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.

Favorite NY Memories #1: New Year's Eve in Times Square

At long last, my friends, we have reached the top of this list, the #1 item, my MOST FAVORITE New York Memory. And that honor goes to: New Year's Eve (2008-09) in Times Square, watching that famous ball drop live and in the flesh. As if there was ever any doubt!

The ball was new that year, and before placing it in its famous spot atop Times Square, it was on display at Macy's.

Here I am in November 2008, saying a quick hello to the ball we would stare at for hours just a couple months later.

This memory is one I will be telling people about for the rest of my life. It is one that I will relive every single year as I watch that ball drop on TV. The feelings associated with it will always stick with me. And I will never, ever do it again.

New Year's Eve 2008 was our very first in New York City. As I mentioned in my post about our #3 Favorite Memory, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Eric and I arrived in New York ready and gung-ho to do every single New York-y thing possible. Our plan was to do them all in our first year if possible, thinking that after we had lived here for a while the novelty would wear off and we'd become jaded, unimpressed (read: wise) New Yorkers who would never do something so ridiculous as, for example, standing outside in frigid temperatures for hours just to watch a big lighted ball slowly lower for about 10 seconds. I don't know that I would say the novelty did really wear off, because obviously I'm still quite obsessed with All Things New York City, but this turned out to be a good plan. It was great to have these big, exhausting events crossed off by the end of our first year so we could spend the rest of our years here doing whatever we liked with no regrets.

Of course, spending New Year's Eve in Times Square was one of those big events we had to cross off our list. So, in 2008, we went for it. We had friends come up from Washington, D.C. for the big affair, and we were excited to have people in this thing with us, because misery loves company and all that. At 4:00 that afternoon, we started the Putting On Of The Clothes. We wore so, so many clothes. It had snowed that day and the temperatures were not exactly toasty. We were so bundled.

We made our way out to Times Square, trying to enter where we could. We finally made it in around 49th Street, made it through security, and settled into our "pen" by about 5:20 p.m. We ended up halfway between 48th and 49th Streets, so about six blocks back from the ball. That was the closest we could get six and a half hours early.

I should explain how this whole "pen" thing works for those who might not be familiar. NYPD uses barricades to create these pens all throughout Times Square. When you arrive, you are corralled into the closest open pen. When the pen is filled with people, NYPD closes it off. And then that's it. Nobody else is allowed in the pen, including you, if you leave. So once you're in, you're in. There are no bathrooms. There is no food. There is no drink. There is nowhere to sit. There is no warmth. And if you leave, you will only be allowed to enter into the next closest open pen, which (depending on the timing of your exit) could be blocks further back from where you started. So you don't leave.

So, as of 5:20, we were committed. Our pen didn't get too crowded for a while, so we spent some time snapping pictures, enjoying the space and staking out our spot along the barricades.

Ready for a fun New Year's Eve in Times Square!

We spent the next six and a half hours standing in that pen, watching it fill up around us. There were people around us from numerous different countries, which I found very cool. Every so often they would come by and had out some SWAG: hats, scarves, balloons, candy. Also, every hour they would countdown to the hour, and the screen below the ball would say "X hours to go!", so we came to look forward to that.

What we really must discuss, however, is the temperature. When we arrived at 5:20 p.m., the temperature was 17 degrees. Seventeen degrees was the warmest weather we stood in all night. According to Ryan Seacrest, by midnight, with windchill the temperature was two degrees. One, two. Two degrees. I'm no meteorologist but I would say generally, people prefer more degrees than that. I know I do, at least. It was COLD, by far the coldest I have ever been. You might think that you would stay warm huddled in with all those people at least, but I am here to tell you that is false. That does not help. It is still cold. It was the kind of cold that made any inch of skin exposed to the air sting (painfully). I spent a solid half hour wondering how exactly you tell the difference between just being really, really cold and in actual danger of frostbite. It was so cold, our friends left by 7:30 p.m. Eric and I were the only crazies left standing.

I have so many pairs of gloves on that I can't even pull my pinky finger in to give my thumbs up.

I think Eric is under there somewhere.

We may be crazy for sticking it out, but stick it out we did. Eric and I took turns wavering in our commitment to the cause, but we managed to pull each other through and remained in our pen until midnight. At long last, the approximately two minutes we had all been waiting for were upon us.

Right before midnight, they played "Imagine" through Times Square. For those couple of minutes, all the craziness died down and everyone sang along. Everyone. All those people from all over the world just stood there in this one place, singing this beautiful song, ready to bid farewell to the year gone by and celebrate the arrival of a fresh start. It was one of the single most overwhelming moments of my time here, if not my life in general. It was beautiful.

