I had to make my own breakfast this morning.
No one greeted me when I came downstairs as "Mrs. Fern."
No one hailed me a cab this morning.
I'm obviously going through withdrawals from NYC.
The one thing I cannot get used to is tipping everyone. It's more than cruise ship tipping!
Martin and I don't stay overnight in NYC much. We've actually only stayed the night once before. The city is less than two hours from our house so we usually drive up to Weehawken and take the ferry over for the day.
When we were thinking through where we wanted to go to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary Martin immediately thought California and I immediately saw dollar signs. So we compromised on New York.
We left Friday morning and headed up. Once we got to the city we checked our luggage into the hotel and headed out. We aren't typical tourist. We love to walk hand in hand around the city and take in the atmosphere and talk. We'll stop at a shop here or there but usually we go with no agenda and stay away from super touristy places. As I said, usually.
We didn't do much on Friday. We ate at an unique place called CRISP. It was uber-healthy. I thought I would be hungry about three minutes after I finished eating but I actually wasn't hungry for about 10 minutes! I had a "burger" and it had hummus and goat cheese on top with fresh basil leaves. It was good but messy.
We got back to the hotel and checked in. The last time we stayed at The Alex we had a two bedroom suite and Jack and Kami came with us. Our hotel was on the corner and our view was like this,
But this time we got a one bedroom suite and our view was like this,
I was a bit bummed but on Sunday we were walking back from shopping and I noticed the building across from the hotel was still being worked on (I say still because I remember them working on it two years ago when we came). There were construction sheets and scaffolding all over it and there was work being done with a jackhammer out in the street. And it hit me, God gave us a stinky view but a quiet side. We were able to sleep and rest without being forced out of bed by crazy construction all weekend (crazy that they actually work on the weekend!). Martin wasn't convinced by my revelation. But I know I was right.
Friday night we ended up staying in and ordering room service because there was a lightening, thunder, and rain show put on by God. We ordered burgers (real burgers for this meal) and watched the show from our not so good window seats. I need to show you a picture of the burgers because they cost more than my weekly grocery bill.
On Saturday, I only had one request. I asked if we could be tourist for a few hours and go on the double decker tour bus. Because he loves me and it's our anniversary and my birthday weekend, he said yes! So we bought our tickets and we stood in this line for about 25 minutes.
It was honestly us and hundreds of our foreign friends. By the way, don't listen to the news about the economy. When you walk around NYC you realize the world is doing just fine. They are coming to NY, spending their money and loving every minute of it.
We hopped on a tour bus with an amazing tour guide. He was dry humored, had quick wit, smart, and loved the city of New York. We learned all kinds of random facts that will make us look smart in conversations with strangers and casual acquaintances.
I took a few pics, one being the World Trade Center Building 1 being built,
Then a picture of the Flatiron Building cause it's cool and I was on a high bus,
And writing in the sky. I'm pretty sure God didn't write this like in Daniel 5 because I bet He's a cursive writer not a dash guy. But it's still cool! It said, "Tickets on sale now" Of what, not sure.
I'll let you know one of our random facts of NYC, the World Trade Center buildings took so long to build because the dude that leased the buildings took the insurance policy out. But the government owned the property because the subway station was below the towers. So when it came time for the rebuild, the government told the dude to pay for the rebuild and he told them they could pay for the first building and he would pay for the rest. The government said no. There is more to the story but you're gonna have to do one of three things. 1. Ask me. 2. Find our tour guide and ask him. 3. Google it.
Saturday night we went to dinner at Ponte's in Tribeca. It was great. The cab driver duped us. I should've told him which way to go but I got that insecure "I'm not a true New Yorker" feeling and let it go and we ended up taking a 45 minute ride that cost us $28, and that was on a $0.50/mile meter. To compare, we went home on a $1.00/mile meter and it cost us $11. Don't worry, he didn't drive us to New Jersey and back, he just sat in Holland Tunnel traffic until the last minute then drove around it. Never Again, I say, NEVER AGAIN!
Here is a great picture of Martin at the restaurant sporting his new shirt, his first purple shirt ever,
This last picture is of my spoils from Anthropologie. We have a store close but it's not as large as the one at 30 Rock. So I took my 15% off coupon for my birthday and headed in. I got two books, one on modern day etiquette and one on random tidbits on life. Then we got more monogrammed mugs (our new "thing") and a new measuring cup thing. I don't know what you call it but it looks like something that would've been in my grandmother Lawson's kitchen.
We stopped by Martin's brothers house in Hillsborough on the way home yesterday and we were home by five. Go us.
It was an awesome weekend. I know these days are short for us. When the kiddos arrive we'll be spending weekend getaways in more economical places like the Hilton. I'm kidding, kidding! But I won't be camping - I'm just not that kinda girl.
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