Birthday continues

Saturday was filled with what Stacy and I do best-exercise, shop and talk. We popped up early in the morning and took Jackson out for a cruise/play date at the park. Breakfast was from Hot and Crusty-love this spot, but have to avoid it because it is so easy to buy a little treat each time you walk past. The smell draws you in! Next up, shopping!! Stacy wanted to eat at Serendipity-so knowing my last experience with the wait, I suggested swinging by and putting our name on the list. At 11.30 on a random Saturday in NYC we did and the wait was 2.30. Welcome to the holiday season here. If I haven't mentioned, this place is crazy this time of year. The sidewalks are 5 people wide and completely packed. Every store has around a 1 foot bubble for you to shop and if you move out of it, you hit someone else! It is fun to see all the people here and the joy the things in the city offer for all walks of life!

We hit every store along 5th and along Madison in 2 and 1/2 hours. Lunch was great, we split a fancy turkey sandwich and a frozen hot chocolate. The we headed back out to conquer a few more stores, a few more Christmas presents, a few more sights. Once we decided to head back home, we were worn out. Nap time for sure, except neither of us would quit talking to fall asleep. We finally decided we'd order in, enjoy each other and have an early night! I don't have any sisters, but I imagine this weekend is what it would be like to have one. I'm really lucky to have the friends I do!!

Sunday morning was filled with joy for so many reasons. Stacy's birthday was the main event! We celebrated with a breakfast brunch because I had to work at 10am and she left at noon. We headed to the gramercy area to Friend of a Farmer (friendofafarmerny.com). You may remember this place mentioned before-this is the muffin place!! Their actual brunch is an even better compliment to their muffins. It is super quaint, decorated for the holiday season in addition to their usually country decor-wire wicker baskets and floral wall paper, the waiters are so accommodating, they serve french press as their regular coffee, the food is all locally grown, healthy and hearty, this place is a true breath of fresh hour in this town. Know though, if you go for brunch-they don't take ressies and don't put your name on any list, you simply wait!

 Infamous blueberry muffins!!

My omelette-south western with guac, salsa, cheese, eggs and the best fried potatoes ever. (actually second next to my moms)

Back at home, we opened her gifts and said our good byes. So glad to spend a great bday weekend with Stacy!!

Stacy's Bday Weekend

Stacy and I have been friends for what seems like forever, we have been through so much together. So, when she decided to spend her birthday with me-I was ecstatic! Birthdays around Christmas kinda stink because they often get overlooked. I made it my goal to make this one special for her! 

She got in around 1 on a Thursday, and I had to work Friday-but for some reason as soon as she walked in the door-we couldn't quit talking. It was like old times when we lived together, gabbing about any and everything! I think we finally went to bed around 3 or 4. We popped right up in the morning before work and took J to the dog park-this allowed us another full hour plus to continue chatting. This was the theme for the weekend. Great conversation, hard topics covered and two friends sharing what life offers together. I couldn't have asked for a better time!!

Friday after work we met up with Dave at his fabulous house for some pre-bday champagne. Then off to Cafe Cluny (cafecluny.com). I had had a few people recommend this place, talking about the laid back feel, neighborhood vibe on the west village's cobblestone streets etc. I couldn't agree more!! This place was just cool. The waiters wore blue and white striped shirts, as if we were in a parisian bistro.  The walls were covered with a naturalist decor-birds, plants, art.

 Think Dave was mid-sentence-sorry!

Forgot to take pics of dinner sorry. I actually ate a "Cluny" burger and brussel sprouts. Food was so good, we ordered a second round of brussel sprouts!! Great start for the birthday weekend!

More Randoms

 This is from one of the people I saw at my job. She said it was ok, so no violations. Thought this was pretty cool-personalized book from the author!

 This is my Christmas Tree. Kind of a long story, but my husband found this "Christmas" decor arrangement on a website-that had eucalyptus, holiday balls, wood, holly etc so he ordered it. He knew that I had no tree and this would be like the decorations Mikel left in the fall. So he ordered it online. I get the flowers and of course love them, call him and thank him a ton and he gets mad. I was totally baffled until I heard and saw what he really ordered. Amazing the artistic license they took!! Great Christmas flowers anyhow

 Meet Ruth, she and her brother Benny are two of one of my colleagues four kids. The love NYC and they love Jackson! This night we all had dinner at David's (see above) house. His wife cooked authentic Chinese food and we griped about work. As I was leaving Ruth asked if she could walk J with me. I said of course-and off we went. This pic is pre-walk! Our walk was one of the funniest times I've had here. J weighs about 20+ pounds more than Ruth and it showed. I started with her holding the leash all by herself because Jman knows his way. However, he was so comfortable that his walking pace equaled Ruth's dead sprint. So, I grabbed the leash to help. She got mad and wanted to do it on her own!! I figured a way to hold the leash to divert some force, but let her think she was doing it all. After about a half a mile-we all 3 headed home. Not sure if she loved it or hated it, but think it was the former!

