New York City!

I can't believe it's taken me THIS LONG to write about our trip to New York City! Anyway, without further ado, here's 25 things about our trip that I wanted to share:

1) Did you know that LaGuardia Airport is right on the water? When your plane comes in, it's hard to tell if you're going to hit water or tarmac. Not fun for the flight-challenged, like myself.
2) Cab drivers in NYC: you lived up to every nuance of reputation you have. Cab driver from LaGuardia to Long Island: thank you for making the cab ride for this pregnant woman the closest I've come to actually tossing cookies. (My brother-in-law, John, kept glancing at me nervously, like "don't do it on me!")
3) We stayed with Marty's Aunt Becky (she's only 8 years older than Marty, so more like a big sister than an aunt), her husband Ed, and their 3 kids, John Thomas, Henry, and Grace. They have a beautiful home all done up in...French Country style. I nearly died of bliss. We were sitting at the dining table eating breakfast one morning when I asked Becky, are these slipcovers from Ballard Designs? Becky looked at me with both shock and deep appreciation and confirmed my suspicion! She told me I really know my stuff! (this is perhaps one of the highest compliments I've ever received)
4) Becky and Ed gave up their master bedroom with a brand-new TempurPedic bed for us for our entire stay. I'm not sure if this was the plan all along, or if it was prompted by our big news! As soon as we were in the door, coats off, being offered drinks, Marty told the family about Peanut and Aunt Becky started crying and hugging and laughing at the same time. It was wonderful to be enveloped with such warmth and love! Then, in the next 5 minutes, Becky had me on the couch, shoes off, ottoman shoved under my legs, an afghan on me, and a water in my hand almost before I could nod or say thank-you. Suddenly a fire was built in the fireplace and appetizers appeared on the coffee table. I've rarely experienced such sweet solicitous caring. I should seriously be pregnant more often.
5) Long Island has the best food markets on Planet Earth. We went to stock up on some goodies for our stay and I was blown away by the rows and rows and stacks and stacks of gourmet food. Every kind of olive you can imagine, every kind of cheese, hummus, dips, crackers, bread, produce like you've never seen away from a farm...cases of freshly made lasagna, pasta salads, veggie salads, I could go on and on. I told Marty I was living every pregnant woman's dream!
6) Long Island also has something called a Dairy Barn, which isn't like a Dairy Queen or anything of the sort. It's this odd little drive-up store where you can get anything from donuts to beer to ice cream to fresh sweet tea and lemonade. Dairy Barn, I miss you. And your lemonade.
7) We (Becky, Grace, me, Marty, and John) took the Long Island Railroad into the city on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Here's a pic of me and my darling husband on the train:

8) And here's Gracie on the train (she is one of the best-behaved children I've ever met and is city-savvy! Look at her puffy coat and Uggs!): 9) Our first stop in the city was, where else? Starbucks! And I'm not kidding when I say there's one on every corner. I was actually feeling up to coffee that day (I'm usually not these days), so I had a lovely decaf misto to enjoy while we walked block after block after block! Here's me enjoying my misto in Times Square:

