Tuesday, July 8, 2008

I heart NY!: DAY FOUR

We decided that our last day in NY would be a lazy day. We just wanted to enjoy being in the NYC. I had a tummy ache in the morning (probably because of that ginormous sour apple drink from the night before. I mean did you see the size of that thing?), so when Dave and Andrea headed off to visit the Statue of Liberty, Matt and I stayed in and slept a little. I felt better at around 10am-ish and we got ready to go out and do some shopping. We grabbed a quick snack and spent the morning walking around Fifth Avenue. I bought a couple of things and of course Matt had to get some stuff from Nike-Town, but mostly we just enjoyed walking around and doing some people watching (does that make me sound like a skeevy little perv?).

We then walked to Central Park and met up with Dave and Andrea. We had lunch there and then just explored the park. It was so beautiful. It made me wish we would have brought the dogs along. There were cute puppies everywhere! There were trees everywhere, too, which was great because I love shade. I don’t know that Andrea loved walking under the trees since a bird pooped on her arm. I guess this gave her a real reason to give her best Angela Martin impersonation. Poop!
I wonder what he's thinking about...

I don't think there's that many trees in all of Phoenix.


Poop is falling from the ceiling...Poop!


A Bride and Groom were taking pics in front of this fountain.


John Lennon Memorial paid for by Yoko's donation. (Did you say Yoko? Ono..Ono I didn't)

After the fountain, we split up for the day. Matt and I went and took one of the bike/carriage rides around the park. We considered taking the horse carriage rides but I couldn’t stand the stank when I walked next to them, so I don’t think I would have lasted a whole park ride full of stank. My nose thanked me. It was a nice ride and the guide was telling us about everything we were seeing. Next time, I think I want to rent bikes and just ride around the park. Our afternoon flew by fast so we headed back to the hotel to drop off our shopping bags so we could head out to dinner.

Our bike/carriage ride


We decided to go back to Greenwich Village to find the famed Magnolia Bakery. I am so glad we went back to this area of Greenwich Village, as this was my favorite spot in NYC. I absolutely fell in love with this area. While walking around, we just noticed that everyone here was so laid back and everyone was walking their dogs. It was just really refreshing.

(Ooh, cool story. When we were walking over to Bleeker Street, we walked by this tall man and he looked familiar. He walked passed us and I turned around to get a better look at him. As I turned around, so did he and we made eye contact. That’s when it hit me that it was Tim Robbins! He must have seen the realization come across my face because he smiled at me and nodded. I turned to Matt and said, “I think that’s Tim Robbins! Look”. By the time Matt turned around, Tim was further away and Matt only saw his back side. The guy was wearing a backpack and some hockey sticks across his back so Matt said, “That’s probably not him. Why would Tim Robbins have hockey sticks?”. When we came back home, Matt IMDB-ed him and it turns out that Tim Robbins lives in Greenwich Village and plays hockey. I KNEW it was him!)

When we arrived at Magnolia Bakery, there was a long line wrapped around the building of people wanting to get in so we decided to go eat dinner first. We stayed close and walked around Bleeker Street and found this nice little Italian place. The restaurant was so quaint and adorable and the food was deelish! Mmm, I’m getting hunger pains just thinking about it.

Nice little Italian place we ate at in Greenwich Village


After dinner, we walked around the neighborhood and I took pictures of some of the brownstones. When I get the big bucks, buying one of these brownstones is one of the first things I’m going to do. Doesn’t that just look yummy? I mean, I can you envision anything better than a lazy Sunday, sitting on the stoop reading and eating a Magnolia cupcake? (Yes, I’m referencing SNL’s Lazy Sunday. So, what)

My future brownstone

When we went back to Magnolia bakery, the line had gotten a lot shorter and we only had to wait something like five minutes before it was our turn to go into the store. I was in heaven. You all know my love for cupcakes is almost as big as my love for the Kras, so yeah, pretty excited. They were everything I had imagined them to be. We bought eight cupcakes so we could take some to Dave and Andrea and some to bring back home.

