Quick Trip to New York City

I called in sick to work today. Caught Milo’s cold, among other things. I did make it out of bed, finally, worked a spell on a formal I am finishing up, took a shower and (gasp) blow-dried my hair, and now I have a couple minutes before my darling friend who watches Milo on Wednesdays while I work (or sleep, as the case may be) brings him home to me. I thought I might attempt to catch up a bit. For some reason the computer makes me nauseous. I’ll give it a go:

Oh, and this trip I forewent the camera for the iphone. It was indispensable to have a map-tracking, photo-capturing, family-keep-in-touching machine in my pocket. Forgive the less-than-xsi quality:)

Ahh, arriving in the Big Apple. There is just no place on earth like New York City. It’s sights and smells and skyline…

We drove in on Friday morning. It was actually a perfect time to hit the road. No traffic to speak of until we actually passed through the Lincoln tunnel. Then it took about 30 minutes to travel the 5 blocks to the Marriott at Times Square.

We paid the big bucks for a room with a view:)

Luckily, though not 100%, I was not yet feeling so completely drained. We were excited to have a day and a night and part of a day to just chill together.

We headed out, walking towards the Rockefeller Center, where we needed to pick up our wristbands and tickets for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which was the reason for our escapade in the first place. On the way we spotted what looked like a semi-new lunch joint that looked good: Crisp. All varieties of crispy falafel. Tasted good back then, though it turns my tummy a bit now.

Once full, we hit the streets again. There is nothing like walking down a street in downtown Manhattan. If you haven’t done it, put it on the bucket list. You feel a little like a tiny red blood cell in pulse of America’s circulation. Or something like that.

We had time, so we wandered into Saks Fifth Avenue. I fell in love with a couple things. Each of them cost about a month’s rent. But, I reminded Dave that I would have them for much longer than one month. And he told me that that sure would be a lot of Etsy orders. I agreed and we moved on.

At Teuscher chocolates, we sampled a cocoa truffle. It was delightful.

We watched the skaters on the rink, read the outdoor exhibit at the Center, oohed and aahed inside the Lego store, then enjoyed a huge Red Mango Yogurt as we waited in line for our tickets. After getting wristbands, we had to wander again for an hour before we could actually line up to get into the studio, so we played checkers on this awesome Microsoft Surface. Dave beat me. Twice.

The time came to line up, so we did. The show ushers repeat a million times “This is not first-come-first-serve, so don’t freak out.” Turns out they just write letters and numbers on the tickets, and then distribute them in random order. We were ticket letter “F” which placed us pretty near the front of the seating line.

Our place in line turned out to not matter at all, however. A few minutes after lining up, we were scouted by a show employee and asked if we were interested in participating at all in the show. I felt less-than-my-best, but Dave was totally up for it! So, he and the girl from a couple behind us were chosen to play “Put It In Reverse.” Which is one of our favorite bits that they do on the Fallon Show. We were pulled from the line, walked upstairs to fill out a release, then Dave was whisked away to wardrobe and I got to chill with the other contestant’s husband until they scooted us into the studio, just before the rest of the line. I got a great, third row aisle seat, and Dave got to join me just after his four minutes of Fame. Check him out HERE.

Needless to say, the show was amazing. I felt like it was as much an awesome concert, as a late night show. The Roots are amazing and SLASH sat in with them. During one commercial break, he played Sweet Child O’Mine. Classic. Commercial breaks were also prime pretzel popping time for this sick mama.

We emerged onto the NYC street after dark. Mapped out our dinner destination in the iphone and headed on our way.

Oh my. I almost died. It’s been too long since I’ve seen an ACTUAL Jamba Juice! What is it with the East and hating Jamba? Too bad I wanted dinner and Jamba doesn’t keep overnight. At least now I know where to find one. Probably the closest one to home!

Here we are, ready for dinner. Le Parker Meridien.

Yep, just down this little hallway here, next to the big red curtain. Ignore the stares from the concierge.

Oh, there’s the sign. The ONLY sign telling you of the goodness awaiting you behind this door.

The Burger Joint. Le Parker Meridiens dirty little secret.

Awesome, fresh, real cheeseburger for $6.00 in the middle of Manhattan? Yes, thank you.

We swapped photo-taking with a couple who had made their way there all the way from Kansas City. “So, how’d you hear about this place?” they asked. “From a friend…” we answered. Which is mostly true. The whole truth is that I emailed Gabrielle Blair of designmom to ask for a tip on where to eat and she replied with this awesome link. You’re welcome.

After the burger, fries and a chocolate shake (for the baby) we headed to FAO to get Milo a souvenir. We decided on this awesome wooden tool kit. Milo loves it. We hit up a cab for the 10 blocks back to the hotel. Then tried to stay awake to watch Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and see Dave’s debut, but we fell asleep. Something about hotel sheets will do that to you.

9 am came quickly. As quickly as 6 am does at home, in fact! We made one necessary stop at Magnolia Bakery, to get breakfast muffins for us and treats for the three families who cared for Milo in our absence.