Final Fun day in FABULOUS NYC...

The last full day in NYC began a bit late...BUT... Saturday night had also ended well into Sunday morning...SO...we slept in a little, got up and got dressed in time to grab a cab to Tavern on the Green for our noon brunch reservation...

The reports I’d gotten about Tavern on the Green weren’t all positive, but I am so happy we decided to go there. First, because rumor has it that Tavern on the Green may be on its way out of business due to some lease issues with the city of New York and bankruptcy of the parent company. AND Secondly, It was FABULOUS!!! Not only is the restaurant absolutely beautiful with incredible crystal chandeliers, mirrored hallways leading to the Crystal Room and Buffet area and Tiffany lighting fixtures, but the great ambience was also combined with a huge and delicious buffet. The buffet included made-to-order omelets, a carving station, French toast, Eggs Benedict, breakfast potatoes, shrimp, roasted salmon, bacon, sausage, seafood salad, green salad, cheese tray, fruit tray, couscous salad, grilled vegetables, potato salad, bagels and lox, assorted pastries including delicious croissants, plus a separate dessert buffet that included pecan sandies, several types of brownies, and incredibly delicious bread pudding. And, yes sadly, I ate at least a bite of almost all of this along with enjoying a really yummy Mimosa. Jessie, Jeremy, Chris Ann and I all paced ourselves and all had several plates of the tasty treats.

The food was so yummy, I ate so much, and needless to say, the rest of the day, I felt so sick...BUT...A little tummy trouble couldn’t stand in the way of enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Tavern on the Green OR the rest of the day in NYC.

After we left the restaurant, we strolled past the Central Park Sheep Meadow and headed toward Strawberry Fields. It was a lovely walk. Central Park is truly a beautiful refuge of natural beauty amidst all the pavement and buildings of NYC. We paused for a brief time at the Imagine mosaic in the park that is a tribute to John Lennon and then headed to the Bethesda Terrace to see The Angel of The Waters Fountain. The fountain and the surrounding stairways and such are very beautiful.

After we decided to forego the hansom cab ride around Central Park because there was still so much to see of NYC, we headed out into the Upper West Side to do some shopping.

The entire vacation was made more wonderful by staying with and having locals to show us around, especially Saturday night (good times in Brooklyn) and a day of wandering around to just see and experience a Sunday in the city. I realized from our time doing this wandering and shopping that left to my own devices in NYC I could literally probably just wander about for days on end. There is so much to see -- coffee shops, bakeries, a vast variety of stores, and amazingly beautiful architectural details on unique building after building. Thankfully, I wasn’t left to my own devices and we did a lot of looking around and a little shopping. We went to the North Face store, Urban Outfitter, the Croc store, among others. About half way through the afternoon we stopped for cokes, cocoa and for Jeremy a huge root beer float.

After wandering through the Upper West Side -- and my almost getting hit by a car ((Ooops...Apparently actual New Yorkers can cross against the light and get away with it, but when you are busy looking at architectural details and store windows and just the variety of people and places on the streets of the city, it is not a good idea to follow even a knowledgeable New Yorker into the street against the light...especially when that particular resident walks in what can best be described as an incredibly brisk manner and I walk slightly slower than a tourist-y turtle ;)) We caught the bus to Midtown Manhattan and headed to Madison Avenue. A surprisingly large number of stores were closed on Sunday, but we did shop at Jimmy Choo -- and although these shoes are no doubt beautiful, I certainly can’t imagine paying what a pair cost for heels that are at least 4 inches and would no doubt put me in severe need of a trip to the podiatrist -- I found one pair made of black lace that I really loved, but 1) I’ve already mentioned the trip to the podiatrist that would be necessary and 2) I just don’t think I could ever pay $1,450 for a single pair of shoes. After we left Jimmy Choo we headed in to Barney’s. The store of course had lots of amazing and expensive items and I enjoyed looking at the handbags, the watches, and, of course, the neckties.

After leaving Barney’s we walked down Park Avenue and continued to take in the many incredibly interesting and wonderful views the city has to offer. The time for our spa appointments was drawing near so we parted company with Jeremy and Chris Ann (they went to watch a football game at a local pub) and we headed down Lexington to the Homme Spa.

Jessie and I went our separate ways as she headed of to have a Swedish massage and I took a load off my exhausted and slightly swollen feet and slipped into a comfy chair to have my mani/pedi and a reflexology foot and leg massage. The manicurist was a friendly Chinese girl who commented on the jewels I had on my toes and told me about some of the interesting artistic things she’d seen manicurist doing on their clients toenails when she recently visited China. She talked to me a bit about China and suggested that I should definitely visit there some day (hmmmm...another place to add to my list of places I want to see some day) and after a few minutes she settled in to working on my pedicure while I enjoyed some bottled water and fresh strawberries. The mani/pedi itself wasn’t much different or much better frankly than the one I have done every couple of weeks in Lubbock...BUT...the 30 minute reflexology foot and leg massage was phenomenal!!! Jessie finished her massage before I was done and she told me on her way out that she’d head out to get some coffee while she waited for me. (Unfortunately, as it turns out, her massage wasn’t enjoyable and I felt really bad about the fact that I’d had such a great experience at the spa when hers was mostly painful.)

By the time I finished my mani/pedi and massage it was a bit after 8. Chris Ann, Jeremy and Jessie were all waiting for me next door to the spa and we grabbed a cab and headed for Brooklyn to cross one last thing off our things to do list. On our way back to Brooklyn, Chris Ann called Brooklyn Pizza and ordered two pies. The drive across the Brooklyn Bridge at night was truly beautiful. And while we had packing to do, we didn’t want to leave NYC without having New York pizza. I was really still stuffed from eating brunch, but did have one piece of Brooklyn style pizza, which I folded in half and ate from the point end toward the crust -- which is apparently the way New Yorkers do it...

By the time dinner was over, it was getting really late and I still had all my packing to do. Getting the souvenirs, the new coat, and all my clothes back in my bag was a bit challenging, but we got it all done and just relaxed a little, said our goodbyes to our wonderful, wonderful hosts ((and no, I can’t say enough about how absolutely wonderful it was to stay in Brooklyn with Chris Ann and Jeremy and how fun and funny and friendly and just fantastic they were -- and, believe it or not, they said I’m welcome to come back and stay any time -- boy, they may not realize what they’ve gotten themselves in to ;)) We said our goodbyes Sunday night because we would be leaving very, very early Monday morning.

As we headed to bed, I thought about just how incredible my time in NYC had been. It’s completely impossible to say what my favorite thing about NYC was because everything about it was wonderful. Yes, it was incredible to shop at Tiffany’s, but it was also equally important to me that we had an experience with helping a homeless man. It was amazing to experience a Saturday night out with Brooklyn-ites and absolutely incredible to enjoy what might be seen as a tourist-y trip to Tavern on the Green and every other tourist-y things we did. The city lights, the architectural details of the buildings as well as the gleaming glass of the skyscrapers were equally as appealing as the beautiful moss-splattered trees and fountains, grassy areas and changing leaves of Central Park. And although I feel like I saw a million magnificent things I’ll never forget, I still feel like I want to go back to NYC to shop in SoHo and really visit Harlem and Chinatown and Little Italy, do the Ellis Island tour, and see another Broadway play or 10, and shop in some of the other incredible upscale places and just wander and wander and wander through the endless attractions and experiences this city has to offer.

