New York

So long story short but Todd changed airlines, kind of. He went from smaller planes to a big plane. He was with the "other" company for 19 years and has waited this long to move on up. He finally got the opportunity to but with that we have changes this year. I would explain more about what airline and all that jazz but I don't know who is really reading this. For the first year he can't take vacation. It's so weird. It's the same main company but he is treated like a new hire. Lame. Anyway, my birthday is in April and he wanted to take me somewhere for my birthday. Due to not being able to take off an entire week in April, we decided to leave town this past December. We planned on going to Colorado to go skiing but gracious me, there were roadblocks after roadblocks. I would call to redeem some Starwood Points for a hotel and they would be booked. I would then pick a different hotel and they would get booked. I then looked at getting a rental car it was $93/day and only $13/day the first week in January. It was nuts. After that craziness, we booked New York City last minute. I've been to NYC 8 million times and Todd lived in Queens so I wasn't super pumped at first but then got really excited because he wanted to see the Rockettes. It ended up being perfect.

The beautiful Rockefeller Tree. I just love it. 

 

We were a hot mess. It was pouring down the rain on our last day. We were seriously soaked. There was no use in trying to wear makeup or look halfway decent. We just walked the city and took pictures in the rain. It's such a fun memory.

 

Ok so this is seriously the best thing ever. Across from Macys on 34th Street is this amazing Belgian stand that serves the most delicious waffles with "dinges." I have no clue what that word means but that's what the toppings are called.  We had the famous Belgian spread (like Nutella but made from gingerbread cookies), strawberries, and whip cream. Oh gosh it was so good. I ended up buying 3 things of that spread. 

 

I love the movie You've Got Mail so we stopped at some places from the movie. I love Gray's Papaya on the Upper West Side. I've been before but Todd had not so it was fun to take him. It's a hot dog place. You can get 2 hot dogs and one of their famous fruit drinks for $4.95. It's so yummy! 

 

We walked thru parts of Central Park at night. There are these awesome rocks that you can climb up. You then overlook the ice skating rink there. It's such a beautiful view of the city from those rocks. 

 

We are looney toon and went to Serendipity for dessert at 12:30am one night/early morning. They close at 1am so we squeezed it in. I've been before multiple times with my family and one other time with Todd. I LOVE the movie Serendipity so I just think it's neat going back every single time. The frozen hot chocolate is insanely good.  

 

 At Radio City Music Hall. This was the best night ever. I saw the Rockettes a few years ago in NYC and Todd has been before as well but we've never been together. It was so much fun to do on a date night in the city. We had great seats in the 1st Mezzanine and just loved being at the Music Hall. 

 

Whoah picture out of order. We actually got the table at Serendipity from the movie. I loved it! 

 

Love... 

 

This is us walking the Brooklyn Bridge over to Brooklyn. We wanted to eat at Grimaldis, the famous pizza place that is practically under the bridge. I am terrified of heights and was convinced I was going to die on this bridge. I just knew the bridge was going to collapse on me. Note on Grimaldis: I really don't think it's worth the looney wait to get in. It's just pizza. They don't have salad or anything. They did have dessert though. The tables are itty bitty and you are squeezed in there. There was nothing special about the pizza and the line was 45 minutes to get in the door. Skip it would be my advice, like you asked for it :)

 

We went in all the major stores like Macys, Lord and Taylor, and the other ones. I found this adorable dress for Lauren. It's sparkles and she thinks it's the best dress ever. I found it at Lord and Taylor. So I have to share something hilarious. They had all of the major major name brands of kid clothes. I about died seeing a dress for a little kid at $300. Yowsa. I can't even imagine. My kids ruin clothes it seems.  

 

This is that Belgian stand. Waffles & Dinges. 

 

So we had a great trip. We ate at random pizza places we saw, grabbed drinks at many of the Starbucks, had dessert at a crazy hour of the day, ate at a cool brewery, got into a "tift" with a shop owner (don't be surprised, :), got stranded in Brooklyn by a tour company, walked a ton, shopped a ton but really window shopped more than anything, found a neat deli/convenience store with great sandwiches, waited in a long line just to enter the American Girl store so I could get Lauren a shirt, bought shirts for the kids at a store other than the crazy one, etc.

Verdict on the Sheraton Times Square Hotel: It's just ok. Im not high maintenance at all when it comes to hotels. Just be clean, no roaches, good location, decent bed, coffee, and a hair dryer and I'm good. They are putting 12,000 Starpoints back in my Starwood account because let's just say, how do I put it, there was hair (and not mine) all over our fitted sheets. Glorious.

The double decker bus verdict: We like it most of the time but they did leave us in Brooklyn so I'm working on getting my money back on that one. And there was a lady who pushed me out of line. Insane.

We love NYC but Im taking a couple of years off on going. I need a breather.