Thoughtless Thursday...NYC Baby!

 If you've all been diligently reading my blog the past week, like you good little followers should be, then you will know that I am completely 100% madly in love with New York City. If I didn't have a boy, a puggle and a business here in good ole MPLS I would pack up and move to the city right now! Luckily, I have been able to make semi-regular trips (though, not as many as  I'd like) to fill that big apple shaped hole in my heart. Ok, ok maybe a bit dramatic. Last week I got to visit my love with my mom. Here is a recap of the amazingness that was our trip.....

Our trip started as every good trip should, with a Bloody Mary at an airport bar. We made it through security super quick and had time to spare, so obviously we bellied up to the bar. The flight was, for the most part, really uneventful. We were, however, twenty-minutes late arriving because a woman threw a level 5 fit before take off because there wasn't room for her bag in the overhead storage. When I say level 5 fit, I mean level 5...the flight attendants were threatening to throw her off the plane! We landed, got our baggage in record time, scored a town car for a great price and were at our hotel (Trump International) before check in! So, obviously we headed out to a little street side cafe for a refreshing adult beverage. Once we got checked-in, showered and ready to roll we were off to Rosa Mexicano, one of our all time New York favorites who serve the world's most amazing guacamole and the margaritas aren't to shabby either!

After dominating a couple margs and the amazing guac we were off to Broadway to the New Amsterdam theater to see Mary Poppins! It was remarkable! I wasn't sure how they could pull off the magic of the movie on stage, but I should have known Broadway would find a way. The music and dancing were incredible and we both loved the show! 

After the show, we stayed in the Theater District neighborhood and had dinner at Carmine's a famous family-style Italian restaurant. My mom and I split a penne, vodka pink sauce, Italian-named something that was to die for! It broke my heart that we couldn't finish it and weren't able to bring home the leftovers!  

After dinner, we were pretty tired so we moseyed back to our hotel for a nightcap in the hotel bar, Jean Georges.

Wednesday morning we woke up rested and ready for a day of shopping! We went with the goals of finding  some essentials for my mom's wedding coming up in August. My mom needed some bangin' shoes to go with her amazing dress and I needed a dress and some shoes to match! Well, we were more than successful! We spent 9 hours, yes that's right, 9 HOURS on 5th Avenue and went everywhere you could think of...Bergdorf Goodman, Chanel, Manolo Blahnik, Tiffany's, Burberry, and more designers names I can even think of. I found a dress and shoes and my mom found the most beautiful Valentino shoes that will be PERFECT with her wedding dress! We were also both super excited because we went to Tiffany's and both left with little blue bags! My mom found a great bracelet and she treated me to an adorable jewelery box! 

this is the super cute jewelery box I got!

After a long day of shopping, we decided to try Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill for dinner.  We weren't overly thrilled with the menu, I mean, don't get me wrong it all looked amazing but it was a little to foo foo for our taste. We were craving Mexican food and this was not going to satisfy. So, we got a couple of margaritas and split an order of Queso Fundido that was AhhhhMAZING!  

We decided to head downtown to a Mexican restaurant called Mad Dog and Beans, which was without a doubt my favorite place we went the whole trip! It was delicious!!! It was decorated like a classic Mexican cantina, had a huge patio in an alleyway, was blasting fabulous music and had huge helpings of authentic Mexican food...I highly recommend the burrito! The best part about it...it's in the financial district which means weeknights are bumpin! It was great! 

I had done a little research and found a bar not far from Mad Dog on the roof of the Ritz Carlton. In 2009, it was voted the best rooftop bar in New York City and was known for it's amazing view of the Statue of Liberty....so of course we had to check it out! In the lobby of the Ritz a super cute couple asked me to take a picture of them, which of course I was more than happy to do! I ended up taking about 15 and halfway through the photo shoot they informed us that they had just been married the night before! They were thrilled with the pictures I took and were so happy to have run into us! After the pictures we were on our way up to the bar when we were informed that it had been closed for over a year. BOO! We were bummed, but then we thought about it and we think God wanted us to go to the Ritz so we could take pictures for those darling newlyweds. And they were nice enough to take a couple of us too! 

 We decided to head back uptown towards our hotel and found ourselves at Stone Rose, a restuant and bar in the Time Warner Buildings owned by Rande Gerber (Cindy Crawford's hubby people!) The night turned interesting the second we sat down. Without telling the super long version of this story, here's the quick one. We were getting hit on by a "plastic surgeon/professor" and "one of his students" and what went from friendly banter quickly became a really annoying and not that much fun conversation. Thank my lucky stars there was an adorable bouncer/host who was lurking around and heard the conversation starting to go south. Not only did he step in to talk to me so I wouldn't have to talk to the creepos but he ended up kicking out the "plastic surgeon/professor." Apparently, he wasn't liking that he was getting anywhere with us (we're a couple of tough cookies, who both happen to be in serious and happy relationships) and went into the bathroom and destroyed it. Real mature, doc. Real mature. All I can say, anyone whose opening line to my mother is, "so what work have you had done?" deserves a nice big punch in the face.

We got back to the hotel, put on our comfy Trump robes and slippers, watched a couple episodes of Kendra and fell asleep.Yes, my mom watches Kendra.

Thursday morning started with a trip to Chinatown! A successful trip I might add! I got a watch, a "Valentino" purse, a cell phone cover and sunglasses for J and did it all for under $55! I'm not great at much, but I am GREAT at haggling. How did I feel about my success? 

After shopping we made a pit stop in Times Square to grab a drink at our favorite bar, Tonic. It's super generic but we've had some great times there, so we just had to stop on. Then, I absolutely HAD to have a slice of Ray's pizza. BEST. PIZZA. EVER. It was just as good as I remembered it. After lunch it was time to get showered and ready for the whole reason we made this trip...THE BON JOVI CONCERT!

We decided to go back to Stone Rose and grab a drink and say goodbye and thank you to our knight in shining armor from the night before, Scotty. Thanks for looking out for us!

Soon after we were on the train to Port Authority and before we knew it we were on the bus headed to New Meadowlands Stadium to see BON JOVI! We made it safely to New Jersey just in time for a thunderstorm! And since the stadium is outdoors no one could go to their seats until there was no visible lightning. Let's just say that 80,000 unruly New Jerseyans waiting for Bon Jovi to come home and play a show at the brand new Giants/Jets Stadium was an interesting sight. At least the great people watching killed some time. After about an hour and a half, it was time! We were finally allowed to head to our seats. 

It was time for my mom to FINALLY see her "sweet baby" as she calls him. She is obsessed and this was her first Bon Jovi concert. I am so glad I got to be there with her and see her extreme excitement! It was great.

My mom when Bon Jovi came out...there were tears! Sooo cute!

There's not much I can say about the concert because honestly it was beyond words! Seeing Bon Jovi play in his home town was unlike any other show I've ever been to and I've been to A LOT of concerts but this was probably the best show I've ever been to. He played for three straight hours! He was amazing! 

He was awesome. The stadium was HUGE and completely sold out! There were fireworks! I was standing in an inch of freezing cold rain water and didn't care one bit. Livin' on a Prayer was my favorite part. Again, they were awesome!

Whew! I hope y'all like to read! I'll be waiting for my "Longest Blog Post Ever" award and you have to admit....pretty thoughtless! If you want to link up check out: