NYC!

The end of July Derrick had to travel to New York City for work and asked if I wanted to come as an early anniversary trip. Um…YES! My good friend Ann and our awesome babysitter Ashley took over and watched the girls while were were gone from Saturday to Wednesday. I knew they were in great hands and having a blast so I didn’t worry one little bit while we were gone. Nor did I really miss them…does that make me a bad mom?? I was happy to see them when we got back if that makes a difference. :)

Derrick and I would have all of Saturday and Sunday together and then he had to work Monday through Wednesday. When I found out I was going I started making a list of all the places I wanted to. All the places I saw on Martha Stewart, Food Network, wherever. We pretty much ate our way through the city, and it was divine. Seriously, it was so much fun, and so great to be able to spend those days with just Derrick. We had a great time.

We saw two shows, Mary Poppins and Rock of Ages. Mary Poppins was cute and fun, although we could have used some subtitles at times…those British accents can get a little tricky up in the mezzanine! We had amazing seats for Rock of Ages and was such a great show. So much fun, such great music, just a really cool show. A little more crass than I was expecting, but I really had no idea what it was about to begin with. We loved every minute of it. Now we gotta watch the movie!

We saw the new 9/11 Memorial which was very cool. Definitely worth the trip downtown. We took a 3 hour cruise around the island, which was one of my favorite things that we did. We had great views of the island and learned a lot from the tour guide. It was a gorgeous day when we went and was just so fun. I highly recommend it—and only like $28 for a 3 hour tour! That’s a bargain!We got to see our friends the Gardner’s, which is always a treat. We ate at the Shake Shack with them, and oh man, so freaking good. I could have eaten there every day. We also got to see our friend Chong, who used to work with Derrick at Kohl’s. We ate at Il Cortile in Little Italy with him where I had the tastiest lobster raviolis. Mmmm. Followed by gelato. Mmmmmmm. Luckily for our waistlines, we did a ton of walking. How can you not in the city? One day while Derrick was working I took a 3 hour walking food tour through Greenwich Village. Probably my favorite part of the trip. We went to 8 different restaurants in the village and sampled different types of food including cheeses, meatballs, cookies, 3 different kinds of pizza, and a cannoli. I made friends with another lady who was there solo and we became each others new BFF. We had a great time eating and walking and I loved everything I ate. Except for the olive. Still can’t do olives. I did some shopping on Canal St. and scored some new purses and some jewelry. I got to see Mood Fabrics, Eataly, Purl Soho, the Highline Park, take a picture with Tim Dekay, who was on location shooting for White Collar, and walk RIGHT past Snoop on the sidewalk. Not too shabby! I got cookies at Levain’s Bakery, which might possibly be the most delicious cookie I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. And at $4 a cookie, it better be! We got donuts at the Doughnut Plant, which were heavenly. The PB&J donut was to die for. Milwaukee really needs some better donut joints. We ate at Peter Luger’s, a well known steak place in Brooklyn. An amazing meal. I had sliced tomatoes that tasted like no other tomatoes I’ve ever had. I hate tomatoes, but I ate an entire slice by itself. I think if all tomatoes tasted like that I’d probably like them! And they have a bacon appetizer…..man. I could probably do a blog post just on the food. Maybe I should. And I need some new adjectives besides “amazing”.

I loved every minute of this trip. I am way more of a city girl than a country girl. Armed with my NFT and the NYC subway app I was all set to go wherever my heart desired. (Seriously, best app ever.)I know I’m leaving out so many fun details that I’m just not remembering anymore. I had a great time taking pictures though…so many great photo ops—I was in heaven. There’s already too many in this post but I have so many more, too. Oh well.

I sure hope this becomes an annual tradition. :)