Thoughtless Thursday...NYC Baby!

 If you've all been diligently reading my blog the past week, like you good little followers should be, then you will know that I am completely 100% madly in love with New York City. If I didn't have a boy, a puggle and a business here in good ole MPLS I would pack up and move to the city right now! Luckily, I have been able to make semi-regular trips (though, not as many as  I'd like) to fill that big apple shaped hole in my heart. Ok, ok maybe a bit dramatic. Last week I got to visit my love with my mom. Here is a recap of the amazingness that was our trip.....

Our trip started as every good trip should, with a Bloody Mary at an airport bar. We made it through security super quick and had time to spare, so obviously we bellied up to the bar. The flight was, for the most part, really uneventful. We were, however, twenty-minutes late arriving because a woman threw a level 5 fit before take off because there wasn't room for her bag in the overhead storage. When I say level 5 fit, I mean level 5...the flight attendants were threatening to throw her off the plane! We landed, got our baggage in record time, scored a town car for a great price and were at our hotel (Trump International) before check in! So, obviously we headed out to a little street side cafe for a refreshing adult beverage. Once we got checked-in, showered and ready to roll we were off to Rosa Mexicano, one of our all time New York favorites who serve the world's most amazing guacamole and the margaritas aren't to shabby either!

After dominating a couple margs and the amazing guac we were off to Broadway to the New Amsterdam theater to see Mary Poppins! It was remarkable! I wasn't sure how they could pull off the magic of the movie on stage, but I should have known Broadway would find a way. The music and dancing were incredible and we both loved the show! 

After the show, we stayed in the Theater District neighborhood and had dinner at Carmine's a famous family-style Italian restaurant. My mom and I split a penne, vodka pink sauce, Italian-named something that was to die for! It broke my heart that we couldn't finish it and weren't able to bring home the leftovers!  

After dinner, we were pretty tired so we moseyed back to our hotel for a nightcap in the hotel bar, Jean Georges.

Wednesday morning we woke up rested and ready for a day of shopping! We went with the goals of finding  some essentials for my mom's wedding coming up in August. My mom needed some bangin' shoes to go with her amazing dress and I needed a dress and some shoes to match! Well, we were more than successful! We spent 9 hours, yes that's right, 9 HOURS on 5th Avenue and went everywhere you could think of...Bergdorf Goodman, Chanel, Manolo Blahnik, Tiffany's, Burberry, and more designers names I can even think of. I found a dress and shoes and my mom found the most beautiful Valentino shoes that will be PERFECT with her wedding dress! We were also both super excited because we went to Tiffany's and both left with little blue bags! My mom found a great bracelet and she treated me to an adorable jewelery box! 

this is the super cute jewelery box I got!

After a long day of shopping, we decided to try Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill for dinner.  We weren't overly thrilled with the menu, I mean, don't get me wrong it all looked amazing but it was a little to foo foo for our taste. We were craving Mexican food and this was not going to satisfy. So, we got a couple of margaritas and split an order of Queso Fundido that was AhhhhMAZING!  

We decided to head downtown to a Mexican restaurant called Mad Dog and Beans, which was without a doubt my favorite place we went the whole trip! It was delicious!!! It was decorated like a classic Mexican cantina, had a huge patio in an alleyway, was blasting fabulous music and had huge helpings of authentic Mexican food...I highly recommend the burrito! The best part about it...it's in the financial district which means weeknights are bumpin! It was great! 

I had done a little research and found a bar not far from Mad Dog on the roof of the Ritz Carlton. In 2009, it was voted the best rooftop bar in New York City and was known for it's amazing view of the Statue of Liberty....so of course we had to check it out! In the lobby of the Ritz a super cute couple asked me to take a picture of them, which of course I was more than happy to do! I ended up taking about 15 and halfway through the photo shoot they informed us that they had just been married the night before! They were thrilled with the pictures I took and were so happy to have run into us! After the pictures we were on our way up to the bar when we were informed that it had been closed for over a year. BOO! We were bummed, but then we thought about it and we think God wanted us to go to the Ritz so we could take pictures for those darling newlyweds. And they were nice enough to take a couple of us too! 

 We decided to head back uptown towards our hotel and found ourselves at Stone Rose, a restuant and bar in the Time Warner Buildings owned by Rande Gerber (Cindy Crawford's hubby people!) The night turned interesting the second we sat down. Without telling the super long version of this story, here's the quick one. We were getting hit on by a "plastic surgeon/professor" and "one of his students" and what went from friendly banter quickly became a really annoying and not that much fun conversation. Thank my lucky stars there was an adorable bouncer/host who was lurking around and heard the conversation starting to go south. Not only did he step in to talk to me so I wouldn't have to talk to the creepos but he ended up kicking out the "plastic surgeon/professor." Apparently, he wasn't liking that he was getting anywhere with us (we're a couple of tough cookies, who both happen to be in serious and happy relationships) and went into the bathroom and destroyed it. Real mature, doc. Real mature. All I can say, anyone whose opening line to my mother is, "so what work have you had done?" deserves a nice big punch in the face.

