Our Annual Thanksgiving trip to New York!

Okay, it’s not really "annual" because we’ve never been before and Roy said he would NEVER go back to New York during Thanksgiving but I thought I would title the blog that just in case…

There is something magical about New York this time of year…the masses of couples that flood Rockefeller Plaza to hold hands and ice skate beneath the tree, the bus loads of elders that get up early to set-up their chairs at 4:30am at the parade and all the boys pulling up their tights for the nightly Broadway performance. It’s beautiful, really.

This year, Roy and I gathered our belongings and joined the hustle and bustle of the friendly airport travelers to fly cross country (of course it wasn’t really cross country because I booked us the cheapest flights) to the beautiful, smoggy, New York City. We checked into the Roosevelt and ventured uptown on the subway (LOVE public transportation) to see the elves blow up the parade floats….of course our Christmas cheer was not at the highest point when we fought the crowd around the building for over an hour to meet up with my parents only to find that they got tired of waiting for us. But, rest assured we quickly moved onto a nice little Italian restaurant (La Vineria) for a glass of wine and dinner….then a nice brisk walk around New York…all the way around. When my feet fell off, Roy carried me home.

We woke early on Thursday (REALLY early…like when you were a kid and you wanted to open Christmas presents). I rushed my parents through a $100+ breakfast so that we could stand outside on the curve, in the cold and wait for the balloons. When I complained to Roy that we should have woken up earlier, he gave me the “you could have gotten up as early as you wanted and stood outside by yourself” look. The parade was a lot of fun – the balloons, all of the famous people I’ve never heard of and the marching band members who had to stay in sync for three miles. I think the jump rope team was my favorite – I just liked seeing them get so tired jumping down times square. We had to leave early to get ready for our lunch cruise. I finally booked something that turned out well! The weather was perfect when we boarded the Bordeaux cruise that would take us around the island – even though I was tempted to order off the vegetarian menu, the turkey was just about perfect. After the boat cruise, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. I love naps (Roy says I’m the oldest 30 year old that he’s ever met). He finally woke me up to go out on the town again before the Rockette performance. I was a bit disappointed we didn’t get our Christmas picture in front of the Rockefeller tree (who forgot to tell me that they don’t light the tree until the week AFTER Thanksgiving) – where’s the holiday spirit? The Rockettes were great – really great – if only I were that tall…and pretty…and thin...with talent.

On Friday, Roy and I slept in (again, I love to sleep) before he made me get up so we could eat lunch (yea, we slept right through breakfast). We then headed uptown to The Met. I made Roy go on a tour with me, which I loved. I love to pretend that I know a lot about art because of how many museums I’ve visited. We met up with my parents after The Met for tea at The Plaza…oh, how that place makes me want to jump in the trash chute and text people to tell them that I’ve moved in. We strolled through 5th Avenue before stopping at the only shop I could afford, my beloved, Banana Republic (I like to visit it in every city just in case they have something new). That night we ate some traditional New York pizza before Billy Elliott. I can’t say it was my favorite performance (Roy would definitely not say that) but I’m a sucker for anything on Broadway.

All Roy wanted to do on Saturday was eat three meals. So, he woke up early to eat breakfast and bring me coffee. We then gathered the family to head down to Soho (I made them take the subway…can we say CHAOS). My dad talked to people on the subway while they gave him bad looks. We landed on Canal Street. I bought an authentic pair of Chanel fake sunglasses and fought my way down the street to the Italian district. We put our name on the LONG waiting list at Lombardi’s and headed down to Soho for a little street shopping. I found a cute hat to buy and negotiated with the gentleman there. He brought down the price and I told him I would think about it. When I went back a different guy in the same shop told me he wouldn’t budget on the price – I got upset and left. Roy went back and bought me the hat. He’s wonderful…and oh so cute! After lunch, we pretty much packed up the family on the subway and headed back to the Roosevelt for champagne to celebrate our trip. Thanks, Dad…I loved the champagne (and mom’s glass too).