Such Sweet Sorrow
How is it possible for a human to feel SO sad and SO happy at exactly the same time? I'm really kind of dramatically sad that our trip is winding down... But I am ridiculously excited to see Briony. I MISS HER. I'm pretty sure I had a dream last night where I could SMELL her. And I don't feel like I have any right to be sad. It's been an incredible trip - everything we wanted it to be - and how can you be sad about that?
We went back to Les Halles for breakfast today before taking our last trip uptown to Central Park. I know, it's funny that we waited until the very last morning of our trip to see Central Park - but we'd planned all along to do it this way. We had tentatively planned to be cheesy and do the whole horse and carriage thing, but we were there too early in the day. And so we walked.
We spent a little over an hour wandering through part of this massive greenspace and I was SHOCKED at how much I recognized. Like so much of this place, it felt totally familiar. You see these places in movies, in photos, on television so often that it seriously feels like you've been here before. I kind of loved that. But it was so odd to start to add context and orient yourself.
And then it was back to the hotel to do our last few minutes to packing (we'd done most of it the night before... I was totally wired after Wicked) and check out of our hotel. The taxi ride to the airport felt SO short, and before we knew it we were through security and having lunch at La Guardia, waiting for our plane.
As we took off and gained altitude, we plane turned and give us a perfect view of Manhattan. Very slowly, the clouds began to block our view until there was nothing left to see.
Sad.
And happy.
Labels: New York New York, The Boy, Travel
Big
Yesterday was our last full day in NYC and we didn't want to waste a moment. Our first stop of the day was Soho where we grabbed coffee + breakfast goodies from Balthazar (YUM) and tackled our official Shopping Morning with visits to the MOMA Design Store, Uniqlo, Topshop, KidRobot for Geoff, and a bunch of other favourites that we simply do not have in Winnipeg.
One notable stop was at the WIRED pop-up holiday store to visit Oi - cellular furniture designed by friends of mine. Oi is a client of mine and I worked on some of the PR when they were chosen for this year's WIRED holiday gift guide, so it was very cool to get to see what I'd been working on. I so rarely have that opportunity doing freelance.
After lunch and a quick stop back at the hotel to drop off bags, we took the subway uptown and walked the 'good' shopping streets... I'll pause here to wipe away a single crystal tear. With an unlimited credit card getting billed to someone else - and my husband does NOT count - I could have done some very serious damage in this city. It was super cool just to see, and we managed to sneak in quick stops at a bunch of other places on our list - the Plaza Hotel, Serendipity, Bloomingdale's, Tiffany's, FAO Schwarz (that piano is awesome), the cool glass cube Apple Store, Toys R Us (there's a freaking FERRIS WHEEL in there!), Bryant Park... And a stop at the world's largest Build-A-Bear, of course, for our little B.
Again, there's no way I could even make a proper list of everything we did and saw and experienced. It's just incredible to me that there's SO MUCH in such a small space. London is close, but this takes it to another level.
Let's pause here for a moment, shall we, and talk about how happy New York makes me. Geoff's been bugging me to decide if I like London or New York better, and I will die insisting that they're just DIFFERENT. But this trip to New York felt like a visit to my mothership. And I fought that a little, because it seems so incredibly shallow. But I WORK IN ADVERTISING. And very much on purpose. I eat this stuff up. And it was just FUN to me to be at the centre of all of it - even if we were just visiting.
Dinner was at Maze by Gordon Ramsay. At risk of sounding incredibly obnoxious, it was okay. It was GOOD. It was totally more than good. But it wasn't the best meal we had on our trip. (Funny, hey?) I think that Del Posto has ruined us for all other food forever. In a good way.
The Gershwin Theatre was just down the street and after showing our tickets we were surprised to discover a mini-museum set up in the lobby. We saw an original production script for Phantom of the Opera, the skull used in the Broadway production of Hamlet, the scribbles that would become the song 'Tomorrow' in Annie. And I think it was even more special to see it because it was so absolutely unexpected.
And then (...drumroll please...) it was time for WICKED. We has booked it thinking we would save the best for last. And it was glorious. It was absolutely everything I had hoped it would be. The only thing that would have made it better was seeing the original cast - with Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel - which is clearly not a possibility. So it was perfect.
