New York, New York

In an effort to document some of the past weeks, I'm going to try to catch up a little. Reed and I just had our annual weekend in New York. This started 3 years ago, when Reed was going to be in NYC for a conference, and I just informed him that I would join him on the last day and we were staying for the weekend. I had never been to NY and just wanted to go.



I think there is nothing like the first time you set foot in NY--everywhere you look or walk you see something famous. Either some business, street or just a scenic picture that is so familiar (TV, movies, pop culture). Now, I've been 4 times in 3 years and I still love it. It's such a different place to be, and I can't help but imagine what it would be like to live in a big city. I don't wish for it, but I find it totally intreguing. That said--on friday I love the hustle and bustle and all the sights/smells, and by Sunday I'm SO ready for some peace and quite and my eyes are bloodshot from the enviroment (and my nose is stuffy from Hotel sheets--bad allergies!) As a side note, NYC is the only place my eyes get bloodshot from the irritation. and it has now become my quest to see if I can make it 3 days in NY without a blister--I'm not sure it can acutally be done, but I did do well enough that I wore high heels to(and from) the theatre on Saturday night. I did in fact finally walk in bare feet through Times Square to get to the hotel cause I could not longer put one foot in front of the other in high heels.






Each time we have been to NY we have seen a few new things and then visited what have become our favorites. One super fun thing this time was that Reed's parents were also in NY for business on the same weekend we were. We just happened to figure out that scheduling piece about 6 weeks before we left so we were able to spend most of the weekend together. They are experts at NY and it was great fun.




This time we did the Radio City tour. It was quite interesting. One of the girls on our tour used to be a Rockette and had brought her daughters on the tour. It was cute. She actually knew a couple of dancers that we passed in the hallway. They were in rehersal for the big Christmas show and we got to see a little bit of that too. Seeing how I am height challanged (and most specifically leg challanged--28" inseam--for real), and not coordinated at all, I never really gave professional dancing a second thought--but it was fun. Good thing Reed must not be a leg guy!















The other thing we saw this time was Grand Central Station. We had just never made it over there on any of the other trips, but this time Reed's parents were staying right near there. It was very impressive. I thing it is almost surreal to stand in a place you have seen so many times in TV and movies. My favorite things was this market that they had there. I swear--it was the coolest thing. I was so wishing for a kitchen and my camera. This market had everything. It really just lined a super long hallway there. And it had everything--and it was all fresh. All sorts of produce, fish, meats, several bakeries, deli's with the best looking salads and main dishes that you could buy. I was thinking--how cool to walk from work to Grand Central Station and pick up something yummy and fresh for dinner. There was more exotic produce and food in this market and most whole markets in Louisville. And the best was the cheese shop--I truly have never seen so many different varieties of cheeses and things. There was a German stand with sausages and chocolate--just awesome!






We also saw one of the coolest art museums I've ever seen. It's called the Frick collection and the museum used to be this man's house and most of the art in it he collected over his lifetime. He designed his home to showcase the art and he only bought what inspired him in some way. It was fantastic!







Then of couse there is Canal Street. I did a little shopping on my own Friday, but then went back with Reed's mom on Saturday. This is so much more fun with someone else--esp if you want to see purses. I won't go in the secret rooms by myself!






And the food. We now have a few favorties. We had our favorite NY pizza twice. And my favorite NY dessert is a cannoli. Just divine. We had a great meal at a Brazillian place that Reed and I had been before. And we have had other great meals in NY at nice places, but honestly I love the street foods. Grilled chicken on a pita--the candied nuts, and a newer favorite (we encountered it last spring) Dale & Thomas popcorn. This is not exclusive to NY--but there is a shop in Times Square. Caramel Chocolate Drizzle is the best!




Last but not least--Broadway. We saw two shows this time. I just love going to the shows here. This time it was a little harder to decide what to see. I have always wanted to see Mamma Mia so we saw that on Saturday night. It was not what I expected at all, but I love ABBA music and I wanted to see it for so long I don't regret seeing it. On Sunday after church, we saw Mary Poppins. It was SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPALIDOCIOUS! Seriously-we loved it. It was different from the show, but just great! I felt like a kid watching Mary Poppins fly--leaning forward in my seat to see where she went. The same actress we saw last year in Beauty and the Beast (wtih Donny Osmond :)) was Mary Poppins and I think she is just great!





















We did get to go to sacrament meeting on sunday morning. In a way it's so weird that in a place that is so different from my daily life, church is so similar. Just like the first time I saw it, my heart sort of lept when I saw angel Moroni sticking out between NY highrise buildings. It's hard to explain why, but after all the noise of the world (which is VERY loud in NY) it was such a welcome sight. But even church there can not be totally ordinary, Reed's mom and dad did see "Eve" walk in to sacrament meeting. (Reed and I were running late and missed it).



I don't know if we will do this trip again for a while. Reed's not sure he is going to do this conference again, but I'm so glad we have had the chance to have this and our other weekends in NY. It was so fun--and exhausting. Of course, the best part was for just a weekend to be just a couple again and get to have so much fun together!