New York Adventure - Part 5

Part Five...

Day Four...

Also known as the final day in NYC.

Cue super funny crying GIF.

Day Four was a top contender as my favorite day in NYC. Why? Well, I got to see this beauty...

...among other things. But let's go back and start from the beginning.

The day started out slowly. We had absolutely no idea what to do that day. We had one thing planned. We had tickets to see Wicked on Broadway, but the show didn't start until 8 p.m. We actually contemplated hanging out in the hotel room all day. We really did.

That is until we got hungry and had to venture out for food. You might be wondering if you have been keeping up, why I never really mentioned any cool restaurants or bars that we visited in NYC. The answer is simple, we didn't go to any.

My brother and I were two Texans, afraid in the big city. Also, my brother was only 19, so bars were out anyway. We basically ate a lot of Mcdonalds and Chipotle during the trip. We did find our love for street vendor hot dogs, but there were two things I was not going to leave the city without having.

Pizza and Cheesecake. So we ventured out and I got both.

They were great. I enjoyed every bite, but now that we were out, we didn't want to go back in. The weather was beautiful that day, and not nearly as hot as it was before (why did we decide to go at the end of July I'll never know).

We decided that since we were unable to get tickets to tour the Statue of Liberty (Word of advice, buy tickets to that WAY in advance. Like months, or you won't get in.) we decided to do the next best thing. Take the Staten Island Ferry. It's free and goes right next to the statue, so at least you are decently close.

By this time, we were masters of the subway, and jumped on the train going downtown and headed to the ferry. I LOVED being on the ferry. Something about being on the water and the wind was nice and cool off of the New York Harbor just made me feel like I was home.

The of NYC from the Ferry

Our Ferry has arrived!

She was just so awe-inspiring 

I loved the water so much.

Now don't worry, there is more to come. This day was too good to fit into 1 part. There are two more parts to this day...

New York Adventure - Part 4

I know, it just keeps being confusing. Though this is Part 4, it is really journaling Day 3.

Now I know what you are thinking, if you are paying attention you will have noticed that the first three parts were written almost three years ago. Well, I decided to go ahead and finish the adventure, you couldn't call me a quitter (though I have quit every diet I've ever started, but I digress)

Day 3 was easily the most relaxing day of the New York trip. After a realizing how long it took to get anywhere or do anything on Day 2 (I had so much more planned than what actually happened), we decided to do a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour of the city. We bought tickets for two buses, one going uptown, one going downtown (cue the "we're going downtown" song by Majical Cloudz that will be stuck in your head all day. You are welcome.)

We hung out at Bryant Park for a while as we waited for our bus and this was where we got the first taste of a New York City street vendor hot dog.

Needless to say, we fell in love.

Waiting for the bus we met a lot of people from all over the world. Oddly, they all seemed to know right away that we were from Texas.

We met this couple from Australia that was doing a backpacking tour around the world, and this was their first stop in the United States. They had been away from home traveling for about six months at the time. I remember thinking that it was crazy, and I would never want to be away from my bed for that long. A week is long enough for me!

Once we were on the bus, not much happened. We listened to the audio tour and took pictures of buildings it told us were famous, but that we had never heard of, and we got sunburned. The best part of the bus tour was actually when we went up to the Upper East Side and drove right along Central Park. I wanted so much to hop off and explore the park, but I was sore and tired from all of the walking the day before and the sunburn was starting to really drain my energy.

That is really all that happened on Day 3. It was really low-key and honestly, it was exactly what I needed in the middle of the trip. Day 4 was much more exciting, so stay tuned!

We managed to see a real-life Banksy by the Hi-Five!

The Hi-Five. Where they turned old train tracks into a park. 

Seeing Trump Towers from the Bus. If I only knew then what was to come.

I took this picture because it looked like a pile of Silver Poop. Yes, I'm that person.

I'm going to New York City... again

It's pretty easy to see that I have let this blog go by the wayside. The problem is, I am still a fat chick. But a few things have changed since I first started this blog...

1: I have started traveling more. I have now flown to NYC, Orlando, and Philly. I don't feel afraid to fly anymore, and that my friends, is priceless.

2. I have started to be a little easier on myself. Maybe I'm not a skinny chick just hiding inside of a body that is too big.

3. I've learned so much more self-love and I have surrounded myself with other people that lift me up instead of trying to break me down.

