Activities for first time visitors to New York

There’s no place on earth like New York City. It’s a little bit of everything, really - iconic, fun, exciting, thoughtful, busy, and, to the people who live and work there, just home. Living a quick train ride away, my first time there was a long time ago, but for a lot of people in all the excitement, it can be easy to get a little lost and confused during the first couple of days of your first trip. It’s big and there’s so much to do. If you’re planning a trip, here are some essentials:

Just Walk
One of the best things to do in New York doesn’t cost a cent, and also shows you much that you need to know about the city. It’s called: walking! The area below Central Park in Manhattan is a walker’s paradise. Neighborhoods flow into one another, especially in the southern part of the borough. This is what I spend most of my time doing when I visit. From Chinatown to Wall Street, onto Greenwich Village, and beyond. For a more educational experience or if you don't feel comfortable walking where you don't know, check out a walking tour.

The Big Hitters
There are some attractions that make nearly every To Do in NY list, and if you've read here a while you know I consider myself a touron and I always hit the tourist spots. To get a good view of the city, heading up to the Top of the Rock is my pick over going up to the top of the Empire State Building because you can get a view of the Empire State from the top of Rockefeller Center. The Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge (which I only did for the first time last year after going so many times), and the city’s most important museums (MoMA, Met, Guggenheim, Whitney, New, 9/11 Museum,Cloisters, so many smaller ones too) are also top first visit attractions.

New York Life
It’s not just iconic and historic buildings that define New York. Millions of people choose to live there, and part of the reason for that is there are more cultural events going on than you can even begin to imagine or name. And not just any old events: some of the best entertainment in the world can be found in New York. Check out the Broadway shows, concerts, and theater performances going on during your trip, and see a show if possible. The quality of the production and vibrancy of the atmosphere is amazing.

Central Park Afternoons
New York can be a pretty full-on place. You can spend all your time in the city on the move, running from one attraction to the next, but you might love it more if you make time to relax. To me, one of the most relaxing activities in New York is also a must-do: grabbing a coffee and strolling through Central Park, enjoying life and hopefully the sunshine...even though one of my favorite Central Park strolls was rainy and foggy and I loved it just the same.

I'm not even getting into all the eating I like to do there and all the carousing I've done there in my 20s and 30s. What are some of your New York must dos?

TWTW - the one with the birthday

Thursday I turned 41. Some years I have a big plan on my birthday and some years I remain un-showered most of the day and run errands but the one thing I never do on my birthday is work. This year I got to sleep in, go to the library, drink a zillion cups of coffee, wear leggings, spend the afternoon and evening with our friends and MFD, completely avoid the news, hear from so many good people, and spend the day out worry-free knowing my mom was taking care of the dogs. Thanks Mom, and thanks for the cookies and banana cake and chicken salad and rye bread - it saved someone from dying on Friday as I was hangry and had no food ready.

MFD and I headed to New York to meet up with Melissa and Blane, had a hotdog on the street, ambled around, and had dinner at Bea in Hell's Kitchen. It was delicious and very reasonable, a really cute place.

We did pics outside of the theater before the show.

Then it was freaking time! Springsteen on Broadway. I laughed and cried and felt old and young and inspired and connected and happy and sad and hopeful and really all the feelings. Including strained - I was holding that pose for what felt like 15 minutes as someone took our photo. I'd like to think I'll have it in me this week to do a post on this but the truth is I probably won't - it was not a concert in any sense, I think a lot of people think that. It was story telling and story telling through song. It felt cozy and inspiring and it was fucking amazing to see Bruce in a venue with less than 1,000 other people. We encountered the same psycho fan before, during, and after the show which is always good fodder for conversation.

We dropped Blane and Melissa at their hotel and hoofed it back to Penn Station, making the train we thought we wouldn't make which is always good. We got home around 1:30? And I was too amped to sleep so I was up until 3. It was an awesome day.

As every birthday is, because I share it with The Notorious RBG who is very badass. Speaking of, how awesome is this Badass book Melissa got me? I freaking love it. I want to write in all the pages like a junior high school girl with dreams.

Friday started slower than I hoped, but we hit the road around 10:30 with me in my 50 shades of blue to open the shore house. Bruce has absolutely no car chill, which is unfortunate since he will be in the car a lot. We got our apartment mostly sorted amid dog chaos - I meant to go down a few weeks ago and sort of set it to rights because it is not easy to do it when they're there, but I didn't. I took the dogs down to the beach for a little and saw the sunset by the bay on my way to the grocery store. My dad and Carol arrived and we had Piccini for dinner and watched March Madness. 

