New York City--part 2

Our second day full day in the city happened to be a Sunday. Some of the guys went to church at 9, but I had a rough night and wasn't feeling well at all, so we slept in. When we did venture out in the late morning, we went and grabbed some yummy New York pizza. Any place that will put broccoli and goat's cheese on a pizza is alright by me.

After, we stood in line at Levain Bakery, which a friend had recommended to me. There's something weirdly fun about braving a crowd to get a special treat. After we left, we took our cookies with us to Central Park.

The park was just beautiful with the leaves just changing. I hadn't ever realized just how beautiful it is.

About this time, all the stress subsided from the shoot for both of us and we realized we still had a few days to ourselves with no kids. This picture of me throwing leaves in the sun's rays pretty much sums up my feelings. I did miss them but I wasn't too homesick for them until we would facetime them.

Those cookies were delicious and warm. We sat near a 3-piece jazz band that was playing and enjoyed a PB cup one, an oatmeal raisin one, and a chocolate chip walnut one. I highly recommend Levain Bakery!

When we saw The Plaza Hotel, Shaye got so excited. "It's the Home Alone hotel!" We walked in there and wandered through the lobbies for a few minutes, pretending like we were staying there. Maybe someday we'll splurge and stay there for real!

We strolled down 5th avenue, and when I saw Tiffany's, I had the (self-indulgent) idea to stand there and eat my cookie to try to mimic the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. It has to be one of my very favorites of all time. With all that has changed in the city since 1961, it still has a timeless charm.

We bought tickets to the Radio Center Christmas Spectacular sort of last minute on HubStub. The tickets were prime and kind of expensive, so when we got to the door and they told us that we had been sold tickets for the earlier showing (it was the sellers mistake) and that the show was sold out, I thought that I might cry. The staff was very accommodating and found us some nosebleeder seats and we were able to get a refund from the seller, so we actually got to see the show for free. I'm sure it would have been much more fun from our original seats, but we still made the most of it. The Rockettes are beautiful and the show reminded me of everything that is fun about Christmastime. The nativity at the end was very moving too.

That place was decorated to the nines! This giant crystal tree was inside. So much fun!

We ate at this Italian joint in the Theater District Trattoria Trecolori. The food was good and the atmosphere was even better. It was moments like this when I felt like I could just be an adult and a person rather than a mom or wife or teacher or grad student. I loved just getting back to enjoying time as a cultured person enjoying a city with my love and nothing else. Loved that!

We spent a couple hours in Times Square. It was fun for a bit, but then I swiftly realized that this is my LEAST favorite part of the whole city. I have the gimmicky-ness of the performers and the uncomfortable Vegas-ness about it. On the flip side, there are some fun stores there, like the absolutely decked out Disney Store, but I was SO glad we weren't staying in the area.

We decided to walk home through the city again. It was about a 45 minute walk, but the weather was nice and it was so Romantic out that we really enjoyed it. We stopped by this Apple Store on 5th at least 3 times. Shaye loves his Apple. 

I must have looked like this most of the time we were on the street. You would think navigating a city with modern GPS would be a piece of cake, but there were plenty of moments that we could not figure it out. Shaye accused me of poor navigating at first and then he realized how confusing it could be. I always felt nervous about stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and told him that it was rude, and then he started to tease me, mimicking, "Babe, we can't stop here. In New York if you stop of the sidewalk, someone will mug you and then knife you in the neck!" haha--he knows how to diffuse my tension when I'm being uptight.

He tried to talk down these carriage drivers in the park to taking us for a third the posted price and one of them actually said yes. I feel so uncomfortable with bartering that I acted like I didn't want to go, even though I'm sure it would have been fun. Then Shaye teased me about how the one time he tries to do something romantic that I foiled his plot. We enjoyed a nice stroll back through the park in the dark nonetheless.