I’m taking a small break from posting about health and home today, and talking all about travel! You can see my life page for more of our adventures. Also a quick reminder that today is the last day to sign up for the Winter OC. (MWM subscribers – be sure to check your email for the discount code.)
One of the hardest parts about living overseas is being SO far away from people that we love. My friend Sarah and I had been talking about planning a girls trip somewhere in the middle of where we both live, which is how we decided on beautiful NYC!
The girls trip then morphed into a girls trip for four. We both brought our daughters along with us. Which was awesome! I’m going to give you an overview of our four fun-filled (and packed) days and also sprinkle in five fun facts about visiting NYC.
Day #1
We woke up very early our first morning to get to the Kelly & Michael live taping. We navigated the subway system, found some Starbucks, and then stood in line.
Fun-Fact #1 – Not all of the Starbucks have bathrooms and you do not need to use your subway ticket to get out of the subway area, just walk right out.
Here we are…looking for celebrities that were coming to the show.
I have not watched this show in years due to not watching much American TV at all (boo hoo), but Sarah told me I should try to be the “Trivia Dancer.” Through some screaming and hollering I was selected to compete with three other ladies to be the dancer.
I was not chosen. The lady in the red dress was…I think she really wanted it. Next time I’ll wear less of a “mom” outfit…that might help?
Watching the show was fascinating. There are SO many people and the whole thing is very organized! We screamed and said hi to Kelly and she waved at us, we were hoping she would invite us over for lunch. (Did not happen.)
Fun-Fact #2 – Watching a live TV show taping is exhausting, but fun. (We had to clap A LOT!)
Kelly makes live TV look effortless, and she is hilarious! I totally think we could be friends.
After all of that excitement, we strolled through Central Park and visited the MET. The weather was lovely our whole time in NY. Then is was time for some lunch and some window shopping on 5th Avenue.
Next up we stumbled across this area…
And then we went to the Top of the Rock…such amazing views.
Our sweet girls then informed us that Shawn Mendes was doing a surprise concert at Radio City – what?!?
So then we stood for a long time (amongst a crowd of teenagers) to see him perform three songs. I now know the song – “Stitches.”
The fun part was that we were able to chat with several different Police Officers. I had no idea that there were so many Police in NYC. It was fascinating to hear that many of them are third generation officers.
We then wrapped up our first full day with a yummy Italian dinner and crashed for the night.
Day #2
The second day we started early again and headed to where they were taping The Today Show, and guess what?!? Another concert? (Is this the Bachelor?) Ha, ha!
Sarah and I screamed when the policeman told us it was Carrie Underwood. Apparently when you stumble across a free concert and you know who the artist is, you resort to acting like a teenage girl.
Fun-Fact #3 – Don’t believe someone who “looks” like he works for NBC and hands you a hat and starts using words like “filming” and “acting.”
We totally got scammed and walked away with four NYC hats, that we paid for, because we thought the nice guy with the employee badge was going to give us access to chat with Carrie Underwood.
Not the case, he saw we were gullible and we were. #lessonlearned
Then we took the subway down to the lower part of Manhattan to see the 9/11 Memorial. While it was very touching, it was also very emotional. To begin to imagine the wake that was left when 9/11 happened is extremely overwhelming. Definitely not easy to walk through and process.
While we were down in that part of Manhattan we stopped for some lunch and then our plan was to go and see the Statue of Liberty. However, the line was too long, so we decided to head back to our hotel to rest up for our Broadway show that evening – Amazing Grace. After two early mornings we were pretty tired.
We had a lovely dinner at an Indian restaurant and then went to see the show. I really enjoyed it, minus the fact that I was so tired (or jet lagged). The actors were amazing and their voices, oh my! Such a treat to see the real deal. A definite highlight.
Day #3
Our third day we started with a lovely brunch and then we went to check out the areas of SoHo, Greenwich Village, China Town etc…
Fun-Fact #4 – NY people are super fun and friendly, and their accents are so cool – “Forget about it!”
I mean just look at this picture above! Elise said if she lived closer to where we were, she would have had us over for lunch. (See Kelly, we’re nice…) Everywhere we went we were asking people either for directions or how to navigate the subway. And, honestly, everyone was SO nice, I was surprised at how helpful everyone was to us and how safe and comfortable I felt in such a big city.
We of course had to see Times Square at night, also know as “stimulation overload square.” And then it was off to the infamous Serendipity…yum, yum, yum.
Day #4
Our last day we had about half a day to wrap things up before heading to the airport. We started with brunch in Chelsea Market. What a fabulous spot!
Then we took the subway to Brooklyn to visit Target. (When you live in Europe you really miss things like…Target.)
This was not my best Target shopping experience, but I did score a dress for our upcoming Marine Ball and brought back some candles with me too. #itsthelittlethings
Fun-Fact #5 – When asking for help or directions, make sure that the person actually lives in NY.
We learned this lesson when we met #ohioguy.
While on the subway we had asked #ohioguy a question, because he and his wife looked like they were from NY. His answer was not helpful and when we asked him if he lived in NY he said, “no, I’m from Ohio.”
My last highlight of the trip was getting to meet, in person, a sweet friend and client of mine.
Jimin has been a follower of MWM and I’ve been able to work with her as a Personal Trainer too. My favorite part about Jimin is that she is a woman of strong faith. She has inspired me so much. To get to meet her in person and to also introduce her to my sweet girl, was a blessing all around. Thank you Jimin for taking the time to come see us, even though it was short. I am so proud of you and wish you all the best!!! xoxo
And thank you NY – you are a FUN city!
Hope you have a FABULOUS weekend!!!
