Life of a Cincy Chick: December 2013

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that y'all are having the most wonderful day with your family. Last night we spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. I walked into my grandparents house to see my grandpa drinking cream soda out of a wine glass. Let me tell ya, I love my Grandpa Parks. I kid you not when I say he is comparable to Si Robertson. I would say Uncle Si's tea glass is equivalent to my grandpa's mason jar of Pepsi. He's also the man who convinced me that I should run track. He coached me and raked the long jump pit at just about every high school meet (home and away) that I had. We stuck with our family tradition of my oldest cousin reading about the birth of Jesus in Luke chapter 2 and followed that by opening presents. I've had a relaxing holiday and I don't want it to end. Maddie flew back home on Friday and I think my mother's heart was finally at ease…all her babies were home and under one roof. My parents renovated her and Chloe's old room and bought a queen size bed for us to share…Maddie is the only person who I can share a bed with and not want to strangle haha It's funny to go from to wanting to wake up soooo early on Christmas day when we were younger, to my mom telling us this morning that Santa had visited. Santa delivered as always and he picked out some lovely presents that included a new book, (The Sacred Search by Gary Thomas) a new and bigger T.V., (thank goodness, I could barely see mine from my bed!) a turquoise J.Crew peacoat and a gift card to Panera. We do Christmas at our house in the morning, and I am currently at my mom's parents house in Germantown. My grandma fixes theeee best hash brown casserole, ever. I'm not sure if I am more excited for this dinner, or to see Frozen tonight with my family. As much as I love this quiet evening, I am pretty excited to leave for Charlotte to go to the Belk Bowl tomorrow!

NYC during December = p e r f e c t i o n

Going to NYC at Christmas time has been on my bucket list for a while now! When we found out that we got to go, (thanks to some very generous and kind alumni + the athletic department's help) we were all very excited. Especially since the AAC tournament is in Memphis this year, whereas when we were in the Big East it was in New York. It was nice to go back one last time. We stayed at the Affina which was adjacent from Madison Square Gardens where we played our game and just a 5 minute walk to Times Square. Talk about convenient! Pitt was undefeated (10-0) which made me nervous haha. We won in the last four seconds…by one point, which kept the band, cheerleaders, alumni, and I'm sure Mick Cronin on his and our toes. Games like that make victory so sweet! Plus I love our basketball team and all their different personalities. Since it was the Jimmy V Classic, we were able to get some awesome floor seats to watch the 15 Florida vs. 16 Memphis game. It will be exciting when we play Memphis at 5/3 Arena later in the season. It was such a nice little get away and MUCH needed after a stressful finals week!

I apologize for all the pics, but I had a hard time picking which ones I wanted to post!

The lobby area of our hotel.

At dinner, I sat right across the street from the National Women's Republican Club.

Every morning I wake up, have my coffee, and watch Kathy Lee and Hoda on the Today Show. My coach and I walked down to Rockefeller Plaza and they just happened to be filming their Christmas special. Right before I took this, they looked over and waved at us. Yes, I freaked out!

This bakery is across the street from NBC Studios. They have the best macaroons ever. Hands down.

This is as good as it gets folks. Caramel macaroons are the way to my heart. My mother was so jealous.

Of course I had to go in…

I freaked out when I saw that this was just down the block from NBC Studios. Christie's is the biggest art auction house in the world. I even go to go inside. I was on cloud nine.

This is a Mark Rothko painting. When I first started studying art history, I didn't get "him or his point" but he is now one of my favorite contemporary artist. This painting was located just about 20 feet from the entrance. I turned the corner and there it was! Still can't believe it was free to get into.

There was a little gallery on the fourth floor of Christie's dedicated to Ettore Sottsass. I had no idea that he had worked with incredibly important people including, Steve Jobs, Bob Dylan, and Doug Tomkins. He was one of the most influential post-war designers, creating modern home decor to bridge the gap between the fine and decorative arts.

My coach and I stopped at this amazing deli that had a buffet of just about any kind of food you could want. I had Chinese, Italian, plantains, and a random chicken wing thrown into one little plastic container.