The Graduate

My youngest daughter graduated preschool last week.  Sniff..sniff.  I am just in awe of how quickly those years passed.  It really feels like it was yesterday that she started at preschool.  It also means that it was 5 years ago that we moved back to NC after living in MA.  I have such fond, fond memories of living there.  It's so hard to believe it was 5 years ago that we left.

After the graduation day here's the conversation I had with her:

Julia:  So I'm graduated Preschool now?
Me:  Yes!  Isn't that exciting?
Julia:  So Kindergarten starts tomorrow?
Me:  No baby..you're on summer break now.
Julia:   So Kindergarten starts the next week?
Me:  No..it starts on August 1 for you.
Julia:  WHAT?  NO!  That's a long, long time!
Me:  It's not that long..only 2 months
Julia:  But..that means I'm just home with you..it's forever..........................

Hmm..I have a feeling these next 2 months are going to fly.....

12 Years!

Sunday was our actual anniversary - 12 years!  It was wonderful to spend the weekend celebrating in style!  NYC is where we got engaged and we've been there together a number of times for special getaways.  Even better to wake up in the Presidential Suite!  

I slept in again and enjoyed a lazy morning.  Our flight was leaving at 4:45 so we had some time to do some exploring and decided to go out to Brooklyn to hang out with my brother and sister-in-law.  We took a cab out  to Brooklyn and got to see their apartment.  Real estate in the greater NYC area never ceases to amaze me!  Their apartment is in a very charming brownstone (the whole area reminded me of The Cosby Show setting - gracious I'm OLD).  It was at one time a single family home but has turned into 4 or so apartments.  Like I said it's very charming but a little old and smallish.  And their rent is comparable to our mortgage payment!  Yikes!  

We walked to a great restaurant where we had brunch.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day so we got to sit outside.  After great eats (maple bacon pancakes!) we set our for a nice walk around before we had to leave for the airport.  I loved Brooklyn!  I'd guess if, God forbid, we ever had to move to NYC I'd pick Brooklyn.  I love how you can walk everywhere!  We walked down to the promenade and what a view.  A great day!

We had arranged for a car to pick us up for the airport and we made it in plenty of time for our flight.  What a wonderful, wonderful weekend!!

I Heart NY

Ahh...got to sleep late in the heavenly room!  Paul got up and worked while I took advantage of not having kids bound in my bed at 6:45.  We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Concierge Lounge and took our time getting ready before heading out to explore the city.  We had tickets for the matinee of Sister Act and early dinner reservations but otherwise we had no agenda.  Last year we discovered Sprinkles Cupcake Bakery and it's relatively close to the hotel so we started the morning with cupcakes..I know..breakfast of champions.  

After we loaded up on sugar we headed up to 5th Ave and hit some popular shops.  FAO Schwartz, Bergdof's, Tiffanys (where my sweet husband completely indulged me) and American Girl (for the girls, of course) to name a few.  We made our way over to Times Square and hit the Disney Store.  It was under construction last year so I was interested to see what they had done to it.  In true Disney fashion it's pretty cool.  Anyways we nabbed some goodies for the kids and set off to find our theater.  We grabbed a quick snack before the show at Pieface, a cutie little joint right beside the Broadway Theater.  

Our seats were orchestra level which was great.  We were on the side but still good seats.  We thought the show looked good and Raven-Symone was the lead (Olivia!).  We had some very spirited ladies sitting behind us..they were very excited to be at a show and liked to comment on nearly every line.  At first they were pretty funny but their constant commentary got old.  Fast.  Fortunately the first act was great and fortunately the theater wasn't full.  At intermission Paul darted to some open seats and we relocated for the second act.  The show was fabulous.  Funny, entertaining and Raven is extremely talented.  She far exceeded my expectations.  We really really enjoyed it!