Which made it the perfect ending to our kind of perfect trip.
Labels: New York New York, The Boy, Travel
No Clever Title
(I'll finish this up later. Just want to get it down a little before I start adding new memories today!)
Went to the Met. Had my mind blown by so many things... Saw a bunch of paintings that literally brought me to tears. Saw everything from medieval armour to Egyptian mummies to ancient Greek and Roman artifacts (some from places we've actually been) - and got to walk inside of a pyramid tomb that's been reconstructed inside the museum. Crazy. Can't decide if I love the Met or the British Museum more, I just LOVE THEM and wish I had another week just to spend inside checking it all out and soaking it all in.
Travelled down to Rockefeller Center - saw a bunch of ridiculous stores and places along the way. Walked around the skating rink. Checked out the ginormous Christmas tree. Just generally had my moment of just being there and soaking it in because I've wanted to see this in real life for a long, long time.
Did Top of the Rock where we went up to the very top of the building and saw a great view of the city - including Central Park (which, even though everyone tells you how BIG it is, is still SO MUCH BIGGER than I realized) and the hotel where John Lennon died 30 years ago TODAY. Random.
Went to MOMA. Cried a bunch more times over a bunch more paintings. Cried again just a little bit when I realized that we'd seen both paintings from Olivia (Briony's favourite book) today - I MISS HER. Can't decide if I loved MOMA or the Tate Modern in London more, I just LOVE THEM.
Saw a taping of Jimmy Fallon. The schedule changed, so we saw Amy Adams, 'The Situation' from Jersey Shore, and a comedian - Adam Ferara. Didn't win the awesome holiday sweater giveaway, but definitely ended up on TV because we were sitting two rows behind the girl who did. Didn't get to high-five Jimmy either, but it was a super fun experience. The Roots were so incredible... They totally make that show. And the little private concert you get before, during, and after the taping is awesome.
Walked over to Broadway and stopped for a snack along the way - some street meat for Geoff and a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery for Lindsay. Mmm, CUPCAKE. It wasn't the 'correct' location of the bakery from its moment in Sex and the City, but it was the same cupcakes and they were pretty delicious.
Saw 'Promises, Promises' - with Kristin Chenoweth + Sean Hayes. Molly Shannon plays a supporting character but was out tonight - too bad because you could 100% tell which was 'her' part and it would have been hilarious. Anyway. The leads were both in, and they were better than I'd even hoped they'd be. To see him do his physical comedy thing live... And to HEAR HER SING live... You guessed it. I totally cried again. And you would have too, if you'd been the one sitting in the darkened Broadway Theater, watching and listening to Kristin Chenoweth sing 'A House is Still a House'... GOOSEBUMPS. The other highlight for me was 'I Say a Little Prayer for You' - it's just perfect for her. Anyway. The play was amazing, amazing, amazing. I know we're seeing WICKED tomorrow, but it has a heck of a lot to live up to now.
Last stop was some quick and dirty late night pizza + pasta at Otto - another Mario Batali place. I don't know if it was all the food, or the super late hour, or the drink I had while we were waiting, but I demolished my pizza and it was SO GOOD.
Almost as good as it felt to TAKE MY SHOES OFF and crash into bed.
*Should note quickly that the schedule changed and we didn't see Ben Affleck today... It was Amy Adams, 'The Situation' from Jersey Shore, and Adam Ferara on Jimmy Fallon. It was a great show! But I would REALLY like to know how THE SITUATION published a book before I did...
Labels: New York New York, Photos, The Boy, Travel
Iron Chef at the Museum... Night.
WHOSE STUPID IDEA WAS IT TO USE TELEVISION/MOVIE REFERENCES IN ALL OUR TRIP POST TITLES?!
Anyway.
Today started at Starbucks, like most good days do. From there, we quickly moved on to the rest of the day's activities. It was another day that simply REQUIRED caffeine :)
Our first stop was at Ground Zero. The former site of the World Trade Center is now a rather formidable construction zone, but it was still important to me to see it. It's hard to explain the experience of standing in that place - somewhere that felt oddly familiar even though I've never been there before. I remember everything about September 11th and I've seen images of this area of New York a million times, but it was still kind of profound just to BE there. It was also interesting to see the church right beside the World Trade Center site - totally and completely unharmed when the towers collapsed. Kind of gives you goosebumps, doesn't it?
