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.

Christmas Lights, NY Style

On our Farewell, New York tour, two must-see stops were Rockefeller Center and the Time Warner Center. I really wanted Ellie to see some of our Christmas favorites.

So, on our last Thursday in New York, Ellie and I headed into the city to meet up with Eric when he left work. We all agreed to meet at the Time Warner Center to see my current favorite NYC holiday sight: the Time Warner Center holiday light show. When we arrived, I was happy to see those huge, beautiful stars suspended from the ceiling. The problem, however, was that I didn't factor in timing. It was mid-afternoon at that point, but the light show does not actually start until 5:00 p.m., something that neither Eric nor I thought of ahead of time. So, we just snapped some pictures of/with the stars and went on our way.

Stars hanging from the ceiling

So pretty

Ellie is very impressed.

Eric is starting to master the self-taken portrait of all three of us!

From there we made a quick pass through the holiday shops at Columbus Circle, then walked over towards Rockefeller Center. On our way, we stopped to check out some of the decorations on Sixth Avenue. The big ornaments are my favorite!

Nutcrackers on Sixth, and Radio City Music Hall

By the big train

Hanging out by the ornaments

After Sixth Avenue, it was time to see the Rockefeller Center tree at long last. As it turns out, I'm pretty sure the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree was the very first Christmas tree Ellie ever saw. So I suppose we're setting her up for a lot of disappointing trees from here on out, because it's all downhill from Rockefeller Center, right? But, the tree was looking as festive as ever, quite lovely indeed. We spent some time wading through the crowds to take it in from all angles.

Ellie checking out her first Christmas tree. I think she likes it!

Family photo at the tree!

We also took a few minutes to watch the light show on the facade of Saks, which I thought was better than last year but still far inferior to the old snowflakes that used to adorn the building.

Watching the light show

Happy Holidays from Saks!

Even after all that, we were still feeling pretty good...

They kill me.

...so we hopped on the subway to go back to the Time Warner Center to catch the light show after all. We made it with a few minutes to spare, and I loved seeing those lovely stars dance to holiday music. However, it was much different than I remembered: I thought in past years, the music played on and on continuously, but now it is only two songs every 30 minutes. It's possible I'm just remembering it wrong, but I think it's more likely that the curse strikes again: every time I pick a favorite NYC Christmas thing, it changes for the worse! But, it was still a beautiful sight and I'm glad I got to see it one last time.

Stars in green

Stars changing color during the show, and one tuckered out little Christmas baby

I'm sure she loved the show even if she slept through it!

It was a perfect Christmas evening in the city, and I'm so glad we were able to take Ellie to see these holiday sights that we love so much. There's just nothing like New York at Christmas!

Favorite NY Memories #4: Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live was something we wanted to do the entire time we lived in New York, but were just not quite sure how to make it happen without either being really, really lucky or really, really crazy.

You see, SNL distributes tickets to the general public every year through a ticket lottery. You email during the month of August to get your name put into the mix, and then they'll email you if you are selected. We actually know someone who managed to get tickets this way, which is shocking, because I was convinced this was all just a clever ruse to make the public think there was a chance to ever see this show without being BFFs with Lorne Michaels or something. We emailed every year, to no avail.

The other way to get tickets is to try for standby tickets on the day of the show. Every Saturday morning at 7:00, they hand out standby tickets to both the dress rehearsal and live taping on a first come, first served basis. Now, these tickets do not guarantee you a spot at the show. Rather, they give you a chance to see the show. If the studio is not already filled with VIPs and regular ticket-holders, they'll let the standby people in to fill any empty seats. So, every Saturday, there are lots more standby tickets distributed than there are actual available seats at showtime. And for big name guests, such as a Justin Timberlake or Alec Baldwin host, or Justin Bieber or Lady GaGa musical guest, people will camp out for these standby tickets for days. A week, even. Days on end of sleeping on the streets of New York just for a chance to maybe see SNL. Now, Eric and I have been known to do crazy things to see New York events, but that just did not sound worth it at all to me. Sleeping on the street for days with no guarantees of actualy seeing a show? Nah. No thanks. So, we figured SNL was just not meant to be for us.

Until one Friday afternoon in January of this year, that is. The host for that Saturday's show was Charles Barkley, with musical guest Kelly Clarkson. Both good enough, but not big pulls. Eric got the crazy idea that we should give the standby line a shot. The weather was unusually warm (only got down into the 40s that night), I was pregnant but not super uncomfortable yet, and he figured we could head out to the line around 3:00 in the morning and get tickets. Pregnancy apparently ate my brain because I agreed.

Waiting in the SNL standby ticket line!

