The Lucky One

Late one Saturday night, I was awaken by the sound of an email from my Blackberry.

I never hear emails or texts that come in the middle of the night, I sleep too hard.

But this one woke me...

I looked at my phone, expecting another sale announcement from the Gap.

But no... it wasn't a sale announcement at all...

_____________________________________________________________

I almost screamed and if it hadn't been for the soundly sleeping

Ella tucked deep into my side, I would've.

I've only gotten to experience New York in the winter, mainly during the holidays.
While I'd jump at the chance to go back there during the holidays again ANY time,
getting to personally see New York in the springtime... leaves me giddy and speechless.
Plus, not only was I going to be in NY, I was going to go see OPRAH in NY.
AND it turned out that I'd gotten my ticket  request selected see Martha Stewart again...
It all worked out so perfectly, how could I not go?


I envisioned sweet, pink cherry blossom in all the trees lining the streets filled with brownstones.
Cool weather, excitement buzzing all over the city for the new season.

I was right.

She didn't disappoint, my city.

Day 1 - NYC

Let me start by saying, I hate myself for choosing a red eye flight every single time.
Why, oh why do I keep doing it?

Leaving at midnight and landing in NY at 7am is just a disaster waiting to happen.

Especially when you don't get a wink of sleep and
every single person in the plane is asleep but you.

But there was one glorious bonus, though.
I got to see the sun rise from up above.

When we landed and made our way through Queens into the city, it was raining.
We checked into our hotel, The Eventi Hotel in Chelsea... VERY nice. Really comfortable
bed and the entire hotel smelled like Eternity for men by Calvin Klein-- That means, really good.

When we finally got to explore, I was a little deterred by the rain
but it was definitely trumped by what I found... this is what greeted us.

Spring exploded in NY. Tulips, Hyacinth, Daffodils, Cherry blossoms... EVERYWHERE.
The mix of rain, the skyscrapers, the bustling people, the fresh flowers in the amazingly well-kept gardens made me fall in love with this place tenfold.

It was gorgeous!

Our first order of business was to go pick up my tickets to Oprah's Lifeclass...

I wanted to get there early to avoid the lines...

I think every other person attending the event had the same thought.

It's ok though, if you're going to stand in line with anyone,

it's good that it was with fellow Oprah lovers. There was an excited buzz on 6th Ave that day...

Walking into Radio City Music Hall to collect my tickets

as Sally Lou Loveman is walking out was pretty cool.

After that was done, we were free to wander around the city...

We let the day take us where it wanted to. Momofuku Milk Bar

was supposed to have the best cookie in NY according to Jaclyne.

Kinda disappointing making our way there only to find they weren't.

I'd been reading a new book that I loved, The Cupcake Diaries. Having a dream of

someday opening my very own cupcakery, reading Sophie & Katherine's story and

watching their show, DC Cupcakes, it was SO cool to get to

go see it for myself and enjoy a few of their really good treats.

What am I talking about, you ask?

Really, really good cupcakes.

Like, really good.

When we first came to NY it was in December of 2001, 3 months after

the attack on the World Trade Center.  Each time we've come after that,

we've visited Ground Zero. This time, the actual memorial

was completed and the new Freedom Tower was almost done.

It always makes me a little sad going there.

To think of that day, when the unthinkable happened ...I can't even continue.

After the sleepless night and the long day walking the city, we were beat.

We enjoyed a luxurious and delicious dinner at Gramercy Tavern...

The mushroom lasagna, AMAZING!

Seriously, the flowers in the NY restaurants are off the hook, gorgeous.

I don't want to overload one post with so many

photos, so I'll do them over the next couple of posts.