Halfway between our 4 day trip, we knew we were gonna step it up a notch and see all that we wanted to see in two days time!

    Saturday morning we met up with our friends the Hills . Together we toured Little Italy and ChinaTown. For any who may not know, those are sections of Manhattan known originally for their influx of immigrants from those respective places who built up the areas to mimic their homelands. I imagine it's far different now from the startup, but you certainly can still see the influences in those areas. ChinaTown had many pop up shops filled with chinese trinkets and stores whose only lettering was in chinese. Little Italy had a plethora of Italian ristorantes; we ate at one & we were pleased to have carbonara, braised short rib and risotto. I wanted to lick my plate clean!

    Graham's only real point of interest was the 9/11 memorial. It truly felt like a sacred place, everyone was respectful and fairly quiet, considering it was a tourist spot. Everyone who lost their life during that event had their name etched into around the huge squares symbolizing the spots where the towers had once stood. There were small flags and flowers to celebrate their birthday or, from my understanding, if visited by family. It brought back my own memories of learning about the horrible acts of terrorism at 9 years old. 

    After we parted ways from our friends, we walked a few blocks down Wall Street. Graham is a business man and it was so much fun to see! We saw the NY Stock Exchange building, passed many other points of interest, but Graham really wanted to visit the Charging Bull. His current work has a bull as their logo, and it just seemed to make sense. This statue had a crazy long line, with those waiting to get pictures from the front and the back ;) We bypassed the crowd and snapped a quick picture by his thrashing head. 

    Then we caught a subway down near the Brooklyn Bridge to walk across it. It wasn't freezing, but chilly enough that I was beginning to dread our 30 minute expedition to get to the other side. However, we ended up trying to make plans for that evening and it let us on a wild goose chase to find a booth that sold half-price tickets to Broadway shows. By the time we found it, selected a show and bought them we didn't have the time to cross it. We decided to walk towards the bay and BOY did we get a sight! Both bridges and the glorious lights in Brooklyn caused a wonderful scene. It was also quiet and romantic, uncommon for the area. 

    Keeping up with our schedule we made our way back up Manhattan. Listen to me when I say we kept the subways hot. I'm still not sure if I actually like it, a bit of it felt more difficult to figure out than I thought necessary. Although, hearing locals play tunes is always a favorite of Graham's. While searching for the exact spot for our upcoming show, we checked into Yelp to look at highly rated restaurants. We popped into a tight squeeze with no room to get to the bathroom, that was banging Missy Elliot and Biggie Smalls. They were dubbed the best sliders in town, no small feat for a multi-million population so we order 4 of them, a basket of fries and a cinnamon toast crunch milkshake. I don't really like cinnamony things, it's just not who I am, but THIS ONE. Oh, This One. Heavenly, sheer heavenly.

    As soon as we walked out we saw the bright letters saying STOMP. We had purchased two seats to see eight incredibly talented percussionists make music with the most insignificant things. My favorite was when all 8 lined up with a metallic lighters in each hand, flicking and lighting to their own beat. Graham liked when they used the trash cans like clash cymbals whilst jumping and dancing. It was very good entertainment because it was so ingenious and full of ingenuity, not to mention the tickets were reasonable!

    We tucked into our hotel for one last night and just enjoyed our room. Every night we would leave the curtains open, and sometimes a window, to just take in the splendor of the Big Apple. The night was very cloudy and the top of the Empire State Building was covered. But the clouds mixed with the bright lights below made for a pretty view. It was hard to turn away from that place in the morning! But onward we trudged, waiting for our flight that afternoon as we drug our luggage with us through the subway. 

    Our last stop on the entire whirlwind journey was to see Central Park. Originally I had planned for us to visit it twice but time was short and we eliminated the first excursion, that made us really want to come by before departure. As we were rolling our suitcases up the stairs there was a older Asian man with a pad of paper and charcoal. I had pleaded with Graham all during the weekend to get a sketch of us, but either it was priced too high or we didn't have a way to carry it. He finally agreed and we got our  artist to drop down his $60 tag (which I wasn't even thinking about paying) to $20, which felt reasonable. I posed in a still frame, eager to see the final product. Overall, I loved it! Graham's looked a little unlike him in areas, but it was because he posed with a smile different from his usual one- we were asked not to use teeth. But it's framed up in our apartment right now, cause it's sweet a pie to me, a great memoir.

    When our sketch was still rolled up with a piece of tape, and our arms were loaded down with our traveling belongings we walked into Central Park. After a bit, we parked it onto a bench, it was perfect because it was a gorgeous spread of the area. We played around taking a series of pictures of us individually and collectively, some of our best to date, I think. It was a relaxing ending, even if we had to ward off scam artists a time or two!

    NYC was just fun! It surpassed all the expectations I had lined up and I'd happily return.

New York City Pt. II / Kings of Leon

    The main reason Graham booked our NYC tickets was to bring his favorite gal to see her favorite band ;) My go-to music for the past several years has been Kings of Leon. They're an alternative rock band with serious soul! I remember reading up on them years ago when I first got interested in them- they're a family band, 3 brothers + a cousin, Southern and they described their music as 'dixie rock and roll' and I knew it was love. I've religiously listened to them with a serious fangirl following. All attempts to attend their shows had been foiled and I was terrified something drastic would happen and I wouldn't be able to mark if off my bucketlist.

    Fast forward to this trip. We had two tickets in hand and ya girl picked up a band t-shirt. Madison Square Gardens was a gigantic arena, we were up on the second tier. By the time the curtains came up, my heart was thumping- is that normal? 

