Our Last Night

I can't believe I'm about to write my very last recap of a fun NYC outing. That is blowing my mind.

Before we get to that, in case you're wondering how Florida life is progressing, our belongings arrived last Friday and we've been working hard to get unpacked and settled. A word (or two) to the wise: I do not recommend moving 1) at Christmas time, and/or 2) with a baby. Both things really complicate your life.

It's nice having our things here, but we have yet to establish a routine, something that I'm sure will finally happen after the holidays. We have just been so busy I feel like I've barely had a moment to come up for air. It has been a non-stop mad dash of car registrations, new driver licenses, unpacking, visiting family, working, trying to do some kind of Christmas preparation, etc., etc. I haven't read a blog or responded to email in a timely manner or had a night to just sit and aimlessly watch TV in weeks. The silver lining there is that being so busy has kept me from dwelling on all the Christmas in New York Fun I'm missing out on, but the flip side is that I'm sure the homesickness is going to hit like a ton of bricks after the holiday craziness. Every now and then I'll get a passing moment of "oh crap, we're really not going back," but for now, that thought really hasn't been allowed much space in my brain. Check in with me again mid-January.

And it is very strange to think that this post will conclude my NYC-related recaps. It's all Florida from here on out. I hope you're ready for the change, my friends. I plan to share more about what exactly we're doing here shortly after the New Year, so stay tuned for that.

Our last night in New York was a perfect one. We took the ferry from Hoboken into midtown, which gave us great dusk views of the skyline as we approached the city. I made sure to point out all the notable buildings to Ellie.

On the ferry

Look, Ellie! The Empire State Building!

We then walked east, through our old neighborhood and over to Times Square. Ellie made this a bit taxing by doing her "lean as far backwards in the carrier as I possibly can" thing. At least she was having fun?

She's a weirdo.

Even though we had already taken Ellie there the week prior, we made our way back to Rockefeller Center to take in the tree one more time.

In front of the tree

On the Promenade

Eric's friend Dave met us by the tree to meet Ellie, and kindly snapped a few family photos for us.

That girl loves to pinch.

Our NY family

We also paused on the Promenade to recreate one of my most favorite pictures of us from our time in New York: us in front of the old Saks snowflakes in 2009.

Left: Christmas 2009, after seeing the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Right: Christmas 2012, with our baby in tow, bidding farewell to our city.

We then walked back over to Sixth Avenue to take in the large ornaments and Christmas lights once more.

Eric and Ellie and giant Christmas lights

Then it was over to Times Square, just because well, it's Times Square. It just seemed fitting to end our time in the city with a pass through Times Square. Once again, we stopped to recreate an old photo, this time one we took while Eric was a summer associate in the city, before we even moved there. We had just seen a Broadway show and were enjoying our night out in the big city. We weren't even married yet at that point. Five years of marriage, four years of New York life and one baby later, we tried to recreate the magic on our last night in the city.

Same spot, 2007 and 2012

And with that, we decided to call it a night and close out our city life. We walked back to the PATH train and I couldn't help but shed a few tears as I looked back at what we were leaving behind. I felt brokenhearted and unable to imagine not walking those streets every day. Frankly, I still can't imagine it.

We took the train back to Newport and walked from there back to Hoboken along the waterfront. I spent the whole walk trying to memorize every last detail of the skyline, every peak of every building and every glittering light. I don't ever want to forget exactly what it looked like.

For dinner that night we ordered in Italian from a favorite local place and drank a good amount of wine, trying to both reminisce about our New York life and prepare for the next day and all the change it would bring with it. That was our last real moment to reflect before the madness that was the day of our travel to Florida.

That night was a perfect way to say good-bye to the city: just roaming around midtown, through our old neighborhood and past these major NYC sights that used to be a part of our daily lives. I've said it before, and I'll be saying it for the rest of my life: we were so blessed to have the opportunity to live in that great city, and our time there will be remembered often and fondly. I love that city.

And now, with this closure of the New York chapter, let our Florida life commence.

Counting Down

Well, my friends, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to the holiday, and will be spending it with good friends.

