Carriage Rides

Once Marshall and I were up and ready to go we headed over to the Hotel Edison and met Mom, Candie, and Jannah for breakfast. I had a banana walnut pancake and it was pretty good. We all got orange juice with our breakfast, except Candie's was about half the size of everyone else's and she didn't even ask for it. After breakfast, Candie and Jannah wanted to head over to Forever 21 and do some shopping for their girls before they arrived with Aunt Jo today. Since we have a Forever 21 in Wilmington, Mom and Marshall and I had no desire to shop in there so we went next door to the Disney store to use the bathroom. While in there we found a NY coffee mug we liked as well as a NY ornament of Mickey Mouse dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. Every year we add an ornament to our tree that represents that year so this would be our ornament this year to represent our trip to NY. While we were upstairs using the bathroom we found a stuffed animal that was the Monster from the movie Monsters Inc. We decided to get it for the baby because Marshall loves that movie.

Candie and Jannah were still at Forever 21 so we left them there and walked down to Bryant Park. We shopped around there, saw the ice skating rink and my cousin Jay ended up texting us and meeting us over there. From there we walked down to 34th Street and my Mom and I went to Macy's while the boys went to B&H camera store. Mom and I just wanted to see the Christmas stuff in Macy's but had to go all the way to the 9th floor to do that! On the way up the old wooden escalators we stopped off at the 8th floor and took a peek at Santaland. My Mom ended up finding a couple of ornaments, but I walked away empty handed. It was still pretty cool to go to the infamous Macy's department store. The coolest thing though was their display windows. Each one was decorated with a different Christmas scene.

By the time we were all down there, my Aunt Jo, Ashley and Rylee were nearly to the hotel. Aunt Jo had insisted on driving all the way from Goldsboro, NC to New York and the girls had opted to ride with her. When we made it back to the hotel they were already there so we relaxed a bit while they settled in and the girls changed clothes. Then we took the subway down to Central Park. It was Aunt Jo's first subway ride ever and she didn't seem to mind it too much.

When we got down to Central Park we took a carriage ride around the park. That was something I had always wanted to do and everyone else seemed interested in doing it too so off we went. Mom, Aunt Jo, Marshall and I were all in one carriage while Candie and Jannah and the girls were in the other. Our driver's name was Frank. He was great and answered any questions we had as we rode around all of Central Park. It was a really cool way to see the park, especially because I don't know that this time around my pregnant legs could have managed to walk around the entire park. I was really beginning to realize my limitations that the pregnancy was putting on my trip. Oh well, we will just have to come back again when I'm not pregnant!

We left Central Park and took a subway up to 96th street to have dinner at the Shake Shack. There we met Rob (who works with me on Homeland), his roommate Deborah and Jay met back up with us. Since Rob raved about the burgers and shakes that is just what I had. I have to say they were pretty darn good. After dinner we tried to go have desert at Serendipity but the wait was 45 minutes so we walked back down the block to Magnolia Bakery inside Bloomingdales and we all got some treats to go from there instead. With our desert in hand, we headed back to the subway way. Marshall sent them all on one subway back to their hotel and we took another one back to Grand Central. Back in the hotel room, I sat in my bed and ate my peanut butter chocolate bar and watched How to Train Your Dragon on TV. I wasn't exactly tired, but I was physically exhausted. My feet welcomed the reprieve from all the walking and tried to prepare themselves for another day of hoofing it around the city.

Mom's Birthday

This morning my Mom, Candie and Jannah arrived in New York. My Mom texted me when they got to the hotel and Marshall and I headed out. We grabbed an egg and cheese on a roll at the deli on the corner from our hotel and then headed to Grand Central to take the sub down to Time Square. They were already out shopping by the time we got there so we met them at American Eagle. Marshall and I gave my Mom her birthday present for today is her birthday. She was so excited to see she finally had a camera! Then she looked at Marshall and said, "now you know you have to teach me how to use it." We went back to their hotel to drop off their purchases and then headed to the subway to go to Union Station. Marshall and I had seen on NY1 on TV last night that there was a craft market going on today at Union Station and that today was Support Local Businesses Day. So we mentioned the craft market to them and they all seemed interested in checking it out.