    They had the most incredible set list- from their earliest songs to, of course, their most recent album WALLS. I feel blessed to have went to during this album's tour- it was GREAT. I'll contribute that to the fact that they know how to make soulful, fun music. A few personal favorites, new and old, they played included: Reverend, Supersoaker, Waste A Moment, Use Somebody, Muchacho, Closer.

    I've been to shows were I only know a banger or two and it's so boring during the lesser known songs. But, boy, I knew ALL the songs so it made it super gratifying! I stood and swayed and sung. I even got emotional a time or two, because that's who I am as a person. It was such a surreal evening, a real dream! 

    Oh, and I just found out (like today) they are touring in ATL in May and I MUST go! Anyone else have plans to attend? I won't begrudge them belatedly announcing it because I am really hoping to see them again ;D

New York City Pt. I

    Hey, remember me? I have to resurrect this blog and I'll start here. I hope to go back and recap the past few months of our lives soon!
    Graham surprised me for Christmas, after we said no gifts, with a long weekend to New York City and a pair of tickets to see my favorite band in Madison Square Garden- more on that later. I had underrated NYC, it's true, I did. Because everyone under the sun wanted to go there, I didn't care for it. It's fun to feel like I am singular in seeing amazing things (I'm not, hubris is a big flaw of mine). The moment he handed a plane ticket it just all clicked and I was flooded with excitement! New York, The Big Apple, home to Timberland lovers, clipped accents and the Yankees.
    I had a good time working hard on the perfect schedule. My family thinks that I am good at searching for plane tickets and things to do, but it's not that I am, rather it's that I get such a thrill out of it. The catch is that I only like doing it if I am the participant, so there goes any chances of being a travel agent ;) Eventually the final draft was reached with highlights in all the main places, we booked the things necessary and I downloaded a countdown on the phone.
     Then it came to booking the hotel. New York is pricy, just like all major cities. I looked up mainstream hotels and they were more than what I wanted to pay. AirBnB would normally be fine, but they too were expensive and I wanted the luxury of having someone make my bed for that price. Somehow I stumbled upon Hotwire, a service that offers discounted rooms without giving you the name of the hotel. We chose one near Madison Square Gardens and Times Square, close to a Metro. After using a coupon, who do you guys think I am?, we booked it and it revealed that it was Holiday Inn. Due to the fact that I'm a brat I was a little disappointed. Graham called and said his birthday was coming up (true) and asked for the highest room with a great view. After our flight, the first thing we did was show up to the hotel, which immediately seemed nicer than expected. After check in they handed us a key to the 32nd floor with a view of the city, including the Empire State Building. Every night we would look over huge lit up buildings that shined and gleamed. I was bowled over by how great it was, meanwhile Graham was in hog heaven, especially considering for the price we paid.
    Our first day in town we hit up some of the most iconic sights. After checking in and admiring our room, we dropped into Times Square. Interest place, that one. Large buildings and colorful, moving billboards were the backdrop to squealing tourists, costumed clad locals and the most annoying employees who constantly harassed about bus tours. It was fun to drop in, but it certainly was overwhelming and after we saw it, I was ready to split.
    Next up was our search for the Manhattan Temple. We love to visit temples when we are on the go, this was no exception. After spotting a pair of elders, they sent us in the right direction. Very uncharacteristically this one was actually in a central area. More often than not, they are usually found in smaller communities out of the city. This one was smack dab in the middle of a busy part of the town right off Broadway. We were shocked to hear that it was a temple on one half, a regular meetinghouse on the other. Naturally we came inside to view it! It sure was neat to enjoy the soundproof building, something that can't be taken for granted in NYC.
     After a yummy meal where Graham had 3 sliders and I had the best poutine of my life (not too hard, only the second time). We used our tickets to my first on site Broadway play! I am a huge enthusiast of plays, musicals and the like- Graham will go but only to humor me. We grabbed a pair of tickets to Kinky Boots. They were described as "not at all kinky but a great storyline" from an agent and that was our choice. It was a very fun, energetic musical! Maybe not for everybody, but I was a happy to have watched it. Then we went back to enjoy our amazing view from our room.
     On our first morning in the city we booked a cruise to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The Statue is, of course, a place that can't be missed. This towering green emblem of the freedoms we Americans obtain was a treasure. During our time on this island President Trump was sworn in, we were oblivious to it until after. We were far too busy photographing everything and rushing up the Pedestal steps for a better view of the spread of the city. Afterwards we dropped into Ellis Island. I had read so much about immigrant children's stories as a child that I was really looking forward to it! We walked through all the exhibits to learn what it was like to go to E.I., why they became citizens and the aftermath of living in the US as a immigrant. It was filled with pain and happiness alike. I tried to think of my ancestors making their way through after months on ships, cold and tired, ready for a new reality.
    A ferry ride, walk and subway ride later, we visited the place a friend who visits the city recommended we try: Chelsea Market. It turned out to be an indoor market with many pop up shops. There were listings for all types of international cuisines, not to mention that it was warm and it kept us out of the drizzle that had begun. After walking up and down the market we opted for tacos, drinks from a health shop and a delicious cookie topped with butterscotch and cashews from Amy's Bread. Yum!

This was a funny moment! Graham was trying his hand at this Intelligence Test- 6 oddly cut wooden blocks that were meant to be put together to create a rectangle. He would get a piece or two together but couldn't get the whole sum of it. Finally I asked him to scoot over and shuffled it up, I put it together the first time I attempted and he was astonished. And very ashamed. The thought of him having to sail back home because he couldn't get it grated on him something fierce.

    I didn't have a hood so I had to tie my scarf around to stay warm. I felt like a Grandma.