New York City

Weekends away, sick, teething children, and life in general tend to get in the way.  New York City happened three weeks ago, but I'm here to tell you it's the thought about recapping such a special trip that counts.  The thoughts at 3 in the morning with a ticked off baby don't offer much relief to actually doing something about it.

This trip was one of my favorite trips ever - amazing company, food, shopping, and the fact that I had already been here and got to take others to some of my favorite places was relaxing and fun.

We arrived on Friday at 3:30, met up with one of my favorite people in the entire world - Aunt Sara - and set out to find a taxi.  I have never heard of people soliciting taxi services, but that definitely happened.  Upon finding a legit taxi, I spent the next twenty minutes of my life actually wondering if I would live to see the beauty of the city for a second time.  Cliche taxi rides are all over television, but I have never experienced one myself, despite riding in many.  I can say that if the city ever called to me, I would never, ever drive there, mostly because my blood pressure wouldn't allow, but also because I'm pretty certain that car insurance companies deny people after so many crashes.

We arrived to our hotel, so close to Times Square, and settled in a bit before spicing up the traveled look before grabbing dinner.  There was a fun little Italian place a couple of doors down from our hotel.  We enjoyed wine, pizza, and calamari before heading to Gerswhin Theatre to see Wicked.  We had a tough time deciding between so many Broadway shows, and I was a little torn about seeing it for a second time, but it was even better the second time around - I love this production.

We left the the theatre to go look around Times Square - we shopped, walked, and people watched.  Many Sesame Street characters (I use Sesame Street very loosely; character was fitting), and even Batman.  And as luck would have it, we even had a run in with The Naked Cowboy - a once in a lifetime!  (and no, we didn't dare venture a picture request.)

We would begin the no sleeping trend that night with not enough sleep before getting up early to go meet Miss Liberty.  We had passes to speed up the wait time which was nice.

After our brief tour with the gorgeous green gal, we headed back to Battery Park, and made our way to Serendipity.  I went to Serendipity last time and have never stopped dreaming of their frozen hot chocolate - I had to go again.  And because there is always a wait for a seat in the tiny, eclectic restaurant, we shopped at Bloomingdales and Dylan's Candy Bar in the meantime.

And despite amazing sandwiches to go alongside our frrrozen hot chocolates, we made a pit stop at Sprinkles for delicious cupcakes.  We ended up in a shop not far from there - Suzanne's - where we went in with the intention of trying on potential derby hats.  Let me just say - I am in the wrong line of business. They were gorgeous hats, and we only just missed Drew Barrymore by a day.

 

 We moved onto Barney's where my sister and I were confused for a couple as we tried on ridiculous dresses worth thousands upon thousands of dollars just to say we did.  I tried my best not to rip, drool, cry, or otherwise ruin the dress that graced me.  Mostly, we laughed and laughed in the tiny [HOT!] dressing room as the salesperson saw parts of us that I wouldn't dream of showcasing, as he tried his best to zip and tie things.

We moved onto Central Park where we ate cupcakes, people watched (I could live there doing this), and Meredith had her caricature done.  We were pulled into FAO Schwartz, the Plaza Hotel, and a nearby mall on our way back to the hotel.  We left after changing to head out to Vynl - I had the grilled cheese with bacon, and had a delicious bite of Meredith's Elvis's Revenge - neither of which will leave my memory any time soon.

We missed the three story Toys R Us on Friday night, so we went back to visit, I picked up some things for my girls, and then we spent an eternity in Forever 21 where I shopped for Meredith and she shopped for me, and we later met for a reunion full of surprise stripes, materials, and accessories in the dressing room.  I may have a future in shopping assisting, and she may too.

Sunday morning found us sleeping in slightly later than the previous days when a knock hung in the silence and my mom told me it was for me.  Flabbergasted and feeling slightly hamster like, upon crawling out of my hole, I met the concierge clerk at the door with a vase full of beautiful roses and some Italian chocolates sent from my love to wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  I struggled with the timing of this trip after the realization that it would fall on Mother's Day, but Jimmy made me feel so special, and Ruby's phone call wishing me "Happy Mudder's Day, Mama!" couldn't have been any sweeter.

We made our way to Chelsea Market - another place I had already visited and fell in love with.  A fun group of places to eat, little places to shop, and most importantly, the bakeries.

We ate at Lucy's Whey where I channeled my five year old self again for the second time on this trip and got grilled cheese.  Grilled cheese with the most divine cheeses married to some fig spread - one of the most amazing grilled cheese sandwiches of my life.  We sampled some salts, purchased some delicious treats, and made our way to the next stop on our food tour through NYC - Doughnut Plant.  The menu was what my dreams were made of, but the thought to save our doughnuts for treats later made the trip slightly disappointing.

