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NYC Labor Day Weekend 2009
Wow.
First, we must thank American Express for having great bundled hotel/flight deals (Expedia, you had them, too, but your sales kept ending too quickly for us), Paramount Hotel for the great location, Paramount Hotel for your comfortable – - yet so not really – - double-sized bed (you liars!), City Sights tour buses for showing us the city (I think it’s safe to say that you live up to your name), Circle Line for showing us Lady Liberty, American Airlines for keeping us safe and for $40 less in our pockets (I shake my fist at you baggage fees!), TKTS for getting us in to a real Broadway show for ”cheap”, Mary Poppins the New Musical for allowing me to relive my childhood in an incredible way, 9th Avenue for having amazing restaurants, oh and the house cleaning lady who did not know what “Privacy Please” signs really meant and gave us a clean room every day – - even when we didn’t want one.
We arrived in New York City the Friday before Labor Day. We checked into our room at the Paramount Hotel, made a pseudo plan for the evening, then made the short one block trek to Times Square. Our goal was to just explore Times Square, find some New York style pizza, and possibly get discount tickets to a Broadway show. We wondered up and down Times Square, taking it all in, hoping to run into TKTS and score some tickets. After about an hour, we finally stumbled across one (Broadway and 46th maybe?!).
What happened next led to probably one of my favorite moments at NYC. We scored majorly discounted tickets to Mary Poppins for that night, about 20 rows from the stage. Definitely one of those wow, I feel blessed moments. And because of our new found plans, the evening took on a bit of a different plan.
New York style pizza was still on the list for supper, and there just so happened to be a delicious looking place right next to our hotel, Patzeria. Off we went, folding our pizza in half, eating it in this cute little restaurant only big enough for four bar stools, the giddiness growing in my everyone moment for what was in store, and then we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before the play.
Seeing a Broadway show was incredible. Disney renovated what is now known as the New Amsterdam Theater, and it is gorgeous. We actually got to take pictures inside, but they do not do it justice. One of the most unbelievable things for me about the play was the set on stage. They actually constructed an almost life-size doll house for 17 Cherry Tree Lane, and they would roll it back and forth to the front, as well as raise and lower the third floor (where the children’s room is) for certain scenes involving just Mary Poppins and the children, or when they would run into Bert up on the roof. I am doing a horrible job that does not do the set justice, but I promise it was incredible. It was something that I’d think real architects would have to had build!
Besides the set, the dancing, acting, singing, all of it was incredible. It may be a silly little kids story to some, but it really isn’t. It was amazing. I have not stopped thinking about the experience. I am not as cultured to theater as Jeff, him being a thespian once, but it is something I’ve grown interested in over the past few years. Between this experience and seeing the touring Broadway play Wizard of Oz in Nashville in January, I am now hooked. I cannot wait for my next Broadway show!
Saturday was one of two days we spent on a double decker tour bus. We got a package that gave us 48 hours to use the buses, and we could hop on and hop off at stops as we pleased. Places we saw included Downtown Manhattan, many of the villages, Macy’s (and we shopped, too), Empire State Building, New York City Museum (we got off here, too, but I don’t know that I really enjoyed it), Central Park (more to come on this later), Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center, several of the Broadway and Off Broadway theaters, and the night tour took us over the Manhattan Bridge to give us a good view of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn (beautiful).
While on one of the tours, we were told that 9th Avenue was the place to eat. So we ate a couple times over there. We ate at 5 Napkin Burger (yum!) and Amarone (Italian and also delish!). Other eateries included the Carnegie Deli (wasn’t a huge fan), Roxy Delicatessen for some delicious New York style cheesecake, and a pizza place over by Central Park.
Sunday night, after a day of touring on the bus, we made our way over to Pier 83 to hop on Circle Line and drive (boat?) by the Statue of Liberty. That was a beautiful sight. Monday morning we checked out, boarded our bags at the hotel, and then headed over to Central Park. We saw most of the southern half, and it was gorgeous. The building that John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived in (apparently she is still there), and also where John was shot, is right across the street. It is a beautiful building, and in Central Park, by the building, is where Strawberry Fields is and the Imagine tribute. The Plaza Hotel isn’t too far from there, and in the center by the hotel is the location of FAO Schwartz and a rather interesting Apple store. We visited both. We also took a hop, skip, and a jump (well, quite more than that) over to Serendipity to try the Iced Hot Chocolate. It was good, but I think it would’ve been awesome hot (defeats the purpose, I know). But I was bummed to discover, when rewatching the movie Serendipity after we got home that Monday night, that the scenes filmed in the store were filmed upstairs, which is where we did not go. So close!
