We came. We saw. We shopped. Mumsie's Big Apple Adventure.

New York, New York - it is, indeed, a wonderful town.  Especially when you have a whole long weekend dedicated to revisiting some of Mumsie's highlights and hotspots - and even more so when I don't have to work right through it!  So yes, we just returned from a lovely 3-day sojourn where we shopped our little feet off, scoffed ourselves into submission and got to spend time with fabulous friends.  Here's the photo diary of our trip!*

*calories have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent...

Friday:
Yikes.  Up nice and early at 4.30am to take a 5am telecon (which got canceled 15 mins beforehand - grrr) and to get ready to leave at 5.30am, ready for our 8am flight.  My Myers-Briggs travel personality (now that would be an instructive corporate development session) is one of the extreme scenario planner - i.e. there could be time for a severe weather event, a multi-car prang and a visit by Obama to the area and i would still arrive at the airport in time for my flight, given the excessive number of hours I'd budgeted to allow myself to get there.  Not entirely sure quite why I'm like this - I think it stems back to my Pfizer days in the UK where we could still travel Virgin Upper from London to New York.  To this day, the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow is still one of my favorite places in the world.  It has (or at least used to have) a full-jacuzzi spa bath where you could sip on bubbles while letting the bubbles relax your travel-weary bones (very civilized after the arduous private limo and drive-through check-in ordeal you'd had to suffer to get there), before then having your free spa treatment (blow dry, madam or spray tan today?) followed by a sojourn at the lounge bar, with more champagne, a copy of the Economist and all the cheese you could eat.  Its no wonder I used to rock up at the lounge, 3hrs before my flight was due to board, with my swimming cossie in my hand luggage (true story!).   At least now I guess I've improved somewhat - I may still turn up ridiculously early (not for the faint-hearted where La Guardia is involved) but at least I now leave the swimwear at home.

Anyway….the flight was smooth, uneventful and didn't crash (my threshold of what constitutes a "good" flight is pretty low), so before we knew it, we were in an overpriced cab from Newark airport (when did they get so expensive - sheesh!) heading for the city.  I'd booked us into a hotel in Times Square (thanks again, Starwood SPG points!), primarily so that we'd be within walking distance of two of our favorite peeps in the world, Ashley and Kelly.  We checked in fine, dumped our luggage and then wandered out in search of some food.  Not a terribly difficult mission to accomplish in NYC - unless you are trying to find a Cosi on Google Maps that isn't there anymore!!  Our initial objective thwarted, Mumsie made the bold statement of "we'll go in the very next place we come across'.  Given our proximity to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, this could have gone south very quickly but - as fortune would have it - the very next place we came across was Delmonico's Kitchen - which was very nice indeed!  I was still trying to hold onto some vestige of being healthy, so I had the salmon (OK, OK - and a glass of wine) while Mumsie Went Big and Balls to the Wall and opted for a delicious pressed panini sandwich and some kick-ass fries.  She was particularly enamored of the little fry basket they came served in - cuteness, indeed.

Room with one hellava view

After lunch, we were pretty stuffed and fading a little, given the early start, so we waddled back to the hotel for a Bit of A Lie Down and some power digesting, before we were due to meet A&K for dinner later that evening.  They live in a super-swanky building just a few blocks away from our hotel, so at around 7.30pm, we trotted out into the beautiful NYC evening (not too humid - yey!) to meet and catch up over champagne and fabulous views of the city from their 53rd floor luxe pad!  After an hour or so's chin-wagging, we realized we really probably should get our arses in gear if we were to make our dinner reservation, so we headed out again to this little local Italian joint.  The food was as excellent as the company and it was absolutely hopping busy - always a good sign!  I ate way more than I should have (helloooooo molten chocolate cake!) but - hey! - i'm in Noooo-Yorrkk-Cittyyyyy, baby!!

Saturday:
I don't know.  There's just something about being back in New York that makes you want to strut as you walk down the street.  Some sort of deep seated need that says "I know this town - I know how to be in this town -  I get this town".   I guess its not surprising, given how long I lived there, but I still feel more at home in NYC, more at ease with it, than any other place I've lived since.  I loved my time in San Francisco - but that was because I loved the people I met, rather than falling in love with the city per se.  I spent so much time using San Francisco as a base to explore from (along with my crazy work travel schedule) that I think I missed the intense bonding time that I spent here in NYC.  The jury is still out yet as to whether I'll feel that way about Chicago - I've only just started to scratch the surface.