In short, my life is better. I don't quite hate myself now in my mid-thirties like I did in my twenties. I have decided that I want to use this blog, going forward to journal my life traveling and living a full life as a fat chick. I am done killing myself trying out one diet after the next. I will do my best to eat as healthy as I can, and I will go to the gym and get my blood pumping.

But... I have thrown away my scale. I no longer care what that number says, it does not define me. It never will again.

For now, I'd like to leave you with a few pictures from my various vacations I listed above. I enjoyed every single one of them and I cannot wait for my next trip to NYC. I leave in 23 days.

If you want to check out more pictures than the ones below, you can check out my photography page, where I try and post as many vacation photos as I can. http://amberlashell.weebly.com/ 

I flew to Orlando where I spend the day in Harry Potter World

and drank a ton of Butterbeer

I took a trip down to Galveston where I pretended to steal a pirate ship

I headed to Philly and spent time with a friend. We took the train to NYC and went to the top of the rock.

The NYC Public Library

and Ate tons of Macarons

I also went to a book signing where I met some of my favorite authors.

Here is to the next phase in life, living as a Fat Chick proudly.

My reasons...

Everyone has their reasons to lose weight. Here is the story of how I found mine.

I have always been on a rollercoaster when it comes to my weight, only this one is not fun and scary, it is just plain depressing. I took a trip to New York City, a dream trip that I had been planning since I was about 2.

From barely fitting in the airplane seats, to not being able to keep up with the fast pace of the city I loved, my weight was actually holding me back. It was a much needed wake up call, and my goal is a better more fit version of myself I know is hiding under all of this fat and sadness.

I want her to come out, and its her I want to take back to NYC and everywhere else I've been longing to go.

Saying goodbye to the person you have looked at in the mirror for so many years can be scary, and letting go of the security blanket of fat I've held on to for too long can be an emotional thing, but it's time to let go and finally be happy with just me.

New York Adventure - Part 3

Now, I thought the World Trade Center should just have its own story. Here is technically part 3, but part 2 of Day 2. Yeah, That's confusing.

View From the Bottom of the World Trade Center, I was actually touching it at this time.

The line to get in was surprisingly short, and within about twenty minutes, we had purchased the tickets, waited in line for security, and were getting on the elevator to what we found out was a three-floor experience. First, I have to start with the elevator. It was the coolest thing I have ever seen in person. When you step in, the walls of the elevator show New York City as it was in the 1800’s. Mostly farmland, and not a tall building in site.

As the elevator started to rise, so did the buildings around us. The time quickly went forward until the present day, where the elevator dinged and we were on floor 102. By far this was the highest up in a building I had ever been. We were guided into a room that had a white wall, where they showed videos of the city.

There were people walking down the street, subway cars zooming by, horns honking, people laughing, and water splashing. It was exactly as it really was walking down the streets. Then the announcer told us to see forever, and the white wall lifted into the air, showing a perfect view of the entire city. It literally took my breath away and tears came into my eyes. This was what I had waited for my entire life, and here it finally was, all laid out before me in all of its tall glory. It was at this exact moment that I fell madly and deeply in love with New York City.

See Forever

Too quickly, the wall lowered back down and for a split second, I was sad, thinking that this was all I was going to get. But then I remembered that this was a three-floor experience. We then headed out of that room, down the stairs and onto the 101^st floor. Here they had these special tablet devices that would show you what buildings you were looking at. I walked away, not wanting to see the view of the city through a tablet screen.

We walked down another flight of stairs and onto the 100^th floor where it was a 360 observation view of the city. While the Empire State Building has an observation deck that is outdoors, where you peer through bars, the World Trade Center was different. There was floor to ceiling windows all the way around the building, and you were indoors the entire time.

This has both positive and negatives. It was pretty hot outside as it was nearing the end of July and right in the middle of the summer, so it was nice to stay inside the nice a/c. But on the other hand, it was harder to get a great view and picture when there was glare on the window and your camera would focus in on the person’s reflection just behind you. Either way, it was still worth the $32 price tag to experience it.

The ride down the elevator was no less exciting than the ride up had been. On the walls, the story was a bit different. This time (in the movie) the elevator flew out of the building on the 100^th floor, few around the city as it descended, and then went back into the building on the 1^st floor. Watching this while on a fast moving elevator was pretty exhilarating.

