NYC

On a whim, Jeremy and I decided to take a little vacation to New York City for the weekend. We pawned Cambrie off on my sister and some super nice friends (THANK YOU!) and left for two days. We didn't have a plan, we just took it as it came, and that was perfect.

Our first stop was our hotel. I love hotels in New York, they are all so unique and the rooms are absolutely tiny. The hotel didn't even have a name on the front. There was one small door that you walked into to find a neon green escalator. We weren't sure we were in the right place at all, but we followed the neon green escalator up through the neon green glowing walls and were greeted at the top by a hotel welcome desk and lounge that were decorated to look like a lodge. I was a little surprised by that. (I wish I had taken a picture). Anyway, when we got into our room, this is how "big" it was. Jeremy could almost touch both walls. Hey, it had a lot of character.Our next stop that evening was the Manhattan Temple. I've heard people say before that when you step into this temple it's absolutely silent. I had a hard time believing it since there are taxis, sirens, and a whole lot of New York traffic outside on the street, but it was true. It was so quiet that I forgot I was in New York City. It was strange coming to this temple after spending all that time in DC because this is so much smaller, just one ordinance room compared to six. The size didn't matter though, it was nice to be able to be at the temple with Jeremy.The next day we went to MoMa, The Museum of Modern Art. I've never really understood modern art, but I thought I'd give it a chance. We saw works from Picasso, Van Gough's "Starry Night," and some Andy Warhol. I liked a lot of the paintings, but I wasn't a fan of most of the sculptures. Too "modern" for me I guess. Jeremy thought it would be funny to get a "pondering pose" in front of this Picasso. I never really understood it.One of the special exhibits was "Waste Not." Apparently this Chinese woman (and a lot of other women from her generation) collect absolutely everything just in case it's rationed again. Her son finally convinced her to get it out of her house (shown here), and use it for art. That way it was being used and not just thrown away. She had piles of bottle caps, string, shoes, bags, pop bottles, pear sleeves, hammers, mops, chairs, record players, books, crayons, soap, fabric scraps, and even take-out containers. This display room was probably about 50' x 50' and there was barely room to walk through it all. I couldn't believe it all fit in this small frame house. Insane!After the museum we went for a walk in Central Park. I've actually never walked through it or explored the park before. It was really nice, except that it rained and we had forgotten an umbrella. We found a fountain, playground, sand volleyball court, bridges, lakes, carousel, and beautiful arches. I was gorgeous. One day we're going to have to take our bikes into the park and do a tour that way. There is just too much to see.We look a little soggy don't we? Happy, but soggy.One thing I did have in mind was getting a tasty cupcake in NYC. I didn't have time to see which bakery was "the" bakery for cupcakes, but we stumbled passed Crumbs Bake Shop and it looked like it fit the bill. Here is half of their display case. Are you drooling yet?I ended up getting the Elvis. It is a white cake cupcake filled with banana frosting, topped with banana frosting that has peanut butter swirled in it, and finished off with peanut butter chips on the sides. Ohh...so tasty. I only made it through half of it before my pregnant head was screaming at me to stop from all the sugar.Jeremy on the other hand surprised us both and completely finished off his Red Velvet cupcake. Our last activity in New York was going to see a Broadway show. We ended up with tickets to Phantom of the Opera. Jeremy had never seen it live so it was a fun experience for him. The actors and actresses did a great job, but we just kept comparing them to the movie. It was slightly disappointing in that aspect because we thought the movie was spectacular. We still enjoyed it though and it was a great way to finish off our trip. I really think we should do these weekend dates more often. It was awesome.