However, Thanksgiving has come a little too quickly for us this year. We know that once Thanksgiving is over, the final countdown of our last days in New York must begin. The twelve days between Thanksgiving and our NYC departure date are going to be incredibly busy ones, filled with both the tedious tasks of packing, cleaning and tying up loose ends before our move as well as the fun times of taking Ellie around town to see as much of a New York Christmas as we can possibly cram into twelve days. (It will be The Twelve Days of Our New York Christmas, if you will.)

All this will keep us very busy, so I will not be sharing any of that with you until we have arrived in Florida. In the meantime, however, I want to say goodbye to my beloved New York by spending the remaining days (with just a couple of exceptions for special occasions) reminiscing and counting down our top ten most favorite New York memories. These are the moments that, above all others, made our time here so incredibly fantastic. I have a list all queued up, and hope you won't mind taking a walk down memory lane with me as we say our goodbyes.

Before we get into my Official Favorite New York Memories Countdown, there are a couple of things that didn't quite make the cut, largely because they aren't discrete events and so did not fit my plan for this Top Ten. But, they are parts of the city that I just love so I simply can't leave them out. (Hey, do you have any idea how hard it is to narrow down four years' worth of out-of-this-world experiences to just ten favorites, anyway? It's HARD.)

And so, my New York Favorite Memories: Honorable Mentions are as follows:

Honorable Mention #1: Bryant Park

I have said countless times that Bryant Park is my favorite park in the city, but I think it actually be my favorite place overall. In the spring, it's a beautiful place to have lunch (which was Ellie's first NYC outing, actually!). In the summer, they have so many fun events (many that we took advantage of): movies on the lawn, free knitting lessons, Broadway in Bryant Park concerts weekly. In the winter, the lawn is transformed into a skating rink and the perimeter of the park is lined with great holiday shops. The Southwest Air porch is a fun little place to grab a drink, a snack and a Snuggie while you cuddle up by the fire pit. And, in addition to all these regular things, we have enjoyed other special events there, too, including the Madden NFL 12 Pigskin Pro-Am, their beautiful 9/11 tribute, and the sheep on the lawn.

Fun times in Bryant Park

Top row: Ellie's first lunch in Bryant Park; Snuggies and boozy hot beverages on the Southwest Porch with my friend Amanda; Broadway in Bryant Park with my friend Megan; Bryant Park's 9/11 Tribute; Citi Pond skating rink; the holiday shops

Bottom row: Crowds gathered for Movies on the Lawn; Madden NFL 12 Pigskin Pro-Am; Ellie checking out the sheep on the lawn; and people (including me!) gathered to learn how to knit

Honorable Mention #2: Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center is another one of my most favorite places in New York City, probably second only to Bryant Park. First of all, it's just beautiful.

Lincoln Center at night

Avery Fisher Hall

And then, of course, there are the events. We saw so many incredible events at Lincoln Center. Aside from events you can see in many cities (such as The Nutcracker, Idina Menzel in concert, etc.), there were so many events that we could not have seen anywhere else. From J.K. Rowling's only U.S. appearance to promote a novel, to John Williams conducting the New York Philharmonic, to the NY Philharmonic playing the music of West Side Story along with the film, to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 premiere - almost every event just left me with that very overwhelmed is-this-really-my-life?! feeling.

Clockwise from top left: Me enjoying the fountain at Lincoln Center; feeling inspired after seeing The Nutcracker; Daniel Radcliffe at the Harry Potter premiere; and meeting J.K. Rowling

My Lincoln Center love runs very, very deep, and I will miss it so.

Eric and me after a wonderful show at Lincoln Center

Honorable Mention #3: The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge was one of my most favorite activities to take our visitors to do, because on a nice day it is just such a pleasant outing. However, Eric and I first walked across (well, halfway across) the Bridge on a very cold, snowy, windy December day. The positive side was that the bridge was virtually empty (a rare sight, indeed), but I have no idea why we thought that was a good idea.

We're having fun here, sure, but this was still a pretty stupid idea.

