Café. I had not been on the search for the Cupcake Café, but in my moment of doubt, it had found me. And so I sat, delicately devouring a chocolate cupcake. I ended the evening by going to the top of the Rockefeller Center and gazing out with pure love in my heart at the glowing concrete heaven below me. The air was so cold, you couldn't help but feel alive. I was back.

I went into Manhattan every day for the remainder of my stay. I would get there in the afternoon and catch a late train back into Long Island where I would sleep and then promptly wake up and parade back to the city. My days were filled with the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes, watching Ryan Seacrest do prerecording in Times Square for New Year's Eve, going backstage at the theater for Chicago, laughing in a crowded comedy club off Broadway, people watching in Penn Station, toasting to 2010 in an apartment in the Upper West Side, and strutting with no need for direction through the magical streets of the city. I loved New York in the summer and now I love it in the winter. There is just something about the holiday hustle and bustle outside of all of the stores, the twinkling sign outside of Macy's reading "Believe," and the heavy coats and scarves wrapped around everything alive that makes me remember to live life fabulously. I am very happy that I had this New York stop before heading back to Eugene. I'll hold New York with me through the winter.