NYC Day Three

We started our day on Saturday at the hair salon.
The hair salon at American Girl Place that is. It was our first stop of the day and I stood mesmerized for many minutes watching these stylists transform each doll's natty, tangled locks into smooth, sweet hairstyles.

Upstairs I took a trip down memory lane at the Kirsten display...

while Susanna pined away after the Molly party dress she always wanted.

Annie was most sad over the fact that the Samantha doll is now 'retired.' This book was the only evidence she ever existed. C'mon AGP, you couldn't have even set up a memorial display?!

Downstairs again, we begged our moms to buy us a "Just Like You" doll that looked just like us but they refused. Sigh.

After another swing by Rockefeller Center, Christie's, and Tiffany & Co. (no pictures of the latter two) we headed to FAO Schwartz.

Here Susanna does her best Muppet impersonation in front of the Build-Your-Own-Muppet counter.

Later, she FREAKED out (okay, so we all got quite a bit excited) about the Sylvanians (aka Calico Critters) display. Annie, Susanna, and I all used to have some of these furry creatures living in our dollhouses.
The coolest display in FAO Schwartz was of life-size Harry Potter characters, Hermione, Hagrid, Ron and Harry.
We would like to know who stole Harry's glasses.
At The Plaza Hotel, Susanna did a great Eliose impersonation...

Then she led us back to our hotel...

Where we picked up our bags and headed home (after a brief stop for some yummy food near Susanna's alma mater, Barnard). All in all, it was a WONDERFUL trip and a FABULOUS break from the norm. Thank you Fix for letting me take a weekend away with the girls and thank you Papa John and Nana Kerry for watching Rock!

NYC Day Two

On Thursday, our plans all fell together smoothly. Even though we hit a few snags, we arrived at Liberty Park right on time for our ferry which meant we had time to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. And even with awful traffic, we arrived for our dinner reservations right on time. Everything worked out perfectly.

Friday? Notsomuch. We started the day by going to the Today Show where we arrived just in time to see them packing up the outside area. No Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Ann Curry, or Meredith Vieira sightings for us.

I did get to see Amy Robach through the window and get a feel for the layout of the studio which was fun for me. But not quite the Today Show experience I was anticipating. Sigh.
Oh well. After coffee and breakfast at Starbucks, we headed downtown. W-a-a-a-y downtown that is, to buy half-price tickets for a Broadway show.
Annie proudly wore an adorable "I love you" pin made by Aiden.

At this point we were all in high spirits.

When we got downtown, Mom stood in line so the rest of us could go check out the Brooklyn Bridge.

It turns out that the cheapest tickets for shows we wanted to see were twice the amount we wanted to pay. So we walked to Ground Zero. But the construction fences were covered in mesh and the memorial wall had been taken down and there just wasn't much to see.
So we went to a couple stores and then walked to lunch. The good news was that we passed by some pretty phenomenal architecture on our way to all these stops.

Can you believe that this is just the entrance to the old Woolworth Building? Not a cathedral. Not a concert hall. Just a building. They don't build them like they used to.
Apparently, they also don't make dim sum like they used to either. Above is the location of the Oriental Pearl Restaurant. It was recommended to us by Linda, Becky, and Julia but after we walked there through the crazy live-frogs-in-plastic-bins streets of Chinatown, we discovered it was closed. Permenantly.

Seeing as we were starving, we decided to try the place across the street. After waiting for a good 15 minutes, we were finally approached by a server. Although she told us about everything on her cart, the only thing we could clearly understand was "Chicken Feet."

Instead of feet, we chose what we think was chicken and rice, vegetable wontons, and something else. None of it was very good. So we paid our bill and walked to John's Pizzeria (Sarah's recommendation).

It was a good twenty blocks away but it was PERFECTLY DELICIOUS and the first thing that really worked out for us that day. At this moment our day took a turn for the better.

And then, there were CUPCAKES FROM MAGNOLIA BAKERY!!! (***We won't talk about how getting to this stop included an extremely long and unnecessary detour because Susanna and I misread our map.***)

Magnolia Bakery lived up to all my wildest dreams. SO CUTE!

Next, we headed up to Redeemer's Good Friday Service. The music was lovely and the reflections on Christ's last words on the cross were insightful and poignant.

The last stop for the day was Dylan's Candy Bar.
This place had every type of candy I could think of.

And the decor was too fun.

Once again, Susanna was excited to hang out with her brothers-in-law in the form of mints.

With no Broadway tickets, we opted for the next best thing - watching Last Chance Harvey on Pay Per View in our mom's room!

Did I mention that I saved my cupcakes for this moment?

Ahhhhhh... that's the way to relax after a long day! YUMMY!

NYC Day One

Last Thursday-Saturday, I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to NYC with my mom, my sister, my best friend Annie and her mom Judy. We started our trip by driving to Liberty State Park in New Jersey where we rode the ferry to Ellis Island.

Ellis Island is so old that it is still looks black and white.

Just kidding. It was SO COOL to see this historic place and learn the fascinating details of how many people came through this one place on their way to America. Although the main building has been restored...

Many of the island's structures remain in disrepair. The picture above is blurry because I took it through a window -- I pulled back one of the window covers that you aren't supposed to pull back to get it. Don't tell.

Thankfully three of my four traveling companions decided to wear shades of light green so I could spot them easily...

And they coordinated nicely with Lady Liberty.

Brockman ladies.

Rabenhorst ladies.

And don't worry, Annie took a bunch of the same pictures as me so you should see them on her blog sometime soon.
It was sunny and the sky was a beautiful shade of blue but the wind off of the water was FREEZING!

Thus we hung out in the gift shop while we waited for our ferry. Susanna was happy that her three brothers-in-law were there to hang out with her (in mint form).
After a LONG, SLOW drive into the city, we dropped off our bags and headed out to dinner at the famous Serendipity 3.

In case you hadn't noticed, I debuted my new Spring Shirt that I sewed for myself.

Our entrees were scrumptious and for dessert we had the famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate (we opted for the version with Peanut Butter and it was AWESOME!).

And of course one giant dessert wouldn't do, we had to have the incredible Forbidden Broadway Sundae too. Delicious.