Century 21 was pretty much the opposite experience. I was hesitant to go because I'd heard how completely insane it is (think Winners for 'real' designer stuff... on four gigantic floors... with the entire population of New York PLUS tourists trying to get the best deal). Honestly? I was expecting sport shopping and it was no big deal. Primark in London was about fifty times worse, I thought. Anyway. I found a fabulous new bag and discovered that there is a DKNY baby/toddler line. Um, SERIOUSLY?! Yeah. A couple of things came home for Briony :)
From there, we were off to the
Chelsea Market - which was totally cool in itself. Any place that boasts an incredible cupcake + cookie shop followed by a brownie shop followed by an incredible cupcake + cookie shop is pretty much the best thing ever in my books. It was an odd mix of business people and tourists having their little foodie pilgrimage moments. Like everywhere else, it's all decked out from Christmas - but the Chelsea Market hired a local artist to do it all sustainably. He used reclaimed white cardboard and old cue cards from SNL to make snowflakes to hang from the ceiling EVERYWHERE and it was gorgeous. I could have spent an entire day (and an entire year's worth of calories) there.
But there is no rest for the wicked... Not when the wicked have lunch reservations at
Del Posto - one of
Mario Batali's NYC restaurants. I feel like I've been speaking in nonstop hyperbole since we got here, but this was the most incredible lunch I've had in my life. We're talking RIDICULOUS service and more staff than diners. I am actually kind of at a loss for words. How crazy was the food? The starters were sprinkled with gold. Actual factual GOLD. Everything was *so* delicious and the experience was even better. Awesomeness.
We walked it off by wandering through a few of the shops on West 14th Street. Cool neighbourhood. And I found
our family Christmas ornament in Anthropologie. It's lovely. I've picked one up every year since we got married - the first in England on our honeymoon - and it's such a fun little tradition.
We needed to drop off our (ahem... MY) bag from Century 21 at the hotel and so our afternoon had a bit of a pause in it as we made our way back uptown via the Carlton. We jumped off the subway at Grand Central just so I could see... It was one of those places that I've seen in photos and movies and television shows a hundred million times and I just wanted to see it for myself. I'm glad that I did.
Then we did a speed-tour of the Museum of Natural History. We saw giant dinosaurs, hundreds of stuffed dead animals, the origami tree, A GIANT WHALE... I loved it.
I decided to help y'all out and help demonstrate how large a dinosaur is in comparison with an average sized human female (ME!).
A tiny treasure hunt lead us to
Levain Bakery. Any place with cookies as highly reviewed as Levain deserves to be taste tested and OH MY GOD. I have been forever ruined for every other cookie. It was an itty bitty place in the lower level of a bunch of brownstones and sells pretty much nothing but cookies - and milk, of course! I had the chocolate chip + walnut and it was HUGE but I pounded that sucker back on our trek over to... EEEEEEE!... The Colbert Report studio.
As much as it pains me to speak ill of my Jon, our Colbert Report experience was sooo much better than The Daily Show in terms of accommodations. I'd emailed both shows ahead of time and the Colbert team was awesome. I'll have a whole post about both experiences sometime after we get back... We showed up half an hour before the tickets were handed out, checked in with security (who were totally expecting us), and were pointed in the direction of a coffee shop around the corner. Half an hour later, we came back to get our tickets and were the first people ushered through security.
I didn't need any kind of special seating (and I told them that), but Geoff + I ended up in the front row anyway. THE FRONT ROW. It was crazy. And when Stephen came running in before the taping began, he high fived us. I touched Stephen Colbert. And he's REAL.
