Mama visits Manhattan

February was a long, cold, and wet month here in New York. My Mama's visit certainly brightened up such a month.

Lunch at Serindipity. Of course we had to try the frozen hot chocolate.
I believe they said 32 different imported chocolates mixed with milk, cream, and iced.
We loved it, but could barely finish it.

A little walk through Central Park. For sure not the prettiest time of year for Central Park to show off it's glory, but it still has that special charm.

Brooklyn Bridge.




A delicious brunch at Peels. Our Saturday favorite.
(p.s. America ferrara came for brunch too. Mom & I were pretty excited about that)

Grand Central Station. I love this beautiful old building. It's almost magical to walk into such a stunning but busy atmosphere. Although it's packed with people, smells, and noises, it's so easy to get carried away in the ambiance. I love the way the sun shines through all the rooftop windows.

Certainly had to visit Magnolia Bakery.
Diet Coke for Mama.
Bundled up for a cold night at Times Square.

Shake Shack!!!! Another favorite here in NYC. I don't know how I feel that all of our "favorites" here involve food, but that's just how we roll I guess. The Shake Shack has the BEST cheese fries on earth. Truly they do. Crinkle fries, just like the old hot school lunch served, covered in the tastiest cheese sauce ever made. I love it so much, I usually get extra to take home and put on anything I can think of at home. I generally go back up to the counter a few minutes after we sit down and say " Can we please get the sauce for our fries" it worked up until a few weeks ago when the cashier asked "Did you not get any?" That's whenI giggle and my terrible lying skills come out, so I smile and walk away totally disappointed I didn't get my extra sauce to somehow eat with my breakfast the next morning ha ha! It's that good. John loves the Shack Stack. It's one serious burger. Portabella mushroom dipped in very thick layers of THE cheese, deep fried, then placed on a bun right under a patty of beef. Pretty intense.
They had the Car-Mallow Anthony shake for a special time! John was soooo loving the idea!

I shopped while these two nerds beamed some very important info across cellular technology waves...... or something like that?
St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Carnegie Deli.
Another food item dedicated to Carmelo Anthony. They call this "The Mellow" .
Sick and wrong. I don't even want to know what happened after he finished this thing?

Hotel Blakely NYC
The Metropolitan Museum
Some favorites from the museum.



Baked by Melissa.(This is sounding ridiculous but it's another favorite treatery) I had to work for a few hours one day, so my Mom stayed in soho to shop. When we met up with her she had this whole box of mini cup-cakes for us. Boy does she know us well. Oh, and I ate one so fast, even before i had time to take the picture.
Mama and I had a fabulous lunch at Balthazar. The most charming French bistro. The ceiling tile is original work, with such amazing detail and little blue birds so delicately placed around the lights.

Wicked. We planned to see a Broadway play this week, and by all means Wicked was top on the list. We weren't quite sure how we would get tickets last minute, and not pay up the wazoooo, so I used my google search skills and did some searchin'. (John and I used to compete at who was the best searcher, well after many searches.... we know) Anywho, we found out about the Broadway Lottery for tickets.. yes I know I just found out and it's 2011, I'm sure I'm about 5 years late, but it was exciting news.
Mom and I went to the theater at exactly 5:00, entered both our names in the drawing, waited in the cold for a few minutes while we watched the crowd get significantly larger, and listened for our names. Name after name we listened until about 10 names had been called. Shoot, I thought "it was worth the try" when I look up at my Mom in this big crowd grinning ear to ear "That's me!! That's me! They just called y name" What? I didn't hear it. Well sure enough, my Mama is super duper lucky and won us two front row tickets to Wicked. She even got a pin that said "Winner" with the Wicked logo on it. She proudly wore that thing for hours and hours. Boy do I love her!

Rockefeller Plaza

I am so blessed to have such an incredible Mama. I so cherish these fun memories of her visit to NYC, and her excitement for every little thing we did. She is too good to be true, and this city didn't know what it was missin' until she came for a visit. It was such a good time! So thankful for all of the fun times, laughs, and walks around the city in the pouring rain.