New York Vacation - Day Two

(If you missed the post about Day 1, see it HERE.)

Day two of our trip was Thanksgiving Day, which meant the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!  We didn't care to try to get close to the action, so we took our time getting up and out that morning, and found a decent spot along the parade's path off 6th Avenue. Thankfully there weren't many people standing in front of us, so we had a good view.  Once we claimed a spot, Jesse and I went in hunt for breakfast and hot drinks to keep us warm (temporarily). Soon the parade was marching by, and it was so much fun seeing all of the bands and balloons. We were not in a spot to see any performances, but the marching bands did play as they came by, and several squads of cheerleaders and dance-lines stopped and put on a small show.

 (We had no idea the order of the parade, or even who the performers were. So on many of the floats famous singers rolled by and we had no clue. I'm still not sure who these guys were, but I learned of a few as I looked through our photos.)

(Duck Dynasty)

 (Please ignore my paleness reflecting with the flash here. I was very excited about the Wizard of Oz balloons. However, these balloons go by much faster than they appear to on TV. You only have the gap between the buildings to see them through, so it was challenging to snap a photo with our favorite balloon.)

(Fall Out Boy)

After the parade, we were off to lunch at Kat'z Dinner. You might recognize this as a famous and (..ahem..) arousing scene from When Harry Met Sally. Matt's instructions were to order the hot pastrami or corned beef sandwiches with a cream soda, so that's what we did! The sandwiches were stacked high with your meat of choice, and even with Jesse and me splitting a sandwich it was filling. Of course, not so much that we didn't get dessert. We chose carrot cake to get a little festive and feel like we were eating something that might be at the Thanksgiving table at home.

[Spoiler Alert: Stop here if you plan to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular one day and don't want to see anything before hand. It was my favorite, so I'm sharing a good bit about it, and it had a nice surprise, which I'll rave about. (This probably doesn't talk you out of not looking.) I'm not sure how much it changes from year to year.]

After a return to the apartment to rest and warm back up (this was pretty much a daily occurrence that was much needed), it was time to go see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall! I'm so glad Heidi wanted to do this and added it to our list because it wound up being one of my favorite things of the trip! It was amazing how in sync the girls were throughout the entire show. There was also a story line that went along with the show where Santa was helping a mom and daughter decide on what to get the little girl for Christmas. With such a theme of gift-giving it took what I thought was an unexpected turn for such a show, and as Christmas Eve came around the family read the true Christmas story from the Bible. The stage went black and then wise men began crossing the stage. Next the stage opened up into a hillside where the nativity was displayed, and all the Rockettes and extras gathered around in their elaborate and ornate "wise-men" costumes as "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" crescendoed. It was so beautiful, and I loved that they made such a big and magnificent deal about the birth of Jesus. It was unexpected, and the audience roared with applause. (I might have almost cried.) Then the Rockettes and other cast members came out for the grand finale, in their classic line up.

Radio City was gorgeous inside in the lobby area with it's enormous chandelier, in the theater portion which is also grand in size, and even in the bathrooms (or technically the women's lounge).

Many of the restaurants in New York are pizza or deli places, but we found and went to a fancier restaurant for our Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon. It was Trattoria Dopa Teatro, and Italian eatery. Jesse and I had red snapper with a lemon creme mushroom-artichoke sauce with a side of mashed butternut squash. Matt and Heidi stayed with the Italian theme and had lasagna. But the most amazing thing an appetizer of ricotta stuffed eggplant. Sounds simple enough, but it was like nothing any of us had ever had before. I'm not sure if it was just really fresh and good quality ricotta or what, but it was amazing. (So good that it was gone before we thought of taking a picture.) If you're ever in New York, you might want to track this dish down. Matt couldn't resist trying their Tiramisu, as well.