Since then, we have perfected the Brooklyn Bridge outing: we take the subway just into Brooklyn, then walk down to Brooklyn Bridge Park to enjoy the view. In the past, if we were feeling hungry, we would generally stop at the Ice Cream Factory to grab a cone while we wait in line for Grimaldi's pizza (at the very least, we always get ice cream, even if we're in the middle of a 42-mile bike ride!). Then, we walk back to Manhattan across the bridge. The views are beautiful and it's just a wonderful afternoon. Actually, the views are so great that I even used one of our pictures of the view from the Brooklyn Bridge for the header of this here blog!

Top row: Eric and me below the Brooklyn Bridge; the view of the Empire State Building from the bridge

Bottom row: The Ice Cream Factory sitting below the bridge; on the bridge with Molly and Heather; taking a break/ice cream stop during the Five Boro Bike Tour; Ellie's first time on the bridge

Honorable Mention #4: Christmas in New York

Christmas in New York is just magical. Everything is so beautifully decorated, you can't help but get into the holiday spirit. (Although I will admit that the increased number of tourists does its very best to suck the joy right back out of you - last year I worked right by Radio City Music Hall and tended to feel very Grinch-y during my evening commute thanks to crowds so thick I could barely get to my train.)

Bah-humbug to the crowds aside, Christmas in New York is such an experience. Although many signs of the season show up before Thanksgiving, the festivities officially begin with the arrival of Santa at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (we plan to take Ellie to Macy's to meet him this weekend!). Of course, the Rockefeller Center tree is spectacular. The store windows are sights to behold. The huge ornaments and light bulbs on Sixth Avenue are lots of fun. The Rockettes show should not be missed. There are ice skating rinks, holiday markets, twinkling lights and decked-out trees around every corner. There's nothing like it.

Christmas in New York

Top row: The Rockefeller Center tree; ornaments on Sixth Avenue; Radio City Christmas Spectacular; light bulbs on Sixth Avenue; Macy's decked out for the holiday

Bottom row: Window display from a past year at Bergdorf Goodman; the Wall Street Bull sporting a festive wreath; Cartier wrapped up in lights on Fifth Avenue; holiday market at Columbus Circle; the Empire State Building lit for the holidays

Our original favorite Christmas in NYC sight was the Stock Exchange. Our first year here, they replaced the flag that usually stretches across the columns on the front of the building with a flag made out of Christmas lights. To our disappointment, that light flag has not been back since our first Christmas. Our other favorite thing was the dancing snowflakes on the facade of Saks, which has now been replaced by some sort of laser bubble and snowflake show. Because they keep doing away with our favorites, I hesitate to even say what my current favorite thing is, but here goes: the musical stars in the Time Warner Center. They are huge, suspended from the ceiling, and their lights dance to the music that plays throughout the building. It's beautiful and I could watch them for hours.

Our Christmas favorites

Top row: Us in front of the snowflakes at Saks; Stars in the Time Warner Center

Bottom row: The old Stock Exchange lights; more of the stars at Saks

I know we will manage, but I have a hard time picturing getting so into the Christmas spirit in any other city. In New York, it's simply infectious.

Honorable Mention #5: The Skyline View

Oh, the skyline view. Every time I get a good look at it, it takes my breath away. I don't know how I am going to live my life without this view at my disposal. It just...I can't even describe how it makes me feel to look at those gorgeous lights.

The view has been a big thing for us since we moved here. As you may recall, our original NYC home was on a low floor and looked out on a courtyard enclosed by other buildings. However, a few months later when the economy sent rental prices downwards, another unit opened up in our building which included a near wall-to-wall view of the midtown skyline. As much as I hated to pack up and move again after just getting settled, I knew we could not pass up the view that the new apartment offered. When we moved in, we left our blinds open almost constantly so we could admire it at all times. From the comfort of our living room, we were able to watch the Empire State Building don many different colors for many occasions and causes. We were able to see the Tribute in Light downtown on September 11th. We were even able to watch the New Year's Eve ball drop from our bedroom. That view is permanently burned in my mind and I will never forget it.

All of the above pictures were taken from our old NYC apartment!

