I Love New York!

Posting has been a little out of order lately! Regardless, I wanted to add some pictures about Tommy's and my trip to New York for his 30th birthday. We had a fabulous time, as we always do. It had been two years since we've been, and we were both missing it! It's always cold up there when we go, but this time it was freezing, with tons of snow and ice. The snow was beautiful, but I can truly say now that I know why snowshoes and Uggs were invented. Not that I saw anyone wearing snowshoes, but I can totally see where they'd be easier to walk with. Uggs, yes, I saw plenty of people wearing them. I was tempted to buy them there, but we never saw them for sale in any of the stores we went in, and I typically forgot that I wanted them until I lost feeling in my toes, then I'd remember.

New things we did in NY this time included:

• Seeing Phantom of the Opera on Broadway (one of Tommy's birthday presents from me - this was his #1 reason for going this time) - it was fabulous. It was in the old Majestic Theater in which I've seen Rent there also, but the theater was completely transformed from Rent to Phantom. Beautiful. Phantom is not my favorite of Broadway shows, but it does probably have my favorite music. Tommy loved it and that's all that matters since it was his birthday! And, we got the tickets at the TKTS booth for 50% off - still $130 - but that was 50% off! I guess they think they can just get it because it's Phantom, because I have never, even when spending full price, paid that much for a Broadway show.
Not my favorite picture of me, but it does show the unreal wind that was going on!


• Have dessert (at 4:00 in the afternoon nonetheless) at Serendipity III. Yum, yum, yum! Was still a 2 1/2 hour wait, but WORTH IT!!! Even Tommy, who is not the dessert eater in this family, said it was phenomenal! He actually had to tell the waiter to take his dessert from him because he had no self control. (Let me insert here that Tommy has just dropped 30 lbs. from being sensible - cutting out desserts, exercising, etc. - then we ate our way through NY!)
My dessert - Frozen Hot Chocolate (Heaven. On. This. Earth. I drank the whole thing, minus one sip from Tommy, by myself, and loved it!), and Tommy's dessert - I can't remember the name, but it was amazing. That is hot fudge (that tastest like a chocolate icing of sorts) dripping down the sides. The whipped cream had an almond flavor. The bottom was a chocolate blackout cake with ice cream. Yes, I bought a cookbook, and No, I have no idea how to even begin something like this! And, the pictures do these deserts NO justice!


• New for Tommy - eating at Tavern on the Green. Absolutely beautiful. Here, I believe you pay for the place and the view, not necessarily the food. I mean, the food is good, but not $200 good. Take me to Little Italy any day over Tavern on the Green! However, the beauty of that place is amazing, especially at Christmas.
Central Park and the TONS of snow. The sidewalk was so icy, we slipped several times. We didn't get any pictures in Tavern on the Green, why I don't know!


• Saw the crystal snowflake outside Cartier and Tiffany's - I don't know how I've missed this!

• Saw St. Patrick's Cathedral decorated for Christmas.


• Spent less than an hour in Chinatown - I know, unbelievable - but it was dark and SKETCHY. I got my bags and sunglasses and we booked it.


• Ate at a new restaurant in Little Italy (we try to eat at a different one every time, but I have possibly found my favorite!!!!) - Ristorante Da Gennaro - fabulous, fabulous!
Doesn't Big T look hot with the purple bookbag on his back? We hate carrying it all over the city, but it does make life easier!


• We did NOT eat at the Roxy - my least favorite place in Times Square yet somehow on every trip I've ended up eating there. The wait staff is rude, the cheesecake is sub-par, and the place is ridiculously crowded (I guess because people see it all lit up in the middle of Times Square and don't know better than to walk about 8 blocks down Broadway to go eat 10x better cheesecake at Carnegie or Stage Delis, which we did, mmmmm!)


• Bought our first (of many I'm sure) doll at American Girl Place. Addie Kate got a Bitty Baby for Christmas with blonde hair and blue eyes just like her! She loves it. And the look on her daddy's face surrounded by those pink on pink walls AND tea parties AND dolls having tea in high chairs with the families in the tea room AND the fact that he couldn't find a men's bathroom - PRICELESS! He has informed me that any tea parties at that place will be a Mommy/Daughter outing! He looked in the room and in one swoop turned around to me and said, "There are dudes in there!" He was in shock!
This is Tommy looking into the Tea Room at American Girl Place - I love the look on his face - shock mixed with "there's no way I'm going in there!" And yes, it was that pink and I loved it. I cannot wait to take Addie Kate!


• Was able to see the old and new Yankee Stadium, tons of snow. I've been [drug] to a game there in the summer, but the new Yankee Stadium wasn't even under construction. It really is a pretty stadium!


• Found our favorite pizza place in the city. We have tried out TONS of pizza in NY, but I think we have now landed our favorite, and it was just by chance! Patsy's on Park, diagonally across from Serendipity. Amazing pizza.

Here are some random pictures of my favorite things in NY, especially at Christmas time, and some new things I've never seen before:

Love, love, love the windows decorated for Christmas. Tommy and I are always on the hunt for the prettiest ones. This one is probably my favorite of all time - not because I'm a big Atlanta fan, but because it's the South, y'all!

Love to see these ornaments on 5th every year. Honestly, there's nothing special about them except the fact that they are in water and I can't imagine how they (or what poor soul has to) get them out there!

There is an Ann Taylor Loft in Times Square now. We didn't go in (Hello - the clothes are the same in SC too! I don't go to NY to buy things I can buy here!), but I thought the sign was so funny - it's so NOT ATL and SO Times Square! They just don't fit!

I thought this was hilarious. It is Shrek, The Musical, and their marketing slogan is "Bringing Ugly Back!" That makes me want to see it, so I guess the marketing worked.

The Saks snowflakes! They are beautiful and are synchronized to move/dance to music!

I love Rockefeller Center. I don't know what it is about it, I just love it. It is always on our list to see!

Same with Radio City Music Hall - I just love it. It is truly beautiful inside. I think I like it just because it's been around for so long. I love to think of all that it has seen and been to people!

We, of course, did more than this on our trip, but these were my favorites and were our "new" things. Mostly, we loved not doing most of the tourist-y things (I don't know - to locals, they may think what we did was tourist-y?) and just walked around the city and loved being together. It was a GREAT trip!