The Leon's: The Big Apple!!!

My mom decided that we should take a girls trip to NYC after Christmas (actually she invited Rod too, but he said he would rather work than hang out with 3 women in NYC for three days, so he stayed home) We have been to NYC twice already, once my senior year in high school and about 5 years ago, and I have to say that it is one of my FAVORITE places to go! There is something about being in the city, and the energy that it has, it just makes me happy. We were very lucky to make the trip considering a blizzard hit on Sunday and the airports were closed for 2 days, but we made it there without even a delay!

Once we got there we checked into our hotel- the Courtyard Marriott in Times Square and then headed to grab a late lunch before getting ready for our show that night. We were all dressed up and ready for our show and then had to walk 12 blocks, since that Marriott will not call a cab for you, and it is impossible to catch a cab during rush hour. With all the melting snow....and all the walking, my mom's shoes got soaked and her feet were wet the whole night. My sister and I wore our rain boots almost the whole trip, they were a lifesaver! But we made it to our show "Promises, Promises" with Kristen Chenowith, Sean Hayes, and Molly Shannon. It was fabulous! We headed for some appetizers and drinks afterwards at Rosie O'Grady's!

We decided the next morning to change hotels. Let's just say we are spoiled to the Hilton where the Bell Man hails a cab for you, plus Times Square was ridiculously crowded and super expensive because of New Year's Eve. So we ended up moving to the Empire Hotel in Lincoln Center, which was much nicer and $100 cheaper! So we went from this......

to this.....

After we got settled into our new room we headed next door for lunch at Clarke's.

We then headed to the Time Warner Building in Columbus Circle to try and find my mom some ear muffs. The building is absolutely gorgeous and has a great view of Columbus Circle

My Mom wasn't feeling well so she decided to head back to the room and sleep, while me and my sister headed to Central Park. It was absolutely beautiful covered in snow! My sister and I took a tour around the park and enjoyed people watching.

That night we saw the Nutcracker at the New York City Ballet and had dinner and drinks at Fiorello's

The next day my mom still wasn't feeling well so she stayed at the hotel while my sister and I headed to Macy's and Canal Street to do a little shopping! We were sad that Macy's didn't have much of their Christmas stuff left but we managed to get an ornament to commemorate the trip. Then we took the Subway and did some shopping on Canal Street. We were pretty disappointed to find out that they no longer sell the fake purses, but we managed to both get a watch and a NYC sweatshirt, along with some souvenirs. I managed to read the subway map and find out how to get back to our hotel, and I was pretty darn proud of myself! If you have ever looked at a NYC Subway map it can be very confusing!!! So the subway experience was a success, minus the fact that my sister had to by 4 tickets before she could get one of them to work! Oh well, it was still much cheaper than a cab!

We were most excited about our last night in NYC! We headed to Rockefeller Center to see the amazing tree! We had seen it before at Thanksgiving minus the lights, but it was GORGEOUS!!! It was wall to wall people but we managed to snap a few pics!

We then headed to dinner at The Post House- a steakhouse on the Upper East Side. We enjoyed some wine and delicious steaks.

After dinner we headed to the Carlyle Hotel to hear Steve Tyrell perform. He plays at the Carlyle every year from November to January, and we saw him the last time we were in NYC. He performs at the Cafe Carlyle which only seats about 60 people. He has an amazing voice and we just love to see him whenever we get the chance. Pardon my mom's face in these pictures. A.) We told her to do a "half-smile" since every time she got her picture taken she would blink and B.) She was a little Tipsy!