Team Moshell: New York 2012

Last December we had an amazing trip to NY to celebrate Trisha's 30th birthday. It was wonderful! So when Ross mentioned he had a work trip to NY late November, I thought that it would be fun to go, but not that fun. I was totally wrong! Since our 10 year anniversary was a few weeks away and we went to NY for our honeymoon, I was stoked to celebrate there.
Another couple from Ross' work, Scott and Lori, went along to because the boys had meetings Monday before Thanksgiving. This was a totally different trip than last year, but totally great! We flew in on Saturday morning (on Spirit airlines - thumbs down, but I didn't let it ruin my trip) and headed to the W hotel, which was very modern and New York. It's my second favorite hotel I've stayed in there, the Waldorf being the first, because it's the Waldorf. But it's crazy expensive and I don't think we'll stay there again.

We had a quick deli lunch together and then the Correll's went off to site see (it was their first time in the big city), while we headed to 34th Street to Macy's.

Ross doing what he does best in NY. Navigate. His wife, not so much.

We totally thought the famous Macy's windows weren't up yet because there were red signs in the windows ready to reveal the Christmas displays, but we rounded the corner and low and behold they were up! They are so awesome to watch and it was a story of Macy's through the years, of course highlighting the famous "Miracle on 34th Street" movie, but also a lot of the nostalgia of the store.

Macy's magical window.

We perused through there and a few other stores, had a celebrity siting (Colin Ferrell) and then headed back to the hotel. That night we had our "anniversary" dinner at Benjamin's steakhouse. It's totally New York and was delicious. The tables are really close together, so we may or may not have done some eavesdropping and heard some interesting conversations going on around us. ;)
Sunday we had Starbucks and yummy bagels and cream cheese for breakfast before heading out to shop. And shopping we did. We worked our way down 5th Avenue and found lots of goodies. We went all through Tiffanys (more because I love Audrey Hepburn and that movie so much), and gawked at the prices and how many people buy things there like it's no biggie.

Bridge in Central Park

Belvedere Castle in Central Park

We were going to hit the Museum of Natural History, but ran out of time, so instead we took the train up and walked east to west through Central Park. The weather was amazing and the park beautiful with all the fall foliage. It's something we really wanted to do this trip and I'm so glad we were able to. We got some hot roasted peanuts and some pictures taken by a local artist. It's hands down one of my favorite NY moments.

Japanese Maple

Sunday night we went to dinner with the Corrells at Luigis (best pizza ever!) and then went to see Rock of Ages. It was a great show. The theater was totally decked out like the inside of a seedy 80's bar and they were passing out jello shots and beer. The music was great (the costumes a little riskay), but a lot of fun! My feet were so sore that night though from my stubborn decision to wear heels, so I soaked them in our tiny sink and wrapped them in hot towels once we got to the hotel.
Monday the boys had their meeting, so Lori and I planned to meet at 10AM for lunch and shopping. Imagine my shock when I woke up thinking it might be 8:30 or 9:00 and it was 10! Our black out curtains did a great job helping me sleep in, and thankfully I was able to hook it so we could have lunch at the famous Serendipity (John Cusack and Kate Beckensale movie). We only had a 30 minute wait (it's usually 2-3 hours) and had a great hamburger and of course frozen hot chocolate for lunch.

Heavenly Frozen Hot Chocolate

Then we headed to Rockefeller center for more shopping and site seeing. The boys met us down there so we could go see Jimmy Fallon. We tried really hard to see him last year, but couldn't get there in time, so we were thrilled to get in. Zoey DeChanel, Tony Bennett and the Zac Brown Band were all on and it was great. The prep before the show is hilarious and it was a lot of fun to see Jimmy live, although the set it way smaller than I imagined it would be. After the show we decided to head to Bryant Park, another area we hadn't ever been to. It was great! They had a trade fair of sorts going on with local vendors in these clear huts and a big ice skating rink in the middle. We ate at Bryant Park Grill in a clear tent with lots of Christmas lights and candles around. It sits next to the New York City library which is a beautiful building. Such a neat experience! Afterwards, we split up, and Ross and I went back through the shops and stopped at the ice skating rink. They were filming something there and after awhile we discovered it was the actors from "Glee"! How fun! It was a scene with Kurt and Blaine and three weeks later I got to see the whole thing on tv. We enjoyed our last night walk in NY by going to Carnegie Deli for desert. That's where we went for our last night on our honeymoon trip, so it only seemed appropriate. We had a piece of classic cheesecake which was huge and delish.
Our last morning there wasn't too rushed, so we were able to sleep in a little and get another yummy NY bagel with cream cheese. I totally had to go on a diet after that trip. But it was truly a wonderful trip and I'm so thankful we got to go and celebrate our 10 years together where it all began. A special thank you to Grams and Granddad who did a wonderful job holding down the fort with our three sweethearts so we could go!!