NYC

By Natalie

Shannon and I have been a few times to NYC together, and have always had a blast. This time was no exception. We stayed with April on the upper east side. Thank you April! Since we both have been we didn't have much on the agenda. So, I came up with a new agenda, CUPCAKES. Here you can find a detailed list of all the cupcakes we tried.

We spent time touring the city, and staying far away from crowds. The few times that we ventured into the crowds was NUTS. I do not advise visiting NYC after Christmas, especially if you are a first time visitor. The city was bursting at the seams with tourists.

We went to Canal Street, which is always an adventure. Thank goodness for Shannon's personal shopper, Monica. We tell her what we are looking for, and she leads us around to the back shops. Canal street was pretty particular about selling knock-off Louie's. They only had high end ones that run $200-300. Hello, I'd rather have a real purse for that price. We settled on Tory Burchs, I also scored some ear muffs. The ear muffs were the best purchase of the trip.

We attempted shopping at Macy's which was wall to wall people. I wonder how much merchandise walks out the door. Once you make it past the first floor, its much better. There's a line for the escalators, a line for the bathroom, fitting room, and checking out, forget about it. Shannon had the bright idea to go and see the light show on Saks 5th Avenue. Big mistake. The people were so thick you couldn't move. And the light show was a pretty big disappointment. We enjoyed the snowflakes much more a few years ago.

We had the chance to visit the 9/11 Memorial, although we had to lie our way in there. We did plan WAY ahead. I'm talking October, we signed up online for passes. The only day available was New Year's Eve. We had tickets, but didn't want to go then. So, we made it happen. The 9/11 memorial wasn't what I expected. I'd like to go back when they have the museum open.

We spent some time in Central Park, which is one of our favorite things to do. Except, this time it was full of people. We still were able to take some good photos.

For NYE Shannon went out with April to a club and did a very New York thing. Since I was pregnant and couldn't enjoy and drinks I stayed home and rested. You have no idea how tired I was. Although, people were impressed with my ability to stay up so late, and march all over the city.

For my birthday, Shannon treated me to Cafeteria. It's was really good, I recommend the mac n' cheese. We were treated a little poorly and were skipped over a few times for a table. I think this was because we didn't buy drinks at the bar when we first arrived. Hello, I'm pregnant! No drinks for me. Often times people couldn't tell that I was pregnant because of my coat and scarf. I got the stink eye a lot from waiters and bartenders because I wasn't drinking.

One of Shannon's favorite places in New York is Serendipity. She likes to get fries and a Frozen Hot Chocolate. We got a Frozen Hot Chocolate to share, and it was delicious. We were told over the phone that the wait would be 5 hours, so we marched over there to put our name down. Once we arrived, the wait was only an hour and half. We put our name down, spent some time at Bloomingdale's. We then waited about 20 more minutes, and we were in!  Serendipity is worth the wait. They take reservations so call ahead or go during a non-peak hour.

The weather was really nice, and we only had one cold day (my birthday!). I'm not sure when I will every be able to go back but, I hope it's sooner than later!