NYC!

Ok, you asked for a post.....here it is! In June, I surprised Tom for his 30th birthday by taking him to New York! It was also to celebrate our 7th anniversary, which was just 2 days before his birthday. We had a F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S time! He was surprised, and we just had the best time exploring the city together. I had been once, as a teenager, and Tom had never been. We absolutely went non-stop our whole time there and there were still things we didn't get to do that we had wanted to. We went for a long weekend, so we left on a Friday and came home on a Monday. Here are the pics!! I must warn you, there are TONS because I just couldn't decide! And there are TONS more that aren't even pictured here! Enjoy!

On the CRAZY cab ride from the airport to our hotel. We were so excited, can you tell?

Our home in NYC.....The Warwick. We had a GREAT stay there.

Hotel Lobby.

View from our room.

The very first thing we did was head to Central Park. It was right up the street from our hotel, so we just took our time walking around and enjoying the scenery. It is beautiful!

The fountain.

Nice self portrait on a bridge in the park.

View of the city!

Tom in Central Park.

Me in front of a little lake.

After walking a LOT that afternoon, (p.s. Central Park is HUGE!) we went out to a yummy Mexican restaraunt that Jess had recommended from when they were in New York. Rosa Mexicano was DELICIOUS! My favorite? The guacamole they made tableside. So yummy!

Enjoying our dinner!

How good does that look? Too bad neither of us could eat very much of our dinner....we ate too much guacamole!

Our second day there was pretty rainy, so we decided to do some shopping and walking around. We were supposed to hit the Statue of Liberty, but decided to put it off until the next day, hoping the weather would be better!

Of course I had to get my picture in front of Bloomingdale's! (Even though I didn't buy anything). We seriously got lost in there....it's huge! It took us 15 minutes to find our way out of there!

We stopped for New York style pizza at this little place called Patsy's Pizza. Let me just say YUM! And randomly, the couple sitting next to us was from Sikeston, MO. What a small world!

Is your mouth watering yet?

Our next stop was Dylan's Candy Bar. What an awesome little candy store. Ralph Lauren's daughter owns it, and I assure you it is unlike any candy store you have been in. We had fun roaming around and getting some candy for Ella (and a little for ourselves, too!).

Here is Tom making a pixy stick for Ella. :)

A picture of the madness...

Next was one of my favorite stops.....SERENDIPITY! There was about an hour and a half wait, so we actually put our name in and went to the candy store to kill some time. Anyone who knows me knows what a movie girl I am, so imagine how excited I was to get to go into this place that is from one of my favorite movies.....Serendipity!

How adorable is this place?

We went mid-afternoon, so we just wanted a little snack. Serendipity is famous for their Frozen Hot Chocolate.....which is just what we ordered, only we got a Peanut Butter Frozen Hot Chocolate. Imagine a frozen drink that tastes just like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Um, yeah. YUM.

Now just tell me that doesn't look delicious!

Saturday night, we had tickets to see CHICAGO on Broadway. We were super excited to get all dressed up and head to a nice dinner and then to the show!

At a fabulous little Italian restaraunt called Il Gattapardo.

Outside the theatre. The show was AWESOME!

We walked around Times Square after the show, and just explored the city at night. Look at the craziness. Love it!

A midnight snack from Magnolia Bakery :) Mine is on the left, Tom's is on the right.

Cupcakes in bed!

Our last day there was jam packed! Here we are headed out on the subway.

Gotta love the umbrella....it rained on and off so much, we didn't dare leave without one!

Tom getting ready for his first ride on the subway!

We wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, but didn't want to do the hours long tour, so we just took the Staten Island Ferry and got some really great pictures. As you can tell, it was an overcast day and VERY windy. But still awesome.

On the Ferry, Statue of Liberty in the distance!

We took an insane amount of pictures!

Statue of Liberty.

We took so many pictures, it was hard to pick which ones to post. You can see pictures of this, and nothing is like seeing it in person. It was absolutely gorgeous.


Next stop? The Financial District!

Tom took this neat picture of the tall building with the Wall St. sign. Not bad!

Hey, a girl's gotta get a picture here!

Tom in front of the famous "Bull."

Me and a very handsome Officer Sanchez of the NYPD :)

Pictures in front of the New York Stock Exchange..

He is so handsome :)

Our next stop was Ground Zero and the World Trade Center Visitors Center/Museum. What a sobering experience to stand where such a tragic event took place.

This was inside the museum. It just really struck me, there were quotes everywhere from people and this one was from a man who was on one of the planes that left his wife a phone message. So sad.

An airplane window that was found amidst the destruction where the Towers stood.

The construction site that is Ground Zero. Amazing to think that the Towers stood there once.

We were lucky enough to get to meet my friend Emily and her boyfriend for lunch in the Village!

Me and Emily. SO great to see her! I think it had been like 6 or 7 years since I'd seen her. And she hasn't changed a bit. We had such a great visit :)

Emily with her man, aren't they cute? :) It was great to get to meet him and to catch up with both of them over a yummy lunch.

Ok, you all know what huge fans Tom and I are of the show FRIENDS. So of course we had to get a picture at the corner of Bedford and Grove St, which is the scene that shows what is supposed to be the outside of Monica's apartment at the opening of many episodes.

It looks just the same, doesn't it?

As we walked around, we stopped for some yummy ice cream at Cones. Mmmmm!!!!

Our last stop of the day was to see the Washington Square Arch. Very popular shot from several movies, including one of my all time faves, "When Harry Met Sally."

Tom checking out the subway map, trying to figure out how to get us back to the hotel!

Our last night there, we had planned on having a nice dinner to celebrate our anniversary. But by that last night, we had had so much rich food, we were both craving some good ole' burgers and fries.....you know, good bar food! So we headed to an Irish Pub right by our hotel and had just that!

The day we left, we made a few quick stops before heading to the airport. Here we are at Rockefeller Center. It looks totally different in the Summer when it's not an ice skating rink!

We had the most FABULOUS time! It was so wonderful to get away together, and have time just the two of us. It was the longest either of us had ever been away from Ella (3 nights/4 days), so needless to say we were ready to see our girl! But it was such great time together, and so nice to experience a city together that is so full of life. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures! I know there were tons, but I'm making up for lost time on the blog here. Have a great weekend everyone!