Live from Times Square

For me New Year’s Eve has always been full of high expectations that never live up to the ideal. However, this year was pretty great.

I spent New Year’s Eve celebrating in Times Square at the ABC Good Morning America Studio party courtesy of Pepsi and their RefreshEverything campaign. The party was held in the Good Morning America studio on 44th only a block away from the infamous ball drop and overlooked the crowds, hoopla and snow, while we were warmly nestled inside with Dick Clark’s Rockin Eve going on just above us. There were free drinks, appetizers and entertainment, plus access to a bathroom, which is hard to come by outside. Despite being a native New Yorker, I’ve avoided the Times Square New Year’s scene like the plague, but once I had the offer to go VIP, that was a different story.

The temperature was about 0 degrees, when counting the wind chill and occasional snow fall, yet people were staking their spots outside as early as 11:00 a.m. I don’t know how they did it. Just walking to and from last night was painful, I honestly don’t ever remember being that cold in New York. Of course it didn’t help that I was wearing pumps, stocking like pleather pants and am now used to the warm LA weather.



You might remember awhile ago I was lucky enough to be part of the lucky Pepsi 25 to see their new logo first, however, since then (just a couple of weeks ago) my company started working for Pepsi for online activation, which is why I got this special invite. The only hitch to the celebrations was that my husband couldn’t be with me (flights cost $900), but luckily I wasn’t alone but with a few bloggers from Gothamist (Jen Chung and @neilepstein) and Los Angeles' Ether of EStarLA.




The entertainment inside included professional salsa dancers, hip hop dancers, a statue of liberty look-a-like and lots of party favors (top hats, noise makers, Pepsi scarves).

15 minutes to New Year's we all bundled up and headed outside in the crowd to witness the 1,000 3-foot Pepsi balloons fall down on the crowd while Imagine played and everyone sang together in the crowded mess. Soon enough the screens were counting down from 60 and everyone counted along and when it was New Year's tons and tons of confetti dropped on all of us. It was amazing, I couldn't believe I was there and with such a great view.

See my video of the night and countdown:

Esther and I didn't leave the party until closing at 1 a.m. and that's when I snapped this sad photo of the real after party--the clean up of all the mess that befell the area.

More photos are up on Flickr

8 comments

  1. I've always viewed the whole, "Times Square" thing as something to avoid at all costs, simply because the idea of squeezing that much humanity into that small of an area seemed...well, ill-advised.

    Having now seen your photos and video, I stand corrected. It looked like a fabulous time and I should give it a shot...but only if I can score tix with Tara. ;)

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  2. Hey Tara! It was great to meet you and definitely an amazing night! -Margaret (of the big ugly boots for whom you did the running man)

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  3. Wow, that's the way to roll at Times Square New Year's - from a VIP lounge.

    NICE - did you get to get the Pepsi scarf?

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  4. As butt-cold as it was that night, I'd have braved the frostiness to trek out to Times2 for a taste of the VIP treatment! Next time...

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  5. Sounds like a good time! Me and my bf actually stayed at my parents (who live on 42nd & 10th ave) so 10 mins to midnight we walked over to 46th & 8th ave to see the ball drop from there. Yeah, it was pretty friggin' cold. Don't think I'll be doing that again lol.

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  6. It looks like you had a great time! It sucks that your other half couldn't be there though.

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  7. wow, looks like you had an amazing time. sorry i missed it :( i was just in NYC two weeks before and couldn't afford another hotel stay and train ticket. thanks for the invitation to us fellow bloggers!

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  8. okay that is definitely the way to rock new years in new york. so awesome, and love the pictures.

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