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A couple of weeks ago Joelle and I hit the Big Apple. No hubbys (sorry Mr. Fun!), no kids, just us. We are the perfect traveling companions because we are both eating weirdly now (Paleo) and neither one of us would ever suggest staying out all night at a club. We both are bargain shoppers, both adore a lovely purse and we are into jewelry right now. We are so compatible that we even dress alike. No joke. It started with us showing up at the airport wearing similar jeans and the same shoes.
It progressed to us donning raincoats in the same shade of green.
We even ended up purchasing similar items. Joelle bought (but did not wear on the same day) a shirt almost exactly like the flowered shirt below. Honestly, it is crazy how often we end up dressing alike even though we haven’t lived together for more than 20 years!
Lets start with the food. Joelle and I decided that we wanted to feel good and keep our energy up while we were traveling so we stuck to the Paleo diet that we started back in March. I was amazing how good we felt the whole trip. I can’t remember a vacation where I came back feeling as good as when I left. We found some fantastic restaurants that cater to our new way of eating. The Hu Kitchen and Dig In were some of our favorites. Hearty meats and yummy veggies. We also found Johnny’s Luncheonette just a few blocks from our hotel. Tiniest little place but packed for breakfast. Since bacon, eggs and sausage are all Paleo friendly we chowed down and then had Johnny deliver breakfast to us all the rest of the days. Awesome! I have to admit that my resolve was low on our last day because we were so tired and those pizza places and soft pretzel carts were on every street corner calling my name. But we stayed strong and treated ourselves to an unsweetened passion tea lemonade from Starbucks. Now I have a new favorite treat!
I should mention our transportation. We got around primarily by foot. Joelle had just purchased a Fitbit so we could track our progress every day. Holy cow! We walked almost 70,000 steps and just under 30 miles in the four days we were there. No wonder our dogs were barking! When our feet really started hurting we did take the subway. Can I just say that the Google Maps app on our iPhones was awesome! We would put in our starting and ending points and it would give us all sort of directions, including options for which trains we wanted to take and which blocks we wanted to walk along. I highly recommend it!
Now lets chat about the shopping since that is why we really went on this boondoggle. (Oh don’t turn on me thinking this was a trip to bond as sisters. PLEASE, that was just a nice side benefit to all that shopping!) We hit Canal Street, Century 21, wholesale jewelry and wholesale purse houses. Then we decided to break out and go uptown to try Zara and Bloomies and Tiffany’s. Tiffany’s was one of my favorites because Joelle and I each picked out a little something that would remind us of our Grandmother, Ruby. She helped fund this trip indirectly so we wanted to honor her and get something we would see in the mirror often and let us think about her. What a fun experience!
We also went to Fishes Eddy, a favorite quirky home store that Joelle loved from her days of living in New York and also a bunch of stores we could visit at our own mall at home. Our theory there was to shop on the sale rack only and if we regretted the purchase we could return it when we got home. No regrets here!
Oh, did I mention my camera upgrade? Yup, I am not a camera equipment junky (more of an Apple junky if you know me!) but this new model has been out for awhile and it was just time. This led to a pilgrimage to B&H Photo. I’ve ordered from these guys online plenty of times but it was interesting to see the store in person. I say interesting because I was fascinated but I honestly would not do this again. It was Times Square crowded inside this huge building. People everywhere talking photo and video. We finally found the place we needed to go to buy the camera but we had to wait in quite a line to talk to one of 40 assistants. Mind you this is not where you pay, just where you decide what you want to order. And I’m not even exaggerating when I say 40 because they all had numbers over their heads that lit up when they were ready to assit the next customer. After picking out my camera, (I never saw it in person.) and having it shipped home, we had to go downstairs to wait in another line to pay. AND, if we had actually wanted to take the camera home with us that day we would have waited in another line while the camera was delivered via a bucket and conveyor belt. Maybe it was crazy in there because the store was closing at 2 and it was going to be closed the following day, Saturday, because the store is owned and operated by Orthodox Jewish folks. Or maybe it’s just crazy like that all the time. Either way, if I’m spending $3000 on a camera body I’d really like more of a boutique level of service. Oh well, live and learn!
On our first night we went to see Kinky Boots. AWESOME show. The music was fantastic and the story was very clever. Loved it. We could have seen another show, certainly, but we decided to see a movie instead so we could continue to fund our shopping habit. Times Square is where we had dinner and a movie and also where I noticed this…
Why yes, that IS a crater where my diamond was supposed to be. I have no idea where it broke off or when but I was never going to find it again in Times Square. That was for sure. The good news is I am not a horribly sentimental person. I was annoyed and disappointed that my ring was broken but I’m viewing it as an opportunity to fix some things that have been wrong with my ring for awhile. (Like the fact that I often break out when I wear it because I’m allergic to white gold.) I’m just going to view it as an opportunity (an expensive one) to pick out my 20th Anniversary present. How about that?
On our last day we skipped the shopping (shocking, right?) and walked along The Highline. These are old elevated train tracks that have been converted to a walking path and garden. It was a beautiful day to stroll along there with hundreds of new friends. Ha! Actually it was a brilliant idea and nice to see that bit of green there. We also poked around the West Village (cool neighborhood!) on our way down to the 9/11 Memorial. We were not able to see the new 9/11 Museum because it was still days away from opening, but the memorial was very striking. Particularly for Joelle. She taught in New York for one year and moved there just weeks before 9/11. She even spent Thanksgiving serving meals to the recovery workers. Heavy stuff. They’ve done a nice job of taking these massive craters and turning them into beautiful places for reflection.
While I was gone Mr. Fun had the girls running all over the place doing all sorts of fun activities. And when I arrived home at 12:30am on Sunday night I came home to a clean house, with all of the laundry done, folded and put away. That brings a little tear to my eye. Mr. Fun sure knows how to show me he loves me.