NYC

for Jill's 40th!

It started a little too early for my liking (picked up Jill at 4:00 for our 6:00 flight), but I wasn't complaining...a trip to NYC...this was a first for me. I was so excited!

Determined to document it all, we have a lot of self portraits! Here we are in the terminal, getting ready to board!

In Newark, we had some time until Laurie and Jen's flight came in...we LOVED their entrance! It is exactly how we felt!

Laurie's face here is priceless! We were giddy to be all together!
Christy, Jill's sister was the amazing one who made this trip possible! She was so generous to host us at her house and be our personal driver....she was and IS awesome! You can see darling Corinne in the background, Christy's daughter and Jill's BFF!

We made it....the first day we woke to a few inches of snow...awesome Christy drove diligently through the unplowed highways and got us into the city! We parked right at Times Square and I couldn't resist a quick shot with the birthday girl!

It was snowing so hard, that we decided we would still take our bus tour just to get out of the weather..... there was so much moisture and water on the bus, that it felt like it was raining in the bus! The "clear" roof was covered with snow, the windows fogged up and we couldn't see.....
and I won't even mention the honery, hater lady who was mean to us!

We decided to hop off the bus and brave the weather at Rockefeller Center. Saw where the Today Show is, stopped at the famous Magnolia Bakery and then walked back to Times Square where we purchased tickets for Rock of Ages that night!

We had reservations at Bobby Flay's restaurant Bar Americain. Due to the untimely bakery stop, no one was starving, so we shared some appetizers, entrees and sides!

And of course they treated our birthday girl just right!

Here we are in the Rock of Ages theater, it was all decked out in 80's with a little Twisted Sister playing! We were all ready for some fun...and FUN we had!
(A little disclaimer...it was a completely irreverent and nasty show...
sorry to say, I loved it and it was hilarious!)

Me and Jen in the stage lights!

Couldn't resist posing by the poster outside! They even gave us fake lighters with little LED lights to hold up during the slow songs! So fun!

During the show, Christy got a text from her husband saying the power was out at their house...they had received about 3 feet of snow in the last 24 hours and it was heavy snow, causing trees to fall and break! I thought no biggie, but Christy told me that without power, the well they run on won't allow them to flush the toilets...9 people in house...yes I can see her concern! So Laurie and I decided to be positive and enjoy the adventure! Everyone had wet feet and frozen toes....but when we got home at 1:30am, the power had just come back on! We were so grateful (and even more grateful when a few days later we learned that people were still without power)!

The next morning we slept in and due to the crazy weather decided not to try to go into the city until 2:00 for our 5:00 reservations at Carmines and our tickets to WICKED! Christy our awesome driver got us in with time to spare and it was actually not snowing! So we decided to walk and take in the city on our way to Dylan's candy shop.

Snowy Central Park behind us!

Dylan's candy shop....every kind of candy you could ever want!

We were running late so we grabbed a cab and headed to dinner!

Here's the gang at Carmine's! Me, Jen, Laurie, Jill, Joanna (Christy's friend that has promised me the Cinnobon frosting recipe so now she is a friend of mine!), Christy, Jenna (Joanna's daughter) and Corinne! Carmine's is a famous Italian restaurant that serves its food family style! We had some crazy good food...Chicken Marsala and Ravioli with a vodka tomato sauce! I loved it and bought their recipe book. I'll be trying a lot of fun new things! And...as always, I'm willing to share all recipes...call me!

WICKED!!!

I love this picture...Times Square! NYC is so fun at night!

Just to give you an idea with the snow....it all came in one day!

On Sunday, we decided to take the train into the city to do a little more shopping/walking before a matinee. Our train was at 8:25, so we got up early and got to the train station and waited.
And waited.

And waited.

Finally someone called the 800 number and found out that train service had been canceled since Friday because of trees on the tracks. (No sign, no nothing! Arrg!) So we called a taxi and payed $40 to get to the next city with train service. We met a nice Captain in the US Army who became our photographer. But the joke became that we were "sufferin'" in Suffern!We finally made it to the city by noon, when we should have arrived around 9:30. Oh well, just more adventure! We walked around the Greenwich Village area, Canal Street and Soho! Got a NY bagel and then hit our matinee play called "God of Carnage." It was about some parents who meet because their children had an altercation at the playground. Some laughs, but not great! The best part of the play was when Jen snuck out some cupcakes she bought at Crumbs Bakery....they were divine and perked us all up!

Right after the play we hoped in a taxi and went to the Empire State Building! Not knowing it could be a 2 hour plus ordeal, we were delighted to get to the top in less than 10 minutes! The sun was setting and the sky was clear for the first time in a few days!

It was so fun and such a NYC tourist thing to do...I loved it!

You can feel the sun on our faces!

You can see the Chrysler building behind us.

Fun self portrait in the wind! Sure love this birthday girl!
When we were looking over the sides we saw the Macy's department store and decided to hit the shoe department....it was huge! Then our time in the city was over! Waaaaaa!

Christy took us to the airport the next morning and she and Jill said their good-bye's! It was sad, but luckily Christy is coming out this summer!

Here we go....on the day of travel....we were using frequent flier tickets so we had some crazy stops and layovers...luckily Jill is an awesome sport and usually doesn't stop laughing, so we had fun!

In Memphis we had some crazy fun on our phones texting with our fun emoji icons and being silly!

Then we met up again in Salt Lake for our "it's over" picture....and the party was over! Luckily we have some awesome pictures and memories from Jill's 40th trip!
Jill, I love you girl, no one is more fun!
Thanks for this wicked awesome time!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!