I flew into NYC at 7:30 a.m. and was invited to breakfast with Josh and Lani at 8 a.m. So I wasted no time finding a cab and getting my butt to the corner of 53rd and Avenue of the Americas. When I arrived, I looked around and didn’t see a cafe called Lou’s Cafe. Around us NYC was preparing for a parade so I picked up my phone to call Lani to find out where I went wrong. I put the phone on speaker so I could hear above the noise. That’s when I spotted Lou’s Cafe, shut my phone and headed over. Complete with my carry-on suitcase.
My phone, by the way, doesn’t shut off when you close it if it is on speakerphone. The next 20 minutes of conversation was recorded onto Lani’s voice mail. When I saw her Friday night her first comment was she hoped I wasn’t roaming. Turns out we both have Cingular, so I didn’ even get docked minutes.
As for breakfast….
How are those women so animated that early in the morning? I had been up since 2:30 a.m., and I wasn’t that with it yet.
Totally unfair: Before any photos could be taken Lani and Josh applied lip stick, etc. I had no make up on at all. I wouldn’t have had time to do my face. Just saying. Also, no one told CJ and I that the other two in the picture were cuddling. Oh, and Steve said to tell Lani she looks better in person than in her publicity photo.
Only Lani could dare to call a woman who has given birth to four children a virgin. She’ll do it loudly too. In a crowded cafe that made people turn and look. I was, you see, a NYC virgin. Also a taxi cab virgin. So. OH, porn was mentioned too. Let’s just say Lou’s Cafe was happy to see us leave.
Josh tried to talk me into eating exotic weird things, and recommended some restaurants, but I’m not sure I’m up to eating things with doe-eyes. The things I ate in NYC wasn’t nearly as interesting as the things Josh ate.
When I arrived Josh was trying to get Lani to talk her out of buying $200 shoes. Lani’s response? $200 NYC dollars equals $40 Georgia dollars. Or $40 Michigan dollars. Steve and I laughed then, but when we checked into our hotel room later, Steve definitely saw Lani’s wisdom.
On Thursday night we paid $45 to stay in Saginaw. On Friday and Saturday we paid $225 to stay in NYC. The NYC hotel had a 100 year history and bell hops, but that was about it. The elevators – not so nice. The window in the room — wouldn’t lock. It didn’t even come close to lining up with the lock. Good thing we were on the 18th floor. The shower in Saginaw was excellent — NYC not so much. The bed in Saginaw was more comfy despite the extra throw pillows in NYC. But the kicker? In NYC, we had to pay $12.95 a DAY to log onto the Internet in our room. It was free in Saginaw. How can any hotel in this day and age, especially one that hosts conventions, not offer free high-speed Internet? We bought it for one day. It wasn’t even a 24-hour day. It shut off at midnight.
OK, that’s the only complaints I have about NYC. Everything else was Fab. I was invited to check out the $200 shoes, but I was schlepping my luggage and was ready to find my hotel.
The unexpected cool thing about breakfast with Lani and Josh? I met Cynthia/C.J./Samantha/Cindy. (All one person, by the way.)
On Friday night, Steve and I were walking to where we were going to have dinner with Lani, CJ and Jenn, when we found ourselves approaching Times Square. Very very cool. I didn’t have my camera with me then. It was the only time I didn’t have it along. I had taken nearly 100 photos during the parde earlier that day. On Saturday more than 175 and another 100 or so on Sunday. I thought of you, AGK, because you would have had a blast taking photos there.
I never realized how long the St. Patrick’s Day parade was — it took about six hours. People in the parade were lined up on either side of my hotel. So at one point we had bag pipe players marching through the hotel lobby and it was 8 deep at the bar. Very cool.
Who would buy pretzels from the woman selling them from a shopping cart? A shopping cart.
Also, I have a recommendation — if you are in a parade shut your cell phone off. I know cell phones are everywhere, but that just seems a bit much. Really, there’s no need to walk down Madison avenue behind guys in kilts chatting on the phone, K? Glad we got that straight.
Steve and I rode the subway (I wasn’t a subway virgin by the way. I’ve been to Chicago.), toured Rockefeller Center, went up to the observation point at the Empire State Building (86th floor), and other fun stuff. We went to Battery Park and World Trade Center Plaza/Ground Zero. We saw the Statue of Liberty — so very cool. I’m sure I’m missing things.
Oh, and I’m a bad mom. I told my children I had my picture taken with Usher, which I did. We told them while we were still in New York. Amanda, who loves Usher, immediately asked if I got his autograph. I didn’t. I failed to tell them that it was the wax version. I also had my picture taken with Ernest Hemingway, Oprah, Nicolas Cage, Bette Midler and more. Steve shook hands with Abe Lincoln.
At one point in the museum, there was a figure of Lance Armstrong on a bicycle. Next to him was a bicycle you climb on. Steve climbed on, and I snapped a picture. A lady came around the corner, saw the two men on the bikes and said, "Who’s that guy with Lance?" That’s when Steve moved and we all started laughing. In person, the wax figures were very realistic. It was neat to see exactly how much taller I am than Tom Cruise, for instance. But in the pictures, they really had a reflection that sort of signals they’re fake. Not always, but at times.
Time for work. 
