Heavenly buildings! I just adore the city. It’s so fun and uplifting to be wandering around. And to have a free ticket and hotel room because of work just makes it even better!
This was a whirlwind trip thanks to Google wanting to invest in us and SH having the connection and encouraging us to go meet with them. And L1 having a Strat meeting in New Jersey did NOT hurt, in fact it made it so cool, because my boss and SH were already there and I was the only one who had to fly out for that particular reason.
FLYING. To NYC. TO MEET. GOOGGGGLLLLEEEEE
It’s like my dream.
Of course, when I first heard about it a few weeks ago, when it was just a sliver of possibility, I told Sam and she wasn’t in school and was like. YES. YESSSSSS.
We DESERVE THIS after Sam’s ER trip and my starting Tremfya.
Broadway SHOWS!!! We had to obsess over which ones.
And the timing! Any other day, I would not have been able to do it. G’s grad party on Sunday, and the kids being in Comedy Sportz on Thursday and Senior Showcase on Friday? Literally… the ONLY THREE days that made it possible to fly there and back in the time allowed. Well, I did sneak in another night to see 2 shows. I could have made it shorter. But still.
UNIVERSE APPROVED.
The meeting finally got set less than 2 weeks out. My boss approved the flight in Concur.
It was really happening! Yayyy!!! I got Sam a matching flight and across the aisle from me.
She saw me laying out my Gracie Abrams t-shirt and said, should we match?
She actually did it.
So… nevermind the fact I had 60+ people at my house the day before. They all left by 7:30pm. I forced G to open/log his gifts by 8:30pm, and I was in bed by 9:45pm.
Alarm went off at 4:01am (but I was up before it so it didn’t even have a chance) and we were out the door by 4:15am.
Flight was SOOO easy.
TSA PreCheck and Touchless was THE BEST THING EVER.
So good. SO GOOD.
The tailwind was fantastic, 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Check-in to our cute little Hilton hotel 5 blocks from Times Square was fantastic.
We wandered through Bryant Park. Love that place. Was a little shocked that all the cute shops don’t stay there the whole year! I guess cute shops are only Christmas things. I got a cappuccino. There was no way I was making it through this play without it. But it was a Bryant Park cappuccino!
I had NO dinner reservations. That shocked me but with everything going on, I just didn’t have capacity. But as we were walking, I saw STK and was like, yep. They have steaks, fish, and burgers. We will figure it out.
STK is so yummy. I had a delicious martini. Salmon. I think. Sam ate down that free bread.
Also, the flowers were SO pretty.
We had about an hour so we walked back to the hotel for our jackets. (I had asked her and then we were like nahhhh but then… yep!)
We walked through H&M. I’m still yearning for this adorable straw bag/purse that would be SO cute for Kauai. Should I still get it? Tempting.
Boo, I just went to go look for it and couldn’t find it. Ahh well.
Then…
There we were!
And Taylor had just announced her single for Toy Story so we waited and waited for the ad to come up. Sadly it wasn’t the 13 clouds but STILL.
To SWIFT-Finity and beyond!
And then we bopped right over to Maya Rudolph!
Oh man. SO funny. It was very slapstick, and raunchy in parts – which Sam thought was HILARIOUS. The entire cast was really good.
I was still slightly tired and closing my eyes a bit but I did stay awake and laugh. The ending was so fun with a cabaret-esque dance and was great.
We wandered through the city and Sam was so punchy about it being the start of Pride month since it was June 1. She was texting all her friends Happy Pride and it was super cool to see the spire at the top all lit up.
We walked through Bryant Park again and Sam got a selfie.
Funny comment, the blue lights in the background were going back and forth from orange to blue and I commented on it – and realized the next day it was for the Knicks (basketball playoffs). The city was SUPER excited.
Slept…. eh, okay! Did my obligatory gym selfie in the morning.
Sam was still sleeping so I hit up the breakfast buffet while working a bit and they were making custom omelettes yessss! I held myself to 2 pieces of bacon. Yummmm and then Sam joined me shortly after.
At which point I got a shower, got ready, and was off!
My boss and SH were both telling me they would be there at least 30m early so I figured I would go meet and chat with them.
TOTALLY took the wrong way on the subway. I was not mad at myself because I do this every time – which is why I left early – but I gave up and grabbed a Lyft. Posted a funny IG story to make myself feel better.
Both guys were leaning against the wall chatting when I arrived at 11:20 so we started the process of checking in at Google.
GOOGLE!!!
We went to the public market at the back of Pier 57 and we all got coffee.
Mine came with a little heart! So adorable!
Also, why do I dream about coffee every day? Why are things so addicting?
Our window looked out to Little Island, a floating park. I made them wait while I went outside to take a photo.
I adore Little Island. I have such fond memories of walking around there 3 years ago.
It was 11:45 so we walked back over and through security and there we were!
GOOOOGGGGGLLEEEE
So ridiculously excited. The floor was a video of New York City neighborhoods.
We were in the fanciest meeting room. Adam kept joking with Steve that he wanted to get the best room with a view for us.
Freaking amazing. It looked out to my favorite island!
