We had briefly talked about getting a town car or limo to pick us up from the airport. I mean really, who doesn’t like seeing their names on a sign held up by a fat little guy in a black suit and funny hat? I do!
We never made solid plans as a group, but Ari said she “knew a guy” which meant she had something up her sleeve. We rounded the corner to baggage claim and there he was – our very own fat little guy holding up our very own sign THSC Girls!!! What a great welcome to NYC!
We headed into the city in swank Cadillac Escalade style. Thursday night we were staying at the Paramount Hotel right off Broadway. We got the hotel and dropped off our belongings since the room wasn’t ready and we headed out in search of things to check off our lists – one being HOT DOGS!!! Yummy and even yummier because we were starving! We walked around for a bit after the hot dog, got our bearings and then headed back to the hotel to get out of our flying funk clothes.
Our hotel was great, a boutique hotel that as someone said had furniture reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland – the high back chair definitely brought that to life!

So Thursday morning we actually made it out the door only about 5 minutes late, which I consider a huge accomplishment! We got to the airport – check – bags checked – check everyone’s back under 50 pounds – almost check … Amanda’s bag was 51 pounds but the nice woman at the counter let her slide “this time” and immediately a plan was made to redistribute boots and jeans for the trip home – just in case. No worries though, Brittany’s bag was only 37 pounds – she packed nothing apparently. Find a Starbucks inside security – check – board plane – check –
Finally find out the true meaning behind of the mystical cran-apple juice – check. WAIT what? Cran-apple is not it’s own fruit – I kid you not – and neither did our awesomely snarky flight attendant. He very graciously explained to the plane full of people bound for Chicago that cran-apple juice was a blend of cranberry juice and apple juice. He also told us he would be glad to get us whatever we wanted as long as he could do it from his seat as it was only an hour and half flight and he was not a morning person. Ari should have offered him some of her mocha espresso with more than humanly contrived amounts of espresso! That would have perked him right up.
Conincedentally, it’s since been suggested that our signature drink going foward be cranberry juice with apple vodka – or the other way around… I think it works either way!!!Sitting next to me was an older woman in a fabulous velour sweat suit with some BIG HAIR – I mean BIG – especially for a 6 am flight. She was on her way to NYC as well to meet up with her girlfriends- she told me this was the 15th year in a row that they had all gone to NYC for shopping and fun with the girls. It was really cool how she told me all about it – I felt a bit bad for secretly making fun of her BIG hair.
Make it to Chicago – check. Get more espresso mocha truffle – quintuple check! Track everyone on Loop – check. Loop is this neat little application for your gps enabled cell phone so that you can track all your friends, also known as a husband tracker apparently. It was cool though because Brittany’s husband was actually in Chicago and because of Loop, we knew exactly where in the windy city he was. Cool tool, you should download it.
Finish off coffees and bits of McDonalds check – and as you can imagine – pee…. lots – check!
Board plane for NYC – check!!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday night, after I FINALLY got off of work, I picked up Jennifer and we headed to meet up with Amanda and Brittany. Of course that was the afternoon I was scheduled to present to be in a presentation with a senior management audience and they just wanted to talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. Normally never a bad problem to have, however I was very ready to be officially on VACATION!!!
We hit the road to head south to Little Rock to Ari’s house. We were super ready to fly out on Thursday morning even though it was super early – just meant we started vacation earlier in the day! We got to Ari’s in record time, even in the rain and promptly popped open a couple bottle of champagne to celebrate not only the start of our first annual THSC Girls trip but also to belatedly celebrate Ari’s birthday. It was great way to start our trip and a wonderful way to celebrate Ari’s birthday all at the same time.
We went to bed relatively early so that we could catch our super early flight!!!

So let the story begin….
I’ll try to keep the events in some sort of chronlogical order, but I make no gurantees – as you’ll see toward the end… time gets a bit lost!
Wahoo!

I made journals for all the girls to take with them. I thought it would be a good idea and everyone could use it for many different things such as making lists of things they wanted to accomplish or writing down memories or keeping track of all the excitement. And also so I wouldn’t forget anything to post on the blog.
JC took it to a new level – she illustrated! It was great, she’s quite the artist! I had no idea she was so talented. I think we all learned a little bit more about everyone on this trip.

Well, it’s T – 4 hours until the THSC Girls® are on the road to being to the airport to fly through Chicago to get to NYC!
I’m very excited!

I made a very handy “nerd spreadsheet outfit tracking chart.” It came in very handy while packing and was essential in preventing me from over packing and leaving plenty of room for SHOPPING!!!!!!!!

Sorry I will not be able to blog from the road – can’t figure how to do it from the black berry – that’s another reason why I kinda want an iphone or maybe just an ipod touch…

Anyways, if you are my Facebook buddy – check out the right side if you want to be… I’ll be uploading pictures there as we go!

I’m super also excited because I made fun little crafties for all the girls too – but no pictures – don’t to ruin the whole surprise. But I think everyone is too busy with last minute errands and packing to read blogs this afternoon.

Look for lots of fun updates and pictures next week. Also too, I hope we don’t get hijacked by pirates – it could happen ya know!

That was the quote of the night – I’ll have to upload pictures, but you can probably guess how the night ended…

1. The things my mother has somewhat unknowingly taught me-kindness and carin, going the extra step and doing the little things to make other people smile.
2. My father’s humor, wit, and sarcasm. That I always be his friend, not just his daughter
3.Presley – the smartest dog in the world and my best confidant – she can’t talk back to me and never judges me, and she runs slow when she knows I’m tired and fast when we’re almost to the end of the road.
4. Happy friends who always share their happy lives with me
5. My friends babies, who although precious and sweet, may very well be the best form of birth control available.
6. Wine and Vodka, although not mixed.
7. Chocolate!
8. My great groups of girlfriends that are so fabulous, lovely and classy and who care for me like family, who are comfortable enough to call me out when needed, cry with me when the drama gets too out of control and hold my hair if I puke.
9. All the friends I’ve made this past year with all the new happenings in my life.
10. My new job – that I was lucky enough and persistent enough to keep my head up this past summer when things weren’t looking too good.
11. Razorback Tailgating and all it’s glory!
12. MZ – he’s a great boyfriend (of course) but he’s a great ally and friend to me and wonderful support not only for me but also for his family and friends whenever they need him. AND he puts up with all my crazy!

addendum to the thankful list – I’m thankful that my parents are who they are and are still together after all these years. I know there are many of you out there who are also thankful for your parents the love they have for you and your own special relationship. So no matter your inspiration for thoughts and words of thanks – remember what it’s really all about.