We were so full when we left, we had to show our appreciation of the delicious food we just consumed:

Heidi and I had developed a small long list of bakeries or sweet shops (as you might have already determined), so most of the time we opted to leave the restaurant and find one of the locations on our list for dessert instead. So on this night we headed to Magnolia Bakery. Most of the food bloggers I follow put this cupcake shop on their list of favorites in NYC. We were surprised they had very normal flavors of cake and frosting combos, so Heidi chose a vanilla cake will vanilla frosting and I picked a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  The chocolate was delicious. The icing was a little different because it had somewhat of a fudge-like texture and flavor.  They were not super special, but I'm glad we tried them.

During a walk at some point, we stopped at a street artist's stand. He paints cityscapes of New York with spray paint. We've seen videos online of artists like this before, and it's pretty amazing. (Check out a similar artist HERE.) We looked through his stack of paintings and chose one to bring home. :)

That's the end of Day 2. Day 3 coming up soon!

New York Vacation - Day One

Finally I'm sharing our vacation! I've been so anxious to share our trip with y'all, but I'm in my last week of classes for the semester and finals are next week, so I haven't found much time to type. New York was SO much fun! We saw, did, and ate a lot of exciting things! I'm going to do a quick run through of each of the five days we were there, so let's get started:

As you already know, we planned this trip with (and mostly thanks to) Matt & Heidi (aka - it was their original plan and they invited us along). We flew from Atlanta to LaGuardia airport in Queens and drove into Manhattan to find our lodging. Matt had found an apartment to rent for the week, which gave us a glimpse into city life there instead of being in a hotel room. (Plus we got two bathrooms, which was handy for four people getting ready early each morning!)  We dropped off our luggage, then took our hungry tummies out to find lunch.  What's a trip to New York without New York pizza, right? So John's Pizzeria was our first stop. (Note: there are pizza places on every single corner. You can't miss having pizza while you're there.)

We walked around a little and happened on Times Square.

Unfortunately the weather that day was rainy, so we only walked around a little bit after lunch before we realized we needed to return "home" and re-equip our outfits for the weather. We all got Subway passes and headed back out, this time to Grand Central Station Terminal. The architecture was grand and beautiful with massive staircases and the four-faced clock in the center.

(this is when the locals really know you're tourists, when you start taking photos on the Subway)

Next, we went in search of the first of many sweet treats. This stop was Dylan's Candy Bar - known for their delicious chocolate bars.  Don't let the name fool you, this shop was three floors full of candy! Heidi and I picked out several chocolate bars, which we all taste-tested immediately after walking out their door. Flavors include: Dark Chocolate Raspberry,  S'mores, Espresso, Cookies and Cream, and Bacon, among many others.

We passed by the Plaza Hotel, known in the film Home Alone. So we popped into the lobby area and observed it's grand style of chandeliers and bright red exterior carpet.

Then we popped into FAO Schwarz Toy Store, just to see what was inside. We learned everything is on a much larger scale in NYC - from stores to food. Again, three floors of toys and candy!

(this one's for you, Brother!)

By this time it was night and we walked through Times Square again. (We had passed by earlier in our walk.)  It was much more impressive after dark when all the lights and signs really pop.

It was also time to eat again, so we chose Ellen's Stardust Diner.  It's a popular place for tourists, and quite the attraction itself. All the waiters and waitresses are Broadway-hopefuls, and they take turns performing as you eat. They jump up on the stage in the center of the restaurant to sing and dance, and even come out and interact with the customers at times - a great atmosphere!

We weren't sold on their desserts, so we went to the Time Warner Center to Bouchon Bakery for their well-known macarons!  Heidi and I were very excited about this specific sweet, but we got there not too long before closing and they had been picked over down to one small platter of assorted desserts (only one flavor of macaron). We chose a few since we had come all the way there, but it didn't satisfy the two of us girls. We were coming back for more another day!

We took the Subway home to rest up for another day ahead.
Other sightings on Day 1:  The Late Show front, New Year's ball in Times Square, lots of very talented street performers, and a glass Apple Store which you took an elevator or staircase down into to shop.