We got back to the hotel, put on our comfy Trump robes and slippers, watched a couple episodes of Kendra and fell asleep.Yes, my mom watches Kendra.

Thursday morning started with a trip to Chinatown! A successful trip I might add! I got a watch, a "Valentino" purse, a cell phone cover and sunglasses for J and did it all for under $55! I'm not great at much, but I am GREAT at haggling. How did I feel about my success? 

After shopping we made a pit stop in Times Square to grab a drink at our favorite bar, Tonic. It's super generic but we've had some great times there, so we just had to stop on. Then, I absolutely HAD to have a slice of Ray's pizza. BEST. PIZZA. EVER. It was just as good as I remembered it. After lunch it was time to get showered and ready for the whole reason we made this trip...THE BON JOVI CONCERT!

We decided to go back to Stone Rose and grab a drink and say goodbye and thank you to our knight in shining armor from the night before, Scotty. Thanks for looking out for us!

Soon after we were on the train to Port Authority and before we knew it we were on the bus headed to New Meadowlands Stadium to see BON JOVI! We made it safely to New Jersey just in time for a thunderstorm! And since the stadium is outdoors no one could go to their seats until there was no visible lightning. Let's just say that 80,000 unruly New Jerseyans waiting for Bon Jovi to come home and play a show at the brand new Giants/Jets Stadium was an interesting sight. At least the great people watching killed some time. After about an hour and a half, it was time! We were finally allowed to head to our seats. 

It was time for my mom to FINALLY see her "sweet baby" as she calls him. She is obsessed and this was her first Bon Jovi concert. I am so glad I got to be there with her and see her extreme excitement! It was great.

My mom when Bon Jovi came out...there were tears! Sooo cute!

There's not much I can say about the concert because honestly it was beyond words! Seeing Bon Jovi play in his home town was unlike any other show I've ever been to and I've been to A LOT of concerts but this was probably the best show I've ever been to. He played for three straight hours! He was amazing! 

He was awesome. The stadium was HUGE and completely sold out! There were fireworks! I was standing in an inch of freezing cold rain water and didn't care one bit. Livin' on a Prayer was my favorite part. Again, they were awesome!

Whew! I hope y'all like to read! I'll be waiting for my "Longest Blog Post Ever" award and you have to admit....pretty thoughtless! If you want to link up check out:

New York Memory (3)

The summer after my senior year of college I went to New York with my dad and some of our family friends. The trip was so fun because Allison, whose 20th birthday was during the trip, had never been there. It was fun to do a lot of sightseeing stuff and we did our fair share of partying, taking full advantage of what the city had to offer. The main reason for trip was to see the Twins play the Yankees! It was the last year at the old Yankee Field, so we wanted to make sure to catch a game before all that history and nostalgia was destroyed (such a shame). The Twins lost the game but our seats were RIDICULOUS! We were just two rows above the Twins' dugout! Such a fun time and an amazing memory that I'll never forget!

Beautiful Yankee Stadium (the old one)

Allison and I in our Twins gear! 

Yup, that's Joe Mauer. We were THAT close! 

 Thanks to this sweet sign we made, we were on TV!

I LOVE this picture! That's Mauer up to bat and obviously Cuddyer on deck! 

Also, the day before the game we ran into A-Rod on Fifth Avenue. We told him we were going to the game...he didn't care. Too busy dating everyone in Hollywood to give a rats behind I guess. 

New York Memory (2)

My sophomore year of college I went to NYC with my dad, step-mom, brother and little sister. We did a lot of fun things that trip; we saw 42nd Street and Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, we took a tour of Madison Square Garden, we took rickshaw rides through Central Park, but there is one part of that trip that really sticks out. My dad treated my step-mom and I to a very special trip to the Mark Garrison Salon! Mark Garrison is one of the top New York hair stylist and has even done Michelle Pfeiffer's hair! We got to go and have our hair cut and colored by some of New York's best. Let me tell you, Those high end New York salons treat you like a princess! It was by far the most amazing salon experience I've ever had and I doubt my hair will ever look that good again!

Me and D getting our hair did! 

Here's the BEFORE and AFTER shots of my beautified NYC hair! 

