NYC

Kelly and I left Friday morning for NYC and returned late Monday night, after a wonderful trip, I woke up yesterday with a variation of the flu, today I am feeling well enough to sit at the computer, and am convinced that I will be 100% very soon! But now, for the good stuff:

Lindy's "World Famous" cheesecake, hey if Oprah says so then it must be true right!?! Well, although Kelly and I thoroughly enjoyed our piece, I wasn't a fan of the sponge cake crust, I like a nice buttery graham cracker crust. Still, definitely worth it. Next time however, I think I may just try a slice from this place...
The Stage Deli. Here Kelly is showing off his Cornbeef and Swiss sandwich. And no, that is not the triple meat stacked one, could you imagine how big that sandwich must be!?! We loved this deli, it was recommended to us by one of the tour guides on the double decker bus we got around town on. The menu says that Joe Dimaggio used to eat chicken noodle soup there before his games. I ordered a half Pastrami sandwich and we shared a big ol' side of fries. When the waiter cleared our plates, he looked at me and said, "Good job!" I just laughed, it was definitely a Gilmore Girls impressive appetite moment, that and Kelly had just finished politely saying "you must have really liked the fries," okay so maybe next time we will each get our own.

We visited Ground Zero, which is currently a large construction zone for the 1,776 foot building set to be completed in 2013 I believe, but now I am second guessing myself, maybe it is sooner. Anyway, without planning to, Kelly and I just both stopped on the sidewalk, looked up where the twin towers formerly stood, and just stood there in silence for a few minutes. After years of seeing footage of the towers falling, even standing there, it was very difficult to picture it really happening. I don't know if subconciously I half expected to still see debris and chaos now 7 1/2 years later, or what, but it was definitely surreal. I was thankful for the opportunity to pause and remember, and also thankful to see the city rebuilding itself. To see the movement forward, definitely not forgetting, but striving ahead in more unified strenghth.

On a much lighter note, we visited Century 21. No, not a real estate office, but rather think Nordstrom Rack meets semi-couture meets chaos of Ross on a Saturday afternoon, oh and meets the size of a downtown Macy's, and voila you have Century 21. I was not at all prepared for the size and craziness of the store. After touring the various floors, I decided to just focus on shoes. I was super excited when I had boxes and boxes to try on, until I began trying them on and realized that the box and style are not accurately written on the outside of the box. I had about 5 pairs of size 10's and a pair of size 5. I rummaged through some boxes with no success... And then ahhhhh, like a what do you call it, a mirage, but not a mirage, they were real, my new black leather knee high boots. I tell you, I have been looking for what feels like forever for the perfect pair of boots, I even told my friend Erin in detail the type of toe I wanted, and there they were, sitting there 7.5 and everything. Granted, I then had to wear knee high boots through airport security because I didn't dare risk them getting damaged in my luggage, but hey it was worth it.

Kelly and one of New York's finest. This was taken outside of the Hilton Hotel, across the street from the WTC.

Above and Below, Kelly and I posing in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most of the armor would have fit me, especially the Italian armor, they were not the tallest men. It was similar to looking at famous actor's costumes.

Kelly wanted me to pose with the above Rattle at the museum, because it is from my "people." It is a Haida rattle from circa 1880. It is pretty neat because one of my relatives made me a rattle that looks very very similar to this one. It is a shark.

Here we are outside of the museum, I am a huge fan of NYC hot dogs, and here I thought I only liked the Costco ones.

Saturday night we saw Phantom of the Opera. Not too often do I use the word "spectacular," but that is truly what this show was. Theatre is such a collaborative art and seeing the sets, costumes, acting, music, everything being executed at the Broadway level, was beyond impressive and so enjoyable. The rest of the weekend we were singing "Phantom of the Opera..."

Here's Kelly making his best, "I am FREEZING" face, while we stood in line for our 1/2 priced theatre tickets. Did I mention it was only 8 degrees on Saturday. FREEZING!!!

I have no idea what weird face I am making in this picture, but ignore me and look at the pastry case! This was a bakery in Little Italy, they had chocolate dipped macaroons the size of my palm, and although Kelly claims the coffee tasted like dirt, everything else looked delicious! Hey, they can't be good at everything.

Did you know there are two towers in Times Square with adds and video etc? I certainly didn't, so here I am in front of one of two towers.

Our first Broadway play! We picked it because William H. Macy was in it, but actually Raul Esparza stole the show. We were only 10 rows back, it was awesome. Oh, and I tossed that hat in my suitcase last minute, so glad I did, I basically lived in it all weekend.

We would buy coffee or a snack just so we could stay inside while we waited for our tour bus. It was worth every penny.

I kind of felt like I was in Gotham City. All of the buildings are muted and the weather made things very dull, so this reddish building really popped out to me. The perfect example of when I wished I had some photog skills.

Although this was a very belated birthday trip, the hotel still sent up a chocolate ganache cake with gold specks and an airbrushed gold "Happy Birthday" banner. They gave us a corner sweet on the 37th floor and free access to the "Executive Club" for the duration of our stay. That included free breakfast and evening appetizers. One night we just had appetizers for dinner, I love free food! And, I love the Westin.

Kelly loves the double showerheads that the Westin has.

Ta da!

Other random NYC things:

Fur coats, I have never in my life seen so many fur coats. I even saw a mother daughter combo with matching fur coats. The daughter was about 16.

I love that women in New York EAT. Living in LA, I was surrounded by thin women, but it wasn't impressive, they weren't exercising or doing anything, except not eating. Not in NYC, every restaurant was packed with ladies packing it away, and then even in 8 degree weather Central Park was bustling with joggers and runners alike. Plus you have to intake a lot of fuel with all the energy your body uses to stay warm and all of the walking. I am definitely a fan of that, eat and walk, walk and eat.
Finally, one little story for those of you who have made it all the way to the bottom of this novel length post...

On the plane ride home, Kelly and I ordered the $5.00 snack packs, I opted for the Tuna Pack. And, before you go off thinking, "Nicole, how could you put the person sitting next to through smelling tuna for the whole trip etc..." I was sitting in the aisle seat, no one was in the middle, and Kelly was in the aisle next to me. I had just read about this lemon/pepper whatever tuna in my Self magazine and what do you know, that is what they had on the plane. Perfect. Or so I thought. I opened up the little can and ate it with crackers. When I went to eat the last cracker the tuna fell right down my top. And, I know my top area isn't ginormous by any means, but apparently it is the perfect size for tuna to nestle into. Without thinking of how strange I may look, I just reached on down to scoop it out, I reached and couldn't find. Rather than continue to search around like a weirdo, I decided I would make my way to the restroom. I went to get up, but before I made it out of my seat I realized that I was trapped, the beverage cart was taking it's sweet time down the aisle and an unfriendly reminder had already been made not to use the first class restroom unless you were seated in first class. So, I decided to continue on munching away and as I ate, I thought hmm... maybe nothing fell down there. Wrong. Finally the cart was gone and as I stood up I felt cold wet chunks sliding down my stomach, some of which landed in my belly button. Somehow, I hadn't realized just how much tuna had really escaped off of my cracker. It was, let's just say, a lot. Tuna fell onto my pants and I just instincually flicked it off. As chunks trickled out of my sweater, Kelly just laughed and said "You're going to have to blog about this."

Did you know that the neck and stomach are recommended spots to put cologne or perfume? Well, after a 5 plus hour trip of soaking in tuna juice, I can confirm that that recommendation is indeed accurate. Oh, and I failed to remember that I am a bit of a tuna snob and only like albacore anyway. I guess I will just stick to the regular deli pack, the salami seems much easier to handle.