It’s hard to judge and especially hard to explain how I know it’s been a successful vacation to a splendid destination, but I’ve given the following criteria before (which I really do believe also apply to books and possibly to relationships as well) 1) it should have a positive emotional impact on you... 2) you should be enlightened and educated by the experience and 3) it should leave you wanting more...And a 4th new criteria....the experience should change you, or maybe change isn’t the right word, it should enhance, expand, extend your view of the world around you and more importantly of the world within you...NYC was definitely that kind of experience for me...

Thanks again for traveling with me...and thanks again and a million times more to Jeremy, Chris Ann and to Jessie...This trip would not have been the incredible experience it was without you!!!

Begin with Bagels...End with Pim's...An outstanding and authentic NYC experience...

Saturday Morning started a bit later than our mornings up til this point, but it started off very nicely. Jeremy and Chris Ann had gone down to the corner bakery and bought us ‘everything’ bagels for breakfast. We ate our bagels and headed out with umbrellas in hand to walk the Brooklyn Bridge and eat at Grimaldi’s. Unfortunately when we got about 3 blocks from the apartment it started to rain, so we decided to head back to the apartment to avoid being drenched throughout the day and re-evaluate our plans.

Instead of walking the Brooklyn Bridge (which I definitely want to do when I return to the city some day) we decided to catch a bus to Jay Street -- the subway was down at Carroll Street and to avoid a shuttle going to the Jay Street station was the best way to get in to the city.

We caught the bus and the subway and got off at the stop beneath Rockefeller Center. We started to wander about and saw an area where you could sit at the level of the ice skating rink and watch skaters. We did this for a few minutes before we moved on to explore the stores. The first store we went into was the Swarovski store. There were lots of beautiful things in this store, but probably my favorite was the settee covered with crystals and encircled by a crystal curtain. Jessie and I took some time to have some pics made here and then moved through the rest of the store to look at the beautiful jewelry.

We eventually tore ourselves away from the sparkling treasures of Swarovski and headed to the NBC Experience store. This store sells everything imaginable that has anything to do with NBC TV. There were lots of great souvenirs and fun things to look at here. Some of my favorite things were the SNL skit t-shirts -- Schweddy Balls, Matt Foley, etc. -- and the Office and Law & Order paraphernalia. After looking around for a while, I grabbed a couple of souvenirs and we headed back out toward the ice skating rink.

We walked around the rink and took pictures of the beautiful area. And although we didn’t go to the Met, there is a Metropolitan Museum Store in this area. We went in the store and saw some prints of art pieces, interesting knick knacks, and a great selection of books. I was especially interested in the children’s books that hardly seemed like books for children. Not that the material was inappropriate, but they were beautiful books with pop-ups and projects and lots of other things that could have kept me busy reading for hours. But we didn’t really have hours to spend there, so we moved on.

Our next stop was St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is beautiful. The architecture and stained glass in this cathedral are breathtaking. It truly was gorgeous, and I know it’s famous, but honestly I thought St. John’s was a bit more beautiful and offered more to see -- I realize in hindsight that this might be a result of the fact that we were escaping the bus and the elements when we went to St. John’s OR that St. John’s had the Poet’s Corner and anything that honors literary geniuses does my heart good. -- Anyway, we toured St. Patrick’s and saw all the lovely things it has to offer.

Upon leaving the cathedral we headed to Saks Fifth Avenue. Several things struck me about Saks, not the least of which, is that people bring their dogs to shop at Saks. Apparently people bring their dogs to shop lots of places in the city, but I was shocked to see pets amongst the Prada and other high end finery. (As a side note, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels -- which is what my dog King is -- must be very fancy and city friendly dogs because I saw several of them out shopping with their owners in the couple of days that we watched pets and people shop together.) Before we ever entered Saks, Jessie had decided that she was going to try on formal gowns at Saks. I wasn’t so sure about trying on fancy dresses -- I know, shocking, especially since I’d been accused of being “fancy” on a pretty regular basis -- but after looking around through coats and some of the designer collections we headed to the floor with formals. Jessie was enthusiastic about finding gowns to try on and after a bit of time she convinced me to do the same. We each gathered up a few and went to wait in the dressing room area for a room to open up. Jessie tried on her dresses first and she looked great in them. I took pics of her in her gowns, of course, and I especially loved the way she looked in a beautiful chocolate brown gown that was beaded at the top above the empire waist and had a gorgeous box pleated skirt that fell to the floor. When Jessie finished trying on her dresses, I took her room and tried on that same chocolate brown gown -- which looked so much better on her -- and a couple of black dresses. I did have my picture made in one despite the fact that I had on a hat and looked ridiculous in a formal dress with a hat -- but I just couldn’t make myself take the hat off in front of other people after it had flattened my horrendous hair all day (apparently this is a Southern girl thing and again makes me ‘fancy’(( -- and yes, I admit, I am fancy OR at very least like fancy things)) or maybe just genteel, which may be a word I like even better than fancy...) BUT I also didn’t want to miss having a picture of a gown that if I’d have had anywhere at all to wear it, I’d probably have been tempted to purchase.

After we had a chance to be fancy and frilly in our gowns from Saks, we decided it was time to move on. The next thing we did was search for a place that Nikki insisted we go to and that I was anxious to enjoy -- Magnolia Bakery. We had seen Magnolia when we were out walking around other days and while on the tour bus, but it took us a few minutes of wandering here and there to finally find it. It was totally worth the wandering...It was scrumptious...I had the chocolate cupcake with white icing and Jessie had a wonderful Whoopie Cookie...Oh so good!!! But as that was the only thing we’d eaten since breakfast and we both felt we might be slipping into sugar-induced comas, we headed back down below Rockefeller Center and grabbed flatbread sandwiches at Dunkin Donuts.

With our blood sugar a little more stable, we headed out once again to do some shopping and we went to Macy’s. Jessie was most excited about showing me the wooden escalators at Macy’s so we rode the escalators all the way up to the top floor where we sat for a few minutes to relax. We also looked at the floor which housed dishes, crystal and Christmas decorations. I haven’t decorated for Christmas in a few years, but seeing all the great decorations at Macy’s -- and I’m sure the fact that it hadn’t been above 45 degrees since we arrived in NYC -- made me seriously re-think the idea of decorating for the season. I was also entertained and quite tickled to find Macy’s selling crystal replicas of Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s famous #8 NASCAR. After shopping for a while, we headed back down the wooden escalators and to the subway station to catch the train back to Brooklyn. In the station we saw a couple of groups of street performers. We saw twin brothers playing flamenco music and then saw a group of break dancing boys. I was really pleased to see these as I felt part of the complete NYC experience was enjoying the street/subway performers.

We took the subway back to Brooklyn and ended up getting off at a different stop than the one we’d gotten on at. We ended up at the Fulton St. ‘mall’...which unless we were interested in a cell phone or some sneakers was not an incredibly fun place to be. Luckily for us Chris Ann and Jeremy happened to be out shopping in another part of Brooklyn as well, and had their cab swing by and pick us up.

