Tuesday, December 2, 2008

"Start Spreadin' the News..."

"...I'm leavin' today! I want to be apart of it - New York, New York!" - Frank Sinatra

Hello Wichita!! I am back in town and I'm almost 50% recovered.  Remember when Jeremy and I went camping last Fall and I told him I wanted to go to New York City for our next vacation so we could *ahem* relax a little more? WHEW! What was I thinking? The mileage we covered in these 7.5 days more than surpassed what we hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park. We were both absolutely exhausted by the time we boarded that plane Tuesday evening. You know how some trips go by and you think, "Oh no! We're leaving already? Seems like we just got here!" No, not in this case. We FELT like we'd been walking New York for a week. *hehe*

The absolute worst part of the trip was that I got sick.  I'd been poppin' vitamin c and Airborn in the weeks before to make sure I didn't come down with a cold or fever and that did work. I didn't get THAT kind of sick. I was sick in the "oh my gosh we need to find a bathroom RIGHT NOW!!!!"-cold-sweat & pale-in-the-face kind of sick. Yeah, and it took a week for me to take the idea seriously that it might have been the water that was making me sick.  You know me, I'm a guzzler and I love me some water, so I was drinking a lot of it.  I was talking to my Mom and sis on Facebook early in the week about my problem and they were taking turns diagnosing me. *haha* Mom DID say that sometimes a different city's water can upset your stomach. Then we saw a sign that said "New York City is proud to serve tap water" and I thought, hmmmm, maybe there's something to this. So on the second to last day of our trip, I switched to ONLY bottled water and almost immediately I was feeling a lot better. Oh well. Just think of how many New York City bathrooms I WOULDN'T have seen had I figured it out sooner? ;) And the silver lining of that nasty cloud was that I didn't gain a single pound. *haha*

Other than the exhaustion and bathroom panic, we had a really great time! AND, my vision has improved 100%! I am so relieved! I'm not even going to pretend that I can fit all of the trip into one post, so I think I'll break it up by days, if that's OK with all of you. :)

Our hotel was about what I'd expected, but the room was actually a bit larger than I'd pictured!  It did start to feel a little cramped as the week went on. Jeremy and I had to dodge each other and shuffle our stuff around since there wasn't enough counter space. But all in all it was definitely worth the money we saved.
Plus the decor was really hip and cool, exactly the kind of style Jeremy and I like so much. It definitely made us feel like we were visiting somewhere exciting. 
Our first evening was spent trekking around New York on a tour of the city's department store Christmas window displays. They were phenomenal! Everything I'd ever pictured! I felt just like I was in a children's book. My favorites were at Lord & Taylor:
And Bloomingdale's (even though they had me on the naughty list - first AND middle name!):
Macy's was also an extremely fun experience. We traveled to the top floor (#7) to see Santaland in the children's department and it really was magical. Originally we just planned on wandering through the line to see all of the decorations then hopping out before an actual visit with Santa, but the Macy's "elves" are amazingly enthusiastic and jolly and before we knew it we were being escorted into a room for pictures with the big guy himself! He was the most amazing Santa I have ever seen, with a real beard, a sweet little accent and the most sparkly eyes. He asked me what my Christmas wish was and I told him, "I've already gotten my Christmas wish! I'm in New York City with the real Santa at Macy's!" He chuckled, patted my hand and said, "Well you've just made my day, dear." What a wonderful experience. He gave us some "I Believe" buttons and of course we got suckered into buying some overpriced copies of the pictures. :) 

Our last stop for the evening was the famous Serendipity's.  We got there several hours before our reservation but they let us sit down almost right away. 
Now, the dinner we ordered was unbelievably blah and a waste of stomach space. BUT...for dessert we ordered the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate they're known for and we were not disappointed. While it's a fairly simple concoction...almost just a slushy chocolatey milk, it is DELICIOUS!! Jeremy got a peanut butter one and I had the original and WOWEE!! My mouth is watering right now. :) 


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