After the show we headed back over to our hotel to drop off our packages.  It sure seemed shorter on the map!  We dropped off our stuff and headed towards Lincoln Center to Rosa Mexicana where we had early dinner reservations.   We first ate at Rosa Mexicana last year with my family.  Paul can't stop thinking about their guacamole which happens to be The. Best. Guacamole. EVER.  They make it fresh right there at your table.  Seriously the stuff is appetizer crack.  So so good.  They also have delicious Sangria.  We were in heaven.  

After dinner we leisurely strolled back to the hotel.  Stopping at Wafels & Dings food truck, which Paul had really wanted to find last year.   We popped in a few stores but took our time getting back.  We got back to the hotel and chilled in our suite.  Pefect day!

The Big Apple - Day 1

Paul and I were lucky enough to get away to New York this past weekend to celebrate our 12 year anniversary.  My mom is so amazing at watching the kids - we are so, so lucky to have her willing and available to keep them (for the record, the rest of our family is pretty great too - Mom just happened to be the "lucky" one who got them this time).   We left them in capable hands and flew out on the first flight out Friday morning. Folks we got to NYC at 7:30 - that's how early our flight was (yawn).  Paul charmed the airline worker and somehow we got upgraded to First Class on the way up.  It was fabulous but hard to enjoy the full extent of first class goodness (i.e. cocktails) at 6am but it was a comfortable ride.  We got a taxi right away after landing at Laguardia and headed into the city!

We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and started walking around.  Our ultimate destination was South Street Seaport to the TKTS booth so we could see about getting discounted tickets to a Broadway show on Saturday afternoon.  We walked for a while stopping to indulge at Magnolia Bakery and finally we gave up and got a taxi the rest of the way.  We arrived at the booth 45 minutes before it opened and there was already a small line.  The wait was uneventful and we ended up scoring tickets to see Sister Act the next day.  We had lunch reservations at 12:30 at Gramercy Tavern so began the trek back toward midtown.  We got to walk through Chinatown and Little Italy on our walk.  It was pretty interesting and a little long.

Paul wanted to lunch at Gramercy Tavern after seeing special on it on the Travel Channel.  Apparently it's a pretty famous restaurant in the city.  It was good but it took a VERY long time to finish our meal...like hours.  Like twice they came over and said our timing seems to be off.  But, they ended up taking Paul's meal off our bill and giving me a free dessert so..you know..whatever.  After lunch we headed back to hotel to check in.  We were staying at the Waldorf Astoria (Paul travels a lot  = points = free stays = benefit to traveling).  We go to the Diamond Reception (see above..lots of travels) to check in.  We have to wait for a bit but finally they get to us.  There's some back story here which is really long and involved but let's just summarize by saying that last year we stayed there and it wasn't great so they invited us back.  We're checking in and the girl looks at our reservation and she's all like "oh my...Jordan really hooked you up, you're going to be surprised..I can't believe how much he hooked you up."  Paul and I keep looking at each other like "okay" what does this mean.  Finally Jordan, the manager, comes by and has to go specially make our keys (what the what??) and he escorts us to our room.  People we were on the 35th floor in the Presidential Suite.  Like THE Presidential Suite...apparently all the presidents who come to NYC to the Waldorf stay in this room.  It was CRAZY.  Ridiculous.  Like several thousand square feet.  A dining room.  Kitchen.  Seriously I'll do a separate post on this one.  So incredibly nice.  Paul and I kept looking at each other like "you sure you got the right people"  and "really..us??"  Insane.  And they sent up a bottle of wine.  We felt like we won the lottery!  We hung out in the room for a while contemplating if we were ever leaving but we managed to get in touch with my brother and made plans to meet up with him and his wife in Little Italy for drinks/dinner.

We took the subway to meet them which was an interesting experience.  We navigated the way pretty easily thanks to my brothers directions.  We found the restaurant with ease and enjoyed our time with Brad & Ginnie.  Brad was competing in a Tough Mudder race on Saturday and we had such an early morning that we didn't stay out too late but really enjoyed catching up with them.  We took the subway back and managed to make it to the hotel successfully!