fifth floor up: Thanksgiving in NYC

It's that time again. What time is that? Well, time for one of my infamous
itineraries! My parents are making their yearly debut in this wonderful city.
I couldn't be more excited to spend quality time with them. Sadly, the brother
won't be in attendance. He is doing something along the lines of touring
with a band? Who knows what he is really up to, wink, wink.

The last time my family spent Thanksgiving in NYC was 2006. Wow, that
was a long time ago!

So, here we go again...

The parental units land on Thanksgiving day. This means, I get to use the
half day I have off tomorrow, to scrub my apartment until the remnants,
in the lack and laziness of upkeep to my apartment, is washed away.
Technically, laziness is the exact opposite of what I've been lately.
However, in regards to my apartment, that's exactly how I would
describe it. The dog should probably get a bath as well. He's starting
to emerge from his cave with dust balls attached to his spastic coat.

For Thanksgiving ~~lunch~~ dinner (who knows why people call it dinner when
most everyone I know eat closer to lunch, but that's besides the point)
I'm taking my parents, well, they're actually taking me, to Red Rooster in
Harlem. The first time I heard about Red Rooster, I was casually working
away while our British draftsman was obnoxiously yapping on the phone,
for half an hour, about this fantastic restaurant in Harlem called Red Rooster.

I figured if anyone could have a conversation about a restaurant for over
thirty minutes, it must be pretty damn fantastic. So, I did my research,
read some reviews, and asked some peeps. Low and behold, everyone
I talked to had heard about it. The Brit was right! Who would have
thought?! I immediately put a reminder in my calender to make a reso
one month in advance.

For a week, I spent quality time putting together the rest of the itinerary for
their trip. As soon as I thought I had a perfect trip planned for them, my
parents threw me off. Some of our oldest family friends just so happened
to be making an unexpected trip to NYC. Of course we had to fit them into
our schedule! Once again, I went back to the drawing board to assess the
situation and make sure the places I choose were conversation friendly,
knowing my parents and all.

For the second time, a perfect itinerary. That was until my parents came up
with another one of their fantastic ideas. This one, I have to agree was a
good one. I've accumulated a lot of new friends within the past couple
of years here in NYC. Friends who I love enough to tell my parents about.
This time, the idea was to take all of these new friends out to dinner.
Who wouldn't love this idea?

For the third time, after minor adjustments, the final itinerary was
complete, with everyone and every place confirmed. If something
goes wrong, I'm over it, I could give a shit. We are in NYC, nothing we
could possibly do would suck. I'm very much looking forward to spending
time with my amazing parents and friends in this amazing city I call home.

New York City Thanksgiving 2011 Itinerary

Thursday

Lunch/Dinner: Red Rooster

Night: Live Music

Friday

Breakfast: Murray's Bagel

Day: Shopping and Shopping

Dinner: Rubirosa

Night: Bars

Saturday

Brunch: Vinegar Hill House

Day: Walk around Vinegar Hill, Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook