Heading Uptown

On day three in NYC, mom and I headed uptown. We started our day at the Flatiron Building then walked east to Irving Place, a beautiful street in Grammercy. We took the subway uptown to Grand Central Station, which is amazingly beautiful! I cannot believe they were going to tear down this piece of history! After Grand Central, we walked west on 42nd to the New York Library and checked out the famous Reading Room before heading to the library's back yard, Bryant Park, for lunch. Mom got a hot dog from one of the thousands of carts, and I got a lamb gyro while we took a break at the park. After lunch, we walked to 5th Avenue from 42nd to 57th and took in all the amazing designer stores 5th Avenue is famous for! We visited Michael Khors, Trump Tower, Louis Vuitton, FAO Schwartz, and Nike. The funniest thing was the lines to get in Abercrombie and Hollister. I guess the foreign tourists love these stores because they were busier than any others. After we made it to 57th, we took the subway back to the hotel to change for the Jersey Boys on Broadway. We met my cousin Kelsea for Thai food before the show. I was very excited to see Jersey Boys, but I was not expecting the show to be as wonderful as it was. It is the best musical I've seen. My mom loved it so much as well! Julia, her mom and sister also saw the show, and we met up afterwards and headed to Serendipity for their famous frozen hot chocolate. I think we made it home by 1 a.m.!

Back from the Big Apple

My mom and I have been back from the Big Apple for a week now, and after such a fun and jam packed trip, I needed a full week to recover.  I love to plan vacations, and I never leave home without an itinerary.  Let's face it, I don't want to be stuck in a new place running around in circles.  I wanted to share our itinerary so that we can remember all we did and help anyone reading this who wants to use our itinerary for a future trip. Here is all we did on day one and two. I can't say I've always wanted to go to NYC; it has never been on the top of my list, but I'm so glad we went.  I will definitely go back!  I really want to go for Christmas though I know it will be super expensive and full of people.  Our first reason for going was to see my dear friend Julia who was visiting from Melbourne, Australia.  We also got to spend a lot of time with my cousin Kelsea who just moved to the city. 

We arrived in NYC around noon and hired a car to take us to our hotel on 28th street.  Our cab driver was nice at first, but by the end of the car ride he was quite pushy about converting my mom and I from Christians to Muslims.  He offered me a Koran, but I politely declined.  I was very happy to get out of the car and check into our hotel room!  After checking in, mom and I walked up 7th avenue, grabbed lunch, walked through Macy's on 34th street (would definitely like to spend more time there on our next trip), then walked up to 42nd to see Times Square.  Times Square was ok to see once...it's one of those places that it's nice to say you visited, but I don't need to go back.  It was dirty and full of tourists. After Times Square, we took the M42 bus to Pier 83 and hopped on a 3 hour Circle Line Cruise that took us around the whole island of Manhattan.  This was a great experience and the perfect way to see the Manhattan skyline and the statue of liberty.  I recommend everyone do this once.  After the cruise, we took a bus and train to meet Julia and her mom and sister at Cafeteria.  This was a great restaurant, and everyone's food looked delicious.  I was so happy to see Julia again!  .

On day two, we got up early. This was our most ambitious day! We took a train to Grenwich Village then walked to Washington Square Park. Don't miss Washington Square Park, it is beautiful!!! We walked through part of NYU's campus then shopped a little in Soho. My mom and I loved Soho. They had beautiful couture shops with such a fun and funky vibe. From Soho, we walked to Little Italy and had lunch at one of their little cafes. After lunch, we walked to Chinatown in search for a few knock offs. We had a rather interesting experience that was scary at first! I guess I pictured street vendors selling fake purses and jewelry, but since it's a no no, they have to be a bit sneaky. A man walked up to us and said "Louis Vuitton" and I said yes. All of a sudden he took off and we followed him for blocks. He turned the corner, whispered into a womans ear, and we started following her. My heart started to pound and I told mom that no fake Louis was worth going into some back alley!!! The lady took us to a van that she would not open unless we picked a purse from a pamphlet she gave me. While standing there a guy with a satchel full of glasses and a different woman with a purse full of fake Tiffany jewelry appeared out of thin air. It was crazy!!! I scored a pair of sunglasses and got the heck out of there. We headed downtown to the financial district and to Wall Street. I loved downtown! After the financial district, we walked to the lower east side along the East River and it's redeveloped seaport district. It was at this point that we bought a new pair of shoes because our feet were screaming. We found an Aerosoles shop and bought new sandals with some padded soles. This was our best purchase all week! We then took the ferry to Brooklyn to eat New York style pizza at a famous pizzeria called Grimaldi's. They prepare their pizza in a coal fired oven, and it was amazing! I can't wait to take Michael back to Grimaldi's. After pizza, we walked back to Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge. This may have been my favorite experience! The Brooklyn Bridge is amazing! Here are pics from day two.

Playing Catch Up

I've been bad at blogging lately.  I don't know how a month has gone by without me writing a single sentence.  I admit to being a little lazy these days, and I also blame it on our sloooow computer that makes using it a nightmare.  Hopefully, we are going to change that soon!  So where were we last time?

We had parental responsibilities for a week in July.  We had a fun week! Steven made me laugh a lot, and he was such a great kid.  But I don't know how parents do it!  Kids are work.  I'm such a low energy person, and it doesn't take much to get me tired.  He's nine, so it wasn't that bad, but it's tough doing the extra laundry, making an extra lunch, organizing our schedules, giving up my tv shows and quiet evenings, and eating at kid friendly places.  I would love to have Steven back any time he wants to visit, but it may be a while before we have any permanent children around our house ;).

I started a second job a few weeks ago.  I am now working as a bridal consultant for a dress shop called Bella Couture.  With Michael working most weekends, I thought it would be fun to work on Saturdays and earn extra spending money.  It's fun to work with brides, and it gives me a creative outlet.  I'm having a lot of fun so far.  Michael is gearing up for his first football game on Labor Day weekend, so that means he will be busy, busy, busy until May.  I wish his down time could last a little bit longer.

On a low note, I'm pretty sure I fractured my baby toe last week.  I was walking at work and slammed my foot into a corner of a cubicle wall that was diconnected from its cube.  I thought it was getting better, but I've had a lot of pain in my foot recently.  I am going to the doctor tomorrow to see how bad it is.

Let's hope it's not that bad because my mom and I are leaving for The Big Apple next week, and we will be doing lots and lots of walking.  It's our first time in NYC, and I don't want a foot injury to dampen our vacation.  I'm not going to let it stop me, and I've already started packing because I'm super excited!

I don't plan to go this long between blog posts, and I'm glad I had time to catch up.  Have a great week!