Venturing towards SoHo and Greenwich Village, we shopped for shoes, jewelry, and cupcakes.  And I found the love of my life - the chef for Molly's Cupcakes (Cupcake Wars winner).  I have never had such an amazing dessert in my life - CAKE BATTER CUPCAKES!!!  I toyed with the idea of offering to cover all start up costs for the owner to come and open one up in..oh I don't know, my basement, but quickly decided I could probably be poor or fat, but definitely not both.

We continued up the street and went to another favorite destination - Bleecker Street Pizza.  Meredith and I creepily stalked a guy sitting outside thinking he was a vaguely familiar celebrity.  After placing what he was in, a quick mass text message, and an introduction later, we found out we were indeed eating at the same place as Dax Shephard.  Unfortunately, he seemed to lack simple manners, so we didn't push the picture issue.

Spiraling downward from a sugar crash (macarons, eclairs, Neapolitans, doughnuts, and cupcakes), and knowing that the next day would begin in single digit hours, we headed back to our hotel.  Meredith and I made the sign for our national television debut, and then proceeded to act like seventh graders at a sleepover with various poses with the poor souls who fell asleep far too early.

And with that two hours of sleep, we were up and ready to go at 4:00 to head to Rockefeller Center and see the Today Show up close and personal.  Our shirts were a huge hit and can likely be found posted on the internet in various places, though I have yet to locate them.  We were so close to the hosts, I could have kissed each of them, and we ended up standing right beside a group of singing sisters - Tha Way Out - absolutely amazing group of girls.  Meredith and I tried to learn the words to their Today Show song but a) neither one of us are musically inclined and b) we decided that standing there like grinning fools was probably enough embarrassment for our initial television debut.  And also, we didn't want to detract from these girls.

I think I stood there with my mouth open too long before remembering I should have taken a picture - I only got three of them with their mom - there were six sisters!

We moved onto 5th Avenue to visit St. Patrick's and to do some obligatory shopping.  After walking for what seemed like miles, we grabbed a much overdue coffee where I am willing to bet espresso was completely forgotten which left me with an expensive hot chocolate, and then we toured Grand Central Station.  We ate lunch at an Irish Pub where I could feel my eyelids drooping against their will.



You'll never guess where we went next.

That's right, didn't you read I found the love of my life at Molly's Cupcakes?  We went back there because I needed to try the Cookie Monster - chocolate chip cupcake with chocolate chip cookie dough center?  Another match made in Heaven.

And I'd be lying if I told you we made it to Molly's without getting lost.  I am proud to say we were only really lost once, and it was definitely the subway's fault.  Or maybe my map reading skills, but I'm going to go with the subway.

We went about twenty blocks further south than we intended, and ended up accidentally crossing the Brooklyn Bridge off or our sight seeing list.  We walked and shopped our way through SoHo, went into Dash, Old Navy for some foot relief, and then we finally paid ourselves in cupcakes for working so hard at navigating the streets of New York City.

After our cupcakes, we took the subway to the right place, and walked to the 9/11 Memorial.  The museum isn't open, but the names around the memorial ponds that included "and unborn child" were enough to knock the wind out of me.  And the video and wall displays in the gift shop were heart wrenching.

For our last night out, we chose to have dinner at a place nearby our hotel - we had a moment of thankfulness and reflections on life and the trip at hand.  I found myself so thankful for the people who surrounded me at that very moment and in all moments of my life.

After dinner, we made our way to Times Square for one last people watching extravaganza walk through another world so far from our own.  I met up with one of my oldest and dearest blog friends, Ashley and her boyfriend Jacob and we had drinks at an Irish pub.  She was just the way I have always imagined her, and I am thrilled we got to meet.  It's slightly crazy to meet up with someone that has read the craziest, happiest, and saddest times of your life for the last six years!

the only proof of meeting Ashley in which I do my best impression of a deer in the headlights.

Knowing we had painfully early flights piled on the exhaustion at hand, we left at a fairly decent time to go pack.  And true to New York, we saw the creepiest, most gigantic, evil-looking, furry, scampering RAT on our walk back to the hotel.  I will never forget that disgusting thing with the pink token lodged in his teeth - I could see the taunting behavior dancing in his eyes as Aunt Sara and I screamed out of sheer fear and disgust and Mom and Meredith screamed with laughter.

After a whirlwind 3.5 days in the city, it was bittersweet to leave that world behind, but so amazing to get home to my little family and...actually sleep. Meredith and I calculated a total of 22 hours of sleep from Thursday night to Monday night - to think I used to sleep like that on a regular basis.  On purpose.