10) We saw this store on our walk, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of it! Too bad we're not related to that fortune!11) Then I stopped cold in my tracks when I saw this: I'm a HUGE fan of Project Runway and I got so excited thinking that Tim Gunn could be inside those very walls. I had a fleeting temptation to become a stalker. Fortunately, the moment passed.
12) John wanted to go the Museum of Natural History (I think that's the proper name for it?). It was the setting for the Ben Stiller movie, "Night at the Museum" (if that helps anyone). Anyway, we saw lots of cool dinosaur bones, and I kept thinking how my niece Ada would have gone nuts with happiness in the place -- she loves dinosaurs!There were about 8 trillion people there that day, though, so my energy levels petered out a couple times (I hate big crowds).
13) We closed the day out with a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe. Speaking of big crowds...that was kind of a nightmare. It was John's pick, though (he had to leave for home a few days ahead of me and Marty), so it was all good. However, I've learned not to wait to find a bathroom anywhere in the city. If you have the slightest inkling, get up and go find a bathroom that very instant, because you'll stand in line, a very LONG line. Very common experience for me while in New York!
14) I just realized I skipped a whole day, Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. We slept in (thank goodness, since there was a trampling incident at a Wal-Mart on Long Island that morning!!!) and then went to the mall on Long Island in the afternoon. That was CRAZY. However, my husband kept wanting to treat me the whole time we were there, so I let him buy me some black Coach boots in Macy's (on sale for a ridiculous amount, for Coach, anyway). We also drove around and saw Adelphi University, where Marty got his master's degree in English (is he MADE for me or what?). Then we drove around and looked at some fabulous properties on the island. You think there are rich people in Indiana, and maybe even some rich people in Tennessee, and then you actually see how rich the rich people are in Long Island. And you know that you've never even fathomed having that much money!
15) Fast-forward to Monday, the only day Marty and I had alone in the city. It was magnificent! Well, things got off to a rough start...my socks kept slipping off my feet in my boots, necessitating an emergency trip into a random store to buy knee-high socks, then the street-vendor pretzel I had that was burnt and such a huge disappointment!...but as soon as we got to the Empire State Building, all was well again. Waiting in line for the skycab is not too different from waiting in line at Disney World, and get this, there is SECURITY in the ESB. As in, take off coats and shoes and bags and stick 'em on the conveyer belt, just like at the airport. What a sad reminder that we live in a post-9/11 world, especially when in the post-9/11 city.
Empire State Building is such a beautiful place, with all these Art-Deco touches here and there:So, after about an hour's walk and wait and various elevator rides, we got to the top!16) This is the famous skyline of Manhattan. In the top-right corner, you can see a little island with something poking up into the sky -- that's the Statue of Liberty! And Marty pointed out that right where the buildings make a W, used to stand the Twin Towers. That was very sobering to see. Then, here's the view when you look up:17) And here's the view when you look down onto Macy's!18) And of course, the view when you hand your camera to a perfect stranger:

19) Last but not least, the view of the Chrysler Building (my particular favorite):

20) After an exhausting morning, Marty took me to Saks Fifth Avenue to begin our shopping adventure. We started out in the "2 Eat @ Saks Cafe", where I had a lovely Cobb salad and pretzel croissants (I'd seriously maim someone for the recipe), followed by tiramisu and coffee. I can't stress this enough: If you want to eat well, go to New York City. Seriously the best food in the whole world. Just be careful of those street vendors... Anyway, so here was the view from our table:21) That's right, I ate and looked down on the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center!!! It wasn't lit yet, but that only slightly damaged my experience. :)
22) Then it was off to, where else? Tiffany's!!! Marty bought me an early Christmas present -- I'll share a picture of it soon. For a retail maven like myself, this was like coming home to the mother ship!
23) Then we took a couple of cabs up to a little store that Marty had even googled the location of, because he fully intended to make sure I had this experience in New York...that of buying a hand bag from, where else? kate spade! (Just for fun we looked at the Louis Vuitton bags in Saks...I thought Marty would stroke out when he saw the price tag.) So here's me, getting my beautiful kate spade bag all packaged carefully for the plane ride home...

24) Finally, after a very long day in the city, we packed it in and headed "home" to Long Island to eat Chinese take-out with the fam. I kid you not, even the Chinese take-out is better in New York! But one last shot...this is me, right before getting on the train to leave the city, feeling so very New York and loving it so much!Okay, yeah, so I look like a tourist. However, I had to have my little "Sex and the City" moment, okay?
25) Finally, I'm amazed at how much this post doesn't capture. We somehow didn't get any pictures of the family besides Gracie, nor did we get a shot of the fabulous turkey dinner that Becky and Ed cooked for us. Also, besides the pictures we didn't get, there's so much more I could say...like, if you think the president-elect is not worshipped as a messiah, um, just go to New York. He is. His face is everywhere. And it's creepy. Also, I had such varying encounters with people. A lot of them were rude and frankly, weird, but then again, a lot of them were truly pleasant. Waiters (in finer establishments in the city, I guess I should say) almost hover in their eagerness to please. And Tiffany's was such a beautiful experience that way -- there are no lines, no cash registers, none of that sloppy retail stuff. Clerks trained in the art of subtlety casually ask if you're ready to purchase, and if you are, they simply whisk away with your credit card and then reappear with a lovely blue bag and a receipt.
Anyway, I really have to cut this off for now, maybe I'll write a follow-up post one time when more memories come flooding back! All in all, it was a grand adventure and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to go! Thanks again Ed and Becky!!!