"What city is that over there...?"

"It's New York, sir."

You'll have to bare with me. I sort of quote Home Alone, like, all the time. Even when it's not Christmas time.

So, Steve asked me what I wanted for my birthday/Christmas. I had the brilliant idea of combining both birthday and Christmas gifts{perk of having your birthday close to the holidays} so I could get a mega gift.

"I want to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway." said I. You see, it's been on my bucket list for a long time now. This meant going to New York City. Duh. Steve agreed it would be fun. {he's a good man that Steve} The best part is we were able to use Steve's hotel reward points and stay overnight near Times Square for only $70! Score! See Steve, all that traveling to Detroit {*chuckles} paid off after all!

I'll start off by saying we had SO much fun. Or as the elderly lady that was on the train with us would say: "What a hoot!" People watching/eavesdropping on other peoples conversations is a favorite past time of ours. It doesn't take much to entertain ourselves. As you can imagine, we tried to insert the phrase "what a hoot!" as often as we could just to giggle to ourselves. This is the stuff healthy marriages are made of, people. Okay, not really, but what I'm trying to say is getting away from reality to just be silly and have some clean old fashioned fun is good for the soul. And, it's good for your marriage, too. NYC was the perfect place to do just that.

Shall we get started then?

^^^As you can see I was very excited for our upcoming adventure. Adventure because we are were practically NYC virgins. I was so excited I felt it merited taking a selfie. "I could look worse..." I tell myself.

^^^We parked in Hamilton, NJ and took the train into Penn Station. It's the way to do it! After witnessing all the traffic jams we were high-fiving each other for choosing public transit.
Isn't he so debonair?

^^^We stayed on 40th Street. Within a ten minute walk we were in Times Square or the Broadway District. Perfect!

^^^"I'll have an extra large bed, a TV, and one of those little refrigerators you open with a key..."

^^^After we checked in at the hotel we had lunch before heading over to the show. We each had two slices of pizza and a coke. Our total came to $6.50. It was delicious. Who says you can't eat in NYC for cheap?!

^^^EEK!

^^^The Majestic Theatre was built in the 1920s. It was beautiful. I was just so happy.

^^^We ordered some cab sauv. Naturally it came in sippy cups...we can't be staining the carpet! Genius! And it doubles as a souvenir! Don't ask how much we paid for a "sippy" of red.

 ^^^Happy sigh/wine buzz is starting to take effect

^^^I just love this man. Like, so much. <3

 

^^^The chandelier moved up and down. I was impressed. Also, did you know the word chandelier originated from the French language? If you already knew that, then pretend you didn't because I was impressed with this little trivia tid bit. 

FYI: The Phantom of The Opera was written by a French man named Gaston Leroux in the early 1900s. It is the longest running show in Broadway history. Pretty cool, right? I highly recommend this show! I may or may not have teared up during the show. The story is lovely, the music is beautiful. I also may or may not have been a bit buzzed from that cab sauv. The origin of tears is still up for debate.

^^^There's not very many picture of us together. We felt shy about asking people to take our picture. Everyone seemed to be in such a rush! Now that I think about it, we didn't take anyone else's picture either.

^^^I wish we would've taken more pictures at Tolaoche, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Manhattan. The chef, Julian Medina, was the runner up winner of Iron Chef in 2011. The food was superb. It was the best guacamole I have ever tasted. And the flavors in the tacos made my mouth do a little jig.

¡Buen provecho!

^^^There were more than 100 tequilas in stock at Tolaoche. Enough said.

^^^After dinner we bundled up and walked walked walked.

^^^I told Steve I wanted to see the Rockettes next year for my birthday/Christmas gift. He just rolled his eyes. ;)

^^^I was SO disappointed the tree wasn't lit yet. :( We missed it by four days. All the more reason to return to NYC next year!

^^^Saks on Fifth. We were in here for about two hours no lie. It was quite the experience.

^^^There was an entire floor{10 floors total} dedicated to women's designer shoes. Dear Lord have mercy.

 ^^^This shoe? $1,700. 

^^^Times Square baby!

^^^I don't know why I made him pose in front of the Olive Garden sign in Times Square. We didn't eat there on anything like that...but since I don't have many pictures of Steve, here you go!

^^^The city that never sleeps

^^^My first hot dog from one of those little street stands. It was good.

And that wraps up day one of our adventures in NYC! It was so nice being able to stay out late and go back to a hotel to sleep rather than traveling back home. By the end of the day a hot shower and soft bed was calling my name. Will we have enough steam to continue on to day two? Stay tuned to find out.