Thoroughly Modern Kailee

Last Wednesday I got to go to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I was excited to see the show since it’s such a famous New York holiday tradition, and I pretty much love all things Christmas.

First of all, the inside of Radio City Music Hall was just as beautiful as you’d imagine. Once you walk into the lobby, you’re greeted by a huge Christmas tree chandelier:

I had been busy preparing (/stressing out over) a presentation that I gave earlier that day, so the night was a perfect way to reward myself for getting my presentation done. I bought myself a Coke and big tub of popcorn (no one’s surprised) and was ready to go inside.

First of all, the theater is BEAUTIFUL. And huge. I was at the very top balcony, and I still felt like I was front and center.

During most of the show they had all kinds of awesome projections playing. I’m actually glad I sat so high up; I could really get a full view of everything that was going on.

The show itself was awesome as well. My favorite part was when the Rockettes were all dressed as nutcrackers—it was basically like a really cool marching band type of performance. The show also featured a mini production of The Nutcracker, and that was my second favorite part. It made me think of when my dad took me to see The Nutcracker when I was little. The show included Santa as MC, a storyline of a mother and daughter rediscovering the meaning of Christmas, and even some 3D video.

I don’t have any pictures of the show, but here’s a promo video:

I did find a video of the coolest part of the Rockette nutcrackers number where they have this really impressive slow-motion fall:

In summary: it was Christmasy, it was awesome, and I loved it.

Last Friday I was wandering around midtown (my usual Friday afternoon activity since I’m done with class for the week) and I decided to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Discovery Times Square museum (the same place that had the Harry Potter Exhibition in September). The full exhibit title is Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times.

The majority of the exhibit was endless amounts of clay jars, pots, what have you. Being who I am, I can’t not read every single caption in the exhibit, so it took me over 2 hours to go through the whole exhibit. It was really neat to see seals of kings you read about in the Old Testament, and see altars that are built just as instructed in the Old Testament. My enthusiasm started to waver as I looked at what felt like the thousandth broken pot handle I’d seen, when finally I came to the scrolls; and it was definitely worth the wait. They didn’t have all of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display—just a few—but it was still fascinating to see. I didn’t realize the Dead Sea Scrolls had more than just books of the Bible; for instance, it also contained community law as drafted by Jewish community leaders of the time. My favorite part was when I found that one of the scrolls they had displayed was my grandpa’s favorite passage, Psalm 121. To think of that passage giving comfort to God’s people even way back then was such a wonderful feeling. 

Of course, they didn’t allow any pictures to be taken, so here’s the promo for the exhibit:

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted! Ever since I got back from Thanksgiving Break I had to hit the ground running working on schoolwork. I had a WONDERFUL long break to spend at home for Thanksgiving (a full 10 days!) and I got to see all my friends again—I’ve really missed all of you! I rode on an airplane by myself for the first time, and I even got to see one of my best friends get married!:

I also got to take part in our 3rd Annual Davis Family Thanksgiving Tradition—buying out Old Navy during its Thanksgiving Day sale, of course. I got to see my brother play an intramural volleyball game, and got to see some extended family on Thanksgiving. One thing I was really excited I finally got to do, was bake. I have complained more than enough times on this blog about how our apartment doesn’t have an oven, so I’m sure you’re all aware. So when my family requested I make pumpkin creme pies again to bring to Thanksgiving, I was more than happy to oblige.

Finished product:

Decorating the house for Christmas is primarily my and my dad’s job; so the day after Thanksgiving we brought down the tree and I decorated the house and he put up lights outside. We wore our Christmas t-shirts just for the occasion:

It was so nice to relax at home and be with my friends and family again. Can’t wait to see everyone in 2 weeks! (Can you believe I only have 2 weeks left in New York?)

In lieu of re-explaining the wonderful world of Quidditch and having to choose which pictures to post, I’m just going to direct you all to my Quidditch World Cup album on facebook. Enjoy! (Just click the title up above) It was the highlight of my life.

For all of you that want to know more about the Quidditch World Cup, or the IQA (International Quidditch Association), and the history of both, here’s the 30-minute documentary they filmed at last year’s world cup. I highly recommend watching it!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve decided to stop going to John Jay after this semester and move back to OKC once the semester’s over.  

I’ve loved living in NYC, and forensic psychology is really interesting to study about; but over the past couple of months’ worth of classes I’ve realized forensic psychology isn’t something I want to do as a career.  I certainly don’t regret trying this degree; I know that I would’ve wondered for the rest of my life what it would be like to go into forensic psychology, so I’m glad I got to take that chance, even if it didn’t work out in the end. I’ve gotten to do so many things I’ve always wanted to do and learned so many lessons from this experience that I know this whole semester has been nothing but a blessing. I’ve been so lucky to have friends and family that supported my move out here, so I’m really thankful for that; and I’m even more thankful to have to their support when I change my mind :)

I’m flying home this Friday for Lauren’s wedding and staying for Thanksgiving Break through November 29th; then I’ll be back in NYC for about 3 weeks and move back to OKC for good once I’m done with finals (around December 22nd). I can’t wait to see everyone soon!