After a bit of time talking and relaxing back at our hosts’ apartment, we decided on an evening out in Brooklyn. And what a night it was...We first walked to JOYA, a wonderful Thai restaurant in Brooklyn. We sat at the bar enjoying fabulous lychee martinis and great conversation while we waited for our table. After we were seated, we had some incredibly yummy and surprisingly amazingly affordable dinners. I had Jumbo Shrimp and Baby Scallops with Sweet Red Pepper and Curry Sauce over noodles. It was fantastic and more than I could eat...Chris Ann and I got our ‘ta-goes’ and after Jessie left her mark on JOYA (funny funny story -- enough said) we headed to the Clover Club.

Clover Club is cocktail club reminiscent of Prohibition Era speakeasies. The decor and music harken back to that era and instead of bartenders they employee ‘mixologists.’ We decided on the Pim’s Punch which is served in a milk glass punch bowl and served with a ladle to each person at the table. The punch was great and the company, conversation and laughter was even better. Having an authentic night out experience with locals (well, transplanted locals I guess...Chris Ann is from Long Island and Jeremy is actually from Texarkana originally) is an absolutely wonderful experience. After we had our punch, we went with our hosts to a Brooklyn birthday party in a beautiful apartment. The apartment was in new construction and was split level. It had a very open living, kitchen, dining area, a media room, a bathroom and a laundry room (apparently a huge luxury in Brooklyn) and a bedroom and bathroom upstairs. The apartment belonged to a decorator and her husband and was not only beautiful, but a very interesting look at real life in Brooklyn. I suppose I spent most of my time in the media room -- The Yankees game was on and when surrounded by New Yorkers it’s hard to not become a big Yankees fan -- and also spent time with another little host of the party. His name was Benny. He was wearing a tux. And he loved to give kisses. It was the human occupants of the apartment Yorkshire Terrier puppy and he was quite the friendly host and fun distraction from feeling odd about being at a party where the majority of people there were people I didn’t and would never know.

After staying the ‘proper’ amount of time for an appearance and the apartment tour, we caught a cab back to the apartment to catch the extra innings of the Yankees game. We watched the Yankees win and fell into bed after a long and fun and splendid day and evening in the city.

No Bull, Whispering Wall, and other fun Friday NYC experiences...

Our second full day in NYC started with another new experience -- and as I think of NYC, I feel quite certain that if one desired to they could indeed have a new experience there every single day -- This experience was perhaps not all that exciting, but we rode the bus through Brooklyn to our subway station. The bus we rode was mostly filled with moms (or nannies) with strollers carrying young New Yorkers to school or day care. It wasn’t terribly eventful, but one thing Jessie reflected on that is certainly true is that the kids in Brooklyn were as fashionable as the families they belonged to...

We rode the subway, which was this time not terribly crowded, past numerous stops all the way to the Wall Street...

Our first stop after emerging from the subway to the light of another New York day was Starbuck’s...This Starbuck’s is only worth mentioning because despite my normal experience with Starbucks’ employees, these people were genuinely nice and seemed very happy to help and to be working where they were. After a brief stay with coffee and a breakfast sandwich for Jessie and a Vanilla Double Shot Energy + Coffee and a low fat very berry muffin for me, we headed out to see the Charging Bull. This Bull is pretty famous and you’ve no doubt seen it’s face. The thing you may not know is that NYC lore dictates that for good financial luck a visitor should rub the statue in the area that separates the bull from the steers...I can’t tell you how many times Jessie has tried to convince me to do things that sound as crazy as this might sound, but after she posed with her head seemingly up the bull’s behind and received a hearty WOOT WOOT from an NYC worker on the street, I relented and rubbed the symbols of virility for luck.

Feeling somewhat silly, but also certain that I’d participated in an important Wall Street ritual, we headed to Battery Park where we stopped to take photos of the Sphere -- a statue removed from the site of the WTC bombings and positioned here with its holes and damages unrepaired. We then moved on toward the area where we would catch our ferry to the Statue of Liberty. After passing through security much like that at airports -- which of course meant for me the complimentary massage/pat down and the added humiliation of having to take off my hat and expose my horrendously flat and ugly hair we headed to the ferry. The ferry had three levels and we headed up top to get the best view. It was a chilly morning, but thankfully the rain had subsided. We rode out toward Lady Liberty and enjoyed the beautiful views of the city. On the way out we of course passed Ellis Island as we headed to Liberty Island. The Statue of Liberty is beautiful and was everything I’d hoped it would be and it was an awesome site to see. Because we had much planned for this day (as with every other day) in NYC, we opted not to get off the ferry at either Liberty Island or Ellis Island. At some point when I return to the city, I’d love to do the Ellis Island tour, but it takes several hours I’m told and we weren’t anxious to give up several hours of seeing other things to partake of that particular attraction. We rode the ferry -- and boy, are there a lot of ferries in NYC ;) -- back to Battery Park and enjoyed an almost empty second deck seat on the outside of the ferry.

When we departed the ferry, we saw what was an odd site for the middle of a city...we spotted a turkey in the park. Well, I thought it was a turkey and Jessie thought it might be a vulture. Since we didn’t know for sure what it was, two girls who are both terribly afraid of and disgusted by birds, for some reason decided that stalking this strange bird to get a pic was a good idea. I’m not sure how many minutes we stalked our prey, but at some point we did get within about fifteen feet of it and get pretty good pics (as it turns out after seeing our pics Jeremy did indeed confirm that it was a lone turkey in the middle of the big city.)

After we left Battery Park, we walked up toward Ground Zero. Ground Zero itself offers little more than a fence with some large banners explaining the construction of the memorial, but as we walked toward the site, I had an overwhelmingly odd and somber feeling. I had vivid recall of clips of video and photos of the same buildings I was walking past being shown with people frantically fleeing the site in front of a huge dark cloud of debris on September 11. I cannot even begin to imagine how panicked and devastated the people must have been that day. Walking the opposite way down a street that was a site of such severe devastation on a day that changed the country we live in so much was a moving experience.

On our way to Ground Zero directly across from the American Stock Exchange we took a detour. We saw steps leading up off the sidewalk into a beautiful cemetery. We went up the steps and walked around the cemetery which was full of eroding and interesting tombstones dating back into the 1700s. We later found out (on the Gray Line bus tour as we passed this way again) that the cemetery we were wandering through was the cemetery at Trinity Church and that Alexander Hamilton was buried there.

After leaving the cemetery and walking past the Ground Zero site we headed to Century 21 to do some shopping. I’d actually never heard of Century 21... and as their shopping bags say it’s “Fashion worth fighting for” or as other bags state “Shopping’s Best Kept Secret.”... And both are true. Jessie had her heart set on getting a new coat, and although I had nothing in particular in mind to buy, I rarely pass up a great opportunity to get a good deal or at least do some fun looking around.

Century 21 was similar to those scenes you see on tv where the aisles and shopping areas are all very crowded with people grabbing things off racks and crowding around sales displays. We headed into the first area we saw where there were jackets and coats. Most of the jackets in this area were ski jackets...brands like Spyder and others with really good prices. Jessie didn’t however find a coat in this area that was what she was looking for. We moved up another floor to an area full of more coats. Jessie tried on several and I started looking at coats too and actually came across one I really adored. I really had no intention of buying a coat. I had packed my bag pretty tightly and I knew I’d have to be fitting in souvenirs for the fam, but this coat was winter white ultra suede with a faux fur lining. The entire jacket inside and out is so incredibly soft AND it’s a Jones New York jacket at an incredibly good price...SO...Yes, I bought the coat. And yes, I do love it. Jessie also found a dark suede jacket that is fur-lined as well that she felt would be warm enough for Ohio winters and she decided to buy that coat as well. I also grabbed a pair of gloves -- the kind that are like mittens but fold back and expose the ends of your fingers so you can fasten your coat or dial your phone or whatever else you need to do. We continued to look around Century 21 and they truly do have some great prices on some great brand names. We spent a few minutes shopping in the men’s area. I can’t exactly explain why, but I have this strange obsession with men’s neckties. I LOVE ties, love looking at them, and while I never actually buy them I suppose they appeal to me as a symbol of a dreamy well-dressed man -- or maybe it’s something else completely twisted, idk, but I do know I love them.

When we finished our shopping, we decided to walk to another Gray Line Bus Tour stop to give the bus another try AND get from point A to point B without putting any more stress on our feet. There were several things we still wanted to get a glimpse of without spending a lot of time on so we climbed aboard the bus and headed on our way.

This time our bus ride was surprising. We actually had a really good tour guide. His name was Andrew and he was not only informative, but also witty and friendly and made riding atop a double decker bus in the cold a little more pleasurable. On this particular ride we went through downtown NYC. We went through Chinatown -- again an area that on some future trip I’d probably like to see more in depth -- but my only real impression that it was pretty dirty and not something worth missing other big attractions to see. We saw Little Italy -- another stop I’d like to explore some more -- and also saw fabulous buildings where incredibly pricey apartments owned by the likes of Madonna and Derek Jeter and others.

We rode the bus to a stop near Grand Central Station where we headed down Lexington in the direction of the impressive Chrysler building and Grand Central Station. On our way there we noticed the spa where we would be having our treatments done on Sunday. We went inside for just a minute to check the place out and it looked pretty nice and we felt less unsure about our appointments awaiting us there on Sunday evening. We also stopped on our way to Grand Central for me to buy more Pashminas...I’d already bought a couple that I’d been wearing the last couple of cold days in NYC and I thought they’d make fashionable and great gifts for the girls in my family.

We soon arrived at Grand Central Station and I was in awe. It is a truly beautiful station and it has so much to offer. It has a huge variety of people from many walks of life. We saw a musician playing the stand up bass and a good number of kiosks with interesting items to buy. As we headed into the main area of the station we saw a world of hustle and bustle as well as a beautiful and well-guarded brand new Maserati. Both Jessie and I were hungry since it was late afternoon and we decided to head to the food concourse and have a meal while we warmed up. We found a great place called Hale & Hearty that sells soup. And it was super soup. I ordered a big cup of sweet crab chowder and Jessie ordered the sweet corn chowder. We found a place to sit and started enjoying our dinner. As Jessie and I sat there and discussed our last stop for the day, the Empire State Building, Jessie noticed a homeless man going through the garbage cans looking for food. I didn’t even see him, but we needed to finish eating quickly so we could catch the last bus to take us back across town to the Empire State Building and although I was pretty full I still had quite a bit of soup in my large cup. Jessie asked me if I wanted to give my leftover soup to the homeless man. And I did, but I didn’t know how to approach him ((--you know, that whole stranger danger thing...and not just because he was homeless...Jessie had bailed me out throughout our trip when numerous people would approach me to take pics of them while they posed -- I wasn’t opposed to taking the soup to the man nor was I ever opposed to taking the pics of people I didn’t know, but I did ALWAYS hesitate. Somehow I must have an open and accepting ‘yes’ face, but still just haven’t managed to not look a bit shocked when approached by a stranger for anything.)) Anyway, Jessie took my moment of hesitation as an opportunity to just do it for me and took the man the soup. She came back with tears in her eyes and told me that he simply said Thank You as a tear rolled down his cheek...Ok, so maybe it’s a good thing that I didn’t take him the soup because it’s quite possible if he’d cried when I handed it to him that I’d have emptied my pockets of every cent I had and given it to him...

After we had this encounter there was one more thing in Grand Central Station Jessie wanted me to see. She took me to the Whispering Wall. The Whispering Wall is where the arched design of the walls of a corridor enables two people, standing at opposite corners and facing the wall (like you're being punished,) to talk to each other and be heard! I was skeptical, but I figured if I was willing to touch a bull’s balls I might as well go along with this tradition too and it is amazing and surprising, but it really works.

As we left Grand Central Station, we headed back to the where we’d hopped off the tour bus and rode across town to the Empire State Building. On the way across town we passed numerous landmarks, including Rockefeller Center and lots of other sites. We actually had to get off the tour bus for some unexplained reason and walk a few blocks to get on another bus that would carry us to the Empire State Building.

We went through security and began our ascent to the observation deck. There are a couple of different elevators and places where one must wait on the way up, but the lines weren’t terribly long and we got to the top pretty quickly. It was dark and cold by the time we reached the observation deck, but it was also breathtaking. I would highly recommend going to the top of the Empire State Building at night. While it was indeed snowing lightly at this distance above the city, the views of the city were remarkable. Times Square was a glowing spot amidst a scattering of other lights on every side of the observation deck. It was a beautiful view of the city and we spent a good deal of time walking around and taking pics before we headed back inside and went through the gift shop. I picked up a couple of souvenirs here for friends and family and we headed back down to the street to catch a cab back to Brooklyn.

When we arrived at Chris Ann and Jeremy’s apartment amidst the lovely brownstones of Union Street we were greeted by our wonderful hosts. I had mentioned the night we arrived that I would love to try sushi and Chris Ann informed us that their Friday nights generally included ordering in from a sushi place in Brooklyn. Since I knew I was clueless about good sushi, Chris Ann kindly ordered for me. Within a very short time a delivery guy from Kiku Sushi brought us our dinner. I had shrimp dumplings as an appetizer followed by spicy salmon rolls, shrimp asparagus rolls, and California rolls as well as a salad with a yummy dressing. I was so grateful for the chance to have a wonderful sushi dinner ordered by someone who actually knows about sushi, and I enjoyed it all so very much. I have to say at this point that I am so happy that my parents raised us eating a large variety of foods. I never hesitate to try anything from escargot to sushi or whatever other local delicacy I am offered because somehow my parents instilled in us a willingness to try exotic and interesting foods (hmmmm....now, if they’d only taught me not to have extreme stranger danger, I think traveling the world would be incredibly easy for me.)

After our dinner we sat and talked with our wonderful hosts. I have to also say a huge thank you to Chris Ann and Jeremy. Both were fun and kind and so great to just hang out with.

We tried to formulate a plan for the next day, but just kept getting distracting from the task by all the talking and laughing we were doing. We did decide that IF it weren’t raining the next morning we’d have bagels from a bakery around the corner and walk the Brooklyn bridge as we headed in to the city for another fun-filled day. Some time well after midnight as a fantastic Friday turned in to Saturday we crawled in to our warm bed in our comfortable and welcoming home away from home. I went to bed laughing at one of the million hilarious things Jessie said throughout our trip and dreaming of another exciting day of incredible and virtually endless experiences in a city of contrasts and complexity and cultural experiences.

Mamma Mia, here I go again My my, how can I resist you?...

And here we go again...

