I Heart NYC

Today marks 10 years of marriage for my husband and me. We spent last Friday through Tuesday in New York City to celebrate! We had so much fun. We kind of consider NYC "our city" so when we were trying to decide where to go for an anniversary trip at Christmastime, the Big Apple seemed like the perfect place. I dug up a photo of myself from the last time we were there a couple of years ago. Even with my big coat and many layers on you can see that there was much less of me this time! It's so much easier to go 90 to nothin' for 5 days straight at a healthier weight.

I had to take a mirror pick in our sweet hotel. It is a favorite place for us to stay--very cheap, clean and quiet. Here's a picture of the Chelsea Lodge:

So quaint.

We were in a restaurant in Harlem, Melba's, about to eat fried chicken and waffles. It was really good. We were a little out of control with the food we ate. Over the course of 5 days I ate: pretzel (street vendor), burger and fries (Burger Joint), nachos and hot fudge sundae (Serendipity), fried chicken & pancakes (Melba's), Pizza (Grimaldi's), Banana Walnut muffin (Murray's Bagels), 4 types of pasta, lots of bread, tiramisu (Carmines), Barbecue Potato Chips w/ bacon blue-cheese dip, Pork ribs and macaroni&cheese (Blue Smoke), Bagel w/ raisin walnut cream cheese (random bakery), Fish n' chips (A Salt & Battery), 1/2 burger and nachos (Ellen's Stardust Diner), bacon, eggs, hash browns, English muffin (Highliner Diner), 1/2 quesadilla (airport), buffalo chicken salad (Buffalo Wild Wings). The END. Needless to say I've been scared to get on the scale since we returned but I enjoyed every bite of everything I put in my mouth. So no regrets, but I am happy to return to healthy eating.

This is at the Top of the Rock (similar to view from Empire State Building but less crowded).  This was my favorite outfit of my trip. ;)

These are our travelling buddies having a hot fudge sundae at the famed Serendipity III. This summer we were sitting at the same table at a wedding reception of a mutual acquaintance. Not really knowing each other that well, we were making small talk when the topic of our upcoming anniversary came up. I'm not sure what exactly happened but before the night was over we were ready to book our trip for 4 to NYC. Our families have had fun spending lots of time together since that wedding and planning our trip. We look forward to making many more memories with them. I love the way the Lord brought our families together. You might call it "serendipitous." ;)

Lara and I drank A LOT of coffee. This was by far the prettiest Starbucks I have ever seen.

This is the new Freedom Tower being built near ground zero. It is already soaring higher than all the other buildings around it and it is only half way built! I can not imagine how tall that thing is going to be! This photo is kind of misleading--you have to realize that I took the photo from a 38th story window of another building. That is the roof of another high rise sitting at what looks like the base of the Freedom Tower.

You can see the Freedom tower in the background here as we are riding the ferry to Staten Island. It will be twice that tall when completed. Sorry to be repetitive, but WOW.

Looking forward to many more anniversaries with this guy.

A nerd eating Nerds.

I love NYC.