It was a pretty cool market. We ended up buying Brandy's Christmas gift there and my Mom bought her friend Katrina's gift there too. We got them both these cool fortune keeper keychains. Marshall found some long knitted toboggans and ended up getting both of us one. Mine is green and pink and I love it! I've always wanted a really long toboggan. We had some coffee and sat down in the middle of the market and Marshall gave my Mom a tutorial on how to use her camera. Before we left the market we found our niece Zsejke's Christmas present - a clock locket necklace. It was pretty cool and hopefully she will find it hip enough for her. Teenagers are so hard to buy for!

By the time we were finished shopping, we were all pretty hungry so we walked through a little park next to the market and found this little sports bar where we went in and had lunch. My Mom had chili with fritos chips on top, Candie and Jannah shared some burger sliders, Marshall had the meatball sliders and I had chicken tenders. It was all really pretty good. After lunch we walked down to a shoe store called Zakey's but nobody ended up finding anything there to buy.

It was after their check in time by this point so we decided to head back to their hotel, check them in and we lounged around for a bit while they settled in. We then left and took the sub to Columbus Square across from Central Park. We went to Century 21 shop first, then North Face and ended in the Time Warner shops. The only store Marshall and I went in there was H&M but we both found stuff to buy there. I found a pink and white oversized cardigan that is open front with no buttons and Marshall bought some carrot fit cords. He didn't think he would like them until he tried them on, but he said they were super comfortable so he got them.

From there we walked down towards Hell's Kitchen and found an Italian restaurant to have dinner at. It was true Italian as there was not a thing on the menu that was in English and all the waiters had thick accents. It was called Bricco and was really delicious. Now full and tired, Marshall gave them directions on how to get back to their hotel and we headed back to ours. I was so glad to lay down in the bed, my legs were throbbing and my feet were slightly swollen. Man what I wouldn't give for a good foot rub right now!

NYC Here We Come!

We got up this morning and Erika drove us to the airport at 8am. Our flight left at 9:15am, but with Wilmington being such a small airport we thought an hour ahead of time would be plenty of time and it certainly was. We checked in, checked our luggage and made it through security and had plenty of time to spare. The flight from Wilmington to Charlotte was super quick. No sooner had we reached altitude than we were starting to descend. We only had an hour layover in Charlotte between our flights so we had time to grab some pizza for lunch and head over to our next gate. No sooner had we finished eating then it was time to board our flight. The flight from Charlotte, NY to Newark, NJ was a bit longer so I slept a bit on the 2nd flight.

It was 12:45pm when we arrived in Newark. We got our luggage immediately for as soon as we made it down to baggage claim they were just putting our flight's luggage on the carousel and our bag was the first one coming around. We found our way to the AirTrain easy enough and rode it all the way to Penn Station in New York City. We then walked what seemed like forever to get to our hotel. It was around 3pm when we arrived to the hotel so we were able to not only check in but go ahead and go to our room. We freshened up a bit and then headed back out to enjoy the city.

Our first thought was to head towards Central Park. On the way there we texted my cousin Jay who was in the city with my Aunt Linda and the rest of his family. They had been there for Thanksgiving and to see the Macy's Day Parade. While my aunt and the rest of his family were leaving tomorrow, Jay was staying in the city for another week.  It just so happened that they were staying right at Central Park and were actually having dinner at a restaurant there called Landmarc. So Marshall and I went there to meet them and see Aunt Linda and we also met her friend Diane. They were just getting their dinner when we got there so we chatted with them while they ate. For desert Aunt Linda asked the waitress didn't she see cotton candy on some of the tables. They waitress informed her that she did and that it was complimentary so she would bring her some. We all had a bite of it and it was some pretty great cotton candy. It tasted a bit mango flavored but was very yummy.

After they were done eating, we went up to Jay's hotel room which was just upstairs from the restaurant on the 38th floor! He showed us some of the maternity pictures he had taken with his film camera of us and had developed. Some of them turned out really great. He and Marshall hung out and talked while I lounged on the chaise lounger and ended up napping. We finally left when Jay had to get ready to go to the play Book of Mormon with my cousin Chris. Marshall and I walked down to Rockefeller Center and saw the skate rink and the tree. The tree wasn't lit yet and was still encased with scaffolding but you could see the size and all the electrical cables running to it. It was gigantic! We walked around Hell's Kitchen looking for somewhere to eat and finally decided on some burger joint. After dinner we headed back through Grand Central Station to get a Starbucks and headed back tot he hotel. I was completely wore out. I felt bad because I'm sure Marshall could have gone for much longer but my legs were already so sore! I just had to sit down and rest and once I did, I just wanted to go to sleep. I have a feeling this New York trip is going to be much harder as a pregnant woman than I had imagined it would be.

Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving my Mom cooks Thanksgiving lunch. The one except to this is when her birthday happens to fall on Thanksgiving and then I will attempt my hand at Thanksgiving lunch. I mean who really wants to cook on their birthday, and certainly not a meal as big as the Thanksgiving Day one? Fortunately for me this was not one of those years where my Mom's birthday was also Thanksgiving Day. So we went over to my Mom's house and had lunch with her, Billy, my Uncle Norwood, my cousin Erika and my friend Sally. It was a great meal and really great company. After we ate, we perused the sale papers and made our plan of attack for later in the evening so we could get some Black Friday shopping in before Marshall and I left for New York in the morning.

When we left my Mom's house we went home to finish packing for our trip so we didn't have anything to do in the morning but get up and leave. My Dad and Erika ended up coming over later in the afternoon. My Dad eventually called me on my birthday to wish me a happy birthday and apparently all is well with us again. Still not exactly sure what was going on there, but who cares. Erika went pre Black Friday shopping with us to Target. We got our niece Colleen Dance Party 4 for the Wii and our niece Morgan some toy called a Zoobel. We also picked up a few things we needed while we were there and then we got in line - it was insane! The line started back by the grocery section and weaved in and out of the aisles through groceries, pharmacy, hair care, pets, and finally cleaning supplies. Seriously? Did we seriously just stand in that line for these measly items? I hope saving $20 was really worth it. We then drove by Best Buy where we had hoped to get my Mom's birthday present but we didn't even stop after seeing the line that zig zagged down the side of building. Off to Walmart in Leland we went. There we got my Mom's birthday present and my Dad's Christmas present. At least we got some good deals on those and we didn't have to wait in any kind of line to get them either! We were home by midnight and we all settled in for bed. Erika opted to just crash on the couch while Marshall and I finished up a little bit of packing. We finally went to sleep around 2am.

Bye Bye NoDa

We woke up this morning at 7:30am to begin another day of work on the house. We had hoped to get on the road by 3pm as we would be hauling JT's trailer and my lighting harness doesn't work with his lighting package so we wanted to get home before it got dark. Our first plan of attack was coffee. Not that decaf does much for me, but Marshall needs his caffeinated coffee in order to get his day started. So we stopped by Starbuck's on our way to Home Depot with our shopping list. We picked up odds and ends to fix some of the blinds that were missing rods and facades, some drywall speckling, caulk, nails and boards to trim out the fireplace. When we got back Marshall started working on the fireplace while I started on painting the closets. It was sometime around 1pm when I finally finished the closets. Our electrician Eddy came by around then to fix one of our receptacles in the kitchen that wasn't working. After he left, I showered and started packing up and cleaning. As I cleaned up one room, I took pictures of it all finished. With only the living room left to be cleaned and some bags sitting in it left to be packed, I took JoJo out front with me and we buried the Saint Joseph. Supposedly, if you bury a St. Joseph in your yard when you are trying to sell your house it helps you sell quickly and for a higher value. We will see if it works or not but it certainly doesn't hurt!

It wasn't until 4pm when we finally were able to pull away, but we did figure out that JT had an adapter on his lighting package. When we took it off it worked perfectly with my lighting harness so we weren't so concerned about getting home before dark anymore. Good thing too because we still wanted to stop by IKEA! You know I can't miss an opportunity to go to IKEA. We only had a few things on our list to get, but of course we found a few more things we just wanted like down slippers for both of us! We couldn't wait to get home to put them on. I'm surprised Marshall didn't put them on in the car for the ride home. We were starving by the time we got to IKEA so we got some dinner there and some chocolate cake which was awesome. We arrived at my Mom's house around 9:45pm to drop off the couch in her garage. My Uncle Norwood was already at my Mom's house so he helped Marshall unload the couch into the garage. We didn't stay long before heading back to the house to unload the rest of the trailer so that Marshall could take it back to JT. It was midnight before Marshall was back from JT's house and we were finally done for the night. A load of laundry was washing and I was ready for bed. So glad to be done with the NoDa house!