LIVE from New York City!

Yes, I am once again back in the big apple! My home town... the city that never sleeps! It is always so exciting to come back to this city. The tip of the Empire State Building, the lights of 42nd Street, the taxis blaring their horns... oh, yea.. there is no place like home, Toto.

This is a very special weekend for us! Not only is it Father's Day... but, it is also the weekend of the Daytime Emmy Awards! I am very proud to announce that the team from Pineridge Film and Television is once again nominated for their work on the Samantha Brown Passport series for Travel Channel! We are nominated in three categories... single camera editing, directing and Special Class show. It is really exciting stuff... this is my fifth time at the Emmys and I am still nervous and excited to be going! It is not just another event... this is the Emmys! I remember when I was in High School... I used to work at a popular hair salon on Long Island as a nail technician (aka... manicurist) and I had a client who used to be a seat filler at the Emmys. Her job was to run and sit in the empty seats as people left the ceremony to either accept their award, go to the bathroom or just sneak out for a smoke. i just thought that was so cool... and I wanted to do that too! Dream big, my friends!

Peter, Eva and I left Maryland at 4pm today to drive up to Manhattan. We decided to drive his Honda Civic because it always gets the best mileage! It took us over 4 hours to get here tonight and I think we only used a quarter of a tank! Its crazy! BUT, the good part of traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike is that the gas is CHEAP! Well, in this day and age it is... $3.89 per gallon! That's $.19 cheaper than what I paid yesterday in Maryland!

We made it into NY at around 8:30 last night and Eva just loved the fun ride through the Lincoln Tunnel. Peter and I thought about what the tunnel would look like if you were to scuba up to it. Could you even do that? I mean could you even imagine the sludge of the Hudson? Was that river ever clean? Oh, the stories that sludge could tell... and imagine how many open murder cases would be solved...

Anyway, we chose to stay at The Benjamin for this trip. The Benjamin is a great choice if you are coming into NY as a family. Their one bedroom suites are moderately priced for Manhattan and they all have small kitchenettes. NOW, I will not say that this is the most budget option out there for a small family. I will always tell you that the best accommodations on a budget is a rental but, for this trip... we decided that we wanted to stay at a hotel and I found a nice rate for us through Orbitz. (Another example of how the best price is not always through the hotel website!! Do not believe what they say... shop around!)

So, now we are here and we are looking forward to a nice weekend in NY... more to come.
*L*