NYC Girls Trip {Part 2}

If you haven't read about the first part of our NYC girls adventure, scroll on down and read part I.  You're back?  OK.  On Saturday, we woke up and took the 1 train all the way down to the financial district and the 9/11 memorial.  We spent some time looking at the memorial, the park, and the new world trade center buildings that are going up.  It's a really powerful place!

Since we were already downtown, we headed over to Chinatown and Little Italy.  I've been to both before, but it seemed more fun this time somehow.  We went in a bunch of little shops and markets (especially in Chinatown) just for fun.

We weren't expecting to have lunch in Chinatown, but we were there and we were hungry.  I did a quick Google search for "best dim sum in Chinatown", and I found a place called Jing Fong.  When we arrived, the lobby was PACKED with mostly Asian people, and there was a 20 minute wait for a table.  I knew then that we had found a winner.  It was this big, bustling place where they would call your number over a microphone.  Finally, we got called, and we ascended the escalator into this giant, noisy banquet room.

We were seated at a communal table with three other people and given some hot tea.  Then, the dim sum cart ladies descended upon us.  There were always about three ladies at our table holding up various dishes and bowls full of unknown dumplings, meats, and vegetables.  We kept asking "what's in that?" and they would answer, but we would still have NO idea what they said or what was in it.  Ha!  Finally, we just started guessing and taking things that looked good.  We only got one dish that we deemed inedible.  Everything else was truly delicious.  Our favorites were the shumai dumplings and fried taro.  Every time we got something off the cart, the lady would stamp our card.  We ate until we were full, and our total bill was just $28.  This was one of my most favorite things we did - so fun and unique!

After lunch, mom and Julia grabbed a green smoothie from a nearby shop.  Dessert, I guess?

Then we headed over to Times Square.  Our plan was to visit the half price TKTS booth and get tickets to a show for that night.  We had a few in mind but didn't really care which one we saw.

Here's mom standing in line at the TKTS booth.  The line was MUCH faster than I thought it would be!

We ended up getting tickets to Memphis!  Yes, $70 was indeed half of the original price.  Sheesh.

Before our show, we went to Grand Central Station and ate dinner at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, a restaurant mom specifically requested.  She went there with her parents years ago, she took us there as kids, and Brent and I went last summer, too.  It is such a cute and unique place underground in the terminal.  The atmosphere is just amazing, and the seafood is pretty good too!

Look how cute this place is!

Mom got what she had been dreaming of for years... oyster stew.  I got fried oysters & clams.

After having our fill of fried seafood, we headed over to the Shubert Theater for our show.  It was really a fun musical!  I'd recommend it!

Thanks, mom and Julia, for beginning my last two weeks of school in style.  I had the best time, and like mom said, "I will remember these memories FOREVER!"

NYC Girls Weekend {Part I}

Hello friends!  I'm still here, I promise!  Thank you for all of your kind comments about Baby N - we are so excited!  I haven't had much time to think about baby since the day after I posted, I flew off to NYC (at 3am... ugh) for my last two weeks of grad school! While I am full of joy to be *almost* done, it has been a crazy few weeks, and next week is only going to get crazier since I have to write a 100 page thesis.  Don't worry... I already have all the research and data, I just need to put it all together and actually write it. Yeah... better get on that.

Before I moved into the dorm this year and hit the books, I spent a weekend in NYC with my mom and sister - a trip I've been dreaming of for years.  It's never seemed to work, but this year, it magically came to fruition.  We had a great time, and it was all that I had imagined.

Funny story... on the last day, my mom was getting sad and sentimental, and she said, "Girls, I'm going to remember these memories FOREVER."  Five minutes later at the hotel, she said, "Can you help me write down what we did to tell dad?  I can't even remember!"  haha... it was a whirlwind, I'll give her that.  Hope this jogs your memory, mom!  Between the three of us, we took a ridiculous amount of pictures, so I'm going to split this into two posts.  We did a lot of walking (mom was a trooper), a lot of sightseeing (I even saw a few things I hadn't seen before!), and a lot of eating (um - have you met me?)

Thursday:

We each arrived at different times.  The airline lost my suitcase, took 24 hours to deliver it, and then 7 items were mysteriously missing when I got it back.  Do you REALLY want my maternity shorts, worker at United Airlines?  Really?!  My kind sister lent me a skirt, and we headed out to Eataly, one of my NYC faves of all time, for our first dinner.  You can read about my last visit here.  I still stand by my description that it's Disney World for foodies.

We sat at the antipasti bar for a drink and appetizer.  Yay sparkling water.

Our "spedino" appetizer: shrimp, figs, bacon, and arugula.  Heaven!

We ate our dinner at the pizza & pasta restaurant inside Eataly.  I got the short ribs tagliatelle, and it was savory and ridiculously delicious.

Friday:

We grabbed breakfast at Europa Cafe and headed on a Central Park expedition.  Along the way, we stopped at the Plaza Hotel.  We have quite a history of the Plaza in our family, as Eloise was a book we grew up with and I especially loved!

After the Plaza, we walked all around Central Park.  Look at my mom... doesn't she look like a New Yorker?

From Central Park, we headed to Shake Shack for lunch.

After lunch, we had a studio tour scheduled at NBC Rockefeller Center.

Mom also tried on hats at H&M :-)

For dinner, we went to La Boite en Bois on the Upper West Side (shout out to K-Rog!)

Since we were near Lincoln Center, we headed on over to see what we could see.  They were having "A Midsummer Night Swing" - an outdoor concert and dance.  

It's safe to say we slept well that night!  I'll post more about days 3 & 4 later!  For now... a paper to write for this week's class.  

Adding to the Nest!

Brent and I are thrilled to announce that there will soon be a new addition to the Norwood nest!

Baby Norwood is coming in January 2013!!!

The Lord is good.  His timing is perfect.  His creation is amazing!  We are so blessed, and it is our joy to surrender everything to the Lord.  We feel immense gratitude for the gift he has given us!  Baby Norwood is 12 weeks healthy and growing.  We can't wait to share our joy with you!  More to come soon!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:13-14