Not only was I overcome by the feeling of togetherness in that moment, but I was also so in awe of where I stood and what I was doing. Like most of America, I have watched the New Year's Eve countdown from Times Square on TV for as long as I can remember. I have always wondered what it would be like to be there, but never in a million years would have guessed that I would someday actually do just that. It was just such an incredible feeling, to be a part of this tradition that is cherished by millions, to be standing in a place that the whole world was watching. What an incredibly cool place this city is.

And then, the countdown began! As 2008 became 2009, fireworks exploded over Times Square, confetti fell (although we were too far back to be under it), people cheered and hugged and kissed.

VIDEO: The final seconds of 2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Midnight kiss with frozen lips!

After the ball dropped, they played "Auld Lang Syne" (of course), "New York," "It's a Wonderful World" and other great music as the crowds started to disperse. The funny thing is that so many people wait so long in their spots for just these few seconds of celebration, and then when it's all over they book it out of there. I understand this, of course, but Eric and I chose to linger for just a few minutes to take it all in. To this day, the song "New York" makes me think of that moment, and I can't help but feel a little misty-eyed and nostalgic. It was such an incredible feeling.

Amidst the craziness after the ball dropped

When we had our fill of the moment, we walked home (and finally got feeling back in our poor, frozen toes!), where our friends were waiting for us in our nice, toasty apartment. They were kind enough to go out and get us a pizza, which we happily enjoyed with some champagne as we recounted the tale of our evening.

We did it!

That night was just unlike any other that I have ever (or will ever) have. Would I do it again? Never ever, not in a million years. It was awful. Although I will say that each year since has been significantly (like 40-degrees-or-more kind of significantly) warmer than the year we did this. So maybe trying again wouldn't be that bad. But, no. No, no, no. Our official stance on New Year's Eve in Times Square quickly became this: Yes, we did it, and it was awesome. But also awful. If you want to come visit us for New Year's Eve and go to Times Square, we will happily lend you every warm article of clothing in our home and point you in the right direction. And we'll be waiting with pizza when you get back.

The next year, we did just that - we watched the ball drop from the comfort of our home, where we could see Times Square from our living room. The crazy did almost take over on New Year's Eve 2010, when we made a quick stop by Times Square just to snap some pictures, and the warm temperatures nearly convinced us to stay. Luckily, sanity kicked back in and we returned to our apartment, where we once again watched the ball drop live from our living room window with a glass of champagne in hand. MUCH BETTER. Sanity for the win!

Our view from our bedroom on New Year's Eve 2009-10

Briefly back in Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-11

Fireworks over Times Square at midnight on New Year's Eve 2010-11, as seen from our living room, because we do still have some of our wits about us.

Despite the craziness of it all, New Year's Eve 2008 will always be one of my most cherished memories. There is just no way to understand the energy of that experience until you have been there yourself, and I am so thankful to be able to say that we have done that. It may have been cold and crowded and generally miserable, but all that only adds to the story. At the end of the day, it was an extraordinary experience that I will not soon forget.

And there you have it, folks. My top ten favorite memories brought to me by this city that I love so dearly. Tomorrow, it is time to officially say good-bye.

To read the full recount of our New Year's Eve in Times Square adventure, click here.

Favorite NY Memories #3: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Eric and I actually attended the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade two years in a row: 2008 and 2009. In 2008, we had just arrived in New York a couple of months earlier, and it was our first real big New York thing we went to. Thanks to not yet really understanding how early people show up for these things, we were a bit later than we needed to be to get a really good spot (silly us, only two hours early! What were we thinking?!), but we were able to see things pretty well so it wasn't too bad. The worst part was that it was a lot of standing around in the cold for many, many hours (although far from the worst we'd endure in that regard in our NYC life, that's for sure), but all in all it was a lot of fun. The best part was that my dad was marching in the parade with the Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band from St. Petersburg, Florida! It was pretty cool to see him march through Columbus Circle. And, of course, as newbies to the city, we were just happy to be a part of a New York institution like the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. It was really fun.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2008

Top row: The sign I made to hold up as the 'Rounders marched by us; my dad and the band marching down Broadway

Bottom: Santa making his grand entrance; Eric in the street after the parade had passed us by

However, as fun as the parade in 2008 may have been, we vowed to never do it again. We were on a strict "Do Everything Once Right Away Before The Novelty of New York Wears Off" plan, and the Macy's Parade in 2008 just left us with memories of bone-chilling cold and really pushy crowds. No thanks, we thought. We'll watch it on TV like all the other sane people from here on out.