After leaving Tiffany’s with my happy silly grin on my face and my Tiffany’s bracelet on my wrist (--yep, I put it on while we were in the women’s lounge, I just couldn’t wait to wear it AND since it says “please return to Tiffany & Co.” on it, I figured if I got lost maybe someone would indeed return me to Tiffany’s ;)... We headed off to do more shopping. We decided to go to the GAP store. Jessie really likes GAP and I like it as well so we went there to shop. I had decided that I’d actually like to find something else, not something nearly as fancy as the black skirt and Snow White collared shirt I’d brought to wear to the Broadway show, but something clean and warm to wear. We shopped for quite a while there. I ended up buying a brown sweater and a cream colored shirt to wear under it, which would go well with the brown pants and brown hat I was already wearing. Jessie bought a cute sweatshirt type jacket and we headed out to find a place to have dinner before we went to see Mamma Mia.

We wandered around and came upon Connolly’s. We were seated upstairs and settled in for a light dinner before we went to the show. Jessie ordered a Classic Cosmopolitan and I decided on the French Kiss Martini...YUM...And while I’ll admit it’s been too long since I’ve had a real French kiss, this drink was definitely aptly named. It was pleasurable and smooth and sweet and warmed me from my tummy to my toes and was really just truly yummy...So yummy in fact that I decided I’d have one more. I also had a tasty salsa shrimp cocktail and a lovely mixed greens salad with balsamic vinegar dressing. While we relaxed and enjoyed our drinks and dinner, we also over-listened to those around us. There was a couple and their friend talking at a table nearby. We heard one of them say they were from Texas, but they were from the rest of their conversation, obviously not travelers, but transplants living in NYC. Jessie said she thought she heard one of them say something about Wolfforth -- I never heard it, but that would have been truly crazy -- and it was enough to get me even more actively interested in over-listening to what they said. By doing so, I learned a term I wouldn’t have otherwise known, DINK...They were apparently DINKs -- Double Income No Kids -- I suppose that term fits quite a few people we came across and it was interesting to learn there was a label amongst New Yorkers for it.

After we finished dinner, we headed back in to the wet streets to go to the ‘will call’ booth at Winter Garden Theater. We picked up or Mezzanine 3rd Row tickets and went to find our seats. We arrived a little early for the show and sat and read through our playbills as we waited for the show to start. The show was really great. I was so pleased with our last minute seat purchases and was so impressed with all of the performers and the entire performance. I really always enjoy live performances so much more than movies or television. I think there’s an energy in knowing there’s no editing or chances to re-shoot or re-do anything that isn’t present otherwise. While I am sure most performances are relatively the same, the idea that each may be a little different is somewhat exciting. The cast of Mamma Mia was wonderful. For any CBS soap fans out there it might be interesting for you to know that the actor that played Edmund for 7 years on Guiding Light is a member of the Broadway cast of Mamma Mia -- and practically everyone in the cast has at one time or another had some part on one of the Law & Order series. Everything about the production was wonderful, well, almost everything. At the end of the show the full cast came back out to sing a few of the songs from the show. Everyone in the lower floor of the theater stood, clapped, and even danced along. Jessie decided to stand as well...And while I wasn’t aware at the time, she soon told me that she’d been poked in the back and given a gesture from the person behind her indicating that she needed to sit down. Jessie handled this much better than I would have. She didn’t immediately sit down, but she avoided making any further eye contact with the woman and decided to sit down after a few moments. (This whole event was probably the most obvious rudeness we encountered while in NYC...The thing is that other than one other New Yorker who made their feelings about tourists known to us when we drove by on the tour bus by giving us a single finger salute and yelling “go home” the vast majority of New Yorkers are very polite and helpful. Even our cab drivers generally made some attempt to make small talk...It seems that the only rude people in NYC are the foreigners...I hate to sound prejudicial and judgemental, but the people who butt in line or poke you in the back or hit you with their umbrellas or push and shove seem to be by and large foreigners -- more specifically Europeans -- I know they have the words please, thank you and excuse me in their languages, but they seem to never use them...Maybe it’s just a difference in training in courtesy and social graces, but it’s a difference that’s annoying and I believe is the reason people come away from New York with the idea that New Yorkers are rude...which in my experience they definitely are not...)

After the encore ended we didn’t push our way in to the crowded aisles to leave. As soon as the aisles did clear a bit we went down to use the restroom before we left...And that was a bit of adventure -- only because we were the last ones in the restroom and apparently the last ones in the theater and were basically shoo-ed out the door by a woman who informed us the Mezzanine was being cleared out and locked up and that we needed to get out of the theater and in to the streets.

We left the theater and headed out in to the heart of Times Square. I think this was the NYC I had in my mind all these years. The street was lit up like daylight and there were people everywhere. Steams of people flowed in every direction and there were things to look at everywhere...Just above us was a sign that said “Where the Wild Things Are” and I do believe that Times Square is the area where the wild hustle and bustle of NYC really comes alive. Apparently attending a Broadway show inspires people to sing in the streets because we passed more than one person belting out show tunes. And Jessie herself was a bit carried away by the excitement of the evening especially when we heard the bumping beat being played in the M&M store. The girl can dance -- enough said. ;) ...The M&M store and the Hershey’s store were both stops we made and enjoyed. We also ventured down the streets in Times Square just taking in more of the sites and sounds before we finally caught a cab and headed back to Brooklyn. The ride out of the city was hectic and harrowing, but we survived, and as the cab headed out across the Brooklyn bridge into the quieter, calmer streets of the Brooklyn neighborhood we were staying in the excitement of the day began to subside as well and I started to feel very ready to climb the steps to Chris Ann and Jeremy’s wonderful apartment and crawl in to bed. Our first full day in NYC was indeed a very FULL 14 hour day...A long, exciting, wonderful day I doubt I will ever forget...

“That's right. I'm just CRAZY about Tiffany's!” ~Holly Golightly...(and me!)

My first full day in NYC started with my first ride on a NYC subway. It actually wasn’t nearly as bad or as scary as I thought it would be. Initially, I noticed that the subway wasn’t nearly as dirty as I thought it would be...I’ve been told the subway around Times Square is frightening, but we never did take the train from that station...

We were headed in at a time when I guess a lot of people were headed to work so the subway was pretty crowded at times & we stood through most of our trip. It seems that there are three things that people do on the subway...1) read -- although there are signs in several places in the subway that say something like 25% of New Yorkers are illiterate, it would be hard to find evidence of that from the number of people reading on the train -- even reading through bumps and stops and shifting around to accommodate new arrivals to the train -- lots of people read on the train... 2) sleep -- a lot of people who aren’t reading on the train are sleeping...there were people who appeared to be homeless slumped down and sleeping...there were people who appeared to have partied all night with their heads flung forward or propped against a pole sleeping...and there were people who appeared to be coming and going from their jobs who simply slightly bowed their heads and were sleeping...and the final thing to do on the train is # 3) play the ‘do not make any eye contact under any circumstances game’ -- this was what I did on the subway and frankly, it’s challenging. I had a hard time not looking at people. But real New Yorkers are apparently well-trained champions in this game -- in fact, even kids as young as 5 or 6 years old seem very skilled at averting eye contact and God forbid, you actually exchange smiles with someone on the train... This one thing was odd to me about the subway. These people in such close proximity to one another are all apparently consciously making an effort to maintain their own mental separation despite the complete lack of physical personal space... All in all the subway (on this morning as well as others) was relatively uneventful and not at all as horrible as I’d imagined it might be. I mentioned to Jessie when we got off that I bet you could spend a day below ground in NYC and see a whole different side of the city and if you could actually get anyone to talk, you could learn about a vast variety of lives.

