December 5th, 2013 I turned 30. I know this shouldn't be that big of a deal, but it was for me. I was dreading it most of the year and then it came. I am very proud of my life and I accomplished a lot in my twenties. I married an amazing man, have the best kid ever, finish college, worked a couple of great jobs, with my husband we bought our first home, and lots of other great things. So shouldn't I be ready to move onto my 30s and get ready for the exciting things my 30s will bring? You would think so, but no.
Despite my complaining my birthday came and I did turn 30, but Dan made it the best birthday possible. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to New York City around Christmas. So many of the movies I love take place in New York at Christmas (Elf, Sleepless in Seattle, Serendipity, Home Alone 2, and most Hallmark Movies). It is the romantic side of me that can't resist this draw to NYC. We had talked about doing this trip, but then realized the week of my birthday was the same week of the Rockefeller Center tree lighting and apparently I am not the only one who thinks going to New York in December would be fun because hotels were at minimum 3 times the cost of their regular rates.
I had put the idea out of my mind, then Dan found a great deal on flights and said we are going. I did some research and found an apartment for rent for a great deal and right in Midtown were I wanted to be. We booked everything basically a month before we were leaving and called my parents who graciously said they would come and watch Dallas so we could take this trip.
Dec. 4th came and we flew to NYC. The flight went well, we hit some traffic driving into the city even though it wasn't that late, but we assumed it was everyone going to the tree lighting. We had to pick up the keys to our apartment about a mile away from the actual apartment. Since the traffic only got worse in Manhattan and believe it or not, I thought we were going to die driving with this crazy cab driver we decided to walk once we got the keys. It was crazy how crowded it was. We found our building and walked in. I had read many great reviews of good experiences renting apartments in NYC, but there were SEVERAL talking about being scammed or how disgusting the place was. Dan and I were prepared for the worst and having to book at hotel that night if it didn't work out. Also most apartments are it was located above a restaurant or some sort of retail store. Ours was located above a restaurant and when we walked into the side entrance the hallway smelled like dead fish. We just looked at each other like... oh great this isn't going to end well. We found the apartment and walked in and all our fears were set aside. It smelled great and looked just like the pictures. It had a small kitchenette, 1 bedroom, bathroom, and a living room. It was perfect.
We had planned to go straight to the tree lighting, but I was so tired I said I was just going to take a short nap... well I slept longer than planned and once we headed out it was over. I didn't realize that until I asked Dan why all these people were walking the opposite direction and he pointed out it was after 9pm and the tree lighting already happened. I was a little disappointed at first, until I realized that we wouldn't have been able to see anything, and even after it was over you couldn't get anywhere near it.
The next morning, my birthday, we went to the Empire State building, that turned out to be just around the corner from our apartment!! Once we finally found the entrance we were glad we went their first. It was completely empty so we didn't have to wait in any lines. We first went to the observation deck. It was a little overcast so we couldn't see everything clearly, but it was still amazing. Then we went to the very top and realized how amazing going up another 12 floors is. We could see so much more and were so glad we went to the very top.
We then started the bus tours. We love going on these because we get to learn about the history of the different Burroughs and see so much more than if we were just walking around. This was by far the nicest day. It was actually kind of warm and made walking around enjoyable. That night we went on a Holiday Lights and Movie Sights Tour. It would have been great if there just wasn't so much traffic at night. The bus went in like a 1 mile circle because that is all you could do in 2 hours. I did like it. We did get to see lots of the holiday window displays (not as impressive as I , Christmas lights, and some of the locations of some of my favorite movies.
The next day was much cooler and rained. We went on more tours, and walked around a bit more, however it was freezing. We went to the Cake Boss store, the NBC studio store, FAO Schwarz, took pictures by the tree, and Dan would say finding Little Italy's pizza was the best highlight. It had the best NY pizza and we ate there a LOT! That night we went to a play, A Christmas Carol. It was held in a little church and only had 5 cast members. Dan was less than impressed, but I loved it. I loved that it was different and was so impressed with how well it was done with so few people.
Of course Dan found a used books store he couldn't resist going into :)
The next day we flew home. It was a short trip, but having been their before it was perfect. We were able to see things we hadn't before and just enjoy being there without the pressure of feeling like we had so much to do. I was so thankful to be able to go and have Dan by my side. It was a perfect trip and an amazing way to bring in turning 30!
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