NYC

Harry Potter On Broadway

October 14, 2019 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Oh hey, long time no chat!! Truthfully I have drafted a couple posts recently and just haven’t gotten around to fully editing them and adding pictures and all that. I needed a bit of a break in September, basically a recovery from a stressful August, but that’s the short version. Now it’s mid October and the I can’t believe how fast it is going. My weekends haven’t been all that exciting lately as I am usually spending a good 10-12 hours on the weekend doing homework and then I try to spend 2 hours a night on weekdays to do homework. It’s a crazy semester. While I love my business analytics class, economics…not so much and it’s just time consuming. We are now midway through the semester so I just keep pushing along.

I took Friday off from work so I could take my first economics test (I know, how exciting?!) and get a head start on homework. It was perfect because I was super productive Friday and as I sit here on Sunday night writing this, I have not been productive with school work today. I also spent a couple hours on Friday calling all my banks and credit card companies to figure out what I needed to do to change my last name….these are the things they don’t tell you when you get married…I’ve spent a couple days off getting a license, social security card and recently calling my banks. I submitted my passport renewal with my name change a while ago and I didn’t realize you needed a photo from the last 6 months. Well since I renewed my passport in Feb 2018, I had an extra photo leftover, but obviously that wasn’t in the last 6 months so I submitted a new photo a week ago and hopefully I will get my new passport soon…so yes it has been a process.

But name change stuff aside…this weekend was all about Harry Potter and I have been counting down for approximately 6 months since I decided to purchase the tickets in April as a birthday present to myself and figured this was a good weekend, a week after our 10 year dating anniversary.

Oh Brian got me flowers for our 10 year anniversary which I loved!! The flowers also managed to last over a week even though I never changed the water in them (this is why I don’t have plants to take care of or get flowers often). This is only the second time Brian has gotten flowers for me in our 10 years together so it makes it extra special.

Saturday morning we left shortly after 7am which is just the time we were aiming for. Brian booked a hotel in Secaucus, NJ and we arrived around 10:30 after a couple stops. We found out where to park, as our room wasn’t ready yet, and just went over to the bus stop. We arrived in the city around 11am which was perfect for lunch time. I told Brian I was thinking Mediterranean for food and he found a place, Kashkaval Garden. We went all out for the weekend and got a tapas plate of hummus, brussel sprouts, babaganoush, artichokes and taziki. The hummus and artichokes were my favorite from the plate. The brussels were good, but I prefer them warm and they were cold, which made sense for the plate.

After the appetizer, we both ordered kabobs, I got chicken and Brian had lamb. The kabobs came with a small side salad and potatoes. All were amazing!! I was so full, I couldn’t even finish the chicken, but I ate a bunch of everything else. I also was so hungry and excited for the food I forgot to snap a photo, but I was enjoying the moment with Brian.

After we stuffed ourselves, we took a short walk to Central Park and grabbed 6 mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. I was excited to get some Halloween ones.

Then it was time for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Part 1.

I got us both Harry Potter themed shirts of course and asked someone to take our picture. The angle of the photo is weird since she was trying to get the sign from the Theater in and everything.

I am definitely more of the Harry Potter fan than Brian, but he tagged along. After Part 1 ended, he couldn’t wait for part 2 though!! He was so excited and into it. We also had great seats, row A in the balcony so no one was in front of us and it was a nice view of the stage. Honestly I couldn’t remember the seats I picked 6 months ago lol, but Brian said I did good.

After Part 1 ended, we had about a 2.5 hour break to grab dinner. We decided to head up to 9th avenue and walk to see what we could find. We eventually settled on a Thai place. We started with Fried tofu and then we each ordered soup and salad. My throat has been bothering me a bit (cold season) so I hoped some chicken and rice soup with ginger would help and it definitely did, along with a thai salad with ginger dressing. Give me all the ginger.

I will say we had amazing service at the place we found and I don’t remember the name of it. They constantly filled our water glasses, served food quickly and everything. It was also a beautiful night and some people were dining outside.

After eating, we still had an hour to kill. We quickly visited the M&M store, though didn’t buy anything. Then we just made our way back towards the theater and found a European Bakery to step into for me to get my cookie fix. The cookie was giant, but it reminded me of biscotti so it was super light and just the right amount of sweet I needed.

Back to the theater and we got some pictures and I bought a bag for Voldemort day because I felt it was unique and a good souvenir.

If we thought Part 1 was amazing, Part 2 was even more so. They really went all out with special effects, some of which I can’t even figure out. Both shows were truly amazing though and if you are a Harry Potter fan, I highly recommend.

The second part ended around 10pm and we managed to catch the 10:30 bus out of Port Authority to go back to our hotel. We checked in and then passed out soon after. Sunday was a nice slow morning, though we are both used to waking up early so at 7am I was wide awake and Brian was up shortly after. I watched some Flea Market Flip on HGTV (hotels are like vacations when I get cable since I won’t pay for it at home). Around 8:30, we checked out, stopped at a diner nearby and then drove back. We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather in October. It was nearly 70 in the city and it was sunny and 60 degrees driving back. It was beautiful to see the trees all changing. Seems all the trees are changing except for the 2 on our property that are fully green still. Last year we got a snowstorm in November that covered our leaves so I never raked LOL. I guess we will see what happens this year. It was a great weekend, though I am ready for another weekend as I still have mounds of homework to do this week, but back to the work week. At least I did make meatballs Sunday night that I will be eating for dinner for the next couple days.

