Silent Disco At The Lincoln Center!

Silent Disco....

For the past four years we have driven past the Lincoln center only to see a lot of New Yorkers at the Lincoln center dancing surrounded by a huge disco ball and flashing lights jamming out to music. I've always wanted to get down to check it out but never have until recently! We had just seen Shakespeare in the park and as we were driving toward the Lincoln tunnel decided to park and get down. So glad we did! We had a blast dancing as if we were 20 again! The music and the energy that every New Yorker had that evening was contagious and rubbed off on us. Including our 15 yr young son. Granted he didn't really care for the tunes but he liked the environment of a disco ball in the middle of Lincoln center. They call it "silent disco." And it's probably a good thing because can you imagine how loud the music would be if it would be if we didn't have headphones. We stayed for about an hour or until it was over and it was the best! We have decided to come again next summer. This was a perfect evening to end our summer nights in NYC. At least until school starts! 

Shakespeare In The Park-Twelfth Night!

Shakespeare in the Park....

My favorite part of summer is going to Central Park for Shakespeare in the Park. It was postponed for over a year and after 18 months of renovation their historic stage with Shakespeare in the park is back and it returned with Twelfth Night. 

It was a perfect evening and this play was brilliantly done and funny. Peter Dinklage, Sandra Oh, and my favorite Lupita Nyongo were so fun to watch. We had amazing seats and the view was perfect. I especially loved the storyline and to know that Lupita and her brother Junior were playing siblings made the play so real. So cool that they were both in it together. BRAVO!!

Loston Harris At The Roxy Hotel.

Loston Harris Is New York... 

I have loved hearing Loston Harris sing and play jazz since I first saw him in the movie Little Manhattan. His voice and how he plays is soothing and so relaxing. Jon and I went and saw him on a Sunday evening at the Roxy Hotel and it was such a pleasure to finally hear him in person. The Roxy Hotel is iconic and it is a unique hotel with the funnest photo booth! We love a good photo booth and we took like a million photos! So if any of y'all are into jazz music and want to eat some good food while having some drinks go to the Roxy Hotel every Sunday evening to hear the one and only Loston Harris sing and play.

Moulin Rouge On Valentine's Weekend!

 

Here we are on the last day of February and I'm glad! I can tell spring is upon us and I am so excited for it! Valentines day this month was the best and I'm so happy that I spent it on broadway watching Moulin Rouge with my love. It was amazing and everything about the show was exquisite. The costumes, the set, and the scraps of songs that were sung were awesome! The show was very similar to the movie with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. I would see both again and again. Loved every minute of valentines weekend and hope that y'all had a nice long February! 

30th Wedding Anniversary Date!

This past weekend we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary! THIRTY!!! Like how is that possible! I swear I feel as if I met Jon three years ago! I am just so grateful I get to spend my life with him. He's so wonderful and always makes life easy for me. I love how he loves me and treats me. We celebrated by going to the city to see the final performance of the Notebook and although it triggered a memory in losing my mom to dementia it was a great show and I'm so glad I saw it. It was a simple and perfect evening. It's the little things you know. So a simple drive into the city to see a broadway show and admire the Christmas decorations on 5th avenue, including battling the crowds just to capture a photo of this years tree at Rockefeller center and eating pineapple cheesecake at Juniors is always worth it in mid December. It truly was the perfect anniversary gift! Oh...and we also saw the infamous Naked Cowboy for the fiftieth time! LOL! Love, love that our wedding anniversary is in December so that we can come to the city to celebrate! I really appreciate Jon's love and how he puts me and my feelings first. This is one of the main reasons why we've lasted this long.

Hell's Kitchen on Broadway!

 

After spending the day in Dumbo, we went to see the new show Hell's Kitchen. And so far it is by far one of my favorite new broadway shows. I can watch this over and over again. It was magical, funny, dynamic and captivating. Everyone performed so well. This one late spring day was absolutely perfect. So grateful for my wonderful husband who knows what puts a smile on my face when I'm feeling blue. It was the perfect gift after saying goodbye to all my girls after Lexie's wedding. Yes, broadway is therapeutic for me in every way! 

Noah At The Plaza!

