My weekend

It was one of those weekends where everything fell right into place. It started on Saturday which was a planned girl’s day out. Myself and three of my good friends headed into New York City to see Legally Blonde on Broadway. It was a perfect feel good show, with upbeat music and funny dialogue. Click on the below clip to see the beginning of the show.

After heading back over the Hudson river, we all had dinner together and enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t a high chair or snotty nose at our table.

On Sunday my almost six year old daughter and I went to Chinese school and then hit the bookstore afterwards for some mommy/daughter browsing. Last night I sat down to watch some football goodness and was thrilled by the HUGE NY Giants win last night (yep, I’m a die hard Giants fan, having had it drilled into me since I was a toddler)! It was the perfect (and very exciting ending) to a great weekend!

Sorry I’ve been MIA around here – I have been spending a lot of my free time reading, so I update my book blog much more often. Stop on by if you have a chance – I will be hosting a book giveaway there in a couple days.

For more Legally Blonde fun, click below:

Live on Stage

I feel very fortunate to live in close proximity to New York City and take full advantage of it by visiting pretty often. Today was a first for both my daughter Leah and S., our foreign exchange student. No, not visiting the city, but actually enjoying a Broadway show.

Joe and I surprised them with tickets to see Disney’s Beauty and the Beast today. It was the perfect fall day to visit the city (temps in the mid 60’s) and we lucked out with orchestra seats only twelve rows from the stage. The show took almost three hours (including intermission) and the whole time Leah’s eyes were glued to the stage. Donny Osmand was a guest performer playing Gaston and he was great (I also once saw him perform in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat). I have seen many Broadway shows over the years and found that this one is a perfect show to introduce a child to live theater.

WTC

During summer vacation from school when I was a little girl, my father would wake me up very early, pack me into his car and bring me to work with him. As we would drive along Route 3 towards Nutley, New Jersey (where he was a police officer) we would enjoy a breathtaking early morning view of New York City. The empire state building, all shiny in the morning light would be directly ahead, with the twin towers further down lower Manhattan to the right. I still remember this view as clear as day. Since I was growing up in “the sticks” as my hometown is called, the city was and is always fascinating to me.

It wasn’t until I was a young adult that I actually visited the World Trade Center. I remember viewing the city from the observation area. Joe, my father and I attended an orchid show held at the center. A month before they fell, Joe and I sat in the atrium (which by some miracle is still standing) and ate lunch while looking out over the Hudson river.

When the towers were destroyed, so was the subway system below. Not very long ago, the NY/NJ Port Authority opened up the PATH system again which connects Newark New Jersey to the World Trade Center site. The train station is located about six or so stories below street level and runs the perimeter of the hole which is ground zero. In other words, you are actually inside ground zero as you approach the train station. From the train you can see what a huge area had been destroyed and the efforts of hard working men and women as they work toward rebuilding.

So today, I not only mourn the loss of thousands of lives, but also for the loss of a New York landmark, the twin towers and surrounding buildings that were the World Trade Center. You will forever be in my memory as part of the great city of New York.

Below are a few pictures I took at ground zero while visiting the city this past weekend:

Museum of Natural History NYC