When we left the subway, we headed out on a cold and wet morning to find the Gray Line Tour Bus station, get our tickets and head out to see what we could see. The bus was a double decker and if it hadn’t been so cold, drizzly and windy, I feel like it would have been a really great way to see the city. I’d say the only real negative about the Gray Line bus -- other than the weather -- was the guides on board...or at least most of them...The first one we had was Grumpy...yep, just like the dwarf from snow white, white-haired, actually kinda short now that I think about it, and NEG-A-TIVE. He loved to complain about how little the tourists tip (and every single person that so much as speaks to you apparently deserves a tip in NYC) and how tourists don’t understand the NYC economy and how dependent it is on tipping and also how bad the economy is in general right now...I honestly don’t remember much about what he told us about what we were seeing, but as the wind and rain increased and his negativity dampened our spirits, Jessie and I decided to get off at the next stop and seek sanctuary...

And a beautiful sanctuary it was...Our next stop was the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Episcopal Diocese of New York and the seat of its Bishop. This church is so gorgeous. It is absolutely breathtaking. In addition to all the architecture and stained glass that is magnificent, there is also a small area called Poet’s Corner. It has the names of many American authors, the year of their birth and death, and a quote by them engraved into a stone on the floor of the area (you’ll have to check out the photo share site for pics of this -- I took quite a few.) There were so many other things about this church that were truly phenomenal. There was an incredibly unique staircase and individual chapel type rooms around the walls. The church also includes a mausoleum. There was also an art exhibition of Holocaust paintings by Mikhail Turovsky, entitled Memento. I’ve always loved art, but as an aspiring art student of sorts (ok, I realize taking lessons on Sunday afternoons and making ridiculous attempts at doing more than doodling doesn’t make me a budding artist, but still...) I found these paintings even more interesting. They were not detailed paintings, but were a bit more like gesture drawings or maybe the art we’ve done in which you just express the light and shadow to form the picture. These pieces are all done in black, white and shades of gray, but are incredibly moving and really portray a somber mood that is appropriate of art that addresses the Holocaust experience. St. John’s wasn’t on the top of our list of things to see in NYC...honestly, other than being a stop on the Gray Line bus tour I don’t think I’d heard of it at all, but it was a jewel nonetheless and it was an incredibly beautiful and breathtaking cathedral as well as an absolutely great place to escape the elements for a bit. I think maybe I enjoyed it even more because it was an unexpected treasure and sometimes the things you just stumble across on a journey are the most magnificent things.

After leaving the church, we headed off to find a place to grab lunch. We were in the neighborhood of Tom’s Restaurant -- the one of Seinfeld fame. I am a pretty big Seinfeld fan, so we decided to go and eat there. (Yada, yada, yada...:)...The interior doesn’t look like it did on the show, BUT supposedly (according to Wikipedia) the interior has been remodeled since the show filmed there. I just had a grilled cheese and a cup of chicken noodle soup, which wasn’t anything amazing, but was filling and satisfying AND it was fun to eat at a booth where Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer talked about everything and more famously nothing at all.

After we left Tom’s Restaurant we decided to get back on the Gray Line tour bus and head out to see more. If it’s at all possible to believe, the next tour guide was possibly even worse than the first. The guide was a Chinese girl and I am sure she was doing the best she could, but I am not sure why a tour bus company would hire someone who could barely speak English, or at least English that was understandable...Everything she said ended with the phrase, HUH? or Righ dare (translated -- or at least to the best of my ability to decipher -- Right there)...It was again distracting from the actual information that we were supposed to be learning about the city, BUT the bus was warm and dry and moved us on to another spot we wanted to see...Well, actually I’m not sure we wanted to see it, but when we arrived there and felt we were getting very little out of the tour, I thought it might be fun to see the Madame Alexander Doll Company -- and a free gift was supposed to be given at this stop...I only say supposed to be because as it turned out only one gift was given per group of four people who came in together. Since Jessie and I were a group of 2 they still gave us a doll, but just one doll. Jessie got a doll for Clara, and I looked around. I collected dolls as a girl so it was fun to see them and I do have 3 Madame Alexander Dolls. I found a few that I’d kind of like to have -- 4 dolls from Little Women, a Scarlet O’Hara doll, and a Raggedy Ann doll. We didn’t actually do the whole tour of the museum, so after visiting the display and gift shop we headed back out to the lobby of the building to wait for the next bus, which we missed OR which more accurately missed us...We stepped outside and it just went right on by. Since the buses run about 15 to 20 minutes apart we went into a small coffee shop next door and had hot cocoa while we waited. There are an amazing number of coffee shop/bakery type places around NYC. This one was nice and had big soft seats in front of the window where we could sit and watch for the tour bus.

We got back on the bus and rode through Harlem. It was miserably rainy and cold at this point and while there are a few things I would like to see in Harlem, it wasn’t really worth getting wet and cold to see them. We rode through Harlem and then up the side of Central Park where the zoo is located. We passed museums and a few other notable spots. The guide during this portion wasn’t terrible at all...in fact, had it been nice weather and had anyone been using the bus for more than a taxi, I believe this girl would have actually done a good job. We did get a beautiful view of Central Park and I was definitely looking forward to seeing more of it on Sunday.

We decided that our next stop would be in the area where FAO Schwartz, the Apple store, Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany & Co., etc. were located.

The first store we decided to go in was Bergdorf’s...There are lots of beautiful things in this store, but I suppose unless you have money actually falling out of your purse and pockets or you are famous (more about famous people in a bit,) people there don’t notice you are alive. Not terribly shocking, but a little disappointing. There were lots of great things to look at. We headed up to the shoe department. There was a great selection of Manolo Blahnik shoes. I guess these shoes were -- at least for me -- pretty much made famous by Carrie on Sex in the City. And they are gorgeous shoes. Most of them are in no way practical or anything I would ever be able to wear (think 5 inch heels and extremely pointed toes with a price tag of upwards of $650) but there were a handful of smaller heels and even some flats that were really beautiful, but unfortunately unless I was going to wear them on an almost daily basis the prices still weren’t anywhere near reasonable.

While we were shopping in the shoe department, we wandered over toward the boots. There was a girl there with black hair wearing a pretty much see through white t-shirt and these terrible hooker boots. Both Jes and I noticed her and those boots...And suddenly as I was about to go toward the escalator, Jessie came over and said...That’s Jessica Simpson...NO, not the black-haired chick in the bad boots, but the girl she was shopping with...That’s right, Jessica Simpson was shopping at Bergdorf’s. It was strange because no one was gawking her, no one was guarding her, and no one was waiting on her, and no one even seemed to notice she was there. I suppose in NYC a famous person shopping in the store is not an unusual occurrence, but I thought she’d at least have a small entourage OR an attendant so far up her butt that it would be hard to ignore her...Neither was true...Jessie and I both walked around in front of where she was trying on boots while she text and we headed to the top of the escalator. We considered asking her if it was OK to take her pic...BUT 1) if I were famous I wouldn’t want to be bothered by everyone who wanted a pic of me -- heck, I don’t like to be bothered now by ALL the people who want pics of me ;) tehehehe... 2) She’s not smart OR at very least she pretends to not be smart...and for me smart = attractive and interesting and worth embarrassing myself to get to know... So, since it hardly seemed worth bothering her, we instead slipped around and took pics on my iPhone and Jes’ camera with no flash so we could at least have some photographic evidence that this celebrity encounter actually did occur --(although if I were going to fabricate a celebrity encounter, trust me I would have come up with someone more fabulous like Christopher Meloni or Derek Jeter.)