By this time, the sun was getting ready to set, and there was a nice breeze coming in from the ocean as I looked longingly at the Brooklyn Bridge, too tired to even consider walking across as we headed back to the subway, and made our way back to midtown and to our cool hotel room. Needless to say, day two went much smoother than day 1.

Here you can see a bit of the glare

The outside of the World Trade Center. There is a girl touching the building and taking a picture. She may or may not have given me the idea to take the picture above, lol.

This is as far as my camera would zoom in. There is actually a man on the roof setting up a ladder.

My brother, not wanting to take a picture in front of NYC (he hates taking pictures)

This view has it all. Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and even that tall skinny building is the tallest apartment complex in the U.S.

Me in front of my favorite city

Just Beautiful

New York City Adventure... Part 2

Part 1 of Day 2

The next morning, I woke up excited but a little scared to brave this city that I had so longed to go for so many years. I was scared that it was going to get the best of me, and I would run back home crying after spending my four days locked in my tiny hotel room. We walked down to the restaurant inside of the hotel to get breakfast and I remembered that we had a concierge. When we checked into the hotel, they did mention that if we needed any help getting around the city or finding things to do, that they would be the ones to ask.

I went to the young hipster at the concierge desk and first asked him if he had a subway map. He handed me what I am ashamed to admit was the exact same map we were given at check-in that I never even opened, and which was sitting on top of my suitcase back up in our room. I looked at it for a second and asked him how to ride the subway to get to the 9/11 memorial.

He gave me a sweet smile and proceeded to map out every detail in pen on the subway map. He told us to walk down to Lexington, cross over to the other side of the street and go down that subway opening as it was the downtown train. Head down to the 6 train and ride it to the very end, or the Brooklyn Bridge stop. He was very detailed, which I appreciated.

So we head out and armed with the subway map, we went down and hopped on the train and made it to our stop with ease. So easy in fact that I felt even more like the idiot who had a panic attack on the subway. I’m not sure why we picked the 9/11 memorial and museum to be basically the first thing we did in NYC, but as it turned out, it was what we were looking forward to the most. 

The Subway looks the same in person as it does on TV

We walked to the memorial first, and it was beautiful. Looking across the hole that was once the base for the North Tower, which was the first one to be hit by the plane, I had mixed feelings. I was sad about what happened and in awe of how beautiful they made the memorial, and surprised at how small it was.

North Tower 9/11 Memorial. This woman was in so in awe, she put her camera down.

Being from Texas I was used to large buildings, but as we have plenty of land to spare our building were fatter than they were tall. It was an odd feeling to realize that the world trade center buildings weren’t necessarily that fat, they were just really really tall. As I looked up at the New World trade center, I realized I had never seen tall in my life. Here was the tallest most impressive building I had ever seen in my life.

View of the World Trade Center while in line for the Museum.

After having a good look, and a few pictures of the memorial, we walked over to the museum, where we had to wait in line for 45 minutes to buy tickets, then wait in line for another 45 minutes just to get inside. Once inside, there wasn’t as much as I had thought there would be, but it was surreal seeing parts of people lives that died in the tragedy. Being able to touch the first response fire engine (oops, I don’t think I was supposed to touch), seeing a part of the plane, or a shoe, or a handwritten letter someone wrote just moments before their death. It was emotional, to say the least.

It took about two hours in total to get through the museum, most of which had a strict no pictures policy. I looked around me at people who were crying and listening to them speak and realizing that they weren’t even from the states. It hit me at that moment that this was a global tragedy, not just one that affected the US.

Once we got out of the museum, we walked over to the new trade center, which had just opened days before to finally start allowing visitors up to the observation deck. We had a quick discussion about which “tourist” tall building we wanted to experience on our first trip. Did we want to go up on the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, or the World Trade Center? We quickly picked the World Trade Center.

Waiting for the 6 Train to arrive.

Waiting for the Train at the stop by the Hotel. 51st and Lexington.

You have to hold on, it jerks you.

My brother sitting on the 6 train.

Inside the Museum. The large 9/11 Flag

A Famous Quote upon the wall

 A detailed map of the planes.

Elevator Motor from the North Tower

Ladder Co 3, First Response to the attacks.

