Big Apple Livin': Sally and Laura come to visit

In April, some of my very best girlfriends from Texas came to visit! They found a work conference in NYC and used that as an excuse to come and see us. They were only here for 4 days (including travel and the conference), but we packed in tons of activities! Here is the play by play.

They arrived on Monday, April 15th in the afternoon and we took off almost as soon as they arrived. Sally really wanted to eat a hot dog off the street so we walked down one block and fulfilled her wish. Then we decided to go to Times Square but we hopped on the uptown subway instead of downtown, because we were talking, so we toured 72nd street instead. It was a good mistake because Sally and Laura got to try Waffles and Dinges as a great ending to their street vendor meal. We then got on the correct subway and made our way to Times Square. We walked around a little bit and decided we needed to make a gameplan for the rest of our time. Neither Sally or Laura had ever been to NYC before. We went back to the apartment and talked through the rest of their trip, and perhaps got side tracked by other conversations along the way. We ate dinner at home and then left Piper with Brett and went to Macy's to shop. We then went to Cafe Lalo (the restaurant in You've Got Mail) and had dessert and coffee. Our original plan was to get up early the next day and go to the Today Show. However, we stayed up way too late talking so an early morning outing was quickly marked off the list! It was a good thing we didn't make the trip out there because the normal set up was closed due to the Boston bombing coverage. We went down to the Broadway show area and purchased tickets to see the musical Once for that night. We were able to get tickets for around $47. After that, we walked from 45th street to Rockefeller Center, and spent some time looking around. We tried to get tickets to an NBC tour but Piper was not allowed. We then walked down Fifth Avenue and stopped to tour St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was under construction but was still beautiful! The pictures do not do it justice. Along Fifth Avenue we just had to go into Tiffany's! We confirmed with a sales associate that it was the same Tiffany's featured in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. We took pictures to send to our husbands of our favorite jewelry and decided most of it didn't quite fit our tastes. Ha! Yea right. Then we headed to FAO Schwartz where Sally bought a present for Preston. We of course played on the big piano. We had lunch at Ray's Pizza, which is supposed to be a famous and delicious chain. I didn't think it was that great, but maybe I ordered the wrong thing? Even though I ordered pizza! We walked back through Central Park and took a break to people watch. This is one of Sally and Piper's favorite pasttimes!! Then we went home, cleaned up, ate dinner and left to see Once. It was an interesting musical. All of the actors stay on stage the whole time and each one played at least one instrument. It won 8 Tony awards and the singing was great! The next day Sally and Laura got up early and went to their nursing conference. Brett, Piper and I met them for lunch in Times Square and then they were done about 3pm. So Piper and I met them again and we headed down to Chinatown to look for knock-off purses for Sally's sister. As soon as we arrived people were whispering name brands to us as we walked by. Don't worry, we didn't take Piper down any dark ally ways but we might have bought some better knock-offs if we had. We then made our way down to see The World Trade Center Memorial. This made Piper and I's third visit there. We were close to the water so we walked out to the shore and could see the Statue of Liberty. It was a beautiful day! We then made our way back home, picked up Brett and headed out to eat on the Upper West Side for dinner. We chose Harry's Burritos and ate outside. We had delicious burritos and enjoyed the fun atmosphere! After we ate, we passed by Magnolia Bakery and of course, had to stop in and bring home some dessert. By this time we were so worn out but that didn't stop us from staying up late and talking, again! Sally and Laura had to wake up the next morning bright and early to catch their flight. Come back anytime! Here are some pics of our adventures.

Eating Waffles and Dinges at 72nd Street