NeW yoRK

I want to write about my awesome trip to New York but so much is rambling through my brain that I know I'm not going to be fair to the experience and it's just so much easier to post photos on FaceBook and leave captions there to tell a story, even though if I write about it, I can make it more fun and funnier. It was a total blast spending the weekend with my mom, my sister, Diva and my sis's daughter (my niece and Goddaughter), Brooke. I can't even begin to tell you. Some highlights:

We got American Girl Doll done and over with; Diva has already done that here in Chicago but Brooke has never been, and boy, did her eyes light up. She loved it!

Magnolia Bakery from Sex in the City. Or is it Sex and the City. That is one thing I always mess up. Pretty good cupcakes. I spent like $30 on dessert and I really don't eat sugar all that much anymore. But I did that day. Had to. Of course. We had red velvet cake, whoopie pies, brownies, and cupcakes, cuz hey, why not.

We saw our first celeb outside of the NBC building and we didn't know who it was just that it was some female celeb people were surrounding so we got with the program and started taking pics, cuz who knew, she coulda been really famous. Turns out it was Olivia Munn, who actually looked like a porn star, but is in Date Night and upcoming Iron Man 2.

VISIT FROM SWISHY! We screamed and hugged and it was as if we hadn't been apart for like 2 years. Gosh, I miss that girl. I could just hole up in a room and talk to her about books and boys and writing and life for just days and days and never be bored. I love her so much and miss her. She came to dinner with us and we all had a blast Friday night.

They made my martini WRONG. I like 'em like this: Equal parts vanilla vodka and apple pucker. NOTHING else. I told our waitress this. It usually means the drink is crystal clear. It came back frothy on top. I took a sip. It tasted like there was sour mix in it. I told her. She said their pucker is a different brand and that's probably why it tasted different. Again I sipped. I am totally not a snob in real life, but when it comes to my food and my drinks, Well then, I am the biggest snob you will never want to meet! I said, "I really don't want to be difficult, but this doesn't taste right, can you please ask the bartender how they made it."

She came back with a new one and WHAT DO YOU FREAKING KNOW? It was perfect! The first one must have had sour mix in it.So we ate and drank and laughed and had a great time Friday and then Swishy had to go out and do some Swishy New York things, which I'm sure Swishy will tell all on her blog. Love you Swishy

My sis brought us all matching jammies so then we had a jammie fashion show and photo shoot which was so much fun.

The next morning I had tix for us to go see the STatue of Liberty which I kept calling The Liberty Bell cuz you know me and History don't match up too well, but we had to get there at 8 a.m. so that meant a 6 a.m. wake up time. We were tired and crabby but got there and were practically first in line. The statue was awesome, and somehow we finagled our way to get to go up to the pedestal which not everyone gets to climb into the statue, and if you wanna climb to the crown you have to get tix 3 months in advance (we didn't do the crown though). But it was a great experience, and the statue was really amazing. Especially when we were done and got back to NY from the ferry and saw the freaking line with hundreds if not THOUSANDS of people winding their way around Battery Park waiting with their tickets to get on the ferry to go see the statue. I felt very smart and witty to have gotten up so very early. Plus, we then had time to go shopping!

So, we shopped, ate pizza, then went back to the hotel to regroup for Mary Poppins! Admittedly, I was not too psyched for Mary Poppins, but really, it is a holiday when you're with Mary! I was shocked at how much fun the play was! A really good time! Plus, we drank some pretty good cocktails during it! It was, in a word, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

After that, we walked around Times Square, found some HOT HOT HOT cops to ask directions and then decided that we MUST get our pictures taken with them because come on, THEY WERE REALLY GOOD LOOKING. They loved every minute of it, and after we got done with them, a whole bunch of other women started asking them if they could have pics taken with them. I swear, if they started charging, they could double their salary.

Dinner that night--INCREDIBLE. My brother and sister-in-law treated for my sis' 40th birthday (and mine), and nothing was spared. They had a bottle of Dom Perignon waiting on the table for us. I took photos of EVERYTHING we ate... lobster, Alaskan king crab legs, crabcakes, filet mignon, OMG, when I am lying in bed at night, this is the meal I am going to dream about. It was phenomenal!

After dinner, we had heard that Justin Bieber was performing on SNL. I could give a shit, right? Baby, baby, baby, but the little girls were DYING to see him, so we walk to the NBC building and go in and try to get into the show. Like RIGHT? Duh. Of course, that didn't work, but we had fun trying, and I tried to tweet Justin up to see if he would come out and say hi to the girls. Guess he's just too famous and big for his britches now ain't he? Well, well.

A horse and carriage ride took us back to our room where we collapsed and the next day we came home. And all during this time, we got offers, YES, multiple offers, on our house so that is in the works now and I am a complete wound-up ball of stress but one of them is going to work out and it appears that Manic Mommy and her family will be moving at the end of May. Things are falling into place but at a very fast pace, which I guess is very good because it's not giving me much time to think about all that I have to do, I can't think, I just have to do and focus and get it done so I am in "GO MODE," or NIKE mode, just doing it.

I think I need a black and white still-shot of me with a Nike hat on with some dead guy's overvoice saying, "Stephanie, did you ever think it would come down to this, that you would be moving, and that it would be happening so fast?" And I'd be looking into the camera, blinking my eyes, staring straight ahead, while the dead guy keeps talking, maybe he's saying, "Keep having faith, keep believing in the good karma that you have," and I'm still staring ahead and blinking in that black and white still shot, and the dead guy's overvoice will say, "And believe ... believe that everything will work out the way God has planned it."

For the complete set of photos from the trip, visit my FaceBook page. If you haven't friended me yet, feel free to do so, just send me