 Here's a pic Benny and Ruth drew for me and the hearts they each cut out!

This is the local "Honkey Tonk" bar. It's around the corner from me, actually just opened and only takes cash. We went here for a happy hour one day and I snapped this. Wish you could see all of it as it makes me laugh that this is what they think of us!! Great beer selection and prices though.

HUGH JACKMAN

Hopefully, reading the title you can understand my excitement! One of my friends here (Marley's mom) is in love with Hugh, and she has been dying to go. Her husband is not! So, helping a friend out of course, I graciously accepted the offer to go see his one man broadway show!

We started at The Smith, a restaurant on our side of town. This place is really cool. It has subway tiles along the walls, a huge bar off to one side and tons of people all over-even waiting outside. (to me, this is more quintessential nyc). We had fun drinks and I ate the orechettie-fabulous! Check out their website thesmithnyc.com

Here's the show from the outside. Hard to see, but at this point Gaby and I start noticing that we are the only ones around here less than 50yrs old.

Look at the smiles!

Here is a glimpse inside, we got in trouble for taking this pic, but wanted to get the stage. It's an intimate theater that holds around 1200.

Ok, so this show is a must. We loved every minute, even if we were younger than most. He is talented like no other. He can sing, act, dance and most of all-he is so normal. The show is basically a time travel of his career. He tells stories as he goes, you hear the inside scoop about how he became wolverine, you see pics of his childhood, he talks about his wife and family constantly, he dresses up, he sings, he dances-has a few back up dancers too, just truly the epitome of a one man show!! My favorite part was at the end when he pays tribute to Australia and has true aborigines sing with him, with their instruments! Almost moves you to tears how connected he is with where he came from, love to see that in someone crazy, famous! I should also mention his buddies Nic and Keith (kidman and urban) were in the crowd our night-woohoo. Loved this night in NYC!

Bucket List

Rhonda's last day we decided to celebrate the season and enjoy all NYC has to offer around Christmas. First stop was Macy's. There is such a hubbub made about the Macy's windows around this time, we had to see if it was truly worth the noise. Two words-it was!!! The windows are technically masterpieces as well as creative geniuses in their own right. They have so many people come by each year that the store has roped off areas for people just observing and not shopping

 Hard to see, but the store front has a giant Christmas tree in lights. I am taking this picture from over a block away

 Each piece moves independently, but all move together in each window.

Here are a couple of my favs, especially this last one. I thought it was perfectly reflective of my husband and I -deer antlers and champagne!

After we walked away my mother in law quietly said thanks for taking her-that seeing the macy's windows and shopping at Christmas time was on her bucket list! I was so glad to have had this opportunity to share, but mad at her because what else was on her bucket list that I didn't know about??

Next stop-Empire State Building. King Kong was there this day-my first time to meet him!

This was in the lobby, it is a blinged out version of the ESB. Pretty neat that someone created this.

As we walked north towards the coveted TREE, we saw a few fun sights along the way...

 The public library, with the lions out front.

 The Lord and Taylor windows. Neat, but nothing compared to Macy's

 Christies Auction House-this is the line for the Elizabeth Taylor exhibit. Heard Kim K bought some rather pricey earrings here

We stopped at a little deli to grab lunch. I had to take a pic of the sweets. I was good and passed, but reminds me of Paris and how easy it was to gain 10lbs in 10 days!!

 The Rockefeller ice skating rink

And the tree!!! It is huge and amazing and breath-taking. The delivered it right before Thanksgiving and spent two weeks decorating. I am at least 50 yards away to be able to capture the entire tree in the pic. I think it is at least 8 stories-when I tried to count...This is worth every penny of a trip to NYC at Christmas!

To finish our day, we had to end with the Radio City Rockettes. Another Rhonda bucket list that she failed to mention:) We went to eat at Brasseire 8 1/2-amazing space, good food, boring!! We were one of 3 people eating in the entire place. Sad because I was told this was quintessential NYC-I think of crowds, loudness, activity-and this was not the place. None the less-food was good. Here's my fish with pepperoni on top, with octopus and brussel sprouts in the background.

 The inside of Radio City...

