Day Three

So day three (Saturday) was another great day!!! We planned to get up @ 7, but really got up about 9, and walked the mile from our hotel to central park. We passed the David Letterman sign so I had to be tourist and take a picture:) Here we are all fresh at the entrance to central park. We ran 5 miles - Nikki's farthest outside:) There was a race going on so we had plenty of water stops:) After our run we stopped to stretch and had to take a picture of this guy - He apparently had a really fun Friday night - he was out cold!!!Then it was back to the hotel to get ready and meet Nikki's friend Nicole, who moved from Colorado to New Jersey last spring. Here are Nikki and Nicole in Little Italy (did I mention we got the best cannoli's there:)) We went to lunch at a place called 5 Napkin Burger - I had a vegetarian burger made of beets, pine nuts, and any other veggie you can think of - it was soooooo good!!!Then we hopped on the red tourist bus that let's you hop on and off all over the city and saw some sights.

The New Years Eve ball in times Square - It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be! I love this building - the Flatiron Building.

We stopped and got out near Little Italy and shopped around, then had to walk through Chinatown to catch the bus again. THAT was an experience. Dirty, noisy, crowded (even more than a normal NYC sidewalk!!!)

BUT.. Because of our jaunt through Chinatown we came upon this! Jill Zarin (of the New York Housewives fame) Fabric shop!!! I was really hoping to see any of the ladies from the NY or NJ houswives, but this is as close as we got:) It's good enough for me (this time around)!

What show is this from???

We topped our night off by stopping at the Magnolia bakery (again) for cupcakes and then walking Nicole to the train station, but we didn't want to deal with the crowds of times squre so we walked a block over. What a difference a block makes!!! We were a little scared for our safety, and on the way back we just dealt with the crowds. But not before we stopped at a popcorn shop my friend Lynette told me about with the yummiest popcorn! It's on one of Oprah's lists and we got the Chicago blend (Oprah's favorite) which was yummy cheesy popcorn mixed with yummy carmel corn. I don't like Oprah AT ALL but I must say she does have good popcorn taste! It was funny, the kid at the counter told us he could tell we weren't New Yorkers because we were too happy! (give me a few days @ home with crabby kids and I could be mistaken for a New Yorker:))!!! It was another fabulous day in New York!!! (Only 2 days left!!!)

and even more NEW YORK!!!

Right after getting pretty we decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. The girl who did our makeup said we had to eat at Ignacios for pizza and we HAD to go to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. It was SOOOO worth the walk:) Some views from our walk of the Brooklyn Bridge: Pier 17 - where they shot Real World NY

I love that city!!!

The girl was right - it was THE YUMMIEST pizza!!! I have to say, the food was almost my favorite part of the trip:) (the "coach" purse buying on Canal street I think was my #1 favorite part!)

even more NEW YORK!!!

From Greenwich village we took the subway to ground zero. We were a little nervous, but we were pretty successful - we didn't get on the wrong train or anything!

Jarrie buying her first subway ticket!
Getting on the subway train!
We got off of the subway at ground zero.This was a huge plaque that dipicted the attack on the world trade centers. It's a little haunting, it shows the firefighters and police and the towers smoking.So this is a fire station right across the street from ground zero. The firefighter in the middle was on duty on Sept. 11So after some solemn time we stopped by sephora just down the street. It was "fashion's night out" and this particular one was doing this airbrush makeup thing. It felt so good - very relaxing. Here we are in all our airbrushed makeup prettiness! Doesn't Nikki look great w/ red lips!!!

More NEW YORK!!!

So day 2 was maybe my favorite day of the trip. It started off with sleeping in until 9 - it was wonderful!!! Then we headed down to a walking food tour of Greenwich Village. Here are Jarrie and me waiting to eat lots of yummy food!Our first stop was the Famous Joe's Pizza (like the sign says:)) for some New York style pizza, which is now my favorite pizza! (We ate it twice that day!)Next were some rice balls - pretty darn good! Then we hit this Japanese restaurant that is completely vegetarian. This is us, waiting outside of it.

So here is what we ate there. The "meat" is made of gluten! It was pretty good, you couldn't even tell it wasn't real meat!

Does this building look familiar? It's the outside shot they used in Friends for their apartment building

The cannoli was supposed to be the best, but Saturday I had a better one in Little Italy.

This is so pretty! It is a little courtyard behind a restaurant - it's so pretty and unexpected:)

At that restaurant we had the yummiest cauliflower dish - all I remember that was in it was pinenuts and currants. It sounded so gross when they described it, but it was soo good. And it was Nikki's first time eating cauliflour -- ever!!!

I guess the rest wasn't picture worthy, but we had yummy cookies and a bunch of different cheeses, and saw some fun buildings and such. This is the narrowest building on Manhattan. It's something like 7 feet wide.

NEW YORK!!!

So I have the best husband in the world and went to NYC with some friends for 5 days last weekend. Being from a tiny town in Montana I have always wanted to go there, but Ryan has no desire. So my friend Jarrie (who has also always wanted to go) and our friend Nikki (who has been) made the plans in April. I will probably have too many details in this, so sorry, I just want to remember it all:) Our flight left @ 7am, (this picture is right before we boarded - don't we look bright eyed!) We didn't want to waste a day travelling so we got the earliest flight we could.

We did feel welcomed to NY, what with all the people rushing past us, not caring if they run into you, the cab drivers hustling you, it was all so - bustling:) Instead of standing in the cab line a woman came up and said she'd drive us to our hotel (the Westin in Times Square) for $45. She was a fast talker and we were not sure we could trust her, so she says "wait here I'll find another person" so she took off, and we were about to just get in the cab line (45min. wait) and she grabbed us, "come with me". So we followed her and the other passenger (who happened to be Christian Siriano's assistant - the winner of project runway) she was rushing to get to his show (we got to NY at the end of fashion week). So all I can say about the drivers in NYC is -- I've found my people! It's like a roller coaster ride. There are soo many cars on the street, they all drive so fast and stop so fast - the lines on the roads are just ignored, as are traffic lights:) Nikki's husband told her that cars have the right of way in NYC - and it's so true!

We got to our hotel and asked the concierge where we should get some lunch (which is how we found most of the places we ate and they were all fabulous!!!) so we walked through times square to get to the diner. Then we hit H&M for some shopping - it was the crazy busiest store I've ever seen! Our last day we went to another one that was not so busy and found lots more stuff to buy! Then it was time to get ready to go see Wicked - it was sooo great!!! I could see a broadway show every night!

After the show we walked past the place where the actors came out. This guy played Fiyero, the handsome prince/Elphaba's love interest. So, being that it was fashion week, the city was crawling with celebrities. I was so sure I'd at the very least see Bethanny from NY Housewives, but this is the closest we got to celebrity:(

First Day of School 2010

School has been in for about a month now and I'm just posting the pictures - pretty typical!!! The kids were all excited for school to start, but Emma was not excited about having her picture taken. She was crossing her arms, scowling and rolling her eyes and saying "'I'm not going to". Luckily she smiled at the last minute for the camera:) I thought I would have so much time this summer to sit by the pool and do fun things with the kids and just enjoy it. We did not really get to do that, so then I thought we'd slow down once school started - wrong again:) I think I am coming to terms with the fact that we are out of the "slow" stage of life and into the busy one- and all I can do is hang on and enjoy the ride ! :)