Top row: General favorite shots of the view

Bottom row: The Empire State Building lit for Thanksgiving; a full moon over the city; the Empire State Building lit for Christmas in the background, with our tree in the foreground; view at dusk; fireworks going off above the ball (between the buildings) at midnight on New Year's Eve; Achilles soaking in as much of the view as he could before we moved out

Then, we moved to Hoboken. It broke my heart to leave that view behind, but even though we couldn't see the skyline from our new living room, the view was spectacular just a few steps outside our building.

The view from Hoboken

Left side: The view from Pier C; Holiday Empire State Building; rainbow over Manhattan; Ellie enjoying the view of downtown on a snowy afternoon

Right side: Empire State Building lit purple for Prematurity Awareness last weekend

And of course, the view from Top of the Rock can't be beat. There is a reason Top of the Rock has become one of my favorite places to take our visitors. It's just stunning. The trick is to go just before sunset, so you can take in the view in both daylight and at sunset, and then watch the city light up as the sky turns dark. Time your visit for a night when the Empire State Building is lit in festive colors, and there's just nothing like it.

View from Top of the Rock

Top: The view on Election Night this year

Bottom: Ellie's first time at Top of the Rock; Eric and me enjoying a Gator-colored Empire State Building in 2009

Now, with these five Honorable Mentions officially honored here, we can move forward into the holiday (our last in the city, WAAAAH) and then on to saying our good-byes. Stay tuned for my Official Favorite New York Memories Countdown, starting Friday!

Purple for Preemies

The Empire State Building is lit in a lovely shade of purple tonight for Prematurity Awareness Day:

Our nephew was born premature in September, so I thought of him as I took this picture, as well as many of my friends whose babies were born early. Today, we also wore purple in honor of Charlie:

We are so thankful that our sweet nephew is doing so well. We have been thinking of him today and are so excited to meet him in Florida soon!

Election Night in NYC

As you may recall, Eric and I had a great time in New York City on Election Night 2008. We spent some time at Rockefeller Center and Times Square and just really enjoyed all the festivities the city puts on for Election Night. So, this year, we decided we wanted to do it all again. Sure, we wouldn't be able to hang out until the race was called like we did last time (we have this baby now, you see, and she has a bed time), but we wanted to at least check it out. We have also been wanting to take Ellie to Top of the Rock on a night when the Empire State Building is lit in nice colors, and we figured the red, white and blue of election night was a perfect opportunity. We invited our friends Jess, Eric and Ada to join us, and a good time was had by all!

After Hurricane Sandy, the PATH train is working hard to get back on its feet, and so far there is only limited service on the Journal Square line (nothing out of Hoboken). So, we walked over to Newport to meet our friends at the PATH station there and made our way into the city.

Top of the Rock was our first stop, so we could check out the view with the last little bits of daylight left. (Did you know sunset is at 4:45 these days? WRONG.) When we purchased our tickets, the next available entry time was about 20 minutes away so we had some time to kill before actually heading up to the top. We walked through the underground concourse of Rockefeller Center and stumbled upon a photo op, and you know we are people who love a good photo op. Thus, I give you President Ellie (a very powerful orator) and her First Parents:

She's the first baby girl president! How historic!

Our presidential photo killed just the right amount of time, and we were able to head right up to Top of the Rock from there. Of course, we stopped for one more picture before making it into the elevators and up to the Observation Deck.

Oh no! Ellie overboard!

When we finally made it up and out, the view was just as beautiful as ever....

My beautiful, beautiful city

Looking north over Central Park

...and it did not get any worse as the sky darkened.

Patriotic Empire State Building in the foreground, with the new World Trade Center buildings off in the distance to the right

We spent some time enjoying the view from all angles.

Looking northeast towards Yankee Stadium

On the left, a look down towards Times Square. On the right, a look westward towards our old apartment.

The Chrysler Building

And of course, we took some pictures of ourselves!

Eric, Jess and adorable Ada

My Eric and my Ellie

My sweetheart

I know she won't remember it, but it really makes me happy that we were able to take Ellie up there to see that view. There's nothing like it.

Family photo!

It was pretty chilly up there, so when we had our fill of the view we made our way inside for a brief rest stop for the babies.

