Sorry Carson Daily....

Well, this morning Andrew and I awoke with colds, and saw fluffy snowflakes swirling and floating out our 12th story window. It looked very beautiful, but not like anything that we wanted to spend too much time in. We took out time getting ready, watched an iCarly movie, and finally went out for lunch. BRRRRRRRRRRRRR! It was 27 degrees, but "felt between 0-10" degrees. We went to Whole Foods for their hot lunches, but we wern't the only ones. It seems eveyone wants to hang at the grocery store when it's snowing. We tried, we really did, but we just couldn't get lunch there, there were too many people. We left, and went to the sweet French Bakery. I got hot tea and this organic, free range, no pesticide, etc, etc chicken soup to make me feel better. Mmmmm! So warm and delish! I feel like we are getting spoiled off the food out here.
It is seriously SO cold outside, and the wind is so biting, that we will NOT be walking just a few blocks away to Times Square, where half of New York will be standing, and half the world will be watching (I know, sounds like my dream come true! ;-) but seriously, it is painful outside. Plus, once you go, they lock you in for 24 hrs, no bathroom break, no nada. So we are going to a party with friends in Brooklyn.

But I almost forgot to tell you about out NBC studio tour! It was pretty cool, we saw the studios where they film nightly news, Conan O'Brian (we LOVE him), and SNL. Andrew sat in chair 1A which is Donald Trump's chair when he watches SNL! We learned alot of neat info about some of our favorite shows like the offica, SNL, etc. This picture is us in the top of NBC studios overlooking Rockafeller center and the ice skating rink.





Right after our tour, we decided to see one of the loves of our lives doing what he does best. Andrew and I love Bobby Flay. There, I said it. His red hair, his New York accent, his love for ancho chili, the fact that he is the one celebrities that Andrew can do a good impersination of, his food....we love it all! So we bordered the subway and headed to Union Square. We dined at Ray's Pizza for lunch, and if any of you have seen Elf, you know there are MANY Ray's, but we got 'le origional.' Then for dinner, we had a date with Mr. Flay at his Mesa Grill. Luckily, we had a reservation, cuase it was PACKED! It was SO cute, and awesome, and the people were nice, just as we would have expected :-) But Bobby wasn't there, and yes, we asked. haha, we think we're so funny!

Afterwards, we went home and decided that it was time to expereince one of the reasons we wanted to come to NY. Andrew LOVEs the movie serendipity, and it's set in NY. John Cusack and his gal eat dessert at a little place called 'Serendipity." So at 11pm, we walked down, and expected some huge sundaes. "An hour and a half wait," we were told. "WHAT!?!??!?!" WHo, I mean, who in their right mind, wants to wait in the bitter cold for an hour and a half, until a half hour past midnight for ice cream!!!!!!!! Well, we're on vacation, what else are we gonna do? hehe, so we did it! AND IT WAS KILLER! they have HUGE fifteen dollar sundaes, and they are to die for. I got one with pecan pie, butter pecan ice cream, hot fudge, pecans and whipped cream. Andrew had black out cake, fudge, ice cream, fudge morsels and whipped cream...mmmmmmm





SOOOOOOOOOO, no ball! Thank God!

all about town

Hi Hi HI! Oh man! It's finally pretty cold here! BRRRRRRRRRR! There has been a major cold front, and we have had to bundle ourselves like little eskimos, but sometimes I still just gotta wear tights! (When in Rome!) Last night we took a romantic horse and carriage ride around central park at around 11pm. Andrew was such a good business man and totally talked the guy down in price, nice job!It was cold, but there was a blanket to snuggle in! Then we went to Rockafeller center to see some skating, had our first NY hotdog and checked out the Trump Tower.


Then we head to the pure glass apple store which worked up a big appetite for some New York cheese cake. Since we had finally digested the food from Carnegie Deli from the first night, we headed back for our cheesecake fix. It was a massive, dense, creamy delicious triangle loaf, coated in cherry sauce. We could barely finish it, but don't worry, we somehow managed.


