NYC, baby!

Our trip to the Big City has come and gone. J and I went to New York City for a vacation, our first without the girly-girls. That was hard, leaving them, but we knew that we wouldn't get another chance to be alone, doing grown-up things, for a very long time, so we went for it.

What a town! NYC is as good as it's ever been, in my opinion, and this was J's first time there. He, we, had a ball. We walked from 45th St. to 4th St., stopping at Pete's Tavern for a drink in the oldest continuously running bar (and saw a horse race on TV), then had dinner with some friends at an Italian joint down in the Village. We walked through Central Park on our way to a Yankees vs. Royals game at Yankee Stadium, the 49th last game before the stadium is torn down in favor of a newer, albeit cool, stadium right next door. That stadium is STEEP and I got all tingly several times trying to wedge down the aisle to our near-nosebleed seats. Great view, just steep. We then meandered over to Lincoln Center, just in time to see some famous folks arrive for the James Beard Foundation awards (cooking), most notably Kim Cattrall, Bobby Flay, Ted Allen of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame and Katie Lee Joel. Then we had fondue at a cheese and wine bistro, walked around Soho/Tribeca/Greenwich Village, enjoyed lunch with two friends at a tasty cash-only eatery, had a private showing of Al Hirschfeld's work at Margo Feiden's home, saw the construction zone otherwise known as Ground Zero and had a drink at the White Horse Tavern (where Dylan Thomas purportedly had his last drink before going home and collapsing). We saw the city from the top of the Empire State Building (yes, you might think it's cheeseball, but it's a damned fine view and it's best to go up at the end of a trip so you know what you're looking at), had several Starbucks encounters (how come I only go to Starbucks while on vacation???), bought some fun stuff for the girly-girls and watched Woody Allen play clarinet with the Eddy Davis Band at Cafe Carlyle for the last show of the season. Wow. Now that was a cool night. And the most expensive either of us has ever experienced. We sat RIGHT next to the band (Eddy Davis on banjo) and I had a great profile view of Woody. And he of me, really, b/c after every song, he'd consult with Eddy about what to play next, and I could see his eyes shifting from Eddy to me and back again. Those eyes, through the dark-rimmed glasses that he is known for, looked at me several times. So naturally, I am waiting for my phone call that alerts me that Woody would like me to be in his next movie. Ha. Would that it were true. Then it was last-minute souvenir shopping and a cab ride back to LaGuardia. I get wistful just thinking about it.

There's our holiday in a nutshell. I asked J, if we had enough money to live there, would he be willing. Yes. Yes, he would. And that's just another in a long line of reasons why I love him. Now the question is, how the heck do we get that kind of cash?