On Thursday morning, three girls from Chicago boarded a plane at about the same time a girl from Detroit was boarding her plane.... and a couple hours later, they all met up in New York City... the rest, as they say, is history!
HA!
So, it really is NOT that dramatic. I couldn't help myself though. I am still coming down from the high of a fabulous girls' trip to New York!!!
Thursday morning we all made our way to LaGuardia airport... where the four of us piled into a cab and told Mr. Cabbie to take us to our hotel in Midtown. Whew. That was a much more brutal journey than the plane for certain. It was right around noon, and traffic was WICKED. It took us a good hour to get from the airport to the hotel. We finally arrive, I check us in... and we head up to our room on the 17th floor to unpack, freshen up, and hit the streets to shop!
We open the door to our room..... and are hysterical immediately....
The picture really doesn't do it justice.... but our room is the tiniest room EVER.... and it has two beds. Yes... two beds... but these beds are SO NOT DOUBLE beds. No. Freakin'. Way. They are single and a half AT BEST!!!!!! We kinda freak out at first. Jackie calls down to the front desk and asks for a bigger room, or at least some normal sized beds. They say, no deal. This is what we get. They don't have rooms with two queens and these are their "doubles." Wow. Really? Nice....
Okay.... we laugh... it is really more funny than annoying... really, it is. We are at this point glad to be four fairly petite girls! :-)))))
As if our room isn't quite cramped enough.... the following morning after Beth and Sandy have gone downstairs, Jackie and I steal a rollaway bed from the hall and place it in our room to surprise the girls upon their return. It was hard to keep the secret all day, but worth it... and we really enjoyed having absolutely no space to walk around for a while... :-) Mature huh?
On that first day, we dropped our bags off in our walk in closet of a room, and then went to a great little French restaurant called Maison for lunch. It was so New York. Loud, cramped, busy and bustling with energy. We loved it. Had some great food and even better wine.... and were very anxious to hit the Fifth Avenue and get our shopping on!!!
We walked up 53rd to Fifth.... and I made the girls stop at the corner.... pause with me and enjoy the moment! Ahhh... Fifth Avenue... a shopper's dream. :-) I appreciate that they all humored me and put up with my moment.
We walked down to Bergdorf Goodman where we oohed and ahhhhed over gorgeous purses, outrageous clothes and tried on... what else... JEANS! :-) We all need more jeans like we need a hole in the head, but we can't help it. It's what we DO!!!!! I didn't find any there I had to have, but Jackie found two pair. She officially kicked off the purchasing leg of our trip!!!
We left Bergdorf and walked in an out of a few stores.... eventually coming to Anthropologie where we all tried on many, many things. We had a lot of fun in the huge dressing room, encouraging one another to purchase fabulous articles of clothing for ourselves. Beth ended up with a pair of jeans and a great top. I ended up with a great black sweater dress.
At Saks...... we once again, tried on jeans..... :-) But... we also made Beth try on this fabulous jumpsuit. You can't tell it has this open pouch in the front in the picture. They picture actually makes it look decent or it's because Beth is so gorgeous she can make a trash bag look good... but we all had a good laugh and were so happy Beth was a good sport and humored us.
At Saks, I found some great J Brand jeans on sale... SALE! They were begging to be bought... and I think Jackie got a couple more pair as well. :-)
It should be said... earlier at Bergdorf, Jackie fell in love with a Valentino purse.... she walked away... and then, we ran into it again at Saks. We all had to touch it, the leather was so amazingly soft and we just ooohhed and ahhhhed over it. After two days, we wore Jackie down, and she bought it. :-) We are all living vicariously through her amazing purchase!
After a great day of shopping and eating.... we needed to head back to the hotel to change and prepare for our evenings out! Sandy, Beth and Jackie were going to see Ricky Gervais at Carnegie Hall and I was meeting up with my cousin Sarah who lives in Brooklyn for dinner and drinks.
Sarah and I met up and had drinks while the other girls got ready in our room. We decided to get ready in "shifts" in our tiny ass room. ;-) Then, Sarah and I made our way through Times Square and over to the Hells Kitchen area where there are many fun restaurants to choose from. We ended up at a little Italian place... and enjoyed some great food, drink and conversation.....
Afterwards, we met up with the girls for a drink.... and then called it a night.... a perfect end to a great, but busy ass day!
They next morning, Jackie (the angel) got up and went to Starbucks... bringing us all back coffee, in bed. Talk about room service! When we were all dressed and ready to go, we went down the the concierge to ask about breakfast.... we waited and waited and waited while the dumb asses talked to the ONE concierge on duty for an hour about getting tickets for this and that... all we wanted to do was ask for a quick breakfast recommendation!!!!!!!!
Ten years off my life later... we end up at a typical cute diner down the freakin' street!!!!! Lou's. Whatever.. it was good, we were happy... we moved on. To more shopping on Fifth.... and then, we got brave... and ventured onto the Subway to go out to Soho for the express purpose of finding this yarn store that Jackie was dying to go to...
We were all just so proud of ourselves for getting on the subway... Jackie forced me to be strong... when all I wanted to do was hail a damn cab.... but we did it.....
And it was worth the time and the trip (and the possible exposure to disease, rats and crazies). Soho is AWESOME!!!!!! All neighborhoody... and not at all giant buildings, big city and touristy like Midtown. (but I still freakin' LOVE Midtown!!!!!!!) We happened upon some of the nicest little areas... fountains...
... parks... schools... brownstones... eateries.... shops... and we found Jackie's yarn store with the help of our iPhones and Google Maps!!! (how do people LIVE without an iPhone?)
Right next to the yarn store, called Purl... sat this adorable little shop.... called Once Upon a Tart. It was full of all sorts of sweet deliciousness!
After the yarn.... we found the most amazing little Italian place ever.... and enjoyed the best service, food and wine a girl could ask for.... next time we really hope to stay out in this area.... and of course, pay a visit to Fifth and Midtown... but explore the neighborhoods off the beaten path a bit more. There is still amazing shopping out there.... probably BETTER food... and it just feels comfortable. Kinda like home.
That night, we went to one of my fave Midtown restaurants, Nobu... where we enjoyed sushi, fish, sashimi and drinks!!!!!! Our final night in NYC was coming to a close......
We walked down to Times Square to stand in the middle of the lights and craziness... and absorb the City one last time.....
We returned to our tiny room and slept all close and cuddly together..... and once again, Jackie (plus Beth this time) got up and got us coffee. We sat around our room, drinking our coffee in bed... talking forever.... enjoyed our last afternoon with a bit more shopping and lunch.... and made our way back to the airport..... where we said our goodbyes.... and boarded our planes to come back to our kids... our lives....
But, I will never forget our trip. It wasn't anything crazy special. We didn't stay at the Ritz or do anything so grand..... but it was all the little things that added up. The people, the places, the everything about it... that made it one of the best times of my life!!!!
Thank you girls...... let's do it again soon!
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