We got home early after a wonderful night at 1:30am. I was sure to shower that night and lay out my clothes, because our alarm would be sounding at 5:30am. After a couple hours of sleep, we awoke , bundled, and ran down the empty streets. It was worth it enough just to actually see the streets empty! WOWSA! We ran into starbucks for caffeine boost and got in line at the ABC studios. WE were there early enough to be very infront for Good Morning America. We waited for and hour to where we were told they were DEFINITELY letting in stand by, and that we were guaranteed in! cool, huh? WEll, then they realized that there wasn't enough room because they were having all these crazy dancers with umbrellas, or something. But, we actually didn't mind, because at least we were up, we didn't have to stand anymore and the city was SO empty, it felt all our own!
WE walked over to the NBC studios and checked out the TODAY show, kinda lame, so we went and signed up for the NBC tour, which we will have manana, awesome! We began to feel kinda tired, and my boots were dragging. We went to McDonalds in Time Square then decided to go to SoHo by Subway. SO LAME! SoHo SoSucks! boring! So, we got on the Subway again, and went to the stop that said, "Brooklyn Bridge," cause we had heard of it before. It got all crazy bright, but it end up being pretty cool. We walked along the pedestrian path, don't even THINK about stepping over onto the bike path! The Brooklyn bridge was the accidental sight that was probably my favorite of the day! I really recommend it to all!
Since we were having such good luck on our subway bingo game, we decided to keep going, despite how dry and itchy our eyes were getting. We went into the subway, and saw that we could go to Wall Street. "WE've heard of that!" we said! So on we went. At this location we were met with two sights, one disappointing, and one very emotional, both we were not expecting. Andrew was pretty excited to see the New York Stock Exchange, and well, in many ways we did. The building that is. Yep, so we stood outside of it, and looked at it, and took a picture, but "no tours allowed." lame. It was a quick pic, them on we went.

Next we went to ground zero. There is a World Trade Tribute Center with a museum inside. There we found video footage, quotes from dying husbands to their wives and families, artifacts found as the crash. A dusty high heel, twisted metal beams, half a phone, etc. There was one wall of the "missing signs" of family members pleading to find their son, daughter, wife, etc. It was so sad. There was also a picture wall of all those lost.

When we were done, we couldn't take it any longer! We were SO tired of running around all day with only a couple hours of sleep! WE went home and passed out, almost literally for a few hours. We had plans to go to a museum with friends, but we were too worthless. OKOKOKOKOK! NOW THE BEST PART OF OUR TRIP SO FAR!!!!!!!


WE had a date. An amazing date. On Broadway. To see a Braodway, Tony award winning show. Jersey Boys. Incredible. Amazing! WE LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVED it! Please, please, make it a point to see it. So fun, and lovely. We sat next to some great people from Florida (people here are so nice!) and they were saying that we should all be happy cause San Diego and Florida football teams won last night. Andrew and I just smiled and nodded. whatever :-)





THIS TRIP ROCKS! Comment any recommendations with our final days approaching. mmk, thanks bye!


P.S. I ALMOST FORGOT THE BEST PICTURE OF THE WHOLE TRIP!! mmmmmmmmmmmm!

NY NY

Hey ya'll! I LOVE NEW YORK! People here a SO nice. You make a new friend around every corner! People are so friendly, and they really have the most endearing accents. So this morning we woke up at the early hour of 1pm, then hit some shopping! People here take shopping VERY seriously! We found a couple treasures at H&M and I flipped when I saw a Zara. That was my fav store in Spain, and I couldn't believe they had it here yet, score! In the middle if the mall they had this statue, it was SO nice of them to commemorate me with a statue, thanks guys!







Ok ok , so we ran around town, and looked up show times, got some food, ate a HUGE pretzel from a street cart, and had some free beverages from out hotel. Our hotel is so stinkin rad!
We had our drinks on the "sky terace," oo, so fancy! Here is us sittin at the sky terrace!






At dinner, we heard from an old friend of mine that was in Little Italy. They came up to meet us and we all ran around and saw some more sights, it was really fun! We met up with Bree's other friend, and we decided to go out on the town in Brooklyn. Andrew and I bought Subway passes and we all went to Jessica's house. She lives above this sweet Russian bar where they serve Chimay beer that Andrew was really excited about. So we start to go in, and I realize I left my ID in my other pants!