Have you ever seen a show on Broadway? If not, what would you like to see?

NYC Christmas Trip 2018

December 17, 2018 by Alicia 2 Comments

For three years now, I have gone to NYC in December to see a show. I would like to continue this tradition as I find it’s better than any wrapped gift. A day with Brian or friends in the city and seeing a show and not knowing which show you will see, is the best. I was happy Brian and I could make the trip this year. Last year we brought along a friend which made it really fun, but this year was just us and it was still wonderful.

We left around 7:30am from the house and drove to Secaucus, NJ to take the train into the city. We arrived and parked at the train station around 10:30am and just missed the train before a 45 minute wait which was unfortunate, but we made it work. Brian looked up what shows were available from the TKTS booth when they opened. We decided to see The Play That Goes Wrong. I was actually very interested in seeing this play because I heard it was so funny and it did not disappoint. It also closes on Jan 6^th, so I was happy we chose it. We got to cut the line to go to the “play only” line for the TKTS booth which left us enough time to grab some lunch at a Thai place nearby and then swing around to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza.

Crossing the street as you get closer to the tree is always crazy!! It was also 50 degrees and so nice that my fingers were not freezing so we could take photos. We were even sweating with all the walking we were doing.

Then it was time to stand in line for the play. I couldn’t believe how the line went down the block to get in.

I was laughing so hard I was crying at times. The play was really good and different from seeing a musical.

After the play, I was tired and knew we had a long trip home. We decided to head back to the train station. We passed a bakery and picked up a piece of chocolate peanut butter cake and a cookie. Then we picked up some tacos to go at the Madison Square Food court area.

When we got on the train, we dug into the dessert. The cake was good, but I did not taste peanut butter so I was a bit disappointed. Then I had asked for a ginger cookie and they gave me a peanut butter one. I guess that was my peanut butter…I mean both were good, but slightly disappointing as I was looking forward to a ginger cookie. Oh well.

A short train ride and then we found my car. We ate our tacos in the parking lot and then headed home. We made it back just before 9pm which was perfect to shower and head to bed. A good 14,000 steps walked through the city. It was a bit rushed with the timing of getting there, but it was still a perfect day to walk around the city since the rain passed and it was 50 degrees. I am just waiting for the temps to drop again and snow to dump on us like it did in November, but for now I guess it will be a green Christmas after a very white Thanksgiving…

What’s your favorite Christmas tradition?

Shopping and NYC

December 5, 2017 by Alicia 4 Comments

For as long as we live within driving distance to NYC, I think I would love to make it a tradition to head down for the day, see a Broadway show and the Christmas tree. It’s so simple and also so fun.

But first let’s talk about Saturday. In the morning, I knocked a few things off my to do list and then my reward was shopping in the afternoon. I had to shop for a secret Santa gift for work and also a little girl from the giving tree my work has. I don’t have many people to buy for and no little kids s I was super excited to find some things for a little girl. The lines were insane at some of the stores but I didn’t have anywhere else to be so I patiently waited and tried not to be tempted by things along the wall when standing in line. I say tried…because I definitely left with a couple extras but they were small items.

So about 3 hours later I had hit up 5 stores which included the grocery store for my weekly groceries. I then got home, heated up some leftovers for dinner and got to wrapping. I was so excited when I also found wrapping paper on sale that was Minnie Mouse as the little girl said she liked Minnie Mouse. I really hope these gifts make her Christmas.

My go go go day had me quite tired at the end of the day and I curled up in bed with a Christmas movie on my laptop.

Sunday morning I had an alarm set for 7am and thankfully I did because I could have slept later. Of course Saturday I was wide awake at 6 when I could have slept in longer, go figure.

I got up and made breakfast and got ready to head to NYC for the day. My new friend, also named Alicia, was meeting me and Brian at the house to head down with us. We left shortly after 8 and it was a 3 hour drive. Though we stopped a couple times so I think it was closer to 3.5 hours but the time flew by because we talked the whole way.

Once we parked we headed straight for the TKTS booth to get discount tickets for a show. It took us up until we reached the window to decide but we decided on Cats. I feel like Cats is one of those musicals you hear about all the time so we figured we would see it.

After getting tickets, we had just enough time to grab some lunch. Brian found a place nearby called Beer Authority. We all had some type of burger and it was delicious. I could tell I needed some food.

Then it was off to the show. Cats was really good. Lots of jazz type dancing and there was an awesome tap dancing segment. I am biased whenever there is tap dancing since I tap dance.

We all loved the show even without knowing what to expect.

After the show we walked down to the Christmas tree. We made a pit stop for cupcakes which I forgot to take a photo of from Magnolia Bakery. Honestly I was kinda disappointed in the cupcakes as they fell apart taking them out of the box, the frosting part separated from the cake and it was messy but still a good dinner.

