New York!

Three weeks ago Patrick and I took a fun trip to New York. He surprised me with this as a part of my Christmas-arranged for his parents to come and babysit and everything. He had a work event going on in the city and he decided to extend the trip a little and take me along with him. So, so, so fun! I absolutely love when we get to travel together. I had been to New York a couple of times but only in the hot summer months, so I was excited to freeze our buns off see what the winter was like.

We I decided to take the first flight out on Friday morning to make the most of our trip, and Patrick kindly went along. We woke up at 3am and left the house by 4am. There were a few what was I thinking?!? moments that morning but my giddiness over getting to see them film the Today show made it worth it. Nerd, I know.

We checked into the hotel which was less than a mile from Rockafeller Plaza and headed straight to the Today show. We even made it on camera TWICE! And I would have had a recording of it, except my sweet father-in-law cancelled that recording for something super important I'm sure. Pappppppyyyy!!! ha, just kidding. ;) 

Next we walked around a bit and did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel to thaw out. Next stop was Chelsea Market. One of my best friends had just been to New York and told me that we had to go here. So glad she recommended it! It's a trendy little spot with lots of different unique food options. My favorite-chocolate ravioli. Surprisingly really delish.

After leaving Chelsea Market we took the subway to go to the 9/11 Memorial. My first trip to New York was only months after the attack and my second trip was several years later but it was still all a mess. It was nice to get to see things in a better state than my previous trips. Crazy to think how long ago that was and yet how it seems like it was yesterday.

After leaving and continuing to explore the city was when I heard the words that I'm pretty sure were a once in a lifetime thing...Patrick: "Can we find a Starbucks? I'll gladly go sit in one with you?!" Ha, it was that cold. The 3 pairs of socks, 4+ shirts, 2 pants and many other layers weren't enough to keep the cold out. I think I bought more coffee that trip than ever before-simply to have it as hand warmers.

We walked through China Town and explored Little Italy a bit. But honestly by this time we had walked so much that my body felt like I was at least 50 years older than I am. By the time we made it to dinner it was hard to sit down and painful to walk to the bathroom. Oh, and we were also eating dinner at 5:00. My idea of having reservations at 7:00 that night weren't seeming so smart after waking up at 3am. Yes, we're still on day 1.

We had dinner at Da Nico's in Little Italy. It was delicious, but they really had me the moment they brought these out for dessert....oh how I love beignets or technically zeppoles since we were in Little Italy. I must find out how to make those.

And finally it was back to the hotel after Day 1 was complete. I may have fallen asleep around 8 o'clock. And that was after already falling asleep in the tub while taking a hot bath to thaw out.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and headed out to try and get tickets to see Once on Broadway. We weren't able to get their "rush tickets" at 50% off, but they did have some partial view tickets left for what I would consider cheap compared to the price of other seats. And oh my goodness, so glad we went with them. We sat only 4 rows back and had a pretty outstanding "partial view" in our opinion. Just a very small corner of the stage that we couldn't see. We loved this show! It is coming to Atlanta in March, and you must go!

After getting our tickets we walked to Central Park. It was completely covered in snow and absolutely beautiful!

We then headed to FAO Schwarz and Dylan's Candy bar. Love my candy. Wishing we had one of these closer...but maybe it's better that we don't.

Patrick kept laughing at how excited I got over the different candy selections. 

We then grabbed some lunch at Clark's Standard-an awesome burger joint near our hotel. And while the snow was falling outside, we decided a burger and fries pairs best with a milkshake. duh. Oh, if you knew how much the two of us love our ice cream.

We then went back to the hotel to get ready for Patrick's work event. It was a 24 hour party to launch the Pinnacle Cinnabon Vodka. Luckily, we didn't have to stay for the entire 24 hours. It was an awesome party though...felt a whole lot more hip than we probably are.

We then left the party to head to dinner and our show. It was such a great show and an end to our trip!