NYC Day 1

Last night I returned from a wonderful time in NYC with my mom, sister, and friend Shannon. Over the next few days I'll be posting about our trip. The pictures aren't all the best quality but you'll get the idea.

Dad and Josh before heading to the airport. Don't pay any attention to the blankets on the couch. They are for Chloe.

Josh and I before heading to the airport. It's about 5am so we're looking tired.

Me, Shannon, Mom, Chloe, Courtney

Shannon and Courtney waiting in the airport for our flight to head out. We were so lucky to be flying direct. I'm a big fan of direct flights and now I'm a little spoiled.

Mom and I

Here's what we received as a snack on the plane. The bagel chips were made in Times Square. They were fabulous!

Our flight was smooth and lasted around 2 hours and 45 minutes. Once we landed we gathered our luggage and got on a shuttle to head to the hotel. Since we were in NYC around 11am it was too early to check in the hotel. We just dropped off our luggage and took a potty break before heading out on the town. The bathrooms at the hotel were way cool. It was a room with individual bathrooms in it.

This was the girl side. I went in Glam and it was indeed Glam!

Here's what the vanity looked.

After we finished up in the cool restrooms we headed out to Central Park. I'm pretty sure Central Park is my FAVORITE part of NYC. On my next trip I just want to eat, shop, watch plays, and hang out in Central Park. It's gorgeous. On my first trip to NYC I really didn't to see much of it so it's something I really wanted to do this time. Once we got into the park our first item of business was lunch. We were starving. We opted to eat at the Boathouse. It was great!!!

Here's the view from our table.

And here's my lunch! It was great!!! Our waiter was from Georgia which I loved. We met sooo many people from the South. It was fabulous! I felt right at home. Our conversations with our waiter consisted of Chick-fil-A, SEC football, and Tim Tebow. Needless to say he got a good tip!

After lunch we explored the park. It's so big and beautiful so there was no way to see it all. We did walk through a big portion of it though.

Belvedere Castle

A view from the top.

Once we were tired from all the walking around Central Park we headed back to the hotel to check in. We first stopped at Magnolia Bakery for a little treat.

Red velvet, chocolate truffle, and vanilla with chocolate. Mmmmm.....

When we got to the hotel we were thrilled to find out that we had two rooms by "accident." We originally thought we could all stay in one since we wouldn't be in the room much. That's how it was the first time I went. Luckily though that didn't happen. We each were able to get a lot of space and our own bed. It was great!

Mine and Shannon's bed

I love this chair and lamp!!

We settled in our room, freshened up, and then headed back to Rockefeller Center. We opted to go to Top of the Rock instead of the Empire State Building. I had already been to the top of the ESB so it was nice to actually get a view of it from some place else. The only problem is that the day we decided to go was the day there were 20+ mph winds. It was still beautiful.

I told you it was windy.

Still windy!

The beautiful Central Park

Empire State Building

We didn't stay at the Top of the Rock too terribly long. We headed down, walked around Rockefeller Center, then headed to Times Square. I decided our first night would be a good night to eat at John's Pizzeria. I ate there on my first trip to NYC several years ago and loved it.

It was just as good as I remember. It's a neat environment so everyone else enjoyed it as well. On our way back to our hotel we walked RIGHT passed Marg Helgenberger from CSI. My sister and I were the only two who saw her. Naturally when we returned to the hotel it was only fitting that I watch her on tv.

I didn't see too much of her because I fell right asleep! We had a big day ahead and we needed our sleep.

To be Continued....