New Year, New Look, New York!

Happy New Year to ya! Yeah, I know it’s about 13 days late, but nothing really exciting or spectacular to blog about until now. My Mom and I took a quick trip this weekend and had a great 48 hours…

Friday, January 9^th:

Momma and I landed in New York City (Center of the Universe…RENT reference sorry) at 10:30…the airport was empty (kinda weird since this has never been the case upon landing at La Guardia). We arrived by taxi in the Middle of Times Square at the lovely Double Tree Guest Suites.

Here’s the AWESOME view outside my window…

Thought about going out tonight, but there’s just something about the hotel beds that you don’t wanna leave. :)

Until tomorrow…

Saturday, January 10^th:

I woke up to a beautifully cold morning in Times Square. We headed off in search of…well not really what we were in search of at this very moment. Food? Shopping? Whatever we happen to encounter. :) We entered (one of the many) Starbucks (thanks to Steph for the bday gift cards) where we got “Tall” Caramel Apple Spices (cider). This was a first for my Mom and thus I had to explain that a “tall” is a “small” in Starbucks lingo. :)

We found a bench at the corner of 6^th & 52^nd and watched the pigeons...

...and taxis.

Love the store windows!

Then we headed towards 5^th Ave in search of the NBA Store. (Yes even when I’m not working, I still dig the sport…always have, always will. By the way, the was a few more Mavs merchandise in the store this time around, but until a ring is involved, the selection won’t be anywhere close to the amount of Lakers’, Celtics’, Spurs’, Bulls’, crap lol…I did however make a purchase of a pair of blue and silver, shiny, sparkly Adidas…I dig ‘em.)

Anyways, but before we found the NBA Store, we came to Rockefeller Center.

Several times before we have been lucky enough to see “The Tree” at Rockefeller Center.... This year we got to see it as well…well, what was left of it…

We arrived just in time to see them cutting it down in to pieces. Kinda Cool!

It was lunchtime and we ended up at Gallagher’s Steakhouse where we had a fantastic lunch.

(thank goodness we split it…there was way too much savory greatness…they try to first kill ya with the bread…

…and then finish you off with a piece of authentic New York Cheesecake…dear Lord!)

After lunch, we had just enough time to drop my shoes at the hotel (such a fan of the Doubletree now…location is such a plus) and walked over to the Richard Rogers Theatre for the 2 o’clock matinee.

Here we saw the 2008 Tony Award Winning for Best Musical, In The Heights.

OH MY GOODNESS! The greatness that was witnessed! By now, I’m sure you’re aware of my fondness for the Broadway musical. This one, In The Heights, has definitely entered my TOP 5 Faves of ALL TIME! That being said, and the massive amount of musicals I’ve seen in the last 28 years, I will proudly show it from the rooftops (or here at my keyboard where the soundtrack is currently playing) that I LOVE this musical!

After the curtain closed and the lights came up, we headed back to the hotel to kinda figure out what was up next on the agenda. OH! Did I mention that it’s been SNOWING (actual SNOW) since about noon today! Crazy, beautiful, cold!

By this point in the day, it’s only 6pm so we decided to grab a quick dinner at the Hard Rock Café. (yes it’s touristy, yes it’s cliché, but get over it I dug the one in Dallas and since that’s no longer in existence, I will go to any one of them that I am in close proximity to… I dig the HRC!) Well everyone else had the same idea for dinner.

But, with even a few minutes to spare, we arrived at the Imperial Theatre. For tonight’s main event, we saw Billy Elliot, with musical lyrics and music by Sir Elton John.

(I had the pleasure of seeing this in London 2 summers ago and so glad I went back for a second round.) The kids in this musical were absolutely amazingly, talented. And it’s also a great story. (If you haven’t seen the movie, I suggest you do.) :)

After a few more “Times Square” pictures, it was back to the hotel.

As I had a few friends/co-workers in town working PBR at MSG, I wanted to go say hey. So I ventured out solo in search of their hotel about 8 blocks away. It was cool to see them but very random at the same time. As they had an early call the next morn, I made my way back to Doubletree about 1ish.

*There was only one casualty of the day. Because it was cold, I must have taken my gloves on and off about 20 times today. During one of those times I lost one of my rings. So if you’re ever in NYC and you find a gold and silver puzzle ring with a DIAMOND on it…its most likely mine. :(

Besides that…Such a great, supremely BRILLANT DAY! Good night!

Sunday, January, 11^th:

This is our last morning in NYC. Grr. As it had been icy earlier this morn, Momma and I decide to forego Central Park. (Don’t feel bad for us. We’ve been there before, and I’m quite certain that we will be there again in the future.) Instead, we had room service delivered, (yum) and watch Because I Said So on TV. How appropriate. :)

After it was over, we got dressed and packed and I ran down to the street one last time, in search of that “perfect” souvenir…success!

Back upstairs with Momma and luggage…out of the hotel…in a taxi back to La Guardia…the announcement for our flight just came over the loudspeaker…the flight is taking us back to Dallas…back to reality. *sigh*

much love