Q&A Part 2 - New York City
Back when I did my 1000th post giveaway, I asked all of you to leave me a comment about what you want me to write about here on the blog.
Most people said that they most enjoyed reading stories about being a mom and the girls. Easy enough to do, since that's what most of my blog is about!
But Crystal asked me to talk about what it's like living so close to New York City. So that's what I'm going to do today!
I've lived in northern New Jersey, about half an hour {with no traffic, which never happens} outside of NYC my whole life. I love living in the suburbs, with the easy access to the city. I'll be honest, up until I was in college, I really didn't like NYC. It really was a different place before Rudy Giuliani took office. He really cleaned the place up and made it much safer.
When I was a kid, we were in the city a few times a year. Every Christmas my parents would take my sisters and I in to see the Radio City Christmas show. We'd go see the tree and watch the ice skaters at Rockefeller Plaza. I'd taken a tour of both Radio City and the NBC studio at 30 Rock. My dad worked in lower Manhattan, not far from the Twin Towers, and we would go visit his office at least once a year. They've taken us to Central Park and I had to use the bathroom at the Plaza. We'd been to FAO Schwartz and the American Girl Store.
When you live this close to the city, you get a lot of school trips in there. I've been to the American History Museum, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and Lincoln Center. I saw several plays on Broadway...The Secret Garden, Les Mis {twice} and Phantom of the Opera.
Once I was in college, I felt much more comfortable getting into the city and walking around. We took the train in from college in Connecticut and spend hours just wandering around. We shopped on Canal Street and ate in little hole in the wall pizza places. That was the first time I ever took the subway. We wandered around Washington Square Park.
My cousin took us all in to a bar when he was on leave from Iraq.
Once Skip and I got married, we started going into the city a little more. We went in for dinner and going to bars.
We ate cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery.
I even drove home once {that won't happen again}.
We saw Phantom of the Opera and Jersey Boys on Broadway. We saw our friends get married at City Hall.
My dad's company had a gala dinner that started in Battery Park and ended at Ellis Island.
We sat in the audience for Jimmy Fallon and basked in the sunshine at Rockefeller Center.
We spent a mournful, yet beautiful day at the 9-11 Memorial.
We've taken all kinds of transportation into the city, driving, bus, train, the Path. I can successfully hail a cab {though I'd much rather walk}.
If you are ever going to visit NYC, obviously you want to make sure to see all the tourist-y stuff. But the best times I've had in there are the ones with no real plans. Wandering down by the water. Searching for the best slice of pizza.
While there is something so magical about the city at Christmas time, my absolute favorite season to be there is the summer. The warmth and sun make everything so much more enjoyable.
And don't forget that if you're ever visiting the greatest city in the world, make sure to let me know so I can meet you!!
Most people said that they most enjoyed reading stories about being a mom and the girls. Easy enough to do, since that's what most of my blog is about!
But Crystal asked me to talk about what it's like living so close to New York City. So that's what I'm going to do today!
I've lived in northern New Jersey, about half an hour {with no traffic, which never happens} outside of NYC my whole life. I love living in the suburbs, with the easy access to the city. I'll be honest, up until I was in college, I really didn't like NYC. It really was a different place before Rudy Giuliani took office. He really cleaned the place up and made it much safer.
When I was a kid, we were in the city a few times a year. Every Christmas my parents would take my sisters and I in to see the Radio City Christmas show. We'd go see the tree and watch the ice skaters at Rockefeller Plaza. I'd taken a tour of both Radio City and the NBC studio at 30 Rock. My dad worked in lower Manhattan, not far from the Twin Towers, and we would go visit his office at least once a year. They've taken us to Central Park and I had to use the bathroom at the Plaza. We'd been to FAO Schwartz and the American Girl Store.
When you live this close to the city, you get a lot of school trips in there. I've been to the American History Museum, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and Lincoln Center. I saw several plays on Broadway...The Secret Garden, Les Mis {twice} and Phantom of the Opera.
Once I was in college, I felt much more comfortable getting into the city and walking around. We took the train in from college in Connecticut and spend hours just wandering around. We shopped on Canal Street and ate in little hole in the wall pizza places. That was the first time I ever took the subway. We wandered around Washington Square Park.
My cousin took us all in to a bar when he was on leave from Iraq.
Once Skip and I got married, we started going into the city a little more. We went in for dinner and going to bars.
We ate cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery.
I even drove home once {that won't happen again}.
We saw Phantom of the Opera and Jersey Boys on Broadway. We saw our friends get married at City Hall.
My dad's company had a gala dinner that started in Battery Park and ended at Ellis Island.
We sat in the audience for Jimmy Fallon and basked in the sunshine at Rockefeller Center.
We spent a mournful, yet beautiful day at the 9-11 Memorial.
We've taken all kinds of transportation into the city, driving, bus, train, the Path. I can successfully hail a cab {though I'd much rather walk}.
If you are ever going to visit NYC, obviously you want to make sure to see all the tourist-y stuff. But the best times I've had in there are the ones with no real plans. Wandering down by the water. Searching for the best slice of pizza.
While there is something so magical about the city at Christmas time, my absolute favorite season to be there is the summer. The warmth and sun make everything so much more enjoyable.
And don't forget that if you're ever visiting the greatest city in the world, make sure to let me know so I can meet you!!
Hi Mandy, I have been reading your blog for awhile now, I dont think i have ever commented. My husband and I went to NYC for our 10 year anv watched the ball drop. Such a great place we are hoping to make a trip back this summer, thank you so much for this post. I kind of sorta blog at http://fateintervened.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not this post makes me so homesick! I used to go into the city a lot too and this just made me all sorts of nostalgic. And that PIZZA. Oh man do I miss good pizza! I miss going into the city to see friends and catch shows on Broadway and exploring Central Park. It has been way too long. :(
ReplyDeleteBrad's sister lived in the city for about a year back in 2006/2007. Right by Ground Zero, like within ten blocks Brad said. Brad got to go for ten days once while she was there, I am still soooooo jealous! I want to visit New York sooooo bad. But after being there Brad said that he doesn't know how people have kids there because it's so busy and that he would never want to travel with small kids there! And go figure a couple months after his trip, we get pregnant with Preston and it becomes obvious I'm not visiting for a long while! LOL! Definitely on my list of places I'm totally going to have to visit one day though!
ReplyDelete