The show itself was really cool. I loved both the Daily Show and Colbert, and both were very different experiences. Like Jon, Stephen took time to answer a bunch of Q+As before the show and, also like Jon, he was genuinely funny in his answers. The guests were
Julie Nixon Eisenhower and
David Eisenhower. They were fascinating. She's the daughter of former President Nixon and he's the grandson of former President Eisenhower (and the 'David' behind Camp David). They met when they were eight. It wasn't a particularly funny interview, but it was super interesting and it was just kind of incredible to be in the same room as these people - and one seat over from their daughters in the audience.
Dinner was at
Les Halles, the
Anthony Bourdain restaurant around the corner from our hotel. At risk of sounding annoying and repetitive, it was really great food. And we strolled back 'home' with tired feet and happy hearts.
Randoms from today...
Geoff + I totally had a 'date' to buy better insoles for our shoes. Oh yeah. It's come to that after only two days here :)
On a similar note, I am super grateful that I threw my Tiber River bath salts in my bag before we left Winnipeg. I travel with them quite often, and I've had a bath every night in NYC so far. They're a special kind of awesome.
I was super upset yesterday when we saw on the news that Elizabeth Edwards was stopping her cancer treatments. And then tonight when we heard that she had died... I have no idea why it affected me like this, but I'm a very real kind of SAD. I don't understand every decision she made while she was alive, but I think she was an incredibly classy lady who made the most of her time here. And my heart just kind of breaks for her kids. I can't imagine.
Labels: New York New York, Photos, The Boy, Travel
The Whole Nine Yards
I'll be honest. I hesitated over the idea of doing something as horrifically touristy (can you hear me spit that word out?) as a tour bus. But there was SO MUCH I wanted to see in NYC and SO MUCH that we just couldn't fit in any other way. So this morning, Geoff + I jumped a subway to Times Square, grabbed a couple of lattes, and jumped on a bus.
BUT. Between that bus tour and some walking around today, we managed to see so much of lower Manhattan. Seriously. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS LIST?? We saw the the Conde Nast Building (OH MY STARS), the Empire State Building, Macy's (all done up for the holidays), Madison Square Garden, Greenwich Village, Union Square, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, East Village, Wall Street, the World Trade Center site, Battery Park, the Statue of Liberty, the UN, the New York Times building, Rockefeller Centre (including the tree and the skating rink), Radio City Music Hall... Um, and that is nowhere near a complete list. I can't actually believe we saw so much so fast. I'll still be processing all of this long after we get back to Winnipeg. And we're going back to a bunch of these places, so I'll skip crappy photos for now and take (and share) better ones later this week.
In between, we stopped for lunch at
ABC Kitchen - one of the places on our list we were most excited to try because of its status as the best new restaurant in the city last year, and it did NOT disappoint. AT ALL. In fact, it's easily my new favourite restaurant. Anywhere. Ever. We had the most incredible bread and roasted cauliflower soup, arctic char and vegetables in some completely ridiculous carrot basil sauce, and then a salted caramel sundae for dessert. Oh, and it was all organic / local. Oh, and I ate it all with a perfect view of Amanda Peet sitting at the next table over Geoff's shoulder. Craziness. (For the record, she is absolutely stunning in person, even totally dressed down... The universe is SO UNFAIR. Except that I'm pretty sure she's substantially shorter than me. Hey, I'll take what I can get!) We heard murmurings that Mary Kate Olson was also there, but we never saw her.
The stupidest part of all of this is that we had accomplished ALL of this by 3 pm, when we showed up at The Daily Show to line up (we had tickets, but they WAY overbook so seats are not guaranteed if you don't suck it up and work for your spot). This was not a good part of my day. Unlike The Colbert Report - more on that tomorrow! - The Daily Show was not very willing to accommodate a sick chick, so I needed to wait in line like everyone else. We were supposed to be waiting for 90 minutes. It was FREAKING cold, but I figured I could do it. Unfortunately, the taping was delayed and we didn't get inside until 60 minutes AFTER the 90 minutes were up. You can do the math. The saving grace in this situation was being in line beside some pretty funny people who we ended up talking to for most of the afternoon - a couple from New Mexico and a woman from Kentucky who were my parents' age but as excited to be there as we were.
By the time we got in, I was in a boatload of pain and questioning my decision a little bit. But we warmed up quickly, and then I GOT TO SEE JON STEWART. In the words of my precious Briony, "Oh my GOOD-mess!" (She's having a FABULOUS time at home with Grammy, by the way. YAY. I guess it's a vacation for all of us.)
