I heart New York

The first weekend in December started my birthday celebration, which culminated last weekend with my actual birthday! I'm 29 now, and had a fabulous time ramping up to the 14th!

My mom took me to New York the first weekend in December for my birthday trip! This used to be an annual event from the time I was a freshman at Ole Miss until the year Justin and I got engaged. Since then, we just haven't had time. But this year we decided we were making time! I think Momma and I both missed going every year... especially at Christmas! We were gone from Thursday morning until Sunday night!

The main thing I wanted to do was to see the play Wicked, and we did!! I am a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan (possibly my favorite movie of all time) and Wicked is about the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the good witch. It was amazing!!! I can tell you though, without ruining it, that I will never be able to watch the Wizard of Oz the same way again! It was just great, I'd love to see it again, and hopefully I will!!! It will be in Memphis at the Orpheum sometime next year!! YAY!!!

We also went and saw the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular! This is a tradition for Momma and I! We've tried to catch it where it has been touring the years that we haven't been able to make it to New York, but there's nothing like being at Radio City and seeing it where it originated! The best part about the Spectacular is the tradition of the finale... it's a living Nativity... complete with camels, donkeys, sheep, and everything you can think of!! In this day and age where everything is becoming more secular, it's wonderful to see that something that draws as much attention as the Christmas Spectacular hasn't forgotten what Christmas is really all about!

Then we ate at The Little Owl. I was super excited about this!! I am an avid Food Network watcher and the winner of the Thanksgiving Challenge is the chef at this restaurant! When he found out that it ws my birthday, he came out to have pictures made... let me point out that I wasn't fond of the affection and was really suprised by it!!

We also ate at La Mela's in Little Italy. This is another of our traditions when we're in New York! The food is fantastic and it's always fun! This time in particular, a marching band came right in the restaurant and serenaded everyone with Christmas carols and my mom even had them play "Happy Birthday" for me!! Such fun!

Brunch at Tavern on the Green was great, as always! It was cold and we shopped til we dropped (literally!)! Saw stuff I never thought I'd see... like lines wrapped around the block just to get in to FAO Schwartz, dogs wearing Burberry shopping with their owners in Bloomingdales, and shoppers almost fighting each other to get a cashmire sweater at Saks on half price for $350!!! I also got to taste roasted chestnuts for the first time... which were awesome!! Overall, it was a great trip, and a great birthday!