Joe's 40th: Day 5, New York City

Joe indulged me on Sunday morning and agreed to head back to Cafe Lalo for breakfast. He knew I was going to miss that place, and I was so excited to eat there one last time. :) We took a nice walk through the Upper West Side to get there.

Love the stoops and streets of NYC.

We then headed to Times Square to do a little shopping. You have to love traveling with the Stutzmans! They like to shop! Plus, it was super hot out, so heading into the little stores along the way was a nice way to get out of the heat for a bit.

Times Square

Joe buying water at the hot dog stand.

The girls checking out the street vendors.

Joe and me cooling off at Dean and Deluca.

In a cab. (Sam was a little worried about the local cab drivers. She kept telling us to keep our arms inside the cab at all times, since she thought we would get them ripped off by how close the cars zipped by one another.)

We then took the Staten Island Ferry out past the Statue of Liberty. Always a nice thing to do in the city. You get an excellent view of the statue for free!

When we got off the ferry, it was pretty much time to head home. So, we went back to our hotel, grabbed our bags, and headed to Grand Central.

It was definitely a busy, busy weekend, but I certainly had a great time, and I really think Joe and the girls did as well. We returned home from NYC around 9:00 p.m. Sunday night, and Cindy and Sam had the entire day on Monday to rest up while Joe and I were at work. They spent the day sleeping in and laying by the pool. I think it was a much needed break from the whirl-wind adventure I planned. haha.

I took them to the airport at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Thanks for coming, girls! We carried out the surprise and it was such a great week!

Joe's 40th: Day 4, New York City

We came home from Boston on Friday night, ate and slept, then headed out to New York City first thing Saturday morning. (Yes, I ran our guests completely ragged during their trip here!)

We took the train into the city around 8:55 a.m.

On the train, before being bored to tears. haha.

Once we got to the city, we had to do our usual routine. Breakfast at Cafe Lalo, then a stroll to Riverside Park. I love this routine and it makes me so sad that I won't be doing it again for a long time...

At my favorite place - Cafe Lalo. Have I mentioned that they have the BEST coffee??

Our Engagement Spot!

They put the sign back up!

I took them on the subway for the first time ever. I think the girls were kind of nervous, but they got used to it, and became like locals before long.

On the subway.

Heading underground to the subway, from our hotel.

We had dinner reservations at this great restaurant on the Upper West Side, to really celebrate Joe's birthday in style. It was a fabulous place and great food.

It was a great first night in the big city!

(Don't worry, only one more birthday post to go!)

More Pictures of My Birthday

Stuart sent me some pictures he took during my birthday in New York City. They turned out so great, I had to share some with you!











Thank you Stuart! You are always able to capture the essence of the day. :)

29 Will Be a Tough One to Beat

Well, now that I'm sort of recovered from my birthday in New York City, I can tell all of you about it! I still can't believe that I was able to spend my birthday in THE most amazing city in the world. I just love that city and I love the fact that I currently live within a two hour train ride from there.

Which is exactly how we got there on Sunday. We took the 6:55 a.m. train and those of you who know me know that it must have been important to me if I was up and out the door at 6:00 a.m.

I think we look surprisingly awake for how early it was.

After downing a Rock Star on the trip, we arrived at Grand Central at 8:45 a.m., perfect time for breakfast. We took a cab to my favorite cafe in all of NYC - Cafe Lalo.

The have the best coffee.... mmm.

And they have some kick-ass champagne drinks. :)

We stayed there drinking coffee for a while, kicked back, just enjoying being there. I was seriously so happy. I was born to live in NYC, I think. Too bad I couldn't even afford to live in a closet there.

After breakfast we headed down to Riverside Park to visit the place where we got engaged. It was all in bloom and so beautiful! There was someone there picking weeds and we both think it's so cool that it's maintained by the community. Everyone pitches in to keep it so amazing. (By the way, I usually hate boring shots of flowers and such, but this is a special place for us, so bear with me.)

We plan to revisit this park each time we come into the city!

Next we headed toward Times Square, walking through Central Park to get there. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures in Central Park! The Aids Walk was taking place and there were TONS of people and lots of energy. We took a break on a bench at Strawberry Fields where we watched everyone fawn over John Lennon's memorial and listened to some awesome Beatles music performed by a guy with a guitar. (Said guitarist ended up sitting next to us, yelling and screaming about some tourists who had pissed him off. "I'm f**ing here for f**ing John, man, and they want to mess with ME?? I'm f**ing going to f*** them up and give them a REAL New York welcome!" I wanted to say, "Yeah, man, you're just like John, peace and love all the way." haha)

Of course we had to stop at Starbucks about a billion times.

And then we got to Times Square, where we were meeting Stuart at his very swanky, expensive hotel (he made his trip work related so his company would set him up. Nice!).

Joe in the swanky hotel.

This is how Stuart celebrates my birthday.

We had dinner reservations at this fabulous restaurant called Josie's West on the Upper West Side. It was vegetarian and vegan friendly, but also had sustainable meat options for Joe. It was a great find and we will definitely be going back. (Thank you Stuart for buying us dinner!)

I think you can tell I'm getting tired at this point.

We really wanted to take the 9:00 p.m. train back home, but dinner didn't even get over until 9:00, and then we decided to walk all the way back to Grand Central. I didn't want to leave, but I knew it was already going to be a tough day at work on Monday. We took the 10:22 p.m. train back, and after driving home from the station and taking Jackson out for a walk, we collapsed into bed at 2:00 a.m.

We were both so tired on Monday we couldn't even see straight, but it was worth it because it was...

the. best. birthday. ever!