Women be Shoppin’ : Century 21

One of my favorite things in NYC is a department store called Century 21. You all know I love to shop at Last Chance here in town. Century 21 is like Last Chance on steroids. It’s a discount department store that carries all kinds of cool designers. I wish I had all day to spend in the store, but alas, I had a hungry husband waiting for me outside. I bought a few Michael Kors tops and even scored some So Low yoga pants for only twenty something bucks! (note: you can imagine my giddiness when I came across an old blog where Mindy Kaling was gushing over these pants. I love her, so it would make sense we would love the same pants. Yet another reason why we should be BFFs. Also, she luurves not paying full price for stuff and all I have to say is ‘haha, I got them for only 20 bucks. Suck it.’ But she would laugh, wouldn’t take it personally and give me a high five for my find…because that’s how I roll).

I think my major finds were in the shoe department. I bought these super-adorable Stuart Weitzman flats. I’m not one to be all Zsa-Zsa Gabor and wear leopard print dresses or anything but these shoes were too adorable to pass up. I think when paired with a solid colored dress or top with some skinny jeans, you can’t go wrong. I saw these shoes at the Saks Off Fifth Avenue at the Cabazon Outlets in Palm Springs and they had the retail price listed as $250 and the outlet price at $150. Guess what I paid for these? Go ahead, guess….$50! Great deal, if I do say so myself.

Stuart Weitzman ChitChat flats in snake. Mine are in leopard.

I also got these adorable black BCBG Max Azria flats. I know they’re similar to my black Michael Kors flats with the silver buckle but these have a gold buckle, y’all…totally different. I also saw these at the outlets priced the same as the Weitzman shoes, and again I scored these for $50. Suh-weet!

BCBG Max Azria flats

The last pair of shoes I bought were these sandals by Naughty Monkey. I love them because they are different and quirky and multicolored, so I can wear them with practically anything.

Naughty Monkey flats. I love the name.

If you guys go to NYC, don’t forget to stop by this store. It’s located in lower Manhattan right next to the WTC.

Iiii don’t wanna work, I just want to bang on this mug all day…

No real rhyme or reason to this post. I just don’t want to work. Here goes a picture of my Dwight bobbleheads watching me do nothing. Aren’t they cute? Just sitting on their biscuit, never having to risk it.

I now have the strength of a grown Dwight bobblehead and a little baby bobblehead.

Ricky Gervais: Not in the hair…e.g. a watermelon

We went to LA this past weekend to see Ricky Gervais’ stand-up show at the Kodak Theatre. Let me start up by saying that I kind of hero worship this guy. He is incredibly talented and one funny mo-fo. His routine had me laughing from beginning to end. My abs had one hell of a workout. So, not only do you laugh while at his show, you also get to workout your core without trying. Sounds like a win-win to me! They are recording the Madison Square Garden show so they can air it as an HBO special. Keep an eye out for that.

Note: Ricky Gervais, if for whatever reason you happen to read this, can you please email me the AIDS pamphlet? Please? Maybe you can post it on your blog after the tour. I would be indebted to you for-e-ver!

On a side note: I kind of feel like NYC Ryan by saying this but who cares. We had quite a few celebrity encounters while at the show. Vince Vaughn was sitting a few rows in front of us. He was wearing the same flannel shirt you see him wearing whenever the paparazzi take pictures of him. After the show, Dave and Andrea had to go to the coat check to get their camera (they didn’t let us take cameras into the Kodak). While they waited in the long line, Matt and I hung around the lobby and guess who we see again? Vince Vaughn. A few minutes later, we see Ben Affleck (! He is really nice to look at.) and Jennifer Garner. Then, we see Jamie Lee Curtis walk by. Then we look at the bar line and see Jonah Hill and his buddies. I was hoping Andrea and Dave would hurry up, so they wouldn’t miss this. When they met up with us, Jamie Lee Curtis walked by again. Then Ryan Gosling walked by and looked up at us. The last person we saw before we left was Craig Robinson. We followed this up with dinner and drinks at the Hungry Cat. Not a bad day if I do say so myself.

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.