Are You Ready For This?

It has been awhile since I have got sucked into a novel series and I have missed it. The sequel to Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Days of Blood & Starlight comes out November 6th! (Happy birthday Mimi!!!)

In preparation I have been listening to Daughter of Smoke & Bone and once I am done will read the first seven chapters of Days of Blood & Starlight online here. Did you know the author Laini Taylor is coming to Changing Hands November 9th? Have you read Daughter of Smoke of Bone yet? Well come on what are you waiting for read it and then come to the signing! My friend Melissa is listening to it in the car right now (if she can make time anyone can make time!) and we have been talking about it which is getting me even more super excited! 

Come on guys Batman is doing it, you should too!

New York Last Day

Our last day started with us getting up and singing happy birthday to Lindsey.

 Poor girl it was the saddest singing of happy birthday. Debbie had lost her voice and we had just woken up, oh it was not pretty, but sang with love! Oh and since Debbie had lost her voice she kept whispering and Lauren kept thinking she was telling secrets.

Then Lindsey Debbie and I headed to High Line Park where I was going to finally meet my author friend Elizabeth Eulberg! You can read more about how we became online friends here and here.

 It was so great to finally meet Elizabeth and she was even nicer and funnier than I expected which is saying a lot. Really she took time from her day to show not only me but my sister and friend around and we had such a good time.

 We sat and watched the traffic go by.

 We started at the end of the park so we ended up in the West Village and oh man it was gorgeous.

 Elizabeth pointed out some TV sights for us, the friends building.

 Carrie Bradshaw's front steps, which has a chain stopping people from going up.

 Then we found a little coffee shop Think Coffee that had good grilled cheese sandwiches and had an early lunch.

I was finally able to give Elizabeth her I heart Darcy pins that I have had since Prom & Prejudice came out back in Jan 2011.

 She signed my books! Debbie and I did carry on and yes I did have four books in mine! And did you notice the London fabric Lauren gave to me!

Then we headed back to Lauren's and it was time for Debbie and I to head home. It was a fast trip but I did see two rats (one on the street, the other in the subway) had a bum call me baby, so very successful and so much fun!

There were some funny things that I forgot to blog about before so I am going to mention them now so I can remember them later. 

~ Lindsey calling yahoo yay-hoo

~Debbie gasping when she found out The Black Keys were playing

~Looking for acorns at Ground Zero

~Lauren asking the cop if there were any eating facilities close by and Lindsey adding "or otherwise known as restaurants"

New York Day 3

We started off the day by walking to Central Park. 

And although it was beautiful we were not really in the mood for walking.

So Lauren took us to Little Brown Chocolate so we could get Nutella shakes, which we were in the mood for. Then we heading over to Lexington Avenue for a street fair where we found even more Nutella.

We went in to Grand Central Station to use the bathrooms and change out of our boots, Lauren brought flip flops. We didn't want to carry our boots all day so we looked for lockers, there were none there but there was a lost and found unfortunately it was closed. Lauren and I thought we could talk a nice police man in letting us leave a bag and come back to get it later. Sadly the person behind the counter was a woman and it was a no go.

I some how left out this photo Debbie took of Lauren and I looking like a couple of little old ladies. Debbie Instagramed this photo and commented on how she can't wait to take trips as old ladies. What Debbie didn't know that is exactly what Lauren and I were talking about.

Then we headed down to the 9/11 memorial

Before we entered the memorial we read about The Survival Tree and were touched by what that tree represented.

Look at how it has grown, it wasn't easy it took a lot of care but it has healed and kept growing. While we were there The NYPD Emerald Society Pipes & Drums played which of course made me cry.

I kept thinking about this post by Meg Cabot telling about 9/11. It was a moving experience being there and remembering.

 Next we headed to The Staten Island Ferry, it is free and you get a nice view of the Statue of Liberty.

 We had planned on eating on our way back up to Lauren's but we were to hungry to wait so we asked a cop on the Ferry if there was a good place to eat close by he sent us to Pier 76 restaurant.

 We all shared pizza, pasta, salads  and sweet potato fries and they were all very good!

 It was cold but I loved seeing the Statue of Liberty with the misty sea on my face.

Oh yeah and we stopped by Magnolia Bakery on the way home.  Who are famous for their cupcakes which none of us got. They had pumpkin cheese cake, I will always pick pumpkin anything. 

New York Day 2 - Part 2 Midtown

After Brooklyn we actually stopped in Soho for a little bit but decided we didn't have enough time for shopping and decided to head up to Midtown to do Top of The Rock before going to Newsies that night. 

 When we got on the train to head up to midtown the next was Bleecker Street we had to get off, Lindsey wanted to take a picture for her husband Brett. Next stop Grand Central Station

Debbie & Lindsey were nice enough to indulge me while I looked for the Whispering Wall, I was so excited but there was construction in the middle so it only partially worked. But it was fun standing in the corner like a child in time out whispering to the wall!

 Then heading up to Rockefeller center we saw the beautiful Chrysler Building. I also finally pulled out my Levain cookie and had a few bites, the cookie really is as big as it looks.

We finally made it to the Rockefeller center so we could do Top of the Rock.

We keeped our eyes opened for Liz Lemon or Kenneth.

Once on top we got to see and even hear the concert that broke my heart that we had to miss going on in Central Park. The Foo Fighters, Black Keys & Neil Young were playing it was a free benefit concert but you had to do things to get tickets. Unfortunately our tickets for Newsies were the same night fortunately we got to have a great view from Top of The Rock!

Here is Lindsey focused in on the jumbo screen watching the show!

 Here I am taking the above picture of Lindsey.

I saw online that the lines at Top of The Rock were shorter plus you got to see The Empire State Building and obviously a better view of Central Park. It was more than 10 years ago that I went up the Empire State Building but it did seem faster. Oh and in the elevators the ceiling is glass so you can watch going up.

 Then it was time to haul our cookies through Time Square to The Nederlander Theater to see Newsies!

 Fact: before there was youtube Lindsey talked about how she wanted to get a group of people to go to Mills Mall and randomly meet in the middle and bust out in Newsies Seize The Day. Also when I was in New York back in 2000 I took a poster of Christian Bale off a newsstand and bought the same magazine for Lindsey. Needless to say we have loved Newsies for a long time and were so excited that it was still playing!

  There were some changes from the movie but still it was such a fun show and I still have the music stuck in my head!

 Look at these happy faces! Totally satisfied costumers.

Debbie bought William an official Newsies hat and asked if Lindsey or I wanted to wear it. I love hats and was happy to do so.

 Everyone was disappointed that the cast did not come out in costume but Lindsey & I were still glad to get them to sign our playbill & get pictures with them.

 This boy was also on So You Think You Can Dance & Lindsey was happy to tell him she was a fan.

 Lindsey & I with Crutchy. Lindsey told him she had wanted to yell "Soak em for Crutchy" since it was not said in the play.

Debbie had to get in with the Jack Kelly action, isn't he adorable! His name is Corey Cott and he is doing a vlog for Broadway.com. Lindsey you will love the behind the scenes.

 

 If you have follow Debbie's blog you may have guessed that I am waiting for her to post so I can steal her pictures. You may have also noticed my double chin is not as noticeable in these pictures. I know it was vain of me but I photo shopped myself in with the pictures with Crutchy & Jack Kelly. You could also have notice that I am not very good at photo shop.

There was a lot of photo bombing happening on this trip.

After we went to Carnegie Deli to get some Cheesecake and ended up getting a corn-beef sandwich as well.  It seemed that was something I heard a lot of when what to do in New York was their cheesecake. It can be crowded but after Newsies was perfect not crowded at all.

Lauren was trying to get a picture of how large this cheese cake was so she asked me to put my face by it. That was a bad idea because I have a big head so please compare to Lindsey's. Also they brought out the cheesecake out before the sandwich, my kind of place.
Also I am tired after just writing this, no wonder we went home tired and happy that night.