Finally, NYC Day 4

Sadly, Day 4 was our last day in NYC. It was still a little "drippy" and damp, but we were going to make the most of it!

We started out our day by making our way to the Upper West Side for breakfast at Good Enough To Eat. I am not sure where I heard about this place (probably on the Food Network), but I do remember reading that there was typically a line to get in and sure enough, once we rounded the corner we knew we were in the right place because of the line. This place was awesome! If you look at their menu, you can tell that we had a lot to choose from. Brandon ended up with the biscuits and gravy and I had french toast. Both were delicious!

After breakfast, we headed to Central Park, which was just a short walk away. On the way to the park, we were able to walk through the quiet streets of the Upper West Side and let's just say, I would love to live there!! So quiet and neighborly (is that even a word?). I loved the little specialty markets, the cute stoops and the tree-lined streets.

Once we got to Central Park, we had a bit of a disagreement about where we were supposed to go to rent bicycles. According to the map, we were to follow 81st Street to the rental shop, but 81st Street essentially went UNDER the park. I suggested that we follow the rest of the people and walk THROUGH the park, but my other half was certain we were to follow 81st, so being the submissive wife that I am, I followed along.

And, as you can see, we were the only ones on that street...

Once we finally made our way to the bike rental shop, we hopped on our cute little cruisers and made our way towards the Belvedere Castle. When we rented the bikes, we didn't realize that we could only ride them on the main paths around the park and not the interior paths, so we ended up walking the bikes more than riding, but at least we got around the park more quickly.

Please excuse my hair, as I mentioned it was pretty damp and well, my hair doesn't do so good in damp weather.

The Belvedere Castle was a really neat place that provided great views of the city! This was also the spot where the "Photo Shoot" scene from "Step Mom" (with Julia Roberts) was filmed.

After the castle, we made our way to the Great Lawn.

On a normal, non-drippy day, the Great Lawn is filled with people playing frisbee, laying out, watching little league games and much more. Our original plan was to pack a picnic lunch and spend time relaxing on the lawn, however, on this day, the lawn was off limits. It is also the site for many concerts and was even the location of the Hooverville during the Great Depression.

Beyond the Great Lawn, was The Reservoir. Apparently, Madonna (and her body guards) has been spotted running on the path around the reservoir, however, we were not lucky enough to see her. Again, we caught another great view of the city overlooking the water. Beautiful!!

After we left the reservoir, we were pretty much over the bike riding. As I mentioned above, we ended up walking the bikes more than we rode them, so we took them back and walked the rest of the way.

After we dropped the bikes off, we stumbled upon the Bethesda Terrace. According to the park guide, this is one of the most photographed places in the park. And yes, if you look closely, that is a wedding taking place in front of the fountain!

After we left the Bethesda Terrace, we sort of got lost and walked in a few circles. We had wanted to visit Strawberry Fields and Wollman Rink, but we couldn't find them.

We did happen upon the cute little Conservatory Water where people often sail radio powered sail boats.

We also walked past Central Park Zoo and caught a glimpse of the otters swimming and playing around.

As we were heading back towards Central Park South, to get on the subway, we passed Kevin Garnett, a Boston Celtics basketball player, out on a walk with his family. I tried to get Brandon to take a picture, but he didn't want to be "one of those people". I was hoping we would see more celebrities in the park, but I'm sure they had much more to do than walk around the park on a dreary day!

Once we left Central Park, we took the subway to Greenwich Village. This was one of the stops that I was most excited about. First of all, my celebrity chef idol, Rachael Ray lives in the Village (okay, idol might be going a little far, but I do like her and I was hoping to run into her while we were there...). Secondly, I knew that the Village would be a little more quaint and not so "uptown", with more unique shops and restaurants. Our first stop in the Village was Two Boots for a slice of pizza! We were so hungry, we forgot to take a picture of the restaurant. After lunch, we decided to just walk around and browse the shops.