So we had to take a picture with Garfield! JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ! They wouldn't let me in. Here is the bar that wouldn't let us in:

So Andrew and I hoped onto the subway and took the L to the N, got off at 57th and walked to our hotel. It is SOOOOOO busy in New York, and so fun! We love it. I hope that tomorrow is as fun as today!

OHHHH! I forgot ONE thing. There are all these bus vans of Jewish men, and they are passing out kits to other Jews, luckily for US, Bree is jewish so we GOT one! Yes! I was pushing her yelling, "She's a jew! She's a jew!" So he grabbed her and started telling her how to count the candles, "I know how to count," she said. "You're one of US!"-he said. so I put it in my purse, and lit seven of them when we got to Jessica's house, cause it's the seventh night and all.

Our First Night in New York

Hurray! I have a reason to blog again! So, I have taken a short hyeattus since my last trip, but now that we are landed in New York, I have a reason to write! The flight was fast, an hour shorter than schedual due to 100mph tail winds (NICE!) As we waited for our bag, we heard more than one gentleman telling his friends about his preferred type clasps on jackets. Apparently, jacket clasps are the hot topic here in New York. Andrew and I should study up. When we walked out of the airport, a large man approached us, asked us where we were going and assured us his rate couldn't be beat as he motioned us into his limo. A few meters back, a stlyish young clasp man shouted out, "Take a Yellow Taxi," and quickly walked away in his designer jeans. The large man first stared in disbeleif as he walked off, which quickly turned to anger. He shouted something cruel to him as we quietly slipped into the line for the taxis.
Our taxi driver, IQBAR Hussain, informed us that it would be a $50 flat rate to any where in Manhattan. hmmm......

In Spain, I didn't think I could ever see a cuter, nor smaller hotel room, but New York seems to have many surprises up it's sleeve.
Our room is really, I mean really small, and wonderful! The light fixtures have faces.
Our hotel itself is amazing, check out the front desk! www.hudsonhotel.com


So, after a bit, we hit the town! It's pretty chilly here, but it's alright if you have a jacket, boots and gloves, check check check! Also, we did mostly walking, which warms you up quick! We were starving, so we decided to head to Carnigie Deli. On the way, we passed Al's soup kitchen, made famous by Seinfeld.
Carnegie Deli is wall-papered with framed, and mostly dated photos of celebrities writing things such as, "Thanks Carnegie, your briskett makes my heart sing! -Brooke Sheilds", etc.
We ordered the $23 Ruben, aka death by heart attack at age 25. We were first brought a pickle sampler (haha, who's ever had that?). Then we met our match--7 inches of hot corned beef and pastrami piled high on two pieces of bread, coated in a thick blanket of swiss. We had this really nice waiter, and he said, "don't worry 'bout it, it's ok! You have one of dees, maybe once or twice a year, it's OK! You don't need breakfast tomorrow. You wanna cheesecake when you're done, you just tell me, ok?" Oh, did I mention is cost $3 to split? New York does not cater for people on a budget, but they do cater for barmitzvas--Carnegie is famous for their matza ball soup. Maybe next time, I suppose.

So after gaining a combined 12 pounds, we decided to walk to the area that seemed like day light. Time square seemed like a real life Disneyland. And while I checked my watch to know that it was night, when you are surrounded by skyscrapers coated in flashing billboards, it feels like day! It is loud and busy, full of people. That is--until the rain came. We started quickly walking home, careful not to look to hard as to what is littering the streets (it's pretty dirty). We stopped at the 3 story M&M store, which I guess could be cool is you really wanted a $200 leather M&M jacket, or a woman's bedazzled T-shirt, with a sassy saying and a green M&M's winking face. So we headed home through the rain to our hotel which was alive with party music and dancers, but we were tired and just hit the hay. Until next time!

-Amy

Hola! welcome back to my blog, its been a while since Spain, but Andrew and I are attempting to make more vacation plans for this summer! So, since Spain, I began and almost finished the crednetial program, Andrew started his own business: clarkhaus.com, and we added to our family. Now we have Lucy and Piper. We are SO happy!