Saturday I had my crew out at 9 for four mostly fruitless errands in Somers Point, my Dad removed the mirror from one of the dressers and fixed the drawers, he hung the new organizer in the closet (closet will be painted this year), Carol cleaned the top two floors, MFD cleaned up the outside, we moved photos around, got rid of the lighthouse that didn't fit and replaced it with a mirror, and various other things. It was tiring! In the middle Dad got hoagies from Boyar's and we watched basketball before Carol and I took the dogs to the beach.

While all that was going on I made corned beef two ways (one in the crock and one in the oven), cabbage two ways (one in the crock and one sauteed in butter), potatoes, and carrots; and picked up bread from Boyar's. We had the traditional Paddy meal and toasted my Grandmom. Saturday would have been her 86th birthday and no corned beef I've ever had including my own touches hers. Happy birthday Grandmom! Warm brownies Carol made with ice cream for dessert and a glorious sunset. During which I nearly broke my ass - dropped Bruce's leash, he kept going, I stepped on it, my feet went out from under me, both legs in the air, I landed on my hip then my back, and was laying dazed until I was like oh fuck I need to get him. Thank God the person at the stop sign stopped...then again, wouldn't you be sitting with mouth agape as a lady tangled in three pugs went feet up in the air then had to crawl up, limp, and lurch across the street to get her rogue puppy? Yes, you would. I was stiff and sore and hit the hay early.

Sunday I was up at 6 to walk all dogs, then I took Bruce down to the beach with me. So wonderful to be back in my place of peace. When the house is closed, I do not work to find another place of peace so by the end of February I'm angsty. 

Back to do some chalk contact paper and more clean up before putting Bruce to sleep and packing up the car. Even Mae is sad to see the shore in the rear view. I'm relieved that the house is open not just for personal reasons, but also so everything has been assessed and I know what I need to get and do before rental season. It helps clear my mind and I can plot out weekends of when things are happening and get help when I need it. Thanks Dad and Carol for everything, especially taking home a zillion pounds of trash and card board! 

We were home by 1:30, and coming home from the shore is a drag. I finished a book and dithered around about what to start next, which is unusual for me. I also did a load of towels, ate leftovers, and tried to rest. The Bruce Fall made me really sore. I'm happy I changed the sheets Friday before we left. I was in bed early not moving. 

Weekly food prep: breakfast is egg muffins with feta cheese and onions. I also made a batch of power breakfast muffins but had already put them in the freezer and was too lazy to pull out and photograph, so here's a photo of Gus pissed off because he's in a headlock instead. You guys have seen the breakfast muffins a million times. Lunch is PB&J and cucumber slices. Dinner is corned beef leftovers and then either chicken, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, or pasta with frozen veggie meat sauce. 

Thank you all for the birthday wishes here and on FB and Instagram and via email and text. You're awesome. 

Anyone local to Bucks/Northeast Philly or the shore giving away or looking to sell a dresser? I'm in the market. 

TWTW - the one with the plays

Friday I got off the train to snow (stop it, March), unpacked grocery delivery with the speed of light, rushed off to a school play our niece was in, and had a late dinner at Metro Diner in Bensalem. The BLT was good but I do not recommend the place. The original location in Jacksonville, FL, was on Triple D but this location is a dive not in a good way.

Saturday we spent the day in New York City, specifically to do three things:
1) Visit the 9/11 Memorial. We will definitely return to do the Museum.

2) Walk the Brooklyn Bridge. No, YOU picked the coldest day in months to do this. We were actually hot at the top of the bridge, but walking back into the wind, man...when I washed my face Saturday night it looked like hell from the windburn. A really cool experience though and I loved all the graffiti and stickers along the way as well as the views of Lady Liberty.

We walked a little through Tribeca before hopping on the subway Uptown and grabbing a quick slice.

3) Book of Mormon matinee. We met Amanda, Frank, Christa, and Jeff for the show. Freaking hilarious. I loved it.

We had dinner after at  E&E Grill House directly across the street from the theater and it was excellent. Bundled off in a cab and caught the 7:03 home. Thanks to Christa for securing the tickets and finding the restaurant!

Sunday morning brainstorming meeting with a local active in the political scene and some progressive friends followed by a trip to Sam's with the rest of Northeast Philadelphia.

Weekly food prep: breakfast is PB and J on english muffins; lunch is greek bowls (whole wheat orzo, chicken marinated in greek dressing and baked, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, kalamata olives and tzatziki sauce); snacks are yogurt, mangoes, and strawberries; dinner is pork with sauerkraut and cooked carrots (shown here before baking) and salmon with steamed veg. 