One of the first shops we went into was Mxyplyzyk, a recommendation of none other than Rachael Ray! Before she had her own line of kitchenware, she used a lot of serving pieces from this store. It was a fun little place that carried a wide variety of items. I picked up a set of nesting mixing bowls and fun lunch bag.

I just love the character of Greenwich Village! The brownstones reminded me of the Cosby's house and I just loved the tree-lined streets and little parks!

We also made a stop at Magnolia Bakery, made famous by the girls of "Sex and the City"!

The shop is not very big, but boy was it packed with people! There was literally no room to move inside. While I was in there, I saw the blond haired guy from the "Goodwill Hunting" bar scene! He didn't have the long hair and I probably wouldn't have recognized him, had the guy in front of me in line not said something.

After about 20 minutes of waiting in line, I finally made it out with the goods!

We parked ourselves on a bench in a nearby park and indulged in our treats and did some people watching. As some might be aware of, the Village is also a hot spot for those living the "alternative lifestyle", so if you can imagine, we were thoroughly entertained!

Our final stop in the Village was Washington Square Park that sits just on the edge of NYU. We recently watched the movie "August Rush" and several of the scenes from that movie were filmed in the park.

By this time, the rain had started to fall a little harder and my feet were very tired, so we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner. We went to a casual sports bar, Public House. I'll admit, this wasn't the best restaurant choice because it was the watch spot for the Notre Dame Club of NYC, and we happened to get there right after the game that night, so the service was a little slow. However, we were able to catch a few football games and relax after our busy day.

Day 4 ended up being my favorite day, despite the weather! We were able to experience New York in a way I had never experienced it before and we were able to really just enjoy the day as if we were locals (or as local as we could be). In the past, I had taken a carriage ride through Central Park, but never did much exploring and I had never been to the Village. Next time we visit, I definitely want to spend more time in both of these places, along with Chelsea and SoHo (we didn't even make it down there).

NYC is by far one of my favorite places to visit and each time I go, I leave wanting to go back! I'm so glad we were able to get away and experience this city together! It was one of the best trips ever!!

NYC Day 4 Is Coming...

...But not today! We had a pretty busy weekend, I had my first ever Bunco group last night, and tonight is small group so I hope to get our last day in NYC posted tomorrow.

But, over the weekend, my friend Emily and I went to the KSU football game and I got to hang out with part of my family and one of the cutest cheerleaders around!

After the game, we went out to eat at Doe's and of course, we had to take a picture with the huge cow outside!

Interesting how two of my last few posts include pictures of me and a bovine creature! Have I ever told the story about my experience at the county fair when I was three??? Maybe I will share sometime - it might explain a lot about me!

NYC Day 3

Well, I must admit, Day 3 didn't go exactly as planned. We had planned to visit Chelsea Market and Greenwich Village on Friday, but Mother Nature had other plans for us.

When we woke up on Friday morning, Brandon left the hotel to fetch me some bandaids for my blisters and grab a quick breakfast consisting of Dunkin Donuts and Tropicana oj. It was a bit dreary and damp, but we had high hopes that it would clear off. As we left the hotel to make our way to Chelsea, the rain was just coming down like nobody's business. All of the natives had their cute little rain boots and rain jackets. Well, these tourists at least had rain jackets, but our feet were getting SOAKED!!

Once we arrived in Chelsea, we got off the subway and made our way to Chelsea Market, home of Food Network!!

I was hoping there was some sort of secret tour that only Food Network fanatics could participate in, but sadly, there was not. So my next hope was that we would run into Bobby Flay or Rachael Ray, but sadly, we didn't. Then, I was hoping there was a cool Food Network store, and yep you guessed it, there wasn't. However, we did see Miriam Garron one of Bobby Flay's sous chefs on Throwdown. We followed her through the market and down a hall, until she got on an elevator near a teeny tiny Food Network sign. Brandon told me we should keep walking like we knew what we were doing and get on the elevator, but I chickened out. So, we turned around and decided to browse the market.