We made our way through the crowd to take photos by the Christmas tree and then it was time to head back towards the car since it was getting late and we had a 3 hour drive back.

We got back right around 9pm which was perfect. I got my lunch together for work the next day and got ready for bed. I also opted to skip the gym Monday morning in favor of getting more sleep and headed to the gym after work instead. When it’s dark so early it’s hard to drag your butt to the gym, but I always feel so much better after.

Do you have any favorite Christmas Traditions? I also make Gingerbread cookies annually and will be doing that soon.

NYC and Packing: MIMM#99

December 12, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Today is my first Monday not working. I will be spending the day packing though. Ugg why is packing so hard?! I don’t even have that much stuff. How do people pack a house? Last time we moved I hardly packed. Well I also had hardly unpacked most of my things in the 11 months I lived at that apartment. This time I reduced more of my things and I have to actually pack things into boxes since they will be sitting in storage for months. Last time we just threw stuff in the car and took multiple car trips.

The good news is I sold my microwave and table over the weekend. I think I have a person to buy my desk too. That reduces the big furniture we have to store. I just have a bunch of boxes, but really I don’t have a lot of stuff. I have quite a few boxes of books. I never bought a bookcase in the last 2.5 years so they have stayed in boxes. Also since I always felt like reading books as they came out and Amazon was easier than the library, my book collection grew a bit…next place, I should probably get a bookcase.

Anyway back to the weekend. Saturday I avoided packing by meeting up with some of Brian’s family in NYC. Brian decided to work so he can pay me the other half of rent 😉 (kidding, but he did decide to work). I am more into the NYC adventuring. OMG it was crazy crowded though. Even the train people were standing when we had another hour to go on the ride. I bought a book and read on my kindle for the ride.

I got to NYC and grabbed a snack and checked out the Macy’s windows a bit.

Then Brian’s cousin amazingly recognized me as I was walking through Times Square. I was pretty impressed they somehow ended up behind me. We first went to get tickets for a show. The line was HUGE! It took about an hour in line and while Brian’s aunt waited, we stopped in the M&M store and Hershey store. Even those stores had lines to get in!!

We then had lunch at Burger Heaven which was especially delicious being that it was already 1pm so we were all hungry. Then we headed to see the Rockettes!! It was my first time seeing them and it was fun. You were also allowed to take pictures and I brought my actual camera and got some nice photos. We had close seats.

After the Rockettes, the street was mobbed. I mean we all were like bumper cars shoving and knocking into each other. It was the only way to get around and I couldn’t help but laugh when we were stuck in a crowd and you have to flow with the crowd. Also have to love how the street crossing is two ways and you will see people trying to get by the other way. It was nice to eventually get some breathing room once we crossed a couple streets.

We walked by the Christmas tree. My first time seeing the tree as well!! I think this year’s is one of the biggest too!! It was beautiful and yes very crowded at Rockefeller.

We walked around to see some of the lights. Saks on Fifth Ave had an awesome show that we caught part of. So many lights, so many people. It was chilly but honestly I am thankful it wasn’t snowing or raining.

We parted ways shortly after 5:30 as they had to catch their bus and I had to head to the train. I got turned around at one street but found the station and made it to the station with 4 minutes until my train was departing. I went to my track and HOLY PEOPLE!! I started to head down the stairs and all I saw were tons of people. I still wanted to see if I could make the train and managed to shove my way towards the escalator. The fun part was when the escalator came to the bottom and the door opening was more narrow so we all would just run into people. Then finally I got on the platform, there were tons of train cars and I got a seat. Not a window seat, but a seat. Halfway through the train ride I was able to get a window seat. It was pretty loud, lots of talking on the train so reading wasn’t as successful on the way back, but the ride went by pretty fast and I made it home shortly after 8 in time to take a hot bath and use up some bath salt.

Sunday was all about packing, except it started with making pancakes and blogging. I wrote up some posts and then started to sort. I mean where do you begin… I started with my file drawer and sorting stuff to shred. Later in the day I borrowed a shredder from my friend.

For lunch, I ordered chicken wings. I was craving some Saturday night and skipped dinner Saturday so told myself I would order wings Sunday. I had sweet potatos to use up as well and cooked those up. I invited my friend over and we watched 2 more episodes of Fuller House and ate wings, salad and sweet potato fries. Here I thought I basically had no food and would starve but I didn’t even have to leave the apartment and ordered wings. Gotta love ordering online!!

chicken wings and more — I guess I won’t starve

I spent time sorting my closet and packing away the things I know I won’t need for my trip. I also put together a give away pile that my friend enjoyed looking through. Then I stocked my friend up with protein powders, spices and more from my pantry. I think that is pretty good payment for helping or watching lol. Her husband was like, I’m not sure we need more stuff.

In the evening I heated up my chicken wings in the oven since I no longer have a microwave, but they heat up better in there anyway. I watched a Christmas movie, working on this post and then went to shredding paper before packing up some more things.

Moving really makes you think twice about the stuff you buy. It also feels good to get rid of so much.

Thanks Katie for the link up and congrats on your beautiful baby girl!

What’s one thing you did this weekend?

Have you been to NYC during Christmas season?