I love NY

Loving NYC is kind of a big deal for me.  I absolutely adored Boston, and loved living there.  Boston is a great city and it's not as big as NYC, so it feels more accessible.

I was very nervous about moving to NYC when we did in August 2010.  Mostly because when I was in college, I lived in an NYU dorm for a summer and had a miserable experience.  I don't want to go into the details, but I paired those feelings and issues with living in New York, even if that wasn't necessarily the cause of the problem.  My dad had also been mugged a couple of times back in the '80s while in the Port Authority.  So those are my memories of New York.

We moved to Alphabet City, which was incredibly fun for a year, but on Friday and Saturday nights, it turns into NYU/high school heaven and we felt a little old!  So off we moved to the West Village and I love it here.  I started to feel comfortable in Alphabet City and somewhat on the Upper West Side, where I work.  Unfortunately, I didn't really know or care to explore the rest of the Manhattan.

Which is RIDICULOUS.  It really is.  There are so many places to go to and so many things to do, limiting yourself to 1 neighborhood is silly.

I overheard some tourists on the subway the other day, and they just boggled my mind.  They had thick southern accents and were VERY loud.  One of them was talking about how much she loved New York, which made me happy.  Their favorite parts of the city are SoHo, Canal St and Times Square.  They particularly love Times Square because of the bright lights and how stimulating everything is.  Silly tourists... branch out.  SoHo and Canal St are great, and Times Square is... well in my opinion the worst part of New York, but those three places do not make up the city.  Go see the nooks and crannies of New York.

Which made me think about how I've really gotten out and about a lot more in the past few months.  I feel like everything ties back to how exercising has opened doors for me, and sometimes I feel like I'm turning into a broken record, but I really can't emphasize it enough.  I'll try to be brief, but I've run through parts of the city I never walked through.  And I'm taking classes in different neighborhoods.  So therefore, because I exercise I get to see more of the city.

OK, done with my "exercise has changed my life" schpiel.  NYC in the summer is awesome.

There are just so many free events everywhere!!

On Wednesday, Cameron, my brother, my sister-in-law and I went to a free Comedy Central special in Central Park.  It was an Indecision 2012 special with the people behind the scenes from The Daily Show.  Last year, Cameron and I saw Wyatt Cenac tape his Comedy Central special and it was hilarious.  It was a great event on Wednesday, even though it was like 101 degrees.  When the sun set and the breeze kicked in, the park cooled a little and it was almost refreshing.  Plus, it was nice to get out and do something on a Wednesday night.

Yesterday, I went with some friends to the Adventures NYC free event in Central Park (ok, I'm spending a lot of time in the same place so far... but I don't know Central Park that well, so I'm still learning!)  They had rock climbing walls, bikes to rent for free, kayaking etc.  We didn't do any of that because the lines were all too long... BUT Honest gave out lots of free samples, Cabot Cheese gave out lots of cheese, and we had fun walking through the event a couple of times.

Today, we went to the Gay Pride Parade.  Let me tell you, I did not want to go to a parade of any kind.  I hate parades, I hate crowds, I hate being short and having to crane my neck to see whats going on.  It's not fun!  We had a great time.  We kind of wandered around the parade route, but we saw a bunch of awesome floats and lots of people.  It's just really inspiring to see all these people who are so excited and enthusiastic about something so important to them.  So that put me in a pretty great mood.

To sum up... NY is awesome, there is so much to do, and you should not be afraid to get out there!!

Here are some websites with free (or cheap) events posted regularly.  Get out there and enjoy our great city!

http://www.nycgo.com/free/
http://www.nycgovparks.org/events/bM
http://www.cityparksfoundation.org/calendar/
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/things-to-do/free-things-to-do-in-new-york-city-1


Please feel free to leave more event suggestions or links for me and other readers.  Thanks!