New York, New York

{Warning: LONG POST} I don't even know where to begin with this post. New York City is a place that I have wanted to visit ever since reading about Stacey from the Babysitter's Club books. haha! I was so excited to find out that the conference that I was attending would be in NYC. I started recruiting my mom to go with me--it didn't take much convincing. We had such a good time. The conference was great and I learned a lot. In between every conference meeting I jam packed our time with sightseeing. I didn't want to overwhelm you all with pictures, so I made these picture grids in Picasa. Its such a great feature! {You can click on the pics to make them bigger.}

We stayed at the Marriott Marquis Times Square.

From Left to Right: Top row: View of the Hudson from my hotel room; Times Square all lit up at night.

From L to R: Bottom Row: Times Square early one morning; View from my hotel room.

Day 1

Started off with some excitement the night before. My direct flight was cancelled and we had to reschedule for the crack of dawn, not kidding. A 6 a.m. flight! But hey we made it!

1. The Chrysler Bldg.

2. The NYC Public Library

3. Bryant Park at night

4. John's Pizzeria--YUMMY!

Day 2

It was a cool, rainy, foggy day but that didn't stop us from exploring. We set out to find Kee's Chocolates in Soho. Fantastic chocolates! I had the Thai Chili, Dark Choc. Truffle, and Lavender. We stumbled upon MarieBelle and had hot chocolate. I heard that Oprah is a fan.

1. Kee's Chocolates 2. Bldg. in Soho 3&4. MarieBelle and its Cocoa Bar.

We went to Canal Street. It was so much fun and scary to be sneaking into back rooms. I bought a bracelet and some sunglasses on Canal Street. You will see the glasses below. I always buy really big glasses that do not fit my narrow head and then never wear them again. I think that is going to be the case with these. Let me get back on track...

After Canal Street we headed to Century 21, a huge discount department store. I am not a digger and it was too big and overwhelming for me to really shop. I did get Ty a nice, lavendar tie and a bow tie! I can't wait for him to wear the bow tie. He is going to have to google how to tie it first. haha! Across the street from Century 21 is where the World Trade Center stood. It was a very sombering thing to see.

From Century 21 we went to lunch at Les Halles. It is a restaurant co-owned by Anthony Bourdain. He is the host of the Travel Channel's No Reservations.

From there we headed to the Staten Island Ferry. We got to see the Brooklyn Bridge, the dowtown skyline, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island all aboard a free ferry ride.

Then we went to the East Village, near NYU and ate at Pommes Frites. YUMMY--belgian fries with dipping sauces. (Mom and I chose pesto mayo, sweet chili, and parmesan peppercorn.) We had to race back to get to the welcome session of the conference and then I met up with Bama Belle.

Day 3

Day 3 started off nice and early. Mom and I headed to Rockefeller Center to check everything out. It was so nice to be out and about without a lot of people around.

1. GMA show

2. Cooking portion of the GMA show--Wolfgang Puck was on.

3. Rockefeller Center

4. SAKS!

One of the sponsors of the conference took several of us to lunch at Sardi's. It was so neat to see all of the caricature drawings. After a few more meetings, Mom and I headed to 5th Ave. to window shop. Ah, Bergdorf's--gorgeous! Then off to Sak's to try on a lot of jeans--no such luck! I also introduced my mom to Anthropologie. Love that store!

1. Lucille Ball caricature

2. FAO piano

3. FAO Giant jelly bean soldier

4. Brooke Shields caricature at Sardi's

Day 4

Lots and lots of meetings followed by a trip to Central Park, back to Bryant Park (too bad it wasn't during fashion week), Junior's restaurant, and Mamma Mia! It was a gorgeous day.

1. Central park Turtle Pond--view from the Belvedere Castle

2. Central Park

3. Central Park

4. Belvedere Castle

1. Bryant Park Grille

2. Bryant Park

3. Bryant Park with the NYC Public Library in the background

4. Bryant Park: look at all those people enjoying the great weather!

1. &2. Bryant Park (You know I can't resist pretty flowers!)

3. & 4. Central Park West (backtrack with me.)

Mamma Mia!

I haven't seen the movie--heard it was awful. The musical is GREAT! After the show we went to the only revolving restaurant in NYC, located at the top of our hotel. It was nice to see the city from that high up. No pics, though. They didn't turn out good through 2 layers of glass.

Day 5

Our last day to see the sites. We started out in the West Village.

1. & 2. Little Marc Jacobs photo shoot. Photos for moms and kiddos in the park. They were still setting everything up or I would have had my picture taken. haha!

3. The best tomato soup ever at Cafeteria. SO GOOD!

4. Cafeteria

Touring the West Village was all about seeing the Sex and the City sites for me.

1. Carrie Bradshaw's apartment

2. Me on the steps of Carrie Bradshaw's apt.

3. & 4. Perry Street (the street of Carrie Bradshaw's apt.)

I told ya'll that today was all about SATC. We went to the famed Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes. They were oh so yummy. The perfect sugary, buttercream frosting--very similar to my Nanny's. I also had some great, fresh squeezed lemonade.

We walked around the West Village and ended up in Chelsea at a street fair. We went into several cute boutiques and then decided it was getting hot and it was time to head back to the hotel for a while. But the subway ride revived me and we ended up at the shops at Colombus Circle. We bought some magazines and headed to Central Park to read. We sat on this huge rock surrounded by half of thepeople in the city. I'm not kidding. It was a gorgeous day and everyone was out enjoying it.

These pictures are of my view from where we sat in Central Park. I also enjoyed my other cupcake. The too huge sunglasses made an appearance. haha!

After Central Park, we headed back to Times Square. It was CROWDED! We stopped in a few stores and then headed to the hotel to relax and figure out what to do for dinner. We ended up eating hot dogs and pretzels from a street vendor. For dessert we headed to Pinkberry. It was so good. They serve frozen yogurt with all kinds of toppings. I had strawberries and cap'n crunch. Oh so delish! Then it was time to pack up. We had to be up at 3:30 AM to catch our flight home. NYC is a very unique, magical place. But now I need a beach vacation to recover. :)