A white rose means it's their birthday

New York City Adventure... Part 1

This blog was supposed to be one girl's diary through weight loss. It's funny that as I look back on what was written six months ago that I feel like this was a different person, and yet she has not changed.

The last entry was Day 7. 1 Week. Also, at the end of that Day 7 post I asked anyone that reads to stay tuned because the next day was my first official weigh in. Obviously, it didn't go well, and I honestly can't remember what happened.

What I do know is that I fell off that wagon and I am still sitting here writing this as a fat chick. That's okay though because Day 7 was one of my 100 reasons to lose 100 pounds, and oddly enough that reason was travel. I had so many reasons why my weight kept me from traveling, but about two months ago I decided to quit my bitching and start living my life, and stop waiting until I was skinny to do it.

So here is my story of my New York Adventure, as a fat chick... I hope you enjoy.

I flew out of my hometown of Dallas, Texas on Tuesday Morning. It was near 100 degrees, and as humid as the bowels of hell. I was so nervous that I couldn’t sleep the night before (well sleep has been an issue lately, but that is for another time), and I couldn’t eat anything the day of. As my plane took off, I felt some of my fear leave me being back on the runway. I was finally excited.

About three hours in, the pilot told us we were making our initial descent into New York. I stared anxiously out of the window, just waiting. Finally, the clouds parted and the first thing I saw was Lady Liberty. Smaller than I had imagined in my head, but still beautiful. I immediately started to cry. I had done it. I had faced my fears and now I was in New York City. I couldn’t wait to get off of that plane and get going.

The 1st View of NYC

It took about an hour to get off of the plane, get outside, get an uber (highly recommended over a taxi), sit through traffic and get to our hotel. I went with my brother, who was on his first real vacation too. We got to the Hotel and I was ready to hit the streets immediately. It took some persuasion, but I finally convinced my brother to walk from our hotel to time square. His condition was that he wanted to eat Chipotle. A little bit of home (his favorite place to eat) to make the transition easier.

I was happy to agree. Everything started out smooth. When walking the two or three blocks to where the nearest Chipotle was (the blocks are so short in NYC) and we came across the road completely blocked off due to the President of the US being in town. Luckily, the restaurant was on the side of the street we were already on, and so we had no problems getting in to eat. (Also it was super empty because of everyone waiting for the POTUS)

Good Maps stated that from our Hotel (3^rd AVE and 51^st St.) Times Square was about a twenty-minute walk. This didn’t seem very far to me. But, as it turned out, for a Texas girl that is used to driving everywhere, and who is easily 100 pounds overweight, it is really too far. Though we did walk it, and eventually (after multiple stops to rest) we were in the center of Times Square.

Sitting in the center of Times Square

At that moment, when we got there and found a place to sit down, I didn’t like it. There were people everywhere, it was hot, I was exhausted, and I felt like I had wasted a walk. The only store we went into was the M&M store, which was once again crowded beyond your wildest imagination. We decided pretty quickly to just go back to the hotel. Now the time is around 4 in the afternoon, and the traffic is so terrible that it would be way too expensive to take a Taxi back to the hotel. We decided to give the Subway a shot. I think I should have thought this through a little longer before walking down those stairs.

All I knew was that we needed to take the E train. I didn’t think to check to see which way it was headed. We walked down the stairs, and then down another set of stairs to where the E train ran. At this point, I didn’t even realize that the subway openings were specific as to which direction. I just walked down the first one that we saw at Times Square. I then proceeded to have a panic attack.

The subway was Hot (we were two stories underground), there were tons of people, I didn’t know where I was going, and my phone has no service that far underground. I had to get out. I know that I only wasted $2.75 by not getting on the train (which as it turned out was the right train) but I still feel bad that I just could not handle it at the moment. So we instead walked a million blocks back to our Hotel and called it a night. As I lay in my bed on that first night, I actually wanted to go home.

The NYE Ball, waiting until December 31st

A Close-Up Shot of the Times Square NYE Ball

The famous (if you watch SATC) Magnolia Bakery. I wanted to go in, but the line was out the door.

So Many People walking around Times Square

Two Story McDonald's. It would be a cool thing to see if not for the construction

More People

Dallas BBQ Restaurant. I should have put them to the test.

I love Makeup, So I geeked out a bit at the large Sephora.

This is actually huge. And right next to the NYE Ball.

The last thing I took a picture of before the Subway Panic Attack. Ironic.