 

December is here and going to the Plaza has become tradition since Noah was five and even at the age of 15 love seeing Christmas through his eyes. Nostalgia always kicks in when we come here. Sure there are times where he will sigh when I ask him to take a picture but at the end of that sigh comes a smile with a "sure mom" answer. I love how agreeable he is and how much fun he actually has once our date begins. He was in awe with the decor and even though he'll say things like, "their just red big balls" I know that he thinks they are the coolest and biggest ornaments. The fact that he reminded me of Kevin Mcallister form Home Alone even for five minutes while he was wondering down the halls made me smile. Makes me extremely grateful to be able to experience the magic of christmas (without the room service.) So if you're ever "lost in New York" come and experience the magic of staying at The Plaza...even if it's just for breakfast!

Dia De Muertos In Times Square.

 

Dia De Los Muertos in Times Square. This day hit hard and so differently compared to past Dia De Muertos. Mourning my mom is still ongoing. Grief continues to sneak in on me but at the end of the day I celebrate her memory knowing that she is with me. Two of the most important and amazing people in my life have left this world. I miss them both so much but happy that they are together again. The offrendas were exquisite and elaborate. So beautiful. I love this tradition and will continue to remember those who have passed on. But especially my mom and Joe.

I Choose Joy.

Don’t let the smiles fool you behind these photos. Yesterday was my 53rd Birthday and in all honesty it was a pretty hard day. A day of off and on crying-waiting for my mom's yearly phone call to hear her voice on the phone uttering those two words “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Asking me “How is your day going?” “Are you doing anything fun today?” Yada yada yada.

Well, I am lucky and I am thankful that I have done fun things during my birthday month, but it’s still hard. The only difference is…is that I choose JOY. I choose JOY to make my days fulfilled and worth living. And that makes a huge difference when a loved one is no longer with you. Especially when it's your momma.

Chicago The Musical!

This past weekend we celebrated by 53rd birthday a little early and all I wanted was to go to the city to catch a broadway show and eat at one of my favorite overrated restaurants with my favorite photo booth! It has become tradition to see a show and since my birthday is on a weekday celebrated this past Saturday. After being on broadway for so many years we finally saw Chicago and it was so good. I was bummed that Alyssa Milano wasn't performing that day due to a stomach virus but hope to see her perform in it before her last performance on November 10th. It was a simple and fun evening. The weather was perfect and it always feels great to be back in my city but at times am grateful to have the opportunity to have both worlds. Living outside the city is a blessing at times because of the hustle but my love for New York will NEVER go away. No matter how noisy it gets I will always come back to her. Anyway, after the show we ate at the smith where I Jon had the yummiest burger and I had pasta with hot fudge brownie sundae for dessert. It was a perfect celebration and so thankful to have a hubby who makes me feel good inside and out! Okay I hope that didn't sound kinky! Y'all know what I mean!

The Outsiders Musical!

 

Last week Noah and I saw The Outsiders musical and it was well done! I'm old school and was looking forward to having it be similar to the movie but they changed a few scenes. It was interesting how they added songs to certain scenes but it was done very tastefully. Noah saw the movie for the first time earlier that day to prepare to see how they would make it into a musical and he was very pleased. We both were. I loved it so much and my 14 year young heart was so happy to see it. It brought back memories from my youth as a kid and how much I felt Ponyboy and Johnny's pain. I still feel it to this day when I see the movie and I felt it that night when I watched the show. Although our lives were similar to a certain extent I am grateful for my outcome to still be here today in my 50's and to have introduced my 14.5 yr old boy to the movie and show.  So if you're ever in NYC...go see it!

New York In Bloom!

Spring has officially popped up in the city and the blooms are stunning! After watching this show we headed toward Central Park to see if the blossoms have bloomed and they have! It was still a bit chilly over the weekend so we didn't walk for too long but I did capture a few shots of a blossom tree with Noah standing near it. Noah also captured a photo of me with these tulips before crossing the street to the park. Aren't these tulips stunning! So glad spring has arrived so we can enjoy the outdoors instead of being cooped up inside!

The Play That Goes Wrong.

 

After years of hearing Noah talking about the play that goes wrong we finally went to go see it! It was everything I thought it was going to be. British humor and boy do we love a murder mystery! We had so much fun laughing our tushes off. It's always nice to see Noah happy and laughing after a long year of school. Spring break was fun with all the shows we went to and I'm glad that I am able to do this with him. I'm so lucky to still have one kid left at home at my age! I look forward to more dates with my boy before he grows to old and has a girlfriend!

