The Big Apple: Day 2...

Saturday morning we woke up and headed out.  We had a big day planned and started out with a little coffee and walking.

Our first stop was Times Square.  It looks a little different in the day light.

Ann, Michelle, and Jill.  What are you looking at Michelle?

We stopped in the Times Square visitor center where you can write on the confetti that is realized on New Years'.  I may have written the old school "Keri loves Ken."

Jill and Michelle writing on confetti

The wall of hopes and dreams

Me in front of the New Years' Eve ball that drops

The ball was very pretty, and kept changing colors.  Hopefully, I can stay awake until midnight to see it drop this year.

After Times Square, we walked a few blocks to get to Grand Central Station.  On the way, we took in the skyline around us.  

There is the Empire State Building again.

Back inside Grand Central Station

We had lunch inside Grand Central Station.  Apparently it is common for people to polish off a bottle of Jack and then dig through the garbage for lunch.  Just another day in the life.  I was so excited to see that the Magnolia Bakery was inside Grand Central.  I may have bought two brownies there, and two more at another bakery.  It was a four brownie kind of day, after all.  

Michelle and me, one brownie in

After lunch at Grand Central, we walked our way to the Flat Iron district to see the Flat Iron Building.  For those of you who do not know, I have a picture of the Flat Iron Building in my bathroom, and I could not wait to see it in person.

There she is!

Such an interesting building

If you turn around and look the other way, you see the Empire State Building.

That Empire State Building is everywhere!  It was such a clear, beautiful day.

Michelle and Jill

Michelle and me

After visiting the Flat Iron Building, we started making our way down to the 9/11 Memorial.  Little did Michelle know, we would be walking the entire way.  Basically, Ann and I are like drill sargents.  

. We passed through China Town on our way.

The complaining about the never ending walk, may have started in China Town.

On our way, we stopped at the Brooklyn Bridge.  Ann and I both wanted to walk across it, but we were both also afraid of seeing Red Michelle.  For those of you that are not familiar, Red Michelle is kind of like Red Ross from Friends, only shorter (and scarier). 

Michelle, Ann, and Jill.  I am not posting the picture of Michelle flipping me the bird.

I asked Michelle to take our picture, and she must have missed the part about me wanting it with the bridge in the back.  :)

Ann, me, and Jill with the Brooklyn Bridge

One more shot of the bridge

After seeing the bridge, we waited in the longest bathroom line ever at Starbucks.  Yeah, it took forever.

 Then we made our walk toward the 9/11 Memorial and was greeted with views of the Freedom Tower.

When Ken and I were in New York in 2011, it was not fully completed.  They had come a long way in two years!

Waiting in line for security, we may have busted out a brownie.

Below are several pictures from the 9/11 Memorial

After visiting in the memorial, we made our way back to the apartment and had a little wine before heading to dinner.

She was claiming to be an Angel, but I am not so sure about that.

After wine, it was time to hail a taxi, and I was totally on the job.

I am pretty sure this is how everyone in NYC hails a taxi.

Right after this picture was snapped, a business man (or possibly a pimp or even a serial killer) stopped and said that he wished he was not on his way to a meeting or he would take us anywhere we wanted to go.  I am sure you would sir.  Probably straight to your basement.  In his defense, he was in a luxury car and not a rapist van.  Anyway...

We got a taxi (by the way, I love yelling, "Taxi!") and went to dinner.

Michelle and Ann

Me with Jill

After dinner, I asked everyone to show me how they get a taxi.

Michelle and her version of "hail a taxi"

Jill, doing her best to get a taxi

Ann, getting a taxi, and stopping traffic

Another one of my taxi poses

After getting a taxi, we made our way to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.  As we were dropped off, we saw the light show that is put on outside of Saks 5th Ave.

The show and window displays, were complete with the Abominable Snowman, which I happen to love.

There's the tree!

Ann, Michelle, and Jill

Michelle, me, and Jill

Clearly, I should have clarified to the man taking our picture that I wanted a picture of us with the tree in the background.  

One more shot of the tree before we go

Shameless selfie at Rockefeller Center

We stopped for a souvenir and this happened...

We finished our night by seeing the Empire State Building all lit up.

New York, New York: Day 1...

I just got back from something that I have always dreamed of doing.  I got to visit New York City during December and see all of the lights.

Please be warned, if you do not like Christmas, you will not like any of these posts.  :)

It was such a wonderful trip with great girlfriends.  I had three main goals:  See the Rockefeller Tree, see Matt Lauer, and get on the Today Show.  It is not like I was asking for much.

The trip started off at 4:50 am when Jill picked me up to go to the airport.  We were so excited that we really did not appear tired at all.

My driver, Jill

So, the funniest part of the entire trip was when I told Jill just to leave her bags with me while she went to the bathroom.  Of course, I had a motive.  I wanted to place something in her bag in hopes that TSA would search her bag and embarrass her.