It sounds like we didn't do all that much on this day, but we didn't have a truly full day because of travel, and there is lots of walking in between each thing you do.  We determined that must be why everyone there was fairly skinny. :)

Follow the rest of our trip: Day Two //  Day Three  //  Day Four  //  Day Five

A different kind of Thanksgiving

This year, as many of you already know, Jesse and I did not go home for Thanksgiving. Instead we decided to go on vacation with Matt and Heidi (so we were still technically with family during the holidays) to New York!  We had this planned far in advance, and I could. not. wait. I was SO very excited about this trip, and now that we've returned I can say the city definitely lived up to my expectations. We had an amazing time.

But before I talk more about that, I'd like to share the Thanksgiving we did have.  Our community group leaders, Mike and Kelsey, decided to host Thanksgiving lunch on the Sunday before Thanksgiving for everyone. They cooked the turkey (and a couple other dishes) and asked that we each bring a side dish. Between all of us we had quite the spread - including dressing, two sweet potato casseroles, Chris's now famous corn dish, and several others.

I was so glad we did this, because we still got to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal, and the best part is that it truly felt like family.  Even with Kelsey's parents in town and helping out, it didn't feel like we were jumping into their Thanksgiving. Sitting around with a table full of friends, some of which we didn't even know a whole year ago still seemed like a close-knit family.  We also went around and told something we were thankful for from the past year. And there is SO much to be thankful for, especially in just the situations and families present at the table that day. (We were still missing several people from the group, though.) And it was a sweet feeling to know that we have all been present in each other's lives to help see each other through sad and happy times this year.  Of course we did miss our real families during the holidays.  I think they've forgiven us for skipping out. ;)

Stay tuned for posts about our trip!  I've been getting pictures ready to share and trying to decide how to go about sharing - there's so much to talk about!

High Five for Friday

1.  We got back from our trip to New York on Sunday night. We had an awesome time there. More to come on that soon!

2.  I was really worried that the time I took to have a vacation over Thanksgiving break would kick me in the butt when I returned, but I survived my Pharmacology test and final skills assessment practical in CEVS. Yay!

3.  We went out with friends last night for pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen, where some of the proceeds helped to support the Alabama Baptist Children's Homes and Family Ministries, which is where one of our other friends works! It was fun to have a night out on the town after a stressful week, and even better that it benefited other families at the same time! Also, our pizzas were delicious. I was able to order a BBQ Chicken pizza, which Jesse usually vetoes. :)

4.  Our Christmas cards got ordered and arrived this week. I was able to take advantage of an awesome Cyber Monday deal through Cardstore.com.  Long story short, their site was slammed and resulted in many people having technical difficulties, where we could not submit our order by midnight. They were a kind enough company to honor the deal on Tuesday for those that had contacted them about the problems with their order on Cyber Monday. So we saved a TON on dollar$ on our cards this year, and they are awesome quality. I would highly recommend Cardstore. (Unfortunately I'm not compensated to say that...) Plus they fill your box up with colorful froo-froo stuff that makes you smile when you open your box!  Of course, you can't see them until they arrive in your very own mailbox!

5.  I stopped by the Goodwill on my way home from school today. They apparently have some kind of connection with Target, which I'm wondered about before. Several months ago they had 5 of the same skirts from Target which seemed odd. But this time, they had all kinds of Target stuff, including Christmas wrapping and decorations. I actually found some simple stocking holders that I eyed last year at Target for half their price! And another skirt for $4 bucks. Not bad, not bad.

Christmas decorating will ensue tonight! After we pick up the house from prior to leaving last week, and all of our stuff we dumped here and there upon return. It's been busy, I promise. But I'm excited to get our few decorations out.  I've been in denial a few days about it already being December. But I have done some (online) Christmas shopping this week, so that helps get the Christmas-juices flowing. :)

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!