It was awesome. It was glorious. It was everything I hoped it would be, and something I've been looking forward to for a ridiculously long time. Jon's Q+A with the audience was hilarious, the segments were funny, and the interview was fascinating - and went into serious overtime, which kind of made the extra wait seem worth it. We didn't get to see any correspondents, which was a tiny itsy bitsy little bit disappointing, but no worries. I GOT TO SEE JON STEWART :)
After the show, we went to a ridiculous sushi buffet for dinner. I know, I know... I can't believe I went to a sushi buffet either. It quite overtly breaks one of Lindsay's Rules of Life, but the friend who recommended it is half Japanese - and so were most of the patrons inside, which I like to think is a good sign. It wasn't the best sushi I've ever had, but it was good and we left FULL.
We ended the night with a visit to the Empire State Building. I knew it would be interesting, but it was awe-inspiring. This city is SO BIG and it was just gorgeous at night.
We walked back to our hotel, full and happy and COLD and talking about everything we saw and did today. It was awesome. And I can't believe we have three and a half more days of this to look forward to before we fly away home...
-
A couple of randoms from our bus tour (in no particular order...)
Apparently, my name is 'Lizzy' in New York...
Empire State Building
Labels: Food is Yummy, New York New York, Photos, The Boy, Travel
The Amazing Race (Part 2)
We landed at La Guardia without incident - I should probably say without FURTHER incident, hehe - and made it to our hotel despite heavy traffic, closed streets, and a seriously impatient cab driver. I wasn't expecting it at all, but we actually got to see Central Park, the Guggenheim, the MET, the Waldorf Astoria, Grand Central Station, and a handful of other landmarks along the way. Awesomeness.
Our hotel -
The Carlton - is incredible. We are SO happy with our choice. We knew it would be pretty, but I *way* underestimated how much prettier it would be all done up for Christmas. WOW.
Oh, and the advertising nerd in me is positively GIDDY over the fact that we are staying on Madison Avenue. I may never get a chance to work here (sniff sniff) but visiting is seriously cool.
Once we were settled in and unpacked, we set off to find the subway and got ourselves into Brooklyn. While waiting at a transfer, we ventured back to ground level to see the courthouses where so many Law + Order scenes are filmed. And Sex and the City's Hollywood Kiss, of course. I was super nerdy-excited :)
So back to the whole 'subway to Brooklyn' thing. I did not think that all the way through. We were sitting in the subway when I dawned on me that WE NEEDED TO CROSS A RIVER TO GET THERE. Then I started worrying about whether we were going UNDER the river or OVER the river at bridge-level. And then I realized that those were two different yet equally horrific options and I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I PREFERRED. But we made it there in one piece (bridge-level, way up above the water, if you really must know) and easily made our way over to
Peter Luger Steakhouse.
Peter Luger made it onto our advance reservation list because of the many, MANY websites that have named it the best steak - in New York City, and sometimes in the entire US. We decided that we had to try it... We had the porterhouse steak for two with their 'special potatoes' and broccoli and a particularly good glass of wine.
Apparently, Gordon Ramsey was eating there on Friday night. Sorry we missed witnessing that, but it's still kind of cool.
Now, I'm no EXPERT on steak. And I certainly haven't tried every steak joint in the world. But that was really, really good steak. Geoff + I just kept making dorky faces at each other across the table, like OH MY GOD this is amazing. Easily the best steak I've ever eaten. And not just by a little bit. It was so worth the effort to get ourselves across the river, but we were SO tired by the time we got back to the hotel.
Tired. And full. And happy. And IN NEW YORK CITY :)
-
Enjoying dinner at Peter Luger...
Around our hotel...
Labels: Food is Yummy, New York New York, The Boy, Travel
The Amazing Race (Part 1)
So we had a decent night and woke up, packed up, and headed downstairs to have breakfast and grab a cab to the airport (we booked a hotel package that included - among other things - a ride to and from the airport and vehicle storage while we're away). The taxi driver was about 100 years old and the car might have actually been older than that. Lucky 7 Taxi. The whole thing just felt like a sad news story waiting to happen. I was concerned that he might die loading my big suitcase into the back of the car, but we all made it to the airport in one piece. I was thanking God it was only a three minute drive. HE WAS SO OLD.