So anway, here is a look into our little weekend getaway. I hope you enjoy…
My husband is the Director of Marketing at Adventures In Missions (AIM). AIM is located in Gainesville, Georgia, but Jeff primarily works out of our home, traveling to Georgia every other month or so for meetings. He also travels to train missionaries during training camps and even leads a mission trip or two. But in his day-to-day role, it is hard for me sometimes to remember how important of a guy he is (he is Director after all, that’s big stuff!), because I see him at home all the time, working from the couch one day, the dining room table the next, and sometimes out of his actual office… and even sometimes in pajamas (don’t tell him I told you). I wouldn’t be surprise if some of you have gotten an email from him while in the bathroom. Again… I didn’t say a word.
One of his tasks as Director of Marketing is working with media outlets. He’s helped get AIM into magazines like Relevant, on some radio stations and just recently on CBN News. The latest, with CBN, was in regards to this photo contest AIM did. They set up criteria that had to be met, allowed anyone to submit photos that met them, and then awarded cash prizes to winners. These photos were about ministry, many from people that had been on an AIM trip and some that had not. They were amazing, beautiful, and heart wrenching. I cannot imagine being a judge for this contest.
CBN had heard about this from a press release and contacted AIM, wanting to do a piece about it. Jeff did a video chat with them. I tried embedding the video CBN put together of their chat and some of the pictures that were submitted, but I had lots of trouble, so please take the time and visit the article here.
I actually have many more than 26 thank-yous to say, but seeing as I can’t even count them, I picked 26 since that’s what this has to do with – - my 26th birthday.
Many of you followed the exciting day of July 21st on this blog in a post written by Jeff about my birthday. He clued you in throughout the day on all the little things he had me do. There was a scavenger hunt of cards and secret blogs with videos of him singing songs he’s written for me over the years. There were questions with answers that eluded to the day’s events and my gift(s). And there were sweet, sweet words from some of the dearest people in my life, all of them speaking to something about me that they love. This, this was hard to sit through. I am not one to enjoy the center of attention, unless I am performing, and so it was very hard to allow Jeff to share with me, in front of friends, all the kind words many of you spoke. That’s where the first of many thank-yous comes in.
Thank you.
So the answers to the questions. Well, here you go:
Question 1: Who is Ren McCormick? Answer: Kevin Bacon’s character in Footloose.
Question 2: What movies did Peter Chelsom direct (looking for specific movie)? Answer: Shall We Dance?
Question 3: Who was Harry Fox, and what did he invent? Answer: Fox trot.
So, what do these answers speak to you? To me, I thought it was a night of dancing, and I was right about one thing… dancing. But they really eluded to my gift, not what we were doing that night. And what was my gift, you ask? Well, it was ballroom dancing lessons! Yes, the Goinses will be taking up ballroom. What some of you may not know is that we spent a summer learning how to swing dance, and we loved it. We’re quite rusty these days, but we’ve talked about taking ballroom lessons from time to time, so I am so excited that Jeff got lessons for my birthday. We’re starting up next week!
The cards he gave me throughout the day also had clues in them. The clues eluded to Buca di Beppo, an amazing Italian restaurant with family-style dining. After work, I was to meet Jeff at a coffee shop, and then we were going to head to Buca. But what actually happened was, I went to the coffee shop, drank my carmel cappuccino alone, and then met him at Buca. When he arrived, we walked in together, only for him to turn us around and walk us right back out the door. Confused, I followed him into the car I drove, he pulled out of the stall, and pulled right back into another just a few stalls down. It was the curbside-to-go one. I figured at this point we were eating at home, which was fine. Jeff usually does the place up nice with candles and good music when he makes a special dinner at home. I was alarmed, though, when the waiter came out with $70 worth of food, but Jeff brushed it off, saying he just ordered big portions for leftovers. Seeing as we have actually done this before at another favorite, Maggiano’s, I totally bought it.
However, when we walked into the nicely decorated apartment, we were not alone. Jeff had asked six dear friends of ours to join us. It was great. We sat around our new table, using it to its fullest potential for the first time, enjoyed some amazing food, and Jeff shared with everyone all those kind words I was thanking you for before (thanks again!). Then we sat around the floor playing an intense game of Cranium, which somehow Jeff and I won. And since I’ve decided to leave you with some footage from the evening, I will take this time to thank each and everyone of you for helping celebrate with me. Whether you said “Happy Birthday!” on facebook, gave me a call, sent me card, ate dinner with me, or helped Jeff in his schemes on that Tuesday, you are all very much appreciated and very dear to me. Thank you for being a part of my life! And thank you to my sweet, thoughtful, very lovable red head of a husband for pulling out all the stops on my birthday. Jeff, you have always been great at surprises, and this was no exception. Thank you for knowing me so well and, once again, giving me an incredible birthday!
