NYC Trippin' (Megapost)

This past weekend, I had the awesome privilege to spend the whole weekend in New York City with my girlfriend Tammy. She just celebrated her 39th birthday, and we had been chatting about how hard it would be to turn 40.  So I got off the phone with her, and told Jay about our conversation, and told him I should try to plan something crazy to surprise her.  She had never been to NYC, and Jay and I were talking about that... So I asked him, "How crazy would it be to kidnap her and take her there for the first time?!"  He was worried about our safety, but agreed that it would be such a fun surprise.
I researched and planned and worked on the trip for months, even checking back at Christmas to make sure her husband was on board. (I have four kids, she has three- so that is a bunch of kids to leave behind.)  I found us an awesome hotel right in Times Square, and made my plans to pick her up.
So here is how it went down:
I left right after Bible Study last Thursday, ran by the grocery store and picked up a miniature birthday cake, and 39 candles (and some matches! Score 10 points for remembering that tid-bit!!!), and hit the road. It takes about 3 1/2 hours to get to her house in Maryland.
I parked down the street and put all the candles in the cake, grabbed the matches, and ran up along side her house (in heels!) crouched down under the side of the house and lit the candles (that took forever!), then ran up and rang the doorbell.  She came around the corner and said, "What are you doin' here!!??" (She is from Mississippi, so picture this in a loud Southern drawl.)  And I told her, "QUICK! Blow the candles out, before the fire department shows up!" :)

She was at the computer paying bills, including paying off the credit card.
How appropriate was THAT?!

I gave her a card that said, "We are heading out early in the morning for your birthday surprise. Hint: Pack gloves."  And I helped her pack up what she needed.  The funniest thing about that night was Tammy saying (repeatedly), "Is it time to go to bed, yet?"
So we got up around 5, showered, loaded the car and hit the road.  We made excellent time, and checked the car into the valet at exactly 12 noon (PERFECT!) And checked into the fabulous Crown Plaza Times Square, where our awesome Priority Club girl upgraded our room from a Hudson River View to a Times Square view!  Here is our room:

 We unloaded our stuff, and headed out to Chelsea Market, where we browsed the food markets, ate, and shopped at the Chelsea Anthropologie.

After spending a few hours there, we headed back up to Times Square and walked over to Serendipity. I tried to get us a reservation a couple of weeks before we went, but they were all booked, and I was told the wait time would be about 1 hour, but we walked right in, and were seated within 10 minutes!

We enjoyed our dinner and frozen hot chocolate, then walked over to Rockefeller Center and watched the ice skaters for a long time, then walked on back to our hotel and looked out the window for a long time. Haha!  We were so tired from walking in the cold all day that it didn't take us long to crash.
We got up Saturday morning and went down to the gym. Tammy is a fitness instructor, so it was like having my own personal trainer for a minute. :)  Then ate breakfast and headed out. We walked over to the TKTS booth in Times Square and got in line to see what tickets were left for that day.  We decided to see Phantom of the Opera, and it was wonderful!  It is in The Majestic, which is a beautiful theater. After watching all that singing, we were starving, so we walked over to Carnegie Deli to eat dinner.

After we had stuffed ourselves with corned beef, pickles and fries, we walked back over to Rockefeller Center to shop. We did some major damage in Anthropologie and J Crew, then went over to Magnolia Bakery to pick up a sweet, and some cream for our coffee, and crashed in our hotel room, talking and watching the Broadway Show Preview channel until we fell asleep. (I wish that channel was here in VB!)
Sunday morning, we got up and did a short work-out, then walked in the rain to the Lego store to pick up some presents for our little guys, then checked-out and got the car and drove over to the Flatiron District. I have been to NYC multiple times, and still not seen in person, so I was very excited!

We walked over to 15th Anthropologie, and browsed around, then got in the car and drove over to the Brooklyn Bridge, and hit the road. By the time we got on the interstate, it was pouring buckets. So the drive home was stressful, but the trip was so worth it. I am so thankful for the time I got to spend with just me and Tammy, especially knowing that I have an impending move.
Here are some pretty pictures I took around the city:

Top left: Random girl hailing a cab, she was so cute, I had to do it.
Top right: Lighted Rose Sculpture, Park Ave, click here for info.
Bottom left: Times Square at dusk.
Bottom right: Rockefeller Center at night.
(Oh. MY. Goodness. This post took me so long to write, please leave me a comment and tell me I didn't write too much!!! LOL!)