But, not so fast. One day, Eric happened to be talking to a coworker about our first Macy's Parade experience and how although it was fun, it was less than desirable. As it turned out, this coworker's wife happened to be formerly in charge of the sales department of the ESPN Zone in Times Square, which hosted a parade-viewing event every year for the children of NY police and firefighters. They would block off the sidewalk so these families can have crowd-free street viewing of the parade, or you could spend some time in the ESPN Zone playing games, getting warm, or enjoying the free breakfast buffet. When Eric got an email from this coworker asking if we would like to join them at the ESPN Zone event for the 2009 parade, to make up for our experience in 2008, we were ALL OVER IT. How lucky!

This sort of speaks to something we have discovered about these sorts of things in New York: you have to either be really early or really lucky. Sure, you can get to these kinds of events hours and hours before start time to try to make the experience as great as possible, or you just kind of have to be in the right place at the right time. For example, we waited in Times Square for seven hours to see the ball drop on New Years Eve, and we were too far back to even be under the confetti. However, we have friends that just happened to get to Times Square on New Year's Eve a couple years later right as NYPD was opening up some barricades close to one of the stages. Just by being in the right place at the right time, they had a much better experience than we did. This Thanksgiving Parade situation was kind of the same thing: The first year, we were early (although not early enough!). The second year, we were lucky. Frankly, I prefer the latter.

The ESPN Zone event did not disappoint. We had plenty of open sidewalk space to view the parade without getting constantly pushed around by crazy crowds. We had a fantastic view of the parade as it exited Times Square and turned east towards Bryant Park. We had free hot chocolate to drink to stay warm (even though the weather was quite a bit warmer than it had been the previous year!). We enjoyed some free breakfast. It was so luxurious and such a fun way to once again be a part of such a major New York City tradition.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2009

Left, top row: Our passes to the ESPN Zone event

Left, second row: Eric demonstrating how much room we had on the sidewalk; the overcrowded other side of the street for comparison!

Left, third row: Macy's Parade begins; balloons passing through Times Square

Left, fourth row: Our view of the passing balloons; Santa kicking off the holiday season

Right: After a very fun parade experience!

That second attempt at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was just such a blast and left us feeling so grateful - both for the opportunity to view the parade in such a special way, and for the opportunity to live in this city in the first place. And gratitude is a very appropriate feeling to have on Thanksgiving, wouldn't you say? We are so thankful that Eric's coworker was so generous and gave us this very memorable New York experience.

To read more about our Thanksgiving Day Parade adventures, click here for 2008 or here for 2009.

Favorite NY Memories #8: "Rent" on Broadway

Oh, Broadway, how I love thee. When I started making this list, I knew Broadway had to make an appearance. But, how could I choose which particular show or moment? I have now seen 25 Broadway shows (and four off-Broadway). All were fantastic in their own ways and I loved every second of theater I have enjoyed in this city.

But then, it hit me, and it was so obvious. And so the number eight spot on my countdown goes to Rent, which we saw in its last week on Broadway, just two days after we arrived in New York City. That was the quintessential Broadway experience in my book.

Rent at the Nederlander Theater, September 2008

Before we came to New York, we caught wind that Rent would be closing, but that it had just extended its end date to be just a week after our scheduled arrival. In fact, thanks to the extension, we were able to buy tickets in the front row of the center balcony the day they went on sale. We ended up with a great view.

I remember we had arrived just two days earlier, were right in the midst of unpacking (and running up to Lincoln Center daily to use their free WiFi to connect with the world while we waited for our cable/internet to be set up), but we dropped everything and got dolled up for a night out - our first in the city. We walked to the show, which I thought was amazing. The show itself was fantastic, of course. Rent is one of my favorites, so I was not surprised. After the show we hung around the theater and ended up meeting three of the actors (those who played Mimi, Roger and Angel).

Outside the theater after the show

Happy to be new New Yorkers!

Then, we walked back home through Times Square, and it was just this "holy cow, I live in New York" kind of moment. I had wanted to live in this city for so long, and then all of a sudden, there I was, standing in the middle of Times Square on my way home to my New York City apartment after just having seen a fabulous Broadway show. I was so overcome with excitement for this new life I was entering into.

From our walk home through Times Square

Since that night, Eric and I have enjoyed so many fantastic shows, and I have been repeatedly hit with that "I'm so lucky" feeling I had the night we saw Rent, but never with quite so much intensity and excitement for what was to come. It was so surreal and so exhilarating. And that is how Rent takes its place on this list.

Click here to read all about our evening out for "Rent," or here for all Broadway-related posts.

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!