Anyway, enough of all that introspection - what was on the hit list for today?  Well…time to retread the old favorites with Union Square and Mumsie's hit list of shopping nirvanas…. We ended up spending from 10am to 6pm out and about shopping, scoffing and sipping.  And loved every minute.  Here's a breakdown of our retail extravaganza:

• Start out walking downtown from Times Square to Union Square, via a giant coffee mug in Madison Square (as you do)
• Crazy crocks at Fish's Eddy
• Coffee at Cosi
• Lunch at Max Brenner, Chocolate by the bald man (for food porn, click here)
• Shoe-shopping at the impossible-to-resist DSW
• Bargain hunting at Burlington Coat Factory
• Afternoon coffee break at Cosi
• Tank tops at Old Navy
• More bargain hunting at TJ Maxx
• Collapse, exhausted, into a cab
• Head back to hotel, shower and change for dinner
• Meet with A&K for dinner 
• Eat too much, laugh a lot
• Waddle home
• Collapse in a heap
• Sleep

First person to write in on a postcard and tell me what on
earth this is, wins a prize.

New Yorkers certainly love their caffeine.

Busted.
#caffeinefreeliving #oops #wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

First shopping opportunity of the day and the
crowd goes wild...

Proof that some folk will buy any old crap - the random
 shit you can see pictured is all for sale, at an average
of $40 a piece.  No idea what any of it was.

One of these is a painting.

Working glass???  Is that like the American Shorthair
working cat?

So, then - who just sprang into your mind when you
saw this?  Me too….

About to enter into battle.  NYC shoppers, you
have been warned...

I wonder if this woman is the type of person
who buys that stuff from Fishs Eddy?  Gotta love the
total lack of interest from everyone else -
NYC in a nutshell - weird, meet indifference

Mumsie Nirvana - the sweet taste of reunion

Mumsie looking all wistful, wondering if she can fit a Cosi coffee
shop into her carry-on

Trust me.  One look at this menu, and you'd have a
 crazy "OMG! LOOK!" expression on your face too

The Best Bacon Mac and Cheese Ever.  Seriously.  

Stairway to Heaven.

Afternoon Cosi and brownie stop and I think Mumsie
is starting to get a little weary of my attempts
 at photojournalism 

FINISH STRONG!!!

And the bargain of the day?  This top from Old Navy
for the whopping price of 97 cents!!

Dinner with A&K that evening, and I invent the "stealthy"

I think you probably had to be there.

Or here.

Sunday:

Final day of our NYC shop-fest (boo!) and just enough time to meet with A&K for an early-ish brunch,  before embarking on a final bit of bargain shopping (Ed Heck suitcase - yeah!) and a spontaneous game of bowling in the unlikely setting of the Port Authority Bus Terminal! (I had a second (!) date there a few years ago - until I knew we were heading for a bowling alley, I was getting a tad concerned when my date took me to the bus station…).  It was a lot of fun and, as usual when I go bowling, I got totally destroyed by The Mumsie Machine.  I exacted my revenge at the air hockey table (WINNER!!!) and both of us were a bit rubbish at Terminator, but it was a lot of fun, and the perfect way to burn off some of those excess calories!  

Us and the boys.

We then headed back to the hotel, finished up our packing (good job Mumsie had bought that extra suitcase!) and then decided we were a bit peckish (amazingly enough), so popped out for an early dinner, ahead of going to Newark for our flight.  We ended up at this great place just near our hotel called Schippers where the food was pretty decent - good old fashioned, stick to your ribs comfort food.  We followed that up with one of the best cupcakes we've ever tasted at Dean and Deluca's next door - during which I received a text from United Airlines saying that our 9pm flight from Newark back to Chicago had "been canceled due to flight crew availability".  What the wha?   Well, screw that, I thought, so instantly got on to the 1K Premier phone line and told the guy in no uncertain - yet polite - terms that having to wait til Monday to fly home did not work for me and that he had to do much much better than that. After a few minutes tapping away, he confirmed that he could get us on to the 8pm flight from LaGuardia but that he couldn't confirm our seat assignments.  Hmmm… I said.  I don't want us to go all the way to LGA without definite confirmation we have seats, so Please Try Again, Mr United Booking Agent.  Needless to say, after a few more minutes of tapping away, he announced that we were on the flight and had assigned seats.  Huzzah for that - crisis averted.  That last minute change in plan meant that we pretty much had to leave straight away - fortunately there was a town car at the hotel waiting for a fare, so we just took that one for the ride to LGA.  Which - of course - we completed with an hour and a half to spare, so plenty of time (again) to enjoy the singular delights of LGA airport.  Finally, it was time to board and so concluded our kick-ass weekend in NYC.  A simply brilliant time - see you again soon, NYC!!

Mumsie the Destroyer wiping the floor with me at bowling

By this stage, I was reduced to claiming I was winning
 "on speed" rather than on points…  Mumsie  wasn't buying it...

Yep. I'm that person you want to challenge to a bowling match. 

Doing the Mumsie patent pending Victory Dance.
I saw this a lot.

Finally.  A chance to even the score at air hockey.

Though we both got wiped out at this. 

I've never met an onion ring I didn't like.

Ooey-gooey kick-ass grilled cheese sandwich

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree…..  #justsayin

Piece de resistance - passion fruit cupcake and carrot
cake at Dean and Deluca.  Exceptional!

Finally, wending our way home as the sun sets
 on a brilliant weekend.  See ya again soon, NYC.