Oh yes, that happened.

I let Jill go ahead of me in security and kind of waited to see what would happen.  Sure enough, all of the TSA agents walked over to the X-Ray machine and were laughing.  I about peed my pants during my screening and Jill was laughing, but had no clue why I was laughing.  

I told one of the agents that he should search Jill's bag and she was just going along with it.  The agents were totally laughing and one of them asked me where we were headed and then replied that he should probably let NYPD know we are coming.  Jill was still laughing right along and had no idea.

On our way!

When we arrived in St. Louis, Jill reached for her phone charger and look what she found!

I am pretty sure she almost peed her pants.  

She could not believe that I had gotten him into her bag.  It was priceless.

Next stop, NYC!

Wine and snacks, we are ready for our flight!

When we got to New York, it was raining.  We quickly changed into our rain boots and had our car pick us up to head to the city.  We met with Michelle and Ann for a bit and then Jill and I headed out.

Making our way to Macy's

I was very excited to visit "The Macy's"

The 9th floor was like a Christmas explosion.  I loved it!

Ornaments, ornaments galore!

The 9th floor of Macy's was a happy place for me

We both bought many, many ornaments

Macy's was a hit!

We walked out of Victoria's Secret and I saw this:

The Empire State Building

We went back to our apartment and got ready to go out for the night.  We had tickets to go see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.

Ann, Michelle, me, and Jill inside Radio City Music Hall.  Take note of how fresh and lovely we look.

Below are many pictures of the Rockettes.  It was such a fun show to watch.

I was not quite sure what to expect with the Rockettes show.  It was really great!  I am so glad that we went.

Remember when I said take note of how pretty and fresh we looked earlier?  Well, after the show, we walked outside and it was pouring down rain.  We had taken a cab to the show and were not prepared with umbrellas or anything.  It turns out, we could not get a cab and Jill and I got separated from Michelle and Ann.  Jill and I finally got a cab and we went to Grand Central Station with hopes to meet up with Michelle and Ann.  

Jill and me in the pouring down rain.

Michelle and Ann darted into a bar since they could not get a cab.  When they finally got one, they ended up going back to the apartment.  

Grand Central Station

I had never been to Grand Central Station before.  It was so pretty!

Jill and I ended up having dinner at the Italian restaurant inside Grand Central.  Our food was okay, but our service was horrible.

Jill at dinner

Me at dinner, with crazy hair

We had agreed that after dinner, we would buy umbrellas and walk to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.  

Making our way to see the tree

It was really raining

We were not going to let the rain ruin our fun!

The Empire State Building was all light up in pretty colors

Another pretty building

After walking for a few blocks, we finally made it to our destination.  I have been waiting a long time to see the tree and it did not disappoint, even if it was raining.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I was really, really excited to see the tree

Jill was pretty excited to see the tree too!

It was worth walking in the rain to get to see it!

This happened.  Love the photo bomb going on.

Many shameless pictures were taken

After seeing the tree, we wanted a little dessert.  It was late, but we stopped in for a brownie.

It was quite yummy.

After our brownie, we decided to walk a few blocks before hailing a cab.  As we were walking, Jill noticed these bright lights a few blocks to the West and asked me if it was Times Square.  I noticed what block we were on and realized it was.  We decided to walk over there and then would get a cab from there.  Now is probably a good time to point out that we were in heels.

Jill getting her first look at Times Square

It was pouring

Jill in front of where the NYE ball drops

After Times Square, we started walking and tried to hail a cab.  I consider myself a wonderful cab hailer, but with the rain, I guess it is impossible to get a cab.  We ended up walking all the way back to our apartment which was a mile and a half.  While it is not that far, it was not the most fun walk in heels and in the pouring rain.  We made it though and had a lot of fun!  

Our first day in NYC was a success!

Gobbler Grind...

Back in October my friend Tara text me and asked me if I knew of any half marathons in KC in November.  I quickly told her about the Gobbler Grind half that I had run a few times.  

She decided that the race was the perfect race for her to finish her season.  So, we both thought it was a good idea to sign up for the race.

That was back in October before it was 12 degrees.

When I saw the forecast was going to be 12 in the morning, I was thinking that if Tara had not come all the way from Columbia, that I would have backed out.  I can run 13 miles on the treadmill at the gym.  But I did not cancel and ran the race.

It was 12 degrees at the start and 15 degrees at the finish.

It was freezing.  I have never been that cold before.

We are frozen and have not even started yet.

Tara decided not to wear gloves.  She told me her hands never get that cold.  Well, she wished she would have worn gloves after all.

I finally warmed up at mile 3, only to be frozen again at mile 10.  

I saw ice in people's hair.  Yeah, it was cold.

We both made it and had a lot of fun.

Until next time Tara!