 This chandelier was gorgeous. It is stunning-had to share

 Our seats, we were so close-it was really fun!

These girls are so talented. Having been on teams before, I could appreciate the coordination it takes to get everyone working as one, but saying that does not do justice to the precision these girls have. WOW. The show was great, it was a little story narrated by Santa, even had 3d parts (glasses included!). Pure entertainment for 90 minutes. Another highlight I would recommend for any and everyone!!

The longest day ever!

After the open market, we walked to Chelsea and Meatpacking. We went through the market and oogled over all the sweet treats for the holidays. Every store had their best foot forward with cookies, cakes, brownies, crepes and all were in the holiday spirit! Next lunch and shopping in Meatpacking. The guac at Dos Caminos is amazing-I am sure I could eat that for my meal every day, all day! Then the fun shops around this area were neat to pop in, show off and then head to the next.

We hopped on the E to Ground Zero and noticed that there were a fair bit of college-ish aged people in Santa costumes-boys and girls. Never knew Ms. Claus could dress so provocatively! After seeing the sights down town-Lady Lib, Wall St. tree...

and constantly running into the pockets of Santas (see above)-I had to google it. Apparently we were part of SantaCon. A yearly celebration around here, in London and maybe San Fran?? where people dress up like Santa and have a pub crawl all over town. The only redeeming thing was that they had to bring two toys to participate.

Here are some internet pics bc mine didn't turn out very well...Honestly, these are real pics!

After conquering downtown, we headed back uptown. We didn't even really have time to rest because we had to be back in the West Village at L'Artusi for dinner. This place is one of my favs so far. Great service, reasonable prices and perfect food. We split everything, so we got to sample a bunch of things-all were fabulous. We started with ahi tuna (white), then butternut squash ravioli, octopus and roasted cod for the main course. Honestly, the best part were the brussel sprouts. The were fabulous and made my mouth water and want for more!! Anyone tried the fried spinach at cheevers? That's how the sprouts were cooked-super flakey and flavorful.

After dinner, off to Broadway and Times Square. Can't you just imagine a woman from small town Missouri in the middle of Times Square?? Her reactions and thoughts were priceless. We saw Sister Act, which I would highly recommend. It is a great combo of song, stage, dance, music-really glad I picked this one as her first show. She loved it!

What a marathon of a day in NYC!

My Mother-in-Law

 Rhonda, Bryan's mom, came to town this weekend. What an blast we had. She was the perfect visitor as she had no expectations and loved everything we did. And, we did a ton. Think I wore her out a bit with all the walking I tried to fit in! I love her innocence about city life. As she was coming in from the airport, I was trying to ask which direction she was coming from and where she was-by asking about the street she was on. The grid the city is built on is very nice and makes navigating tolerable. Yet she had a hard time figuring out the layout of things. After a few questions about where we were in the city, we finally realized that north/south/east/west are not directions she uses. She understands landmarks and left and right because where she is from that's the only way to survive (needless to say-i get lost very easily there!!)

Friday night when she got in, I thought we'd explore my part of town. We ate tapas across the street, and I made her try quail and veal for the first time. We then went over to Serendipity to try out the frozen hot chocolate. During our 2 hr wait-literally, we went to Dylan's candy bar and looked around, went into Bloomingdale's, looked at store fronts and wondered. 

When they were ready for us back at Serendipity we went back. We were seated upstairs. The decor of this place is quaint, old and eccentric. Rhonda loved the holiday decorations. I love this pic of her, her smile says it all! And, the drinks really are that big-but so worth every calorie. Hard to explain how they taste, but the closest we could come up with was that they taste like hot chocolate in a daiquiri form. What a great treat!

Saturday we were up very early. We took J for a little stroll around the dog park and then off to my work and central park. It was so fun to walk through the park with her as every little detail was important. We climbed a rock to see what all the commotion on the other side was, as we thought we even heard Christmas music. Sure enough, we did. We found the ice skating rink!

After the park, we wondered around midtown, checking out FAO and all the store fronts along Madison and 5th. I love the Bergdorf windows-they have all the men's clothes on people bodies with gorgeous animal heads. All the women's are normal. Sounds strange, but it is really amazing to see the creativity!

We then headed to Union Square (on the subway for the first time!) to see the weekend market. To my surprise, they had the usual market stuff, plus more -tons of artist selling their Christmas wears. We saw carolers in one section. We also saw these wooden reindeer that were so cute. A dad and son were making these. As we walked past, Rhonda said she actually made some exactly like that several years ago and gave them as gifts. My progressive mother-in-law