Geoff is apparently playing backseat editor with this blog post, and he claims the car was not 100 years old. It was an early 80s Lincoln Something. Which he kindly reminded me is LESS old than I am. Thank you, Geoff.
Anyway. We made it to the airport and waited in line behind one person to drop off my bag (yes, I'm married to one of those annoying men who can inexplicably pack a week's worth of stuff in a carry-on suitcase). We sailed through security faster than I've ever gone through security in my life, I think. Or rather, LINDSAY sailed through security. Geoff's knee brace made the loudest siren in the world go off. I may have laughed just a little at his expense.
And then we waited. At first, we were told our flight was 20 minutes late and that our connecting flight in Minneapolis would not be a problem. Then we were told nothing. And we waited... And we waited... And we waited.
By the time we were taking off in Fargo, we were 45 minutes behind schedule. With a scheduled 60 minute layover before our next flight took off. ARGH. We kind of made our peace with missing our flight to La Guardia, but figured that we'd still try our hardest to do whatever we could to make it. You never know, right?
But we were seated at the back of the aircraft. And the flight attendants' announcements (at my request) that people PLEASE let off the individuals sitting near the back who had tight connections went totally unnoticed. And the Delta worker at the gate when we ran off the plane was useless. She told us that our next flight was on time and that we *could* run but it was likely to be a waste of energy. So we decided to go to our new terminal and figure it out (we could also rebook from there). We'd gone about thirty steps when we heard a final page for us on our La Guardia flight. I took one look at Geoff, told him to get to the gate whenever he could, and I ran like the wind through two terminals.
Well, IN MY MIND, I ran like the wind. In reality, I was cursing audibly and promising God that if I made this flight, I would start running again when we got back to Winnipeg. Oh dear LORD, this girl is out of shape. But guess what? I DID IT. I made it to the gate and threw our boarding passes and passports at the Delta lady at the same time I collapsed against the side of the counter, and managed to gasp out that my husband - with a knee injury - was still coming. And he showed up just a minute or two later.
Hey, it wouldn't be a Geoff + Lindsay vacation if someone wasn't sprinting through an airport. (See Also:
Patmos and
London.)
Apparently, our pilot was running late and hadn't boarded the plane yet. The flight was supposed to be on time, but was pushed back by almost ten minutes while they waited. That was absolutely the only reason we are currently sitting on our scheduled Minneapolis - La Guardia flight.
THANK YOU, PILOT. (And I don't even want to know why you were late.)
We walked onto our flight and someone was sitting in Geoff's seat. She looked up and said, "I didn't think you were coming." And we just smiled and said, "NEITHER DID WE."
Labels: New York New York, The Boy, Travel
What Not To Wear
Know what's boring? Driving from Winnipeg to Fargo.
Know what's the opposite of boring? FARGO.
Geoff + I had kind of an awesome evening checking out the fashions on display at the mall - on the people, not in the stores. I have no idea where people find that stuff, considering the stores all sell the same stuff we have at home (albeit a little bit cheaper). Seriously. We saw every variation on pajama and/or baggy zebra print pants. I wish I could erase it from my memory.
It was good to stretch our legs and even better to call it a night after we drove four hours in equally gimpy states.
Our hotel was good - actually a little bit nicer than we'd expected - minus what I can only assume was a hockey team also staying there this weekend. I got over my issues with public hot tubs and made Geoff come downstairs to the pool area with me, only to turn around and return to our room a few minutes later. Holy lazy parenting. I mean, we're parents. We get that kids make noise, especially when they're having fun. But we're talking about fifteen mostly-unsupervised hooligans running, jumping, screaming, yelling, cannonballing, towel snapping, and just generally working their way through the list of THINGS YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT DO IN OR NEAR A POOL. Including a swarm of very young children in the hot tub by themselves, around the corner from where a couple of adults sitting and looking like they could not possibly have cared less about what was going on. It was ROWDYISM at its very, very finest. Oh, and this was just before 10 pm (which might actually explain why the kids were SO wild, but most definitely does NOT explain why they were still there).