Sunday afternoon I peaced the fuck out. I just needed to sit around and do nothing and talk to no one except my Dad to plan a shore project. Aside from laundry and getting my 40/40 done in the living room, that's what I did, nothing. MFD was out showing properties and it was blissfully silent. Friday night I finished Perfectly Undone and started The Loving Husband, so I spent a lot of the afternoon reading that. 

Woo! Last weekend with a closed up shore house. Solid birthday month start. 

How was yours?

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

TWTW - the one where I wanted to be totally lazy but was only a littlelazy

I was supposed to stop at the grocery store on the way home on Friday, but when I got in my car after getting off the train, I was just dunzo. There was much teeth gnashing and hand wringing because I didn't place an order in time for delivery. MFD to the rescue - he hit Target and Giant for me and brought flowers home to boot while I laid on the couch and did nothing with the dogs.

Saturday I met Melissa at the train station and we headed to NYC for Kim's baby shower. It was a nice afternoon with my lady friends of 20+ years complete with inappropriate behavior involving worry dolls. Melissa and I enjoyed a refreshing walk back to Penn Station from Pete's Tavern in Gramercy and made the train home in perfect time.

When I got home, I felt like doing absolutely nothing. I did rally to make a pan of brownies and a scaled down version of cold taco dip for Sunday.

Sunday dawned gray and rainy. I lingered in bed and over coffee before getting my shit together and heading out to Produce Junction. Weekly food prep included egg muffins with green onion, gouda cheese, and tomato for breakfasts; salads for lunch; veggies for snacks; and scrambled eggs and poop soup (ground beef, blueberries, carrots, zucchini, sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms, and coconut oil this week) for the dogs.

MFD's family came over for dinner Sunday. I made pulled pork and pulled buffalo chicken (served on kaisers) and a big green salad along with the taco dip and brownies above and (not pictured) veggie dip. MFD made two pans of macaroni and cheese. Notice him smiling big? It's not because he's proud of his mac and cheese, although he was. He got his temporary caps on his teeth on Saturday. He will no longer be a closed mouth smiler.

Other Sunday things: wearing flip flops and airing out the house in the afternoon on January 10 even though it was absolutely freezing by 7 p.m. This weather is bananas. I used some Amazon giftcards to purchase things for our upcoming trip, and shopped Christa's Scentsy party. Yes, I did take the easy way out and snap photos of my computer screen in lieu of finding cleaner images.

And Geege had dinareena while the family was over.

And after asking for advice on removing gel nail polish at home, I picked it off like an a-hole.

And JLo looked fierce AF at the Golden Globes.

And were you ordering sun hats and bathing suits online and emailing South African drivers at 1:30 am? No? Just me? Please pass the coffee.

And that is the weekend that was. How was yours? This morning I woke up with a fever. Something's been going around my office. A little over a week until vacation. I need to kick this. Elderberry extract, tea, and oregano essential oil all the live long day up in here.

Tomorrow, we talk books. See you here for that.

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

TWTW - the one with the mothers

Friday afternoon was warm and gorgeous. I popped into LOVE Park to try and spot Philly Jesus when I made my afternoon DD run but no dice. I wore my new Keep Collective bracelet and MFD hung new curtains in our room. My younger self weeps at how excited I was over them.

I planted at 6 p.m. Friday and MFD mulched Saturday. I always have the urge to over plant but these things grow and I need to give them space to do so. Omm.

Evening birthday celebrations for Geege included chicken, bananas, tons of treats, and a long walk where he could run the fields and roll around. Someone is excited about the carnival descending on the neighborhood this week and it's not me. Thanks to Mae for the gross photo bomb. Chinese for dinner because we're lazy, YOLO, etc.

Saturday laundry, weights, and weekly food prep: two batches of power breakfast muffins, some to freeze and some for this week's breakfasts; HBE for breakfasts; and cold taco dip for Sunday. Lunches are PBJ, snap peas, and carrots. Dinners are tacos, salads, baked chicken and steamed vegetables.

Amanda and I took at 3:30 train up to NYC to meet up with Michele, have dinner al fresco at DBGB Kitchen in the Bowery, then see Amanda's #1 Peter Sarsgaard play Hamlet at the Classic Stage Company. It was over three hours long! The theater was very intimate, and it was really good. Peter was amazing and really gracious after the play, as were his wife and daughter when we saw them in front of the theater after. It was a great day. I got home at 2:30 and didn't go to sleep until 3:30. Hashtag old lady hated that.

Mother's Day rounds - breakfast at my dad & Carol's, lunch at MFD's parents', and dinner at my Mom's all on four hours of sleep and no makeup. We got to see our nephews, Debbie, Aubrey's parents and brother and niece and nephew in our travels and celebrate my stepdad's birthday. It was a nice day. Aubrey killed it with an egg casserole at breakfast and two dessert dips at dinner. Cheers Mothers!

