Walking 500 miles around NYC

What a whirlwind my life has been. From Las Vegas to South Florida to NYC, all in a two week timespan. (Pictures from Cory and Bobby's Vegas wedding coming this week!) My journey to South Florida and NYC were to film the very last two wedding videos on my calendar. And as I celebrated with Diane and Blake ontop of the Rockefeller Center at the famous Rainbow Room, there was no better way I could have asked to close that chapter in my life than with their amazing first class wedding.

Upon arriving in New York City, before the wedding festivities started, I had a very special lunch date with an old friend named Allison. The ironic part is, before our lunch date, I had never met Allison in person, yet she was the one person who knew all my secrets growing up. When I was 12 years old, I saw in a teen magazine the opportunity to become a pen pal with other magazine readers. I sent in my application and I was matched with a cool girl named Allison who lived in Staten Island, was a cheerleader, and loved to paint. We would pour our hearts out to each other about the woes of middle school, then high school, then as we entered college, our handwritten letters turned to emails. One of my favorite memories growing up was running to the mailbox to discover I had a new letter from Allison, and sometimes she would even send me her paintings that I would proudly display in my room.

I had been to NYC a few times before, and each time wished I could have met Allison, but our schedules never coordinated to meet. This time around, I was determined to not leave the city without meeting her. Now working for BMI Publishing, Allison's office was only a few blocks away from my hotel, so we squeezed in a late lunch as soon as my plane got in and I got the pleasure of finally meeting my long time friend, 13 years later after we first began writing. She was even more beautiful in person and meeting her was such a special moment in my life! Here's our pic!



Later that night, Jason Groupp, Amy Martin and I had dinner with our bride and groom, Blake and Diane, at the wonderful Tavern on the Green. Blake and Diane told us that a friend had put up a special congratulations sign to them in the middle of Times Square, so we all set out on a mission to find their sign to get footage and pictures of it. Here is our journey... with a few special surprise performances at the end.



The day of the wedding, we arranged for Blake and Diane to have their first meeting before the ceremony in a very special and unique way, on Top of the Rock, on the observation deck overlooking the beautiful city. Here's a pic Jason caught of me leading the way. Check out his blog for the coolest pictures of their whole meeting experience!