NYC mother-daughter trip

Times Square our first night

Madeline and I took a mother-daughter trip June 25-29 celebrating her graduation from 8th grade. Frankly any little excuse to get to NYC is all I need and Madeline loves the Big Apple too. We stayed right smack in the middle of Times Square at the Marriott Marquis so we could walk quickly back to our hotel after a late show. NYC is a sampling of what controlled chaos is. The crushing throngs of people, sometimes feeling like an ant in a colony, just barely moving and looking for any gaps to squeeze our bodies through. Thank goodness I've never suffered from claustrophobia or this wouldn't be the city for me. I love the crowds. I've got other places on the planet I go to chill out. NYC is adreneline and movement.

Legally Blonde

Two days before leaving we found out Madeline's friend from school, Marissa, had a mother-daughter trip planned for the exact days we were there. We saw Legally Blonde together our first night and had dinner after. What a fun show! Very pink and girly.

Central Park

We walked through Central Park, somehow missing Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic. I will get it right next time. So many great spots to see. The Bethesde Fountain is one of our favorites. Grace saw a picture of me standing in front of the Boat House and asked "isn't that where the girl from 27 Dresses wanted to get married?" Then it dawned on me that precious little of Central Park isnt' attached to a movie. This fountain was in Enchanted.

Temple of Dendur

I've always thought it would be so great to see the pyramids of Egypt. My friend Janeen, who has seen those pyramids, said the Metropolitan Museum of Art has an Egytian Temple set up and tons of artifacts. This is something I would have known (other than seeing it on Project Runway) if I had ever made it to the museum on any of my other visits to NYC. This was a great moment to finally be there after some almost comic mishaps preventing me before. She was right, it was fabulous, and all air conditioned.

For dinner we walked to the Hudson River on 42nd street to find season one finalist of Top Chef, Dave Martin's restaurant, Crave. We ate the Macaroni and Cheese with Truffle that really was as good as it looked on tv when he made it. I had some delicious Sea Bass and when I took a bite he happened to look over and I gave him the thumbs up. He came over and asked us how we liked our meal. I didn't dare tell him we ran into him two years ago in the grocery store in Laguna Beach (he actually took the last basil that I was planning on buying), I didn't want him to think we were stalkers, but we are groupies. I am craving that food now!

Room with a view

Me and the Spamalot cast (standing next to Lancelot who likes to dance a lot!)

We saw Spamalot on our second night and I got the surprise of my life. I happened to be in the hot seat of the night D101 and got pulled out of the audience and on stage. Arthur's servant, Patsy (who was played by Drew Lachey), came into the audience and asked if I would stand up so he could look behind my bum for the Holy Grail. I stood up and turned around and there it was in my seat. I was the peasant who found the Holy Grail. I was brought on stage and they had an "Arthur award ceremony" which April Brian won. Then they sang a song for me, using my name, April Brian, many times. At the end of the song the polaroid was snapped. The knights were really nice, giving me instructions to look this way and stand that way.

My Arthur Award

The show was hillarious and Mad wanted to see it again she loved it so much. I always had a fantasy of being on Broadway, singing and dancing (just a fantasy). Well, I got to be on a Broadway stage and I finally had my moment. It's nice to be able to check that off my to-do list.

Soho

We made it to Soho, Greenwich Village, and Chelsea on our third day. We gave ourselves plenty of time to explore and taste test cupcakes (I'm saving my findings for another post). We had a tasty lunch in Chelsea and saw A Chorus Line that night.

Madeline and her Tiffany bag

On our last full day Madeline had her Tiffany moment, her right of passage. We discovered the third floor charm bar and she got to choose a charm to mark the passing of her middle school years. I think she would have been just as excited to have only the box and bag.

Lunch at Serendipity

We had lunch and a Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity. We took the subway everywhere we could and walked the rest everyday. We did about 3-4 solid hours of walking a day. Half the fun of walking is sight seeing while you go along.


Subway



We love the ease of the subway and how mobile we can be. We bought a week pass for the cost of one taxi ride.

Dylan's Candy Bar.



This is the coolest candy store I've ever been in. My favorite are the acrylic stairs that have candy imbedded in them. The vintage candy commercials playing bring back childhood memories.











30 Rock


We love Tina Fey and the show, at least before it gets too raunchy. We had dinner at a very New York Cheese Bistro called Artisinal. My friend Lynnette gave me the hot tip. It was worth the rain storm we had to walk through to get there.

We saw Xanadu for the Saturday matinee and Sunday in the Park With George at night. We saw five shows in four days. It was fabulous! Xanadu was so campy funny with all the great music, loved it. Sunday was artsy and you could feel the subway go by a few times. It was playing at Studio 54, a great old building.

Madeline in the museum with Sunday in the Park

I had no idea Georges Seurot painted fifty mock ups until his final painting, mural sized. Monet pulled out of the salon showing when he heard Georges' painting had been accepted. What a snob!

Patriotic M&Ms

Warning: The M&M store is expensive and I don't get why. I bought these knowing it was a fun splurge, but the sticker shock is still with me. Let's just say Derik will never know how much these babies cost, but I watched the Brian family wolf them down (note: the top blue layer is gone after three days) and that was worth every penny.

Madeline is nice to travel with. She wanted to see everything and try everything, only a couple of complaints about the distance of walking to some of the destinations, because her knee started hurting her. We truly experienced the city, but the great thing is you can never do it all in NYC so I guess we'll just have to keep going back.