This was the space outside our meeting room. I just kept taking more and more photos as Adam walked us around. Adam actually had taken a 4 hour train ride from Boston to meet us.
There were snacks. They had pineapple and mint infused water! They also had grapefruit but I was just having the pineapple.
We put our stuff down and then headed over to lunch.
The sheer amount of PEOPLE that were meeting with us was crazy. I bonded with Eron who was so sweet. She was in sales so she’s good at being sweet. She flew in from Austin, TX! I think I was so amazed that they invested so much into this whole program. I mean, we are a huge company and they want our entire business from all OpCos but I was still impressed!
My one issue was the food. I brought my food but I saw the salad bar and thought it would be okay.
I was mad at myself for doing this.
I feel uncomfortable with people I want to impress and if I get out my own food it becomes a conversation. I just did this a few months ago and did it again.
When will I learn this lesson? I just have to be me, eat the food I’m comfortable with.
Unfortunately, I thought I was comfortable with the salad bar but I think it was the super fancy arugula but it was probably the cubed chicken. It listed out the ingredients and I could have all of them but it must have been very processed chicken. I put about 10 small cubes and only ate 3 because I got nervous but I had a ton of arugula and other veggies. Maybe a combo. I dunno.
It does not happen often but exactly an hour later I had to politely excuse myself. And it was 20 minutes of me obsessing in my head what could be wrong and when should I leave, and would there be a break soon. My stomach was in such pain. I was literally staring at the clock. It’s 1:29. It’s 1:34. What should I do.
Thank goodness it was just the one time and when everything was out, I was fine. Well, not super fine, but I could concentrate and participate. And thank goodness no one noticed! I would normally be curled up in bed for an hour after one of those episodes but I think I just mentally pushed past it.
Kristi, please just eat your own food next time if you aren’t sure! Rawr.
Fancy food at Google looked so good too.
Our name was everywhere!
WHYYYyyyy didn’t they let me keep my badge! They wanted to recycle. Fine. I guess.
Our group. We had an architect. We had a machine learning scientist. We had two sales reps from different sections. We had the gal who built us an example agent. Plus two people on remote!
5 hours.
So cool.
We were done around 4:30, and I had to run over to Little Island. So cool x2!
And thank you to Nic who was my stylist and insisted that I add a belt, roll up my cuffs, switch out my jewelry because “My jewelry was screaming Millennial but I would be meeting with Gen Z”.
I mean, she’s not wrong. But why do I feel like a toddler getting dressed? Sigh.
Major success going home. I got on the subway going the right way this time! I didn’t go to the right AREA at first but I did figure it out.
Once I came out of the subway, I also walked the wrong way (three times! I kept switching) waiting for Google Maps to update my dot.
I did start to get a little annoyed at that point. Oh well. I got home, showered off the sweat from power walking through the city, and then Sam and I left.
But before that, Sam’s sorority sister cancelled on her so Sam – actually was so thrilled – and walked up 5th Avenue, went to Barnes and Nobel, bought herself a book, a sandwich, and brought a hotel towel to go sit and read in Central Park for 3 hours.
She was so freaking pleased with herself. She loved it.
They ended up opening the Meadow too and she was just SO happy.
I managed to get reservations as I was walking back – NOT at the place I had been looking at that morning – but again, it’s fine. It’s not like I can eat a lot, I just wanted a fun place.
But we had a lot of fun at Great Gatsby! So very cutely themed.
We shared a shrimp cocktail and I think I got the burger. Playing it real safe for dinner.
And here was the main show we decided to see! (Oh Mary was a bonus, since it was open on Monday night which is typically dark.)
It wasn’t our favorite. The two leads were great but we didn’t connect to the songs as much. It probably won’t win at the Tony’s tomorrow but I still enjoyed it.
Sam selfie! We were both wearing our glasses!
After, since it was 10pm, I took her to McCarthy’s Pub which JJ, Aunt Trish, and I went to almost every night when we were there in January. The music wasn’t my favorite this evening but it was still fun to sit and gab with Sam.
I also got a chocolate and peanut butter martini which was like a milkshake. SO GOOD. I didn’t drink the whole thing but had a few sips.
And then we were back for the evening!
Sam got a bloody nose around 2am and was sniffing like crazy. I thought she was getting sick but once I grabbed the Kleenex and forced her to get up and blow her nose, then she figured it out. Blessed quiet after.
I don’t know how many hours I got but oh well. It’s New York! Also, I don’t know how so many people can share a room together. I’m so fussy.
We both worked out again. Had breakfast. Then I had several meetings, once of which I was glad to attend because zomg, ridiculous people that I convinced out of doing something silly.
SO then we packed up and went to go sit in Bryant Park for a bit.
Sam ordered a bagel BLT for the road and we grabbed a Lyft and headed to the airport!
We were, admittedly, TOTAL ZOMBIES and were not very alive. But we were both so thrilled at our adventure. Sam was so sweet and was so excited to be there with me. She felt so independent walking around by herself in NYC and I love that for her.
Uplifting. Even if I felt a little off balance the next two nights. Hormones maybe. But it’s life too.
I did enjoy the moment. And I was proud of myself for that.