If I lived in NYC, this would be an awesome place to grocery shop. They had a fresh seafood market, a fresh produce market, a cool kitchen supply shop, a bakery or two and a few little cafes. Since it was still pouring outside, we decided to eat lunch at one of the cafes and then we picked up a couple of brownies from Fat Witch Bakery. I thought they brownies were great because they were dense and moist and not overly sweet, but Brandon thought they were "just okay". We did pick up a Blonde Witch mix that I hope to make soon!

After we left Chelsea Market, we decided we would try to make it to Greenwich Village, but once we got off the subway and our umbrella flipped inside out and it was still raining, we pretty much decided to get right back on the subway and head back to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel, we changed clothes and asked our concierge for suggestions on indoor activities. Since our spirits were a little down, we decided to go with the cheapest option that still sounded pretty interesting - The Museum of Natural History and the Rose Center for Earth and Science. Keeping up with my "scenes from a movie theme", "Night at the Museum" was filmed at the museum and a recent episode of "Ugly Betty" was filmed at the planetarium.

Our favorite part of the museum was the dinosaur wing:

Don't mind my hair, which was pulled up in a hat. The rain doesn't do much for my hair.

We browsed around the rest of the museum, but really, weren't very interested. After we had enough of the meteors, Native Americans, American birds and the African animal exhibits, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner at Dos Caminos. We had a great dinner and I had a wonderful mojito. After dinner, it had naturally quite raining, so we decided to go down to Times Square to take some photos.

As we made our way back to the hotel, we walked around Rockefeller Center. Brandon got a great photo of the the Top of the Rock with the fog rolling in!

Here is a shot of the fountain at Rockefeller Center.

All in all, the day ended up being fun, but the rain was the pits!!

Because I Can't Focus

The weather is dreary today. It's been raining off and on all day and I heard the temperature has dropped three degrees in the last hour, thus causing me to want to be home, curled up in my trusty sweat pants, under a blanket watching TV. I know, I'm so ambitious :)

The weather has also caused me to become TOTALLY ready for the fall! I've decided that this is my favorite season for so many reasons:
I really love the fall clothes - jeans, sweaters, turtle necks, boots, hooded sweatshirts, sweat pants...

* I really love the fall smells, especially the fall Yankee Candle collection. In fact, I bought a couple of new candles this weekend - Autumn Leaves and Lakeside Birch.
* The cooler weather makes me want to whip up all kinds of meals and treats. Maybe that is because I welcome the heat from the stove rather than dreading it, like I do in the summer.
* FOOTBALL! I really do love football, especially KSU football. But this year, I'm also rooting for the San Diego Chargers because my favorite player, Darren Sproles, has started off the season playing pretty amazing! Brandon even got me a sweet Sproles jersey to wear on Sundays (I know honey, I didn't wear yesterday - I'm sorry...).
* Fall TV premieres - Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, The Office - they all start this week!

So, while the weather may be dreary and my focus may not be perfect, I do welcome the change in season and a new sense of renewal and excitement!

NYC Day 2

As I mentioned in my last NYC post, we had to set our alarms and wake up verrrry early in order to make it down to Good Morning America! We got in-studio tickets to watch the taping of the show and perhaps get on live television!

Brandon wasn't so thrilled to be there, especially that early! I think he only showed up to humor me.

We were only allowed to see the street-level set. Most of the show is actually filmed upstairs (we didn't really realize that we weren't allowed on the "official" set when we got the tickets). It was fun to see how the show was produced, watch the teleprompters and see the hosts interact with each other.

Chris Cuomo and Robin Roberts did tape a segment with Melanie Oudin, the 17 year old un-seeded tennis player in the U.S. Open. Chris and Robin were so friendly and fun to watch!