Mamas and baby girls

Then we went out to the Plaza, dubbed "Democracy Plaza" for the evening, to check out all the Election Festivities. Just as in 2008, they had a map of the United States painted on the ice skating rink, the buildings were illuminated in red and blue, and window-washer carts were adorned with each candidate's name, poised and ready to raise red and blue banners as the votes were tallied. There were also caricature stations, where you could have your caricature electronically drawn with one of the candidates (although the wait was over an hour, so we skipped this one), stations where you could "broadcast" your own newscast, and the MSNBC Experience setup in the NBC store.

Democracy Plaza 

Rockefeller Center lit in red and blue, with American flags lining the plaza

Map of the U.S. on the ice, ready to be filled in red and blue as the votes come in

Caricature artists

Carts and banners ready to be raised

We had a great time!

Our friends!

Us!

From there we walked over to Times Square to see what was going on. CNN had a big set up in Duffy Square, so we spent a couple of minutes there before beginning our walk back to the train to call it a night. The poor babies were so tired by this point. Of course, Ada dealt with this by falling asleep in her carrier. Ellie, on the other hand, chose a more open-eyed, vocal approach. It's just her style.

CNN setup in Times Square

Always a fun sight!

As soon as we got off the train in Newport, Ellie finally passed out. She's kind of a punk sometimes. (I kid, she's delightful, but really.)

We walked home from there and then spent the evening with a delicious pizza and election coverage before I passed out (I hung in long enough to be plenty sure that President Obama would be securing his second term, of course). And so, another NYC election night in the books! 

Broadway on Broadway 2012

Two Sundays ago, Eric and I took Ellie into the city for her first taste of Broadway (aside from the shows she attended in utero, naturally) at this year's Broadway on Broadway concert, which is always held in early September to kick off the new Broadway season. As you may recall, I first went to this concert with my mom and Aunt Debbie in 2009, and it was a blast - all of Times Square was blocked off (so there was plenty of space for all the spectators), so many great shows were featured, and the whole thing ended with a confetti drop that gave us a taste of the New Year's Eve experience. Eric and I went back in 2010 and also had a delightful time, but we missed it last year. This year, we figured it would be a nice, easy-going event to take Ellie to. So, into the city we went.

Unfortunately, this year it was set up very differently compared to the other times we've attended. Instead of blocking off essentially all of Times Square and setting up the stage at the south end (under the ball), they had the stage at the north end, right in front of the red steps, with only that segment of Times Square blocked off for spectators. That meant it was crowded. We couldn't even get into the pen, actually, and even if we had been able to, it wouldn't have been fun - super crowded and right in the sun. Because of the location of the stage, that also meant that if you wanted to stand behind the pens to try to get a view, you were largely out of luck because the red steps blocked the majority of the stage. Very disappointing.

But, it was a beautiful day so we made the most of it. We started by walking through the little row of booths promoting the various shows, then found a shady spot by the Olive Garden behind the red steps. We were late, so didn't catch all the performances, but we saw a few by shows like Chicago, Mamma Mia, and Newsies, plus a medley in celebration of Nederlander's 100th anniversary on Broadway. Kathie Lee Gifford hosted the show.

Times Square

Ellie and I made the front page at the Newsies booth!

Hanging out, enjoying some show tunes

The cast of Chicago on the CNN screen

The cast of Mamma Mia on stage

As in past years, the show ended with a rousing rendition of "New York, New York" - always a crowd-pleaser! However, that brought yet another disappointment with this year's production: no confetti drop. We were really looking forward to it, so that was a bummer. I don't know if they couldn't do it now with the stage in the new location or what, but it was definitely missed.

All the performers on stage for the big finale

Crowds trying to get a good picture of the stage

Despite our few disappointments, we did have a very nice time at the concert, and I think Ellie enjoyed it, too. Once again, she was an angel for the entire outing. I could tell she was getting sleepy on our walk back to the train, but she handled it like a champ.

Nestled in to her mama

Holding on

This picture has nothing to do with Ellie or the concert, but we happened to take it that day and it's pretty! Ha!

It was a great afternoon in the city! And I hope it was a good introduction to Broadway for Ellie - I would love it if she would enjoy the theater as much as we do!