My Fifth Month as a New Yorker

I didn't have a ton of exciting plans for November, but looking back it turned out to be a really fun and full month. I was worried that by Halloween I had already petted fall to death, but the fall delights just kept coming. A major highlight of course was seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for the second year in a row, although this time I was in the front row. It was freezing and I may just now be regaining feeling in my toes, but it was definitely worth it.

A few more things I did in November:

I caught a beautiful sunset when they still happened after I got out of work, the Hudson River continued to provide all of the fall delights, Trent, Alisha and I went to Roosevelt Island on the tram where we saw the Smallpox Hospital ruins, Four Freedoms Park and I was surprised by the beautiful foliage.

I got my second cold in two months but broke out of my sickbed for a beautiful walk in Central Park, cider donuts and hot cider under the gorgeous leaves in Prospect Park, got my senses assaulted again at Panna II Indian Garden Restaurant, had my share of snugs and foot chewing with Mozart and saw the ever-nutty but insanely talented Cat Power.

My friend Brianna visited and I took her to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, we ate brunch in Brooklyn Heights where I spotted a starry manhole cover, then walked to the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene where we had double dessert including a lemon poppy seed donut at Dough, and dinner at John's of Bleecker Street. I scored some great finds in the dollar bins at the Strand and started spotting holiday delights under the Time Warner Center's stars.

My obsession with free samples was indulged at two of Bryant Park's Tasting Tuesdays, I killed some time at Grand Central and got to see the Holiday Light show in action, I walked by this googly-eyed column on my way home, coveted this sign in Brooklyn, decided that I wanted to cover everything in pennies like this table I saw at the Brooklyn Flea, and discovered the beautiful Fort Greene park.

I finally saw Tom the Turkey up close and personal, along with the Macy stars, Richard Simmons and the Fireman balloon, even if they were all flying about half as high because of winds, I put up my very first New York apartment tree with a sock monkey Santa topper and attended the third annual Treeyoncé lighting at Trent's.

The next few weeks will probably fly by, but I'm trying to slow things down a bit and really enjoy Christmas in the city. I have an embarrassing amount of time off from work in the coming weeks so there'll be a lot of time to window shop, actually shop and take in all of the holiday festivities. Gift-giving is one of my very favorite things to do, so I naturally love the holiday season. The weather has been pretty mild (except for that arctic blast on Thanksgiving), but I'm always not-so-secretly hoping for a big snowstorm. I spotted a few flakes on Black Friday, but I can't be sure that they weren't manufactured by Macy's to add to the holiday spirit. I've already broken out the life-saving hat this year, so I say bring on the flurries.