Hello family, friends, and fans! Welcome to New York for the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! I’m Andrea, and I will be writing a journal all week to give you an inside look on what the cheerleaders and dancers participating in this year’s parade are up to day by day. Sure, you may not actually be in New York, but it’s my job to keep you up-to-date on what’s going on here this week and make you feel like you are so close, you could walk out your back door and be in the city!

Let me just say… there will be a lot of excitement to report back to you, but I will start with today. It was the first day of six full days of New York City fun! After a morning meeting with the entire parade staff and a quick tour for the chaperones, it was time for participants to arrive. Cheerleaders and dancers begin pouring into the Hilton New York (our fabulous hotel located on Sixth Avenue, in close distance to Radio City Hall, Times Square, and Fifth Avenue shopping) at around 9:00 a.m. and began to get settled into their home for the next six days.

While the participants unpacked, got familiar with the hotel, and started their orientation groups, the chaperones took a stroll through the city to familiarize ourselves with the area (so we know where we are going and can keep the participants safe all week)! I teamed up with Sonya Weathers, Katie Balfanz, Megan Maguire, Renee Verscheure, and David Clemons to begin exploring.

Our hotel is on Sixth Avenue, so we walked down sixth, taking a look at Radio City Music Hall, then taking a right onto Seventh Avenue where Times Square is located. Times Square is always a busy area… maybe one of the busiest. People are everywhere – mostly tourists, I’m guessing. I can’t imagine why any locals would want to wrestle that crowd, unless of course, they worked nearby. Anyway, that’s beside the point, but if you have never been to New York City, it may give you an idea of what Times Square is like… upbeat, flashy, and restless.

After a quick bite to eat in Times Square, it was off to Fifth Avenue, and we all know what that means… shopping. Or in my case… trouble! We stopped in stores like H&M, BCBG, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Juicy Couture… reason one, to shop and reason two, to get warm. It was about 35 degrees here today with a very high wind chill. Ok, so I’m no weather woman. I am totally guessing about the highness of the wind chill, but it was almost unbearable – for a Mississippi girl, anyway. Luckily, H&M saved me. I bought a black scarf and black hat there… stylish and warm!

After a little bit more shopping, it was back to the hotel for the very first parade rehearsal. The participants met their chaperones for the week, and then practice began. The cheerleaders and dancers looked great! It was very obvious that they had practiced the routine at home before they came. It was only the first night, and I already saw potential in them to be flawless on Parade Day. Of course, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day is a pretty big deal, so they are still going to need those rehearsals everyday to be perfect! I guess we will see how well they do in the next few days.

I am off to do my final duties of the night… room checks! I’ve got to make sure those girls are all getting their beauty rest. Tomorrow is a big day… we have another rehearsal, the Big Apple Tour, and the Broadway show, “In the Heights.” How exciting! You don’t want to miss reading all about that. See you tomorrow. Goodnight!