New York Day 1

For years I've wanted to go to New York.  The timing has never been quite right to go with a busy husband and lots of kids, but in December my mom called to tell me that she and my dad were going to be in Washington D.C. for a work conference for my dad and that they were thinking about heading over to New York after.  I thought about it and realized this might be a great time to go.  No nursing babies, now that we live near Emily, she could help pick up the pieces when Joseph was unavailable.  I booked the flight and the rest is history. 

The adventure started out with a red-eye flight from Salt Lake City to JFK.  I don't do well without sleep.  I wasn't looking forward to this part of the trip.  I arrived at about 9:30 to catch my 11:00 flight.To make matters worse, my flight was delayed.  I tried to make myself comfortable and slept on the floor of the airport, setting the alarm on my phone so I didn't miss my flight.  We ended up leaving close to 2:00 a.m.  :(  When I boarded the flight, I was in a seat by the window next to two men.  I quickly tried to make myself comfortable and get some sleep.  Getting comfortable was hard.  I slept on and off until about 4:30 a.m. when I woke up and had what I think was a panic attack.  I remember feeling hot, nauseous, and thinking, "I have to get some sleep!  I have to get comfortable so I can get some sleep."  I broke into a cold sweat and felt like I was going to throw up.  I think that it didn't help that I hadn't eaten in about 10 hours and so my blood sugar must have been very low.  I can't go very long without eating when I'm awake.  The men next to me were sound asleep and I didn't want to wake them, nor did I think I would be able to make it to the bathroom to get some air.  I put my head on the tray table and tried to breathe until I felt well enough to stand up.  Then I woke the men up and went into the bathroom.  I splashed some water on my face and felt a little better.   When I arrived at the airport I met my mom, who had flown in earlier that morning from D.C. (my dad would fly in later than evening). 

We took a shuttle to Manhattan and headed to our hotel to store our luggage until we could check-in.  We stayed at the Marriott Fairfield Inn.  On the way there, I saw about 5 signs with "Joe" in it, I kept taking silly pictures to send to Joe.  (I took a camera, but ended up using my iPhone the whole time because of it's convenience.) 

We went to the top of the Empire State Building first.  This was a great way to start.  Because we were so high above the city, I was able to figure out where everything was in relation to everything else.  One this that was amazing to me was how far apart all of the areas of Manhattan are.  I remember when 9/11 happened I couldn't figure out how all of the news corporations could continue to function when such destruction had happened so close to them.  Being there I realized that the reason that was possible was because geographically, they are in different districts.  Their proximity to each other was further than I had imagined.  I think I was thinking like San Francisco or Salt Lake, etc. where there are a cluster of buildings all together.  I was surprised to see that in New York you see a cluster here in this district and then a cluster in another, etc. etc.

We briefly walked through the Macy's department store.  Someday I would love to attend the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.  It was fun to see the parade's namesake. 

I was surprised that Broadway was not a street with every show right along it, rather Broadway is a street, but many, if not most of the show are just off Broadway.  It was also interesting to be in Times Square.  I had envisioned it bigger than it really was.  It was very cool to see at night with all of the bright lights and screens. 

All week-long, whenever we walked passed M&M World, we stopped to get samples and reload our stash.  My Healthy Habits challenge point for sugar went out the door, but there are so many build-your-own salad shops everywhere, that getting my veggies was no problem.  I loved that!

I love to watch The Today Show.  My dad always had it on growing up while he got ready for work.  When I got married, I used to have it on while I got ready for work, and after I had Brynn, I would lay in bed after nursing through the night and watch it to catch up on some rest.  Now, I don't have the luxury of staying in bed to watch it, but for years I've turned it on as background sound while I make breakfast, clean the kitchen, get ready, and sometimes exercise etc. during the morning.   I remember thinking that the show could not go on without Katie Couric, but then fell in love with Merideth Viera and of course the sweet Ann Curry.  People like Matt Lauer, Natalie Morales, Al Roker, Samantha Guthrie, Amy Robach have become my friends, even though they don't know me from Adam. ;)  Naturally, because of all of this, going to Rockefeller Center, where NBC studios are, and where the Today Show is taped was a major highlight for me.   We visited briefly on Wednesday, so I could figure out where we needed to go the next morning to be on the show. 

I was surprised to see that the skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza was not as big as I had imagined.  I noticed this was a theme for the trip.  Things are much bigger in my mind.  Does that make me an optimist?  I've always thought of myself as a realist, but who knows?

Times Square was amazing at night!  I loved seeing all of the bright lights and flashing screens.

Mom and I went to Wicked on Wednesday night.  It was great!  I really enjoyed seeing it again.  I liked the Glinda that we saw in Hollywood better than this one, but she was good too.  (My mom just told me that the Glinda we saw in L.A. is now in the new show SMASH (which I haven't seen). 

We were so ready for bed when the show was over.  We had an early morning waiting for us.  My clock was so messed up!  Going to bed was no problem, but waking up at 5 a.m. was crazy, because it was actually 3 a.m. on my body and I been running on almost no sleep anyway.  I rubbed DoTerra On Guard Oil on my feet every night because I was worried that I would get sick with such little sleep and being in a very public place.  It must have worked, I didn't get sick!