Black Friday, Catching Fire, and the Miracles of Public Transportation

Hey everyone!

So after a super stressful half-week at school, I struggled home through the crowds for Thanksgiving. Wednesday was such a mess: my first two classes of the day were cancelled so I packed in the morning, but my 60's professors decided to have class (3:45-6) so I had to schlep all my stuff (backpack and duffle bag) all over the city in the rain and wind. At least we learned about The Beatles and feminism this class (two of my favorite things) and he ended a bit early.

OK let me tell you something I particularly like. When you move to the city you'll appreciate this, but this may seem a bit ridiculous right now. OK, so on my way to Penn Station, I ran to the 6 and JUST caught it. I got to 51st street and was in the exact perfect car to get to the stairs and transfer to the E. I got to the E just as it got there and got on, then got to Penn to realize I was also in the exact perfect car to get into the right entrance of the station for my train. Perfect timing and positioning for public transportation is my favorite thing ever. However, when I got to Penn Station it was a nightmare. Everyone was going home for the holiday and it was rush hour, so it was super crowded. Luckily, I had planned ahead and bought my ticket the day before to avoid the lines at the machines, so all went smoothly and I arrived home in one piece.

Thanksgiving, as always, was hectic. My family is kind of geographically distanced from the rest of my family who live in Florida, upstate New York, and California, so we usually celebrate with close family friends. I was busy all day cooking turkey with my mom and running around, making sure everything was perfect, from music to decorations. I barely sat down to eat, but everyone seemed happy. Because we and our friends are all Jewish, we celebrated Thanksgivukkah, a combination of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah. The two holidays won't overlap for another 75,000 years. We lit the Hanukkah candles in the menorah and then got our gifts (I know it's lame to give a gift each night for 8 nights, but I kind of like it). I got a Tory Burch phone case (absolutely love it). I've had the same really durable black phone case since I got my phone 3 years ago so this is going to be my fancy case *said in a British accent*

OK, so here's the best part of this post. I just got home from Black Friday shopping, having been out since 9 this morning. I'm not one of those crazy people who went out last night at 10 PM (although I would have, had my mom been willing to). We woke up and got out to the outlets that are 20 minutes from my house to buy the rest of my Hanukkah gifts. Thankfully it wasn't too cold or windy or crowded and all the sales were great. I got 50% off everything at J. Crew, my favorite store (sorry, I'm a prep). I'm hopefully going back tomorrow to get a pair of Nine West riding boots ($50, I was salivating).

Last, I'm going to see Catching Fire tomorrow with my dad. In my town there's a movie theater that charges $6.50 before noon for movies, rather than the ridiculous $11.50, so it's a tradition of ours to go see movie matinees. I haven't seen a movie in theaters in months because movies are just so expensive in the city ($14.50). I just have to read the book first (I got it out of the library today and plan on reading the whole thing tonight). I've been told it's a fantastic movie and very true to the book, so it won't be such a shame if I'm not able to finish the book in time for the movie.

OK, that's all for my rants and rambling. Enjoy your tryptophan-induced comas for the weekend.