Yes, I complained. No, I haven't received a response yet. No, I have not always been THIS un-fun (but almost always).
Anyway. Did I mention that the entire hotel appeared to be BIRD-THEMED? Really, they looked a little more like ducks, but a girl can never be too sure. Everything had birds/ducks, from an embroidered pillow on the bed to the snooze button on the alarm clock (was that REALLY necessary?!).
Oh. Geoff is telling me they were most definitely ducks. THIS IS WHY I BLOG ALONE.
The best part of my day was getting to spend time with Geoff - and have whole, uninterrupted conversations. I even ate dinner straight through from first to last bite without jumping up for anything... AND THE LAST BITE WAS STILL WARM. I know, I know. The mind boggles.
The worst part of my day was ALREADY missing Briony. I'm not surprised. At all. And we'll still have a great trip. It's just very clear to me that part of my heart was left behind in Winnipeg - and in a week from now, I'm going to be VERY excited to see her again.
It's off to the Big Apple tomorrow. I'm super excited, but it's also not feeling real yet. Today was a good day, but Geoff + I both agreed that it felt like some kind of lame layover / purgatory, just waiting for our REAL vacation to get started.
Labels: Briony, New York New York, The Boy, Travel
And We're Off...
All packed up and ready to go. Realizing that I have nothing in my closet that is worthy of NYC. Choking back SERIOUS tears over leaving my baby behind, but totally convinced that she's about to enjoy one of the best weeks of her life with Grammy.
Today is Fargo.
Tomorrow is Day One in New York City.
I'm planning to blog during our trip, so I'll see you all soon!
Labels: New York New York, Travel
Daily Show Guest
I'm not going to lie. When I first saw the line-up for The Daily Show's guests next week - and realized that the guest we'd hopefully be seeing on Monday is General Hugh Shelton - I groaned. Then I clicked on the link and read a little bit more about him and about
the book he's promoting. Then I started getting really, really excited...
General Hugh Shelton suffered a terrible fall when he was younger - one that left him completed paralyzed from the neck down. After undergoing a very risky surgery and pushing through a ton of therapy, he made a near perfect recovery... And went on to be one of the American military's top leaders. The experiences he's had in a 40 year military career are awe inspiring (and the book dishes a lot of dirt about it).
Anyway. I'm really excited about it now. And I think that Jon Stewart does better interviews with these types of guests than with random celebrities, so it's going to be a fabulous show.
I mean, if all else fails, I'M IN THE SAME ROOM AS JON STEWART. YAY.
(Still waiting to hear who's on Colbert...)
Labels: New York New York, Travel
Eeeeeeee!
We found out this weekend that Jimmy Fallon has a pretty cool guest booked for the night we have tickets. An actor you *may* have heard of. His name is Ben Freaking Affleck. But really... It's no big deal.
(Eeeeeeee!)
Labels: New York New York
One Week
We'll be starting our descent into La Guardia in exactly one week from now. Oh my GOSH, am I ever excited... I've been doing little happy dances around the house - I just can't even contain myself :)
Labels: New York New York
Friday Smile
Who just added a Daily Show taping to their list of super fabulous New York adventures?
THIS GIRL. And Geoff too, of course.
Oh my GOSH, am I excited. It's looking like we'll be spending more time in theatres and television studios than museums, but I GET TO SEE JON STEWART.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Labels: New York New York, Travel
Counting Down
Exactly two weeks until our baby turns TWO.
(!)
And exactly one month until we leave on our trip.
(!)
YAAAAAY :)
Labels: Briony, New York New York, Travel
I'm Coming, Jimmy!
Tickets to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon? CHECK.
COULD THIS TRIP BE ANY MORE EXCITING?! :)
Labels: New York New York, Travel
Serendipity
Part One
I joined a good friend - and her good friend - for a 'girls night out' at their church a few weeks ago. I didn't ask a lot of questions, I just knew that I needed to get out of the house (and we've talked about maybe switching to this church so I thought it might be cool to meet some people there in advance). We sat down and I realized that the guest speaker for the evening is something I've totally heard speak before. At first, I was disappointed. But it was *so* what I needed to hear.