As we left Bergdorf’s we headed over to the Louis Vuitton store. It was fun to see all the bags, luggage, etc. there. The one thing that baffled me was that I have actually looked online at Vuitton luggage -- just for fun -- and found a pink vernis make up bag for about $650 BUT in the store a pink and brown scarf is $650...I’m not sure why I’d even consider spending as much on a scarf as I would on a make up case, but I guess when money is no object nothing like that actually occurs to you.

The next place we went was the happiest place on earth...NOPE, not Disneyland (not even a Disney store,) but Tiffany & Co. That’s right Tiffany’s...It’s AWESOME...and not just the diamonds, which by the way shine and sparkle like no other diamonds I have ever seen anywhere. But that wasn’t the thing about Tiffany’s that made me fall in love. It was the people there. 1) They were all so very nice. 2) They all seemed so very happy to be at their job and to be helpful. 3) Although I was making a very small purchase, they went out of their way to make sure I was getting exactly what I wanted...I had seen a silver bead bracelet with a little lock charm that said “Return to Tiffany & Co.” online and I really wanted one. I thought I remembered one that had a square lock, but the only thing I could find in the store was a heart-shaped lock. I mentioned that I really wanted the square lock so two different people who worked there started looking through the store to see if they could find the bracelet with the square lock. They could not, but they did find a couple of square lock charms and a different style of bracelet that did have the square lock. I could have had the square lock charm put on the bead bracelet, but I decided against that. The square lock was really just to big for the somewhat delicate bead bracelet. I decided to just buy the heart lock bracelet...SO, they wrapped it up in the blue Tiffany’s box with the pretty white bow and put it in a Tiffany’s bag. Since it was raining, he also put another bag upside down over the top of the other bag so that my little blue box wouldn’t get wet.

This place is all about good service...After I purchased my bracelet we were whisked on to an elevator and then had the contents of each floor described to us by the wonderful attendant -- who, by the way, also was delightful and seemed very happy to be at his job -- and then took us to the 6th floor to the Women’s Lounge. The Women’s Lounge (ie, restroom ;) is also fabulous at Tiffany’s. Clean, beautiful, smells wonderful and has marble walls that go from floor to ceiling -- that’s right, not stalls, actual individual bathrooms with wood doors... I’m telling you I’m just crazy about Tiffany’s...I’m pretty sure it’s the happiest place on earth...Oh yeah, and the jewelry there is as fabulous as the people...I’m pretty sure they have it under special glass or something because it shines like no jewelry I’ve ever seen...or maybe it just reflects the glow of the happiness of the place and people around it... ;) ...

At some point during this day we decided that we wouldn’t actually go back to Brooklyn and change into our fancy clothes before we went to Mamma Mia...It was cold and wet and fancy dresses and heels would not have been much fun & going all the way back to Brooklyn before the show definitely meant we’d have to cut our day of exploring short...So, we decided to stay in the city, do a bit more shopping, have dinner and then head to Mamma Mia...

More on that later...I know this blog is super long -- so was this day -- and I’ll post the rest soon...

Start Spreading the News...I'm Leaving Today...New York, New York

The morning started off as well as can be expected on a day that I was leaving town...With one minor -- or at least now it seems minor -- exception. I didn’t have ink in my printer so I made sure to leave plenty early to get to Mom’s to print my boarding pass, my Gray Line double decker tour bus voucher and my tickets to Wicked...Or at least that was the plan...

Airline Boarding Pass...Check...Gray Line Tour Voucher ... Check... Wicked Tickets...Wicked Tickets...Hmmm...There’s an issue with my Wicked Tickets...SO...

I logged on to ticketmaster and for the life of me could not get my Wicked tickets to print. I searched and searched and searched for a phone number for ticketmaster...Finally, I found one. I called and talked to a ridiculously awful voice activated system. When I finally went through nine menus, I finally heard the news that finally made it all make sense...My tickets for October 8 were no longer available to print ...Ummmm...what??? So, I say to the automaton at the other end of the line...Please Repeat...

And she said it again... October 8...Interesting since I wasn’t even going to be in New York til October 14...Yep, that’s right apparently I paid for orchestra seats for Wicked one week before I actually planned on being there...

Needless to say, this started my day in less than a happy mood. I was a bit addled and anxious -- by addled and anxious, what I mean is I could not even find my purse...It was hanging on my shoulder...And so I had to get in Mom’s Tahoe and head for the airport...and I was not feeling great about heading off to NYC...

But as soon as I got to the airport and got the expected, and maybe at this point anticipated (( -- and I say anticipated because I’ve decided that in order to endure the inevitable pat down that comes with being chock full of metal that I would just think of this otherwise annoying security check as a free three minute massage...sometimes making things better just means changing your perspective...)) and after the massage/ pat down, I was feeling better and ready to roll...

The flight to Dallas was ok...well, it would have been absolutely ok if it weren’t for this annoying man who sat across the aisle from me. This man seriously went on ad nauseum about everything...(and no, he was not talking to me, but I think we’ve covered the over-listening thing before...I can’t help but hear if it’s being said within 10 feet of me...and in an American Eagle everything is going on within 10 inches of me...) He started talking to this man in line, he talked on the skybridge, he talked and talked and talked. He never shut up...Ok, occasionally he took a breath and let his seatmate say a sentence or two... But seriously, this guy talked about everything from Lubbock real estate and weather to parking situation at the Texas Tech football games to how many years he’d lived in Lubbock to where else in the world he might want to live to the economy to personal watercrafts...I’ve never been so ready to land at DFW -- geez, shut up already...He even stood in the aisle chatting this guy up while I was trying to get to my next flight...And I barely made it to my next flight. I got to the tram, got to my gate, had time to use the bathroom and then board...This was really only a problem because I took off from LBK at 11:50 and wouldn’t land at LaGuardia til 6:30...Normally, that’s not an issue, but to my surprise and dismay it now costs $10 to get a Boston Market sandwich on American Airlines -- my 6 ounces of Diet Coke was oh-so-generously complimentary (and 6 ounces isn’t exactly enough for a girl who drinks two Sonic diet DPs a day...) but about 3:30 in the afternoon when they finally decided to serve the in-flight ‘snack’ I broke down and bought the sandwich...But I didn’t complain...I had heard enough complaining to last a day. People were seriously ugly in the boarding of the plane from DFW to LaGuardia...Of course, the plane was full...There was this super skinny chick with long black hair that got a bit combative with the flight attendant...While I will admit that the attendant wasn’t overly kind, she was just doing her job in regards to carry on luggage. The attendant simply said ‘if you would please, store your bag in this compartment...and this chick looks at her and says... ‘ummmmm, if you would please just speak to me with some respect.’ It was an incredibly impolite exchange...I just don’t get why people act that way...so rude and rushing about...They seriously don’t seem to get that we are all leaving DFW at the same time and getting to LaGuardia together...and getting terse with one another won’t get us there any faster.

