Yeah, so today is my birthday.  I’ve decided this is a damn good time to start celebrating anniversaries instead…so yep, this is my first anniversary of 29.  My fabulous friend and confidant Y surprised me with a gift bag on my desk this morning containing some much needed Reese’s cups (WTF is up with our vending machine people that they are totally forgetting to restock the chocolate-peanut-buttery goodness that it Reese’s lately??), and a gift card to Famous Footwear (yeah, she knows me), and this fabulous stuff from Bath and Body Works’ True Blue Spa collection: “29 and holding!” I like the sound of that!  It’s some sunscreen stuff, with little mini bottles of “Tahiti, sweetie” lotion, “Watch Your Mouth” chap stick, and “So Aglow” tan-enhancing shimmer after-sun spray.  Just give me some fabulous drink (Mojito, please) and a little umbrella and I can call this vacation time!

Work was kindly too.  I got some wonderful training on a difficult flight (nice!), and today just happens to be the employee appreciation free ice-cream truck day here (totally planned around my birthday, I just know it).  Besides that, one of the guys at work bought me lunch (BLT and fries) and Ms. D brought me not one, but two decadently delicious chocolate cakes to celebrate …yeah, diet starts tomorrow).  Ok, so maybe everyone here isn’t an asshole…

But on to what will officially be called “The greatest birthday present ever!” from here on out:  My weekend in NYC, care of none other than Mr. W himself (cue drum roll, swinging lights, fireworks, sparkly things falling from the ceiling, all that stuff).

We checked into our hotel around 6pm.  He booked this gorgeous little bed-and-breakfast (more like bed and your breakfast will be like every other chain-hotel continental breakfast in the lobby at 7am) in Hell’s Kitchen.  Not sure why it’s called “Hell’s Kitchen,” but with the amount of simply fabulous restaurants and delicious food there, I can only deduce that food that good has to be a sin of some sort!  The first night we ended up in this little…I don’t really know what kind of restaurant it was.  The maitre d (I hate that I can’t use those little wavy things in my French words!) was from somewhere in South America and absolutely charming.  The food was delectable.  I had a spicy red snapper with the best Spanish rice I’ve ever tasted.  And the wine list, adorable!   It categorized it’s wine in the most divalicious way:

After, we walked the two blocks to Times Square.  Well, what can I say…it’s Times Square!  All lights and sparkles (and crowds, but who cares).

We decided to hop on a bus tour of the city, that took us into Brooklyn.  Very cool…no really, we were freezing our asses off and ended up in the bottom of the bus for the ride back.  I didn’t get a ton of pictures as it was dark and we were moving, but here’s one I did catch of Ground Zero (just getting started on the building, apparently).

We wandered a bit more after the tour until we found ourselves worn out (midnight) and headed home, planning on an early start the next morning.  Yeah, not so much.  We headed out about 9am, found a nearby Starbucks (of course…but then again, we passed about 100 in the length of our trip)

and after our much needed caffeine boost, headed to the “Top of the Rock,” Rockefeller Center.  Such a beautiful view of the city!  Here is Central Park:

And, of course, the Empire State Building:

And my favorite, St. Patrick’s Cathedral (I think):

I learned in some Art class once that all the old churches were built like this, in the shape of a cross.  That was by far my favorite part of New York, the architecture.  To see these beautiful old buildings set right next to these equally beautiful modern buildings.  It just takes my breath away!

Saturday afternoon, the piece de resistance (read with uncanny French accent, again needing the wavy things) of the trip…(again, flashing lights, falling sparkly things…) Wicked…on Broadway!! Mr. W and I have both read the book, and he’s actually read the second (of three) book as well, and he surprised me with the much desired tickets.  The seats were good, close (like the third row from the stage) but off to the right, so we couldn’t see all of the backdrops, but we didn’t miss anything!  The show was phenomenal!  I was mesmerized by the vocals, the story (a well-blended mix of The Wizard of Oz and Wicked), the costumes, the scenes…it was all, well, perfect! Definitely the best birthday present ever!! (Plus I picked up some merch, care of Mr. W: a hoodie and a “one night in New York” Wicked T-shirt…sweet!!)

After the show, we meandered back to the hotel, stopping to eat another delicious meal along the way.  We changed clothes and headed out again, this time to Central Park.  We started off at Strawberry Fields, of course:

And then just kind of roamed around, checking out that bridge that’s in like every movie set in New York:

While shooting this raccoon climbing a tree

there was some sort of commotion on the other side of the pond that involved a blood-curdling female scream, and a (very fast) man running away.  Nope, New York didn’t deprive me of any of it’s cliches!

By the time we made it back to the Hershey Store in Times Square, (and a couple other stops for cheesy souvenirs) we were both exhausted (and still had 4 stories of too skinny, too steep stairs to walk up).

Sunday morning we slept in, and hit Starbucks, of course, for breakfast and coffee.  Then back to the hotel to pack, check out, and back on the road home.  We did stop off in New Jersey for some “New York style” pizza for lunch though…