So, head out there we did, and spent several hours sitting on the street waiting for our chance. We ultimately secured tickets to the dress rehearsal, and much to our surprise and delight, we were able to get into the show that evening! Our seats were awful (worst in the house, actually), but the whole thing was still incredibly cool to see. Because it was the dress rehearsal, we were even able to see an extra 30 minutes worth of material that didn't make it into the show. It was so neat to watch the whole process, from the warm-up to the cue cards to the set changes to a fit of hysterical laughter for the actors during one sketch. We had a fantastic time and it was definitely one of the coolest things we were able to do during our time here.

Our standby tickets

Terrible seats.

Thumbs up for an awesome night!

Of course, we made it into the audience of quite a few other shows during our time here, too: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show With David Letterman, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, SportsNation. All were very cool experiences, but nothing topped SNL.

Top row: Us on TV during The Late Show, and outside the theater after the show

Middle row: Outside NBC Studios after Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; outside the studio after The Daily Show; and Eric with Michelle Beadle after SportsNation taping

Bottom row: At The Colbert Report, which tapes just a few doors down from our old apartment building!

Saturday Night Live is just such a New York institution, and to go through the process of waiting out for tickets, doing the standby line that night, having that moment of excitement when you get off the elevator and they tell you that you've made it into the show, getting goosebumps when you walk into the studio, seeing the cast running around and making the show happen before your very eyes - it's all just very, very cool. After the show Eric and I were on such a high and we were so, so glad that we made it happen. It ended up easily being one of our most favorite New York nights, and that is how it secured the number four spot on this countdown.

To read the whole Saturday Night Live recap, click here.

Favorite NY Memories #6: Fashions Night Out 2010

Fashions Night Out was one of those great New York events that we just happened to stumble upon without any real planning. The very first Fashions Night out was held in September 2009, in which all the glamorous stores around the city open their doors and offer sales, celebrity appearances, food, drink, live music and various other promotions. Somehow, we didn't hear anything about this until the next year's event, in September 2010. Even then, I only heard about it after we had already purchased $10 preview tickets to a Broadway play for the same evening. What I was hearing about FNO sounded fun though, so we decided we would just leave early for our show and catch some of the action on Fifth Avenue before heading to the theater.

Well, we never made it to the theater. For the first (and probably only) time in my life, I voluntarily let Broadway tickets go to waste in favor of another event. We were just having too much fun to leave and go to a show. That night, we dined on caviar and champagne and then goofed off in a photo booth with Bar Refaeli at the Armani store. We browsed through Prada while sipping champagne as a DJ played music and Dakota Fanning hung out downstairs. We walked the yellow carpet at Tiffany's, posed for photos and hit up the free candy buffet. We caught what we could of a free Idina Menzel performance at Michael Kors, and then watched her and her handsome husband graciously fight through the crowds to make their exit. We admired strange window displays, many featuring live models (including one featuring cast members from the Real World/Road Rules Challenge). And of course, we posed on the red carpet at Rockefeller Center.

Fashions Night Out 2010

Top: Sipping champagne in Armani; posing with Bar Refaeli

Bottom: Free candy at Tiffany's; photobooth fun; Eric posing with Aubrey Hepburns at Tiffany's

Right: On the red carpet at Rockefeller Center

Since that first year, we have attended Fashions Night Out twice more. In 2011, my sister was in town. We did more wandering, celebrity searching, and drinking of free champagne, but it was much more crowded than the previous year so we were less successful.

Fashions Night Out 2011

Left: Posing in Fendi; Right: Free sparkling grape juice in Gap; on the red carpet at Rockefeller Center

In 2012, we took Ellie to be a part of the action. She looked quite the part of the baby fashionista in her polka dot dress, but given her early bedtime we did not stay out too late.

Fashions Night Out 2012

Top: Ellie and me on the red carpet at Rockefeller Center; posing for the paparazzi

Bottom: On the red carpet at Macy's; Ellie with her dad in Rockefeller Center

Although we certainly had fun at Fashions Night Out all three years we attended, none could quite match the awesomeness of the first one. Maybe it was that it was still new so not very crowded, maybe it was that we got lucky and got to do and see almost everything we wanted, maybe we drank more champagne than other years. Whatever the cause, that first Fashions Night Out has stuck out in our minds as one of our most amazing and unbelievably fun New York nights. I mean, you know it's good if I feel very little regret over giving up our Broadway tickets for something else! We just had such an unexpectedly fantastic good time, so much so that we have been unable to replicate it since. It was a perfect evening, and that is why Fashions Night Out 2010 is the one that has earned a spot on this countdown.

To read more about our Fashions Night Out fun, choose a year: 2010, 2011 or 2012.

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!