Show Us Your Books link up tomorrow! I can't wait to geek out over books and add to my To Read list on Goodreads.

Linking up with Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending

Diary of a hunkered down hausfrau

A chronicle of two housebound days courtesy of Sandy

Monday

SEPTA wasn't running and the office was closed. Excuse the mess of the nest I made. Monday's office setup and coworkers:

Small pleasures: a leisurely eaten bagel out of your own toaster on a rainy Monday.

Laundry, laundry, and more laundry.

My third, fourth, fifth and SIXTH calls to Comcast within two days over billing issues. As the winds howled, I chipped away at their criminal resolve and they are crediting our account the $178 they owe us which was a mere $60 on Sunday before I did more math. Math is hard, you guys. You thieving bastards will never get the best of me! COMCAST DO YOU HEAR ME?!?! Sworn enemies for life.

My dogs won't go outside alone. The wind is scary and lifts their little ears up.

DVR and TV catch up:
-The Good Wife: Lamont Bishop, you showed vulnerability. I liked it.
-Jersey Shore (two episodes): Roger, don't do me and JWoww like that.
-Up All Night: Will Arnett singing along to The Cranberries was perfect.
-CSI: Thank you Ted Danson and Elisabeth Shue for making this show good again.

At various points during the day, we have arguments over Gold Rush, Up All Night, Star Wars (one of those assy Clone ones that I have no time for), incessant weather coverage, and how the other person should not watch it. Par for the course for those of us lucky enough to have power and cable through the storm. And we are lucky. One by one our friends and family update their statuses on facebook to include being powerless, seeing transformers blowing on the street, blue sparks coming from their own electric, trees coming down on or around their homes. Arguing over the TV is a luxury many don't have at this time.

Less than 24 hours after they were purchased, the cookies bought at Sam's on Sunday are gone. This is bad on many levels. We blame Sandy and wind fear.

Gus slept like a fat little sausage most of the night. Geege was like MOM when will this be over this wind is scary!

I got an email from Amazon saying that due to Sandy, delivery of my rainboots was surely going to be delayed. Poor timing on the rain boots.

Photo from Amazon.com

I fall asleep thinking dear large trees around the house, please hold your ground. And that I never want to hear hunker down again. Ever.

Tuesday

Commence unhunkering.

Our Sandy damage consists of some downed tree branches and broken yard items. I am so grateful to be so lucky. My thoughts are with those that were not. We check in on our family and tell those without power that they are welcome at our house. Mother nature is a scary bitch.

We're are so saddened by the devastation at the Jersey Shore and are thinking of anyone with a home or business down there. If you grew up in the Philadelphia area, chances are high that you spent part of every summer down the shore. It is part of your personal history, and to see it knocked down is traumatic. This is the Deauville Inn where we had our wedding, one of our favorite shore spots. I love that the photo (that I lifted from their FB page) had the caption "will be ready for next summer though." Coming out strong, it makes my eyes well up. Damage to the Deauville from Sandy - on the left.  According to the owner Lynda the deck, awning framework, docks and patios need some work. On the right is a photo of my Dad and I walking in on my wedding day on one of the docks. You can see the deck, other dock and awning as they normally are. We'll see you next summer Deauville. My heart is heavy for the people of NJ and NY and those right in my backyard with no power, down trees, destroyed homes. Again...feeling lucky.

Coffee with Ron Swanson and The Breakfast Club.

Washing the couches. Washable couches are an utter dream. Here are the boys enjoying clean couches and the elaborate sheet and blanket system we employ to keep them off of the actual couch cushions when we can.

Tuesday's office. Less dog hair and more structure.

My sister and brother-in-law and their kids stopped in to get some hot food and heat since they were without power. Jax was kind enough to visit my dining room office. The dogs were not pleased with the new location.

The boys napped the day away.

Then these happened - pumpkin gingersnap parfaits. 

Essie Demure Vixen nails

Watching the past two episodes of Nashville. Rayna James, you should be with Deacon. If not...Deacon, call me.

My electric-less brother arrived to eat, shower and spend the night.

And on HER day off, Debbie put together a facebook page for her jewelry called Debbie Rae Designs. Please click on that name, visit her page and like it, and check out her stuff. As the owner of many Debbie Rae pieces, I highly recommend them.

This concludes two housebound days. Mesmerizing, wasn't it?

Today? Civic engagement - yours truly has jury duty.

Happy Halloween! And happy birthday to my uncle Perry and my good friend Jimmy G.

TTFN.

Linking up to Rolled Up Pretty for Whatever Whenever Wednesday.