THANK YOU, UNIVERSE.
She's a fabulous woman who is a wife and mommy and small business owner, and she's developed some extraordinary systems for managing her household and minimizing clutter in her life. Just like the first time I heard her speak, I left feeling inspired. Unlike the last time, I walked away with a copy of one of the books she highly recommends - and after reading the first couple of chapters, I had a mini breakthrough. I've realized that I am a perfectionist when it comes to managing out home. The result is a home full of clutter, because I don't want to start something I can't finish and do perfectly - so I keep putting it off, and getting super stressed out about the clutter.
Don't get me wrong... Our house is far from an episode of Hoarders. But it's also far from the tranquil space that I *so* wish it could be.
Armed with this realization (and accompanying painful self-admission), I took a couple of cautious little baby steps to incorporate some of the ideas into our life. Step One (for me) was spending 15 minutes pulling things out of our front closet that we don't need anymore. Much to my horror, I filled two giant recycling bags full of stuff to donate. AND I DIDN'T FINISH CLEANING OUT THE WHOLE CLOSET. There's more to go through. And I didn't clean it at all - there's still some dirt on the floor and fingerprints on the door and uncoordinated hangers turned around the wrong way. And I didn't sort things into the pretty boxes and baskets I planned to shop for before tackling The Closet Project in the first place. Or find something to hang on the wall behind the bench to really FINISH our entrance space. I just spent 15 minutes doing a little bit.
I feel stupid admitting that I didn't know it was possible to do something halfway (not EVEN halfway) and still feel good about it.
The bags were dropped off immediately the next day, and even though it wasn't FINISHED, I feel so much better. And with a little bit of extra space available there again, I've been hanging up coats and stashing shoes inside instead of tucking them on top of and underneath the built-in bench right beside it - which in turn is keeping our entrance cleaner and making me happier.
If I'd known that taking a baby step - and doing something halfway - would make me THIS happy, I would have done it forever ago.
It's really the little things, hey? :)
Part Two
Did you know that the restaurant Serendipity (from the movie) is a real place in NYC? That really serves that ridiculous-looking frozen hot chocolate? I AM SO DETERMINED TO GO THERE.
Labels: Being Domestic, Fly Girl, Movies, New York New York, Travel
Stop The Presses!
Can I take back my Friday Smile? Because that first one was only mildly amusing. This one has both Geoff + I grinning from ear to ear like the biggest dorks in the world. Are you ready for this? WE GOT TICKETS TO THE COLBERT REPORT. I've been website-stalking this show since we first started talking about a possible trip to NYC and tonight... at long last... SUCCESS!
*insert gleeful little happy dance here*
They seriously overbook these shows, so now fingers are perma-crossed that we'll get in. That'll be good for my arthritis, hehe :)
Labels: Friday Smile, New York New York, Television, The Boy
From Tiffany, With Love
So it's likely no surprise that Geoff + I have been having a blast planning our NYC trip. The biggest stress since figuring out a fabulous plan for Briony and locating a fabulous hotel has been trying to decide what to see on Broadway ('Wicked' is obvious, but there are so many others I'd love to add to that list... and this is possibly the only time in my life where I'll get to use my Theatre minor, hehe).
Naturally, I called it 'research' when I started browsing the Tiffany site a few weeks ago. The hints I've been dropping have been anything but subtle and may or may not have included actually sending my husband an email with the link to the necklace I kind of fell in love with.
This morning - after a seriously rough night with Briony - I was sitting on the couch, looking like hell, cuddling our very sick baby girl, when Geoff came and slipped The Necklace around my neck.
It was so very unexpected, in such a spectacularly unspectacular moment, that I've been tearing up over it all day. What an incredible guy. Not because he buys me stuff, but because he takes such amazing care of me and Briony and loves to make us smile.
Now every time I walk past a mirror, I'm just a tiny little bit *more* excited about getting to explore NYC with him in three months.
Labels: Married Stuff, Mommy Stuff, New York New York, The Boy, Travel