Last weekend my dad came to visit me! (if you don’t get the “Powder Daddy” reference, you obviously didn’t go on our 2006 ski trip) Every year he has a conference in Washington D.C., so he took extra time off and came to New York City from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening to see me. Our first stop was to go to a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We took some pictures around 30 Rock (aka my second home) before we went inside.

After that we went inside to the taping!

Eddie Murphy was scheduled to be on the show that night, but apparently couldn’t be in town that day so he taped his segment earlier in the week; but we still saw the rest of the episode being taped. Dad and I ended up on the last row before the band benches, so when the show was over and Jimmy came around to shake hands, we got to shake his hand! Part of it can be seen on the actual episode.

If you jump to the very last segment in the episode, you can see us on the video:

When we were walking towards the hotel we passed by the Broadhurst Theatre just in time to see Hugh Jackman leaving the theater. Then we, of course, walked around Times Square before calling it a night.

We got up early Saturday morning to go to the 9/11 Memorial downtown. All around the general area are some reliefs dedicated to 9/11.

We went at the perfect time of year—with all the trees changing color, the memorial was beautiful.

Since we were so close to Wall Street, we went down to see if we could see The Dark Knight Rises filming. We caught sight of the batmobile:

There were tons of Gotham police extras on set:

All the extras had fake guns; so when they wanted to leave the set and go get coffee or something they had to hand off their gun to the PA on the left:

Next we headed to the Lower East Side to eat at Katz’s:

Unfortunately, there was a HUGE line outside the restaurant, so we just decided to go to Ray’s Pizza. Oh, and on our way to Katz’s we saw another Hanksy painting:

Our next stop was to visit the famous Flatiron building:

Our last sightseeing stop before Dad had to go back to the hotel to wait for his shuttle was to go to Central Park since all the leaves are changing.

I’m glad I got to see him for a couple days!

All last week Conan O’Brien was doing a special series of his show, Conan, by taping in NYC.

They had an e-mail lottery where you could win tickets to go to one of the week’s shows. Naturally, I entered, but I was really disappointed when I didn’t win any tickets; but luckily, my friend Patricia won 3 tickets and invited me to come with her and her friend! (again, thank you so much! :))

The show was at the Beacon Theatre in the Upper West Side (hence my day in the Upper West Side I talked about earlier).

The Beacon was a HUGE theater, and we were way at the top, so this was our view:

It was pretty fancy, we even got actual tickets:

Of course, Conan’s house band, Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band, was there as well:

We were even allowed to take pictures throughout the show as long as we didn’t use flash, so here are some pictures of Conan!

Then at the end of the monologue was a surprise appearance by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert!  I couldn’t see either of them from where I was sitting (they were in the audience down at orchestra level), but here’s Stephen Colbert on the big screen:

Conan’s announcer/sidekick, Andy Richter:

During one of the commercial breaks Conan went and played drums for the band:

More commercial break behind-the-scenes shots:

(the man on the very left is Conan’s long-time producer, Jeff Ross)

Conan’s guest, comedian Louis C.K.:

All week Conan did these hilarious on locations bits, from delivering Chinese food to driving (pedaling?) a pedi-cab around Central Park. Sadly, I never ran into him when he was taping them, but here are the video clips for you to enjoy:

Last Thursday I decided to spend the day in the Upper West Side. Despite the fact that it’s so close to Harlem, I haven’t really spent much time in the Upper West Side any farther north than Lincoln Center.

First stop on the Upper West Side tour: Cafe Lalo on 83rd & Amsterdam, which is the cafe in You’ve Got Mail!

When I ordered a Coke, they served it to me as a glass bottle Coke with a milkshake glass to pour it into.

I ordered the zucchini quiche, which they list as one of their “International Brunch Specialties”:

I had never had Mediterranean salad before and I have to admit, I did not like it. But the quiche was DELICIOUS.

I had looked up lists of things to see in the Upper West Side, from cutesy boutiques to the more famous shops. I stopped by Knitty City, a little yarn and knitting boutique at 79th & Amsterdam, then went to Filene’s Basement on Broadway. Filene’s is a famous bargain store in NYC—probably most famous for its Running of the Brides events.

After this I got to go to one of Conan’s NYC tapings! (blog post to come with more on that). Afterwards I decided to explore a little more. I walked by the hot dog place Gray’s Papaya, noticed a “recession special” of 2 franks and a drink for $4.95, and a line out the door of people waiting to get food. My basic NYC rule is any time there’s a line of locals waiting to eat somewhere, it’s gonna be good. Only later did I realize that this place is also in You’ve Got Mail; so basically, most of the Upper West Side is a You’ve Got Mail haven. After I ate I went to Zabar’s since it’s a staple of the Upper West Side. Zabar’s is a food store; the bottom floor has all kinds of meats and cheeses, etc. and the upstairs has every kind of kitchen item you could think of.

My favorite part about the Upper West Side is how pretty all the apartments are. The brownstone rows in Harlem sure don’t look like this:

Everything is so cute and quiet in the Upper West Side; it was wonderful to be able to wander around and explore all day.