New York Memory (1)

As I mentioned HERE, this particular New York trip needs a post of its own. I tried to think of my favorite memory from this adventure but couldn’t, so instead I am sharing the whole thing….well, the parts I can talk about. Just kidding.

Wow, how do I begin? It was my freshman year of college and my friend Megan was going to school at Loyola University in Maryland. For my spring break I decided to go visit her for the weekend and together we were going to go to New York. At the time, Megan had never been there and I had only been there twice. This would be the first time going to the city without my dad and although I was a little nervous, I was beyond excited. I flew in to Baltimore on a Thursday and we had plans to spend a night in downtown Baltimore. It was a blast! I got to meet a bunch of Megan’s friends and explore a city I had never been to. A short side story…I was a good little girl growing up and made it all four years of high school and a semester and a half of college (in a sorority, nonetheless) without ever having a single sip of alcohol. That all changed the night I arrived in Baltimore.

 About to go out in downtown Baltimore!

Friday morning Megan and I sprung out of bed (late of course) and flew out the doors of her dorm room to catch a cab to the bus station. Now, we were late getting out of bed but this cab driver was ridiculous. He was supposed to pick us up outside of the cafeteria but couldn’t find it. We waited and waited and waited and finally, thanks to some help from a friend Loyola employee we were in the cab. We made it to the bus station just in time to miss our bus to New York City. First-I called my dad freaking out. Second-the lady at the bus station told us there was another station across town that had a bus leaving in 30 minutes. Third-we got back into the stupid cab and started our journey across town. It should not be hard to make it from bus station A to bus station B in 30 minutes; however, we were unaware of what we now lovingly refer to as NATIONAL FIELDTRIP DAY! I kid you not, there were thousands of children in downtown Baltimore that day and they were all loading in to hundreds of school buses. It was insane and of course slowed us way down. Don’t you hate that feeling when you are in such a hurry and you’re just sitting in a car and no matter what you do you aren’t able to go any faster? It’s all out of your control. Ugh, stress. Finally, we made it to the bus station with time to spare. We sat waiting for the bus with our belongings clutched to our bodies praying we wouldn’t get mugged or worse. To say this bus station was shady is an understatement. Finally, we hopped on our Peter Pan bus and were en route to New York City!

Our plan was to get off the bus and hop a cab to Megan’s mom’s cousin’s place where we were staying, then quickly shower and change and head to Time’s Square because we had tickets to a taping of TRL. That’s right everyone, TRL! Our bus arrives late and we quickly realize there is no way on God’s green earth we were ever going to pull off this plan. We weren’t certain we’d even have time to go to the apartment and drop off our stuff. So again, I call my dad. He suggests we find a hotel, pretend we’re staying there and just ask them to hold our luggage until we get back. If you’ve met me or Megan you know we are not smooth. We’ll say this plan did not work and leave it at that. I honestly don’t remember what we ended up doing with our luggage. I know for a FACT that we went to TRL wearing crap clothes and no makeup, but what happened between getting rejected at the hotel and meeting Elijah Wood is a complete blur. (yeah, Elijah Wood was hosting TRL that day! Way cooler than meeting Carson Daly…and our un-cuteness was definitely shown several times on TV. Great. )

 Me and Meg at Rockefeller Plaza after TRL...note, no makeup!

Friday night we went to Caroline’s comedy club and then had plans to go to Club Avalon, which was an old cathedral style church converted into a posh New York nightclub. Sacrilegious, I know…but it was amazing! While there, we met two brothers Ben and Sam who lived in the city. They bought us drinks, we danced, and it was wonderful! Ben and I have actually kept in touch after this trip and I have met up with him again during some other NYC trips. It’s fun to have a friend in the city because he always gives me great recommendations on places to go.

 At Caroline's Comedy Club!

Club Avalon with Ben and Sam

Before I left for this trip, my dad and I sat down and made a list of all the places Megan and I wanted to go, and then he organized an itinerary for us. As nerdy as it sounds, it’s a must-have when traveling to NYC. There is so much to see and the city is so big that if you don’t plan to do and see things that are close to each other you waste a ton of time traveling, and we all know how expensive cabs are. I will tell you that after being out at Avalon until 5am that itinerary went completely out the window. We slept through a good chunk of the day on Saturday, and then went shopping! We spent of our time in Chinatown buying knock-off jewelry and purses and then window shopped our way up Fifth Avenue.

 Showing off our knock off Louis bags from Chinatown...in front of the actual Louis

That night, we had plans to go to dinner and had tickets to Chicago on Broadway. For dinner, we went to my absolute favorite restaurant, Chiamm. It’s nestled in a cute East Side neighborhood and has the best Chinese food I’ve ever had! We walk in and ask for a table for two and the following conversation takes place:

Barely any English speaking Host: Christina?