Later, our buddy Sam Champion came down to tape a weather segment. We were able to stand to the side of him during one of the segments and actually made it on TV!! I was pretty excited, but Brandon was mortified!! He kept saying "I don't want to be on TV," and low and behold, there we were. We recorded the show on our DVR, so we were able to watch it when we got home. I wish I could link it, but I'm not sure I'm that tech savvy.

Sam really is as nice in person as he seems on TV! He was answering audience questions and just talking to us like normal. Now, I can't say the same for Diane Sawyer. She came outside to film the closing segment, did her part and ran back upstairs without speaking to anyone! I guess she is the star, but I had higher expectations for her.

After GMA, we headed down to Battery Park to get on the Staten Island Ferry.

Rather than spend a lot of time taking the Statue of Liberty tour, we decided to take the free ferry that goes right by the statue so we could get a couple of good pictures.

The entire time we were on the ferry, I couldn't get the Miss America song out of my head, you know the one "There she is, Miss America..."!

We also took the opportunity to get a few good photos of the NYC skyline - it sure doesn't look the same without the Twin Towers...

After the ferry ride, we walked to the financial district. Our first stop was Charging Bull. To keep up with my "scenes from a movie" theme, you might remember this from "Hitch"!

Somehow, I ended up only getting a picture with the backside...

We also made our way down to Wall Street, the Trinity Church, the New York Stock Exchange and Ground Zero.

We didn't get to see too much at Ground Zero. For one, there really isn't too much to see, but they were also preparing for the memorial service the following day, so there was a lot of staging being set up that didn't allow us to get very close.

After the financial district, we made our way to Chinatown! I was on the hunt for a good knock-off purse and Brandon was on the hunt for a knock-off Tag Heuer watch. Immediately when we set foot on Canal Street, we had people asking us "You want handbag? You want watch?". We told one lady yes and she led us to her shop and through a "trap door" that blended in with the wall. Once inside the back room, they slammed the door shut and locked it. I must admit, I was a bit scared, but I had been warned about this and knew that lots of other people had experienced the same thing. I quickly made my selections, did some bargaining and left with two "Coach" purses all for MUCH MUCH less than I would have paid for the real thing.

Brandon also got his watch, from a guy selling them out of a van. According to him, he can offer better prices because he doesn't have to pay rent. Sketchy? Yes! But, Brandon got a good deal and was happy with his purchase!

After all of that effort, we were HUNGRY! So, we walked up the street to Little Italy. We knew we wanted to eat one meal there and there happened to be a festival going on, so we browsed around and found Giovanna's, a great little place for lunch.

Even though we were having a big dinner, we had to indulge in some traditional Italian food. I had spaghetti and meatballs and Brandon had Chicken Parmesan.

After lunch, we made our way to DiPalo's, an Italian market, to buy olive oil.

On our way back, we saw this guy, cooking up sausage and peppers. The little festival was really neat and a fun way to experience Little Italy.

By this time, the afternoon was almost gone and we needed to head back to the hotel to get ready for our fun evening at the theatre!

If you know me well, you know I'm a huge fan of Food Network! Prior to our trip, I researched some of the restaurants that are owned by the Food Network celebrity chefs and knew we wanted to eat at one of Bobby Flay's restaurants. After some encouraging from our friends Megan and Kevin, we decided on Bar Americain and it was AMAZING!! This was our nicest meal of the trip and so worth it!

After dinner, we headed to WICKED!! This was, by far, the highlight of the trip. If you ever have a chance to see the musical, do it!!! The music is amazing, the story is entertaining and the costumes and sets were beautiful. And yes, Brandon loved it just as much as me, maybe even more!

The show got out late, so we headed back to the hotel. Thursday was a pretty fun and jam-packed day and we were certainly ready to get off of our feet (remember the blister story from Day 1, well, after all of the walking we did on Thursday, my feet were bleeding by the time we reached the hotel...) and get some rest!