Empire State of Mind (Girls' Trip to NYC!)

"In New York,

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,

There's nothing that you can't do.

Now you're in New York,

These streets will make you feel brand new,

The lights will inspire you.

Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York..."

The 4th annual I {Heart} New York girls' trip almost didn't happen this year, but perseverance, Tylenol, dedication, and maybe a small muscle relaxer came through.

I spent all of Friday in complete misery, locked in some cruel vortex of sickness. I naively assumed that the headache and nausea I experienced last weekend would be the end of my holiday viral experience, but I have never been more wrong. Whatever 24 hour crud T had last week, he unwittingly passed on to me. A fabulous early Christmas gift. His constant reminders to stay in bed are what let me rest enough to work up the strength for the big Saturday trip.

My friend Christy (who joined the trip last year) picked me up at 3:20 AM...yes, you read that correctly. We drove over to the local P and R center and boarded a bus with the other NYC hopefuls.

We were giddy, we were ready.

And then I started having muscle spasms in my back as the bus pulled out of the parking lot.

Seriously.

For about 30 seconds I thought that maybe I could tough it out, but the pain was reminiscent of when I used to have occassional gall bladder attacks, and those are bad. Like, "I wanna lay on the floor and I can't really breathe too good" bad. I assumed they were from spending all day Friday cooped up in bed. I spent a good 45 minutes or so standing up in the bathroom in the back of the bus, gripping the handicapped rail and laying my head on the freezing cold window, contemplating whether or not I should take one of Christy's muscle relaxers.

Common sense won out and I gratefully sank into sleep as the medicine took over.

That was the last real drama for the day. We had a Starbucks stop and careened through the Lincoln Tunnel to arrive in the Big Apple around 10 am or so.

We did a lot of shopping this year, not much sight-seeing. Sadly (read major sarcasm here), I have no pictures of me. The only one Christy shot was in front of the public library and my eyes are all squinty, although my hat was exquisite.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking....

We always start with Macy's. I love their decor, inside and out. The classic "Miracle on 34th Street" window displays are always a crowd pleaser.

Canal Street is always a stop for us. We purchase the all day "Fun Pass" for the subway...makes traveling up and down Manhattan much easier.

Christy is the Queen of Haggling. I've never seen anything like it. We haggled and browsed and fought the crowds. We laughed our heads off at the swarm of girls fighting over the pile of "Uggs" on the sidewalk like a bunch of vultures.

Trudging about...

Outside the public library, we were treated to a street performance.

After a stop at the American Girl store for two small Christmas gifts (I swear to you that we saw more AG bags in the city than any other brand!!), we continued up Fifth Avenue to the Holy Grail of all NYC Girls' Trips:

Tiffany and Co., which rolled out their holiday finest. Christy and I wandered up from the sterling floor this year and were greeted with hot chocolate and treats on the floor where they do wedding registries.

Is it weird that I saved my napkin? It says "Tiffany and Co." on it.

The most difficult part of NYC at Christmastime is the crowds. They were the worst I've seen yet this year, and foot traffic on Fifth Avenue was at a standstill for awhile. I know how cattle must feel....

Before we knew it, our day was over and it was back to Macy's for pick-up.

Just 363 days until the next time!

I hope you'll join me for the December Dishing It! party tomorrow. We'll be sharing about our favorite Christmas traditions. You can find the details, questionnaire, and party button right here.

*Thanks to today's sponsor, Laura Jane Designs.