On the flight to LaGuardia, I finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil...(Great book and now I cannot wait to go to Savannah...and started reading Freakonomics...) The flight for the most part was good...I did develop a terrible crick in my neck. I’m not sure if it was from reading with my head bent slightly forward for over 2 hours or possibly from leaning away from the stranger on the right who of course claimed the arm rest between us the minute he sat down. While I am sure he was a nice enough person, I just can’t bear to lean toward someone I don’t know. In fact, by the time the plane landed I had worse than a crick in my neck, I was really pretty sore in my entire upper torso...

A few things worth mentioning in regards to the final part of the flight...One is the fact that I was really underwhelmed by landing in NYC...I somehow expected to see a beautiful skyline and a bustling city...I’m sure that probably wasn’t realistic, but I was still somewhat disappointed. The second thing worth mentioning is that landing at LaGuardia was a bit stressful...Coming in to the runway, I was not by the window, but I never ever saw land until the wheels touched the ground. I kept thinking about the miracle on the Hudson and how I absolutely did not want to be a part of a miraculous water landing...And besides, I had not paid any attention about how to use my seat cushion as a flotation device, so I knew it was not going to go well for me at all. The last thing about LaGuardia worth mentioning is that the airport itself is unattractive and not at all interesting. I’m not sure exactly what I expected -- except maybe a Broadway-esque musical medley greeting me as I walked off the plane and possibly a line of Rockettes kicking up their heels to the perfect and same height as I parted through the line of them and headed to my baggage...unrealistic, maybe (but you can play slots in the Vegas airport...so...) somehow I expected the airport in the most incredible city in America to be...well...incredible.

The incredible part was that I landed 25 minutes early AND I actually found Jessie as soon as she got off her plane and headed to get her luggage...Getting her luggage was a bit of a snag...Apparently, there were only about 15 people on her flight from Cleveland and only 4 of them checked luggage. Their luggage never came up on a carousel and about 25 minutes after she landed, we finally saw her luggage stacked against the doors of the customer complaint/claim or whatever office it was at the far end of the baggage claim area.

She grabbed her luggage and we headed out to get a cab...An NYC cab...something of a legend...something Nikki text me about after I landed, so I assumed that it would be a very exciting and or at least incredibly interesting adventure...

Honestly, driving from LaGuardia to Brooklyn was not bad at all...I saw more of the city and I started to get excited...I think it helped my sense of calm that I was sitting behind the driver who was enclosed in a totally bulletproof casing -- (think Pope-mobile...there was no way I was seeing the scariness of this man’s driving around that thing...) Jessie on the other hand, actually saw what was going on all around us and was less than excited about the cab ride...

When we arrived at Chris Ann and Jeremy’s apartment, I immediately thought of the Huxtable’s house...And Jessie informed me that when Cody visited he thought of Sesame Street...Both are pretty accurate descriptions of where we are staying...Chris Ann and Jeremy greeted us with a great dinner of salmon and asparagus AND great conversation... While we chatted, I fixed the ticket fiasco by going online and purchasing tickets to Mamma Mia online. No, not Wicked...Mamma Mia just seemed like a great show to see with a great girl friend...So with that one problem averted and the plans roughly made for our first big day in NYC, it was shortly after midnight and Jessie and I headed for bed (we had a early morning and an extremely busy day planned) in the city that never sleeps...

It's Time to Start Packing...

Grab your sweaters, jackets, night on Broadway outfits, camera and great/cute walking shoes...It's time, well, almost time for US to head to NYC...

I know, I know, YOU have to work...and take care of hubbies and kids...and take care of pets...and buy groceries...and go to a dozen different events you've got penciled in on your calendar and...and...and...

AND as much as you want to travel with me (and, really, who wouldn't want to travel with me? ;) ...YOU just can't...

BUT, really you can...OR at least you sorta can...You can log on to the blog and share my adventures in NYC with me...I'll be blogging again (I know you're excited, but try to contain yourself...)

Right now, I can best describe my feelings about this trip as giddiness...I am incredibly excited about this trip. I am so excited to see the Big Apple and take a huge bite out of all it has to offer... (Ok, I'll admit that was a bit cliche but sometimes you just gotta go with the obvious ;)

I am traveling with an absolutely wonderful friend of mine named Jessie. She will fly out of Ohio on Wednesday and we will both arrive at LaGuardia close to 6 p.m. that day. There's about a million and one reasons I'm thrilled to be traveling with her...Not the least of which is the fact that she knows I'm crazy and it's actually one of her favorite things about me. She and I have traveled together before (it was her and her family that I did DC and PA -- and Ohio, obviously -- with on the previous leg of the Queen's Travel Tour.) And we make each other laugh....I can't even imagine how wonderful it will be to laugh my way through the big city with one of my best friends...BUT I am so ready to find out what it will be like.

We have a good number of things on our agenda -- including the major touristy things (...which I'm a little torn about...I don't want to be touristy, but how do you not be/seem touristy in the midst of so many sights...I want pics of absolutely everything, but I am going to try not to stand in the middle of busy sidewalks to snap these pics (my friend, Nikki, herself a former New Yorker, strongly suggests moving to the side of the street to take pics AND she also insists that all New Yorkers aren't mean, so I suppose we'll see...) Because we are staying in Brooklyn with relatives of Jessie's, I think we will also see a side of New York that isn't the normal touristy stuff...And I am thrilled about that too.

We are going to see Wicked on Broadway. I have read the book and am so very anxious to go to my first Broadway play. While I realize that going to a Broadway play isn't something you must get all dolled up for...We ARE...I want it to be a special event...And a special outfit will, I think, make it much more so a special night...In addition to the play we will shop, see Ground Zero, see the Empire State Building, see Rockefeller Center (and I heard this weekend that the ice skating ring is open...I don't skate, but I am excited to see others do that...) We will see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island...I can't even begin to think of ALL the things we will see...BUT on our final day in New York we will be having brunch at Tavern on the Green followed by a day in Central Park and early evening spa appointments (it's Spa Week ...something I never even knew existed, but something I'm excited about...btw, Spa Week isn't just an NYC thing...IDK if any of the spas in Lubbock participate, but I suppose it's worth checking out AND if you're somewhere besides LBK, you should definitely log on to spaweek.com and see if a spa near you is offering great deals...everyone should pamper themselves at least once a year...Ok, honestly I think more like once a month or maybe even once a day...BUT anyway, it's worth checking out...)

I am emotionally clearly ready to go to NYC...As far as packing and such...hmmm...not so much...BUT tomorrow is packing day. I am going to spend the day organizing outfits, and shoes, and accessories...and then all the other necessities...such as camera batteries...which I gotta go buy about 2 dozen of tomorrow...

So, if anyone can think of anything else I need to be sure I have in my bag, please let me know...

AND although you won't be able to physically get on the plane with me on Wednesday and go to NYC, I really do hope you will find a few minutes every day (or every few days) and explore NYC with me...You never know what's going to happen...BUT you can bet I'll be making every effort to make it fun!!!