Kristin: Nope, not me. Table for two please.

Host: Yes, Christina. Table for two.

Kristin: No, my name is Kristin, we don’t have a reservation

Host: Yes, yes. Your dad call. Two young girls. This time. Christina.

Kristin: Ok?

Host: He give us his credit card number. Dinner on him.

WHAT?! Amazing! I couldn’t believe it! This was the nicest thing my dad had ever done! He knew were going there, knew how much I loved it and wanted to give us a little treat on our maiden solo voyage to NYC. It was fabulous.  We toyed with the idea of ordering a bottle of wine to share, but chickened out, afraid we’d get carded. Which we now know, we wouldn’t have. And, because we’re good little girls we got water, and shared an appetizer and an entrée. Needless to say, my dad was shocked to get his bill. Our meal came out to be somewhere around $40.00. He still gives me crap to this day….”I was so nervous waiting for that call. Assuming it’d be hundreds of dollars. And you spent $40.00? That’s it? You SHARED an entrée?” Damn, I wish we could go back and try that again! After dinner we went to Chicago, which was AMAZING! This was the same year that the movie came out, and the combination of seeing both the movie (4 times) and the play sent me into a whirlwind Chicago soundtrack obsession.

 All dressed up, ready for Chiamm and Chicago!

After the show, we met up with Ben and Sam at this really cool club that I don’t remember the name of. It had three floors and every floor played a different style of music. We were all about the 80’s floor!

Sunday, we finished up some last minute shopping and sightseeing then hopped back on that magical Peter Pan bus. The whole trip was hilarious and amazing. It was so liberating exploring the city on my own and I remember leaving feeling really proud. Megan and I had the time of our life on that trip and I will never forget it!

Empire State of Mind

By the time this posts I will be on a plane heading to New York City!!! I know all my devoted readers would be beside themselves if they couldn't read my blog while I was gone for four days, so I scheduled some posts ahead of time to get your through while I'm gone. I thought since I am spending time in my favorite city in the world I would post some of my favorite memories from past trips to the Big Apple, so be looking forward to that!

To get you in the mood, have a look at these photos I have taken over the years of some of my favorite New York City landmarks.

Brooklyn Bridge

 How gorgeous is this bridge?! One of these days I'd like to walk across it. And a word to the wise, if you ever take the Brooklyn double-decker bus tour...sit below until you're over the bridge! It's much too scary being up top and looking over the side of the bridge! 

Central Park

  

This is one of my all time favorite pictures I have ever taken in NYC. I want to have it blown up and framed. It's so beautiful and really shows off the metropolitan feel of the city, even though you're in the massive and beautiful park. 

This one was taken from a family friend's apartment...can you imagine waking up to that view every morning? Where do I sign up?!

This is the Bethesda Fountain. Every time I see if I am taken back by how beautiful it is. Here's some fun history for you. The fountain, also called "The Angel of Waters" was the only sculpture commissioned as part of the original design of Central Park. The focal point of the sculpture, the angel, symbolizes and celebrates the purifying of the city's water supply. She holds a lily in one hand symbolizing purity while the other hand is extended blessing the water. One of my favorite spots in the city. 

Flatiron Building

I love this building! It's so cool! It's hard to believe at one time this building was the tallest building in Manhattan (can you tell I've been on a lot of NYC tours?) I love that it sits at a triangular intersection and mirrors the shape of the roads. 

 

The Lion King

Alright alright, I realize this isn't technically a landmark but the Lion King is the most amazing Broadway show of all time. I've been lucky enough to see the show twice on Broadway and both times I was brought to tears. It honestly is remarkable. If you haven't seen it...GO. Whether it's on Broadway or not, every one young and old, male and female NEEDS to see this show. 

The Empire State Building

A true classic. Probably the most recognizable Manhattan landmark and cripes is it high! My very first trip to New York we went to the top (see a pic from that HERE) and I was shakin' in my boots. That elevator ride seems like an eternity and being out on the observation deck was a little scary, until I got used to it, then is was amazing! The sky was really clear and we went at night, so we could see all the way out to the Statue of Liberty and could see her torch all lit up...super cool. 

Saks Fifth Avenue

C'mon girls..I know you're feeling me on this one! 

South Street Sea Port

I LOVE this area! It's right on the Hudson River, so you get to be by the water. There's all kinds of fun shops and restaurants and this is where you hop on to take the Circle Line Tour to see the Statue of Liberty! Plus, look how pretty it is! 

Statue of Liberty

No words necessary.

Chrysler Building

This is my favorite building in NYC. I love when it's lit up in white every night. It's so gorgeous!!! 

Have a great week everybody!