Magnolia Bakery


We walked a little more and got more froyo at this Pinkberry like place. (You guys must think that all we did was eat. You know what? You’re right. Don’t hate!) We took the train back to our hotel. Matt became a pro at the whole subway thing. We never got lost once. I’m so proud. Baby boy has grown up!

We still hadn’t gone to the top of the Empire State Building so we made a late night trip out there and went to the top. The view was great and I’m glad we went at night so we could see all of the lights. It got really windy when we were up there but it wasn’t scary at all. I wonder why I got so scared on the bridge and not at all here where it’s like a trabillion times taller. Thems be the mysteries of life.


Matt at the top of the Empire State building.

Andrea and Me at the top of the Empire State Building. No duo shot of the guys. I think they avoided joint pictures after the Puerto Vallarta dolphin picture debacle from two years ago.

Matt and I headed back to Times Square at around midnight to get some last minute souvenirs for my nieces and nephews. This city really never sleeps. Matt wanted to get some White Castle (again with the eating) but we didn’t see one. Ah well, he’ll have to wait for the next trip. After that, we called it a night because we had to wake up early the next morning to catch our flight back home.

Saw this poster of BJ outside of Caroline's in Times Square. What? You know I would take a picture of it.

Yummy Magnolia cupcakes


Me stuffing my face before I go to bed.

Thanks for treating me well, NYC. You and I, we had a good thing going on but it was time for me to come home. I'll miss you dearly. Don't be sad. I'll be back to visit. I promise. But for now, keep close the memories we shared. Fly away sweet little bird. Fly away and be free.

7 comments:

Shannon said...

The last time I had a sour apple drink it tasted like Nyquil. UGH! There is a picture floating around of me attempting to drink it. My cousins took my glass of water hostage until I finished it. The look on my face is priceless. Seriously, I hope yours tasted better. It WAS huge though. TWSS. Was the Angela quote from the radbid bat episode? Do have Magnolia Bakery's cookbook? A gift idea (Matt, if you're reading...)! You should have a "ER's Magnolia Bakery NYC" MC "Cupcake" APAF "Bake-Off" FTC (for the cure of cavities or some other cupcake-causing affliction like food heaven or sugar coma or something). Um, the Matt-Dave dolphin picture fiasco? Do tell! :) Sorry Matt, Eunice mentioned it, she's gotta tell it now.

Shannon said...

I'm a cookbook fiend so here are links to 3 Magnolia Bakery Cookbooks at ecookbooks.com (all $20 or less!)...

The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook (1999)
http://www.ecookbooks.com/p-10853-the-magnolia-bakery-cookbook.aspx

At Home with Magnolia: Classic American Recipes from the Owner of Magnolia Bakery
http://www.ecookbooks.com/p-8818-at-home-with-magnolia.aspx

More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World-Famous Bakery and Magnolia's Home Kitchen
http://www.ecookbooks.com/p-5943-more-from-magnolia.aspx

And I'm sure by now you've bought the Jenna Fisher-promoted cupcake carrier, right? You can find it at Swoozie's at the Waterfront at Scottsdale Fashion! :)

Eunice said...

Mmm, I like the taste of Nyquil...the cherry kind. What? There's nothing wrong with that. And you are correct! It is that Angela quote. I knwe I would turn you into an Office head.

I LOVE your Fun Run-esque title for the bake-off. We should so do one!

And Thank you SO MUCH for all of the Magnolia cookbook links. It's funny you mention them because on Monday, I saw that first one on your list. I got so excited and emailed one of my friends who is also a cupcake fiend and we geeked out about how we HAVE TO get that cookbook. I am going to have to add those other two to my list! THANK YOU!

I love the Cupcake Courier! My sister bought me one for Christmas. Well, not the same exact one that Jenna pimps out but one from Target. I still want the one Jenna has.

OK, so the dolphin picture debacle: It's nothing big but when we went to Puerto Vallarta, we swam with the dolphins. When it came to picture time, the camera guy said something like, "OK, let me have the first couple with the dolphins" and Andrea and I swam up there and took out picture with the dolphins, so that left the two guys to go up together. Their picture looks funny and they look like a "couple". We make fun of them for it, but they blame us since we were so eager not to wait for them.

Shannon said...

Your welcome for the links! I think one of them has real food recipes though, not solely dessert based ones like the other 2, so be careful when buying.

I am so there if we do a bake off! I've only made cupcakes from a box though. I guess I better start perfecting my winning recipe! :) Hey, I'm just calling it now. We should make a big sign with the Fun Run-esque title and take a picture with us, the sign, our cupcakes, and Jenna's courier and send it to the show (or at least to Jenna)! JK can do a double take when he sees you, Jenna can feel loved, and Michael (Steve) can feel like he's inspiring change in the world one "for the cure" event at a time.

I am shocked at how much Office I remember. Yes, you have definitely turned me into an Office head. Oh, did you hear about the Office Games in Scranton coming up? I won't even talk about the totally awkward JK dream I had the other night. In my dream something happened and he completely avoided me at all costs the whole rest of the dream!

Cherry Nyquil is even worse. Yep, I'm calling you about about your love for gag reflex medicine. I guess I just have too many bad memories of a cherry cold and flu medicine-infested childhood. Seriously, I won't touch red Gatorade or any other fake cherry or fruit punch flavored anything, food or drink. The real Hawaiian Punch is the only thing that gets a free pass, and grenadine.

And thanks for the dolphin story. You'll have to fish out the photo so I can see it some day. :)

Eunice said...

> Hey, I'm just calling it now. We should make a big sign with the Fun Run-esque title and take a picture with us, the sign, our cupcakes, and Jenna's courier and send it to the show (or at least to Jenna)! JK can do a double take when he sees you, Jenna can feel loved, and Michael (Steve) can feel like he's inspiring change in the world one "for the cure" event at a time.

So that made my day. We should totally do that and send a picture to Jenna via myspace. I think she will get a kick out of it! I'm a box cupcake person, too, but the Magnolia cupcakes were heaven. The frosting is the thing that does it I think. I looked on Amazon and you can see the table of contents in there and the first cookbook has cake and pie recipes and then recipes for the frosting which is really exciting. I'll have to check on Amazon to see if the have the table of contents for the others.

I heard about The Office games. Mindy is going to be there for that. I love her blog and she is crazy funny. I want to be her friend. That isn't creepy...nooo, not at all.

You totally have to share your JK dream.

Shannon said...

I think we should take recipes from Magnolia's cookbooks and use them in our cupcake bake off. No 2 cupcakes or frostings can be alike! And my brain has already thought of a way for it to be written into the show! I know, I'm dreaming, but a girl can dream.

JK dream - we were somewhere during the summer, like filming a movie (ha!) or something at a school because there were buildings like classrooms, maybe a summer camp type thing, and a lot of other people around. I can't remember, the details are a bit fuzzy. Anyway, we had been flirting all summer and it was one of those moments after such a long time (like all summer) where the big passionate kiss had to happen or the moment would be lost forever and we'd go our separate ways and never speak to each other again. So he swooped in to kiss me and I went in to kiss him and my lips froze. Seriously, like a statue. I just stood there, completely unable to do anything but blink while he's having his way with my face. I got JK slobber all over my face like a horrible wet kiss. He was thoroughly pissed and totally embarrassed, obviously, which you can only imagine made me feel even worse (if that's possible). And so he promptly avoided me at all costs the entire rest of the day even though I tried to apologize to him a billion times and explain myself. In the end he never did speak to me again anyway. But, seriously, how do you explain completely freezing and becoming a statue with someone you'd just crushed over for an entire summer?! TOTALLY EMBARRASSING! Seriously, your JK love has even love blocked me in my dreams! Oh well. Sigh.

Oh, I have no doubt you want to be best friends with ALL of the Office actors. So, no, I don't think it's creepy. You read all of their blogs, can quote every episode, buy all the related merchandise, take pictures of Sbarros in NYC, see all the movies and shows they're in outside of The Office, go to related events and comedy shows, and find your way onto their movie sets. :) No, that's not creepy at all. At least you aren't stalking them at their residences. You haven't gone that far yet. Heehehe! :)

Eunice said...

So that dream...hilarious! I want a makeout dream with John.