The Who's TOMMY!

 

There's something about the rain that brings us outside and when I saw cheap tickets to go see The Who's Tommy I snagged them. Noah had no idea what the show was about and I figured since he's into rock music and plays the guitar that he would like songs from The Who. And he did! He is familiar with a few and didn't know who the artist was. We loved the show and it was well done! I never saw the one back in the 90's but I'm sure it would have been interesting to see it so I can compare the two. The LED lights and the special effects were amazing! They didn't have those kinds of lights back then. It was a fun and rainy day in the city and I'm so glad I introduced Noah to The Who and saw Tommy! 

Ghostbusters HQ In A Deep Freeze!

We saw the new Ghostbusters movie and it really good. It seemed like a short movie but we enjoyed it. We went to the HQ in the city and saw it all decked out in a deep freeze. It was the coolest installation and so glad we came before they tore it all down. Go and see the movie while it's still in theaters. I love New York and seeing parts of the city where they filmed the movies was pretty cool! 

The Day The World Stopped!

Four years ago this week-particularly on this day we were informed that we would have two weeks off from school. Little did we know that those weeks would turn into months that had us being cooped up in our little New Jersey apartment. That the world would turn into a pandemic that required us to wear masks. That we would not see our friends or family in person until it was safe to do so. That this would be the beginning of remote school. That we would have to be quarantined at home and if we went out to see friends to keep our distance within six feet. That we would end up having home church and that all of the missionaries including our daughter who was serving in Mexico City would have to come home due to the borders closing. That New York would be so quiet and peaceful that it felt like we had her all to ourselves. That everything in the city including Broadway, and the Rockefeller center would be shut down. And lets not forget about the protests......

An Afternoon In The West Village.

Last weekend we celebrated our 29th anniversary and it was the simplest one yet. I'm not one to brag or post about every little thing we did or place we ate. I just love the fact that our son was with us for a couple of hours to take our pictures for free! Noah loves the west village and so we went ahead and walked around and Noah just captured us so well. For a moment I felt like we were in a scene from "When Harry Met Sally". It was so much fun. He's got a good eye and there were a couple of moments where I told Noah to just keep clicking that camera no matter what we were doing. He's learning and loves photography. I even captured a few shots of him as well. I love this kid and I think he did a pretty good job!

Meeting Fran!!!

Ever since I saw "Pretend it's a city" on Netflix last year and just knowing that Fran has lived in New York city her whole life (now that's a true New Yorker) I just had to meet her. So when I heard she was coming to the city to have a conversation with Martin Scorsese I had to get tickets! And so I did! Jon and I had an amazing time meeting her and because she's in her 70's was wearing a mask. I don't blame her. She's a petite little thing and I wouldn't want her to catch covid. I absolutely love her! She was so cordial and we engaged in conversation. She is as funny in real life as she is in the documentary. So if you like sarcasm, someone who tells it like it is all while giving weird looks Fran is the one to "hang" with. And if she ever comes to your town go and meet her and buy her book too! She's a real pal! 

Oh The Things We See In New York City!

Ahhh! You never know what you're going to see in the city! A couple of years ago we stumbled upon the coolest, most unique installation in the city. We were just walking around union square when we spotted a REAL taxi cab that was halfway into the ground. I mean, I've seen some crazy stuff but this was absolutely unreal! I loved the creation and the fact that it had a chess board on one of the tables with yellow stacked chairs was a plus. Noah loves chess and sat down to check it out. The installation was only up for that day so we were lucky to have been at the right place at the right time! 

Macy's 97th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade!

 

As I wrote in my previous post traditions are the best and I'm so glad that for the past 12 years we have managed to watch the parade in person! It's hard to believe Noah is the only boy left in the nest and that we still manage to go. These moments are extremely special to us and he's such a good sport to wake up early enough to go after all these years! I look back at the first time we went and it's bittersweet how fast all my kids have grown! Especially now that my girls are all young adults, but still...nostagia hurts sometimes because they are so missed especially around the holidays. 

I am so thankful to have Noah to hang with and do fun stuff with. I hope that he will make this a tradition with his future posterity and that he will continue to wake up early-at least for the next four years so that we can make more memories before he leaves the nest! 

Now for a few photos as I didn't take too many because I'm getting old and I actually want to enjoy the parade with what's left of my little fam Jon instead of having my phone glued to my hand! LOL!