New York Report

I hate posting after the fact. It seems a little anti-climactic. Here goes anyway.

Thursday
*Arrive LaGuardia, pick up Sandy.

You know you've arrived when you see the naked cowboy!

*Check in to the Westin Times Square (our favorite hotel---perfect location.)

*Lunch at the Shake Shack. The best burgers in the city. Standing room only.

*Shopping at the Time Warner building. Pick up picnic foods from Whole Foods.

While I was shopping I felt like I was in another country. I have never seen these vegetables or maybe they are fruits. This is the size of a watermelon.

This is what the inside of that thing on the top looks like.

 I do not shop Whole Foods here at home. Maybe these are found here too.

*Drinks and appetizers before the show.
*If/Then---the purpose for this trip was to see Idina Menzel's return to Broadway. Her co-star, Anthony Rapp was an added bonus.

We loved Idina, but didn't really love the show. We felt like it was too confusing. When it was over, we all had a different idea of what happened. Also we didn't think Idina's voice was used to the best advantage. We were hoping that this would be her next iconic role---and we would have seen it. But, sadly, not. We predict that when her run is through, it will close.

*Picnic in our hotel room.

Friday
*Breakfast at the hotel.
*Movie and tv bus tour.

One of our stops was Washington Square Park. You can see the Empire State Building far in the background.

Mindy left our "mark."

While shopping in SoHo, we saw this little cupcake shop. Actually, it was just a window in the side of a building. The room itself was tiny---to match the cupcakes. These are all minis---and were delicious.

When the tour was over, we were dropped off in front of "Soup Man"---made famous by Seinfeld.
I walked back to the hotel for a nap while the girls did some shopping.

*Carmines for dinner---with Paige
This is our favorite Italian restaurant. Since it was a Friday, we couldn't have meat. At first, we were "bummed," but then we had the most amazing shrimp parmesan. It was soooo good. The food is all served family style.

Paige is a family friend---she was just a toddler when we came to Nashville. It was so much fun hearing all about her life in the city. She has invited us to come back and watch the Macy's Day parade from her office in the Time Warner Building. We just might!!

 Stephanie, Paige, Mindy and Sandy.

*Newsies

We LOVED this. The costumes were great, but it was the choreography that blew us away. I'm always amazed at how so many people can be on stage and flipping around without bumping in to each other.

Saturday
*Breakfast at the Plaza Hotel.

This was something new for Sandy. She had never been to The Plaza. It's so beautiful. Afterwards, the girls went to Bloomingdales while I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 The plan was for me to scope out the best exhibits. Also, since my book club is meeting on Monday---and we just read The Goldfinch---I wanted to photograph the painting. Turns out, it has never been there. The painting resides in Holland.

The plan was for the girls to meet up with me at noon. This was the best thing I saw. It made me realize, we are NOT art museum people. I just knew that the girls would not really like this. Heck, I browsed around for about an hour and a half and had seen enough. The place is huge and would probably take a week for art lovers to see the whole thing. An hour and a half was enough for me. I called the girls and told them we were skipping it. We met back at the hotel and set out on foot. We did a little more shopping before the show.

*Motown
I missed the first part of the show due to a huge commotion near us. People were talking and being so loud. I've never experienced anything like it. Finally, someone yelled out, "shut up!" We were shocked. Stephanie had a theory after the show---and we think she was correct. A huge bus with at least a hundred people on it arrived late. All of those people were trying to figure out where their seats were. As a result, we didn't hear anything for about the first 10 minutes of the show.

Still, it was a fabulous show. I loved Motown growing up. All I could think of was how I wished my cousin, Chrissy was with me. We danced to the Temps, Marvin Gaye, Smokey, the Jackson 5, the Supremes---all of them. I wanted to text her during the show, but couldn't. When it gets to St. Louis, I'll have to go with her!

Sandy, Stephanie and Mindy loved it too. They were familiar with all the music. Mindy even has some of it on her iPod.

*Frankie and Johnny's Steak House for dinner.
*The Magnolia Bakery for dessert.

Standing in line. There are some things worth waiting for.

This is the only thing I bought this trip. I don't have a cake cutter, so it was the perfect souvenir. At $5.00, I bought one for Sandy and Mindy. Steph doesn't bake.

We took our cupcakes back to the hotel. Sadly, it was time to pack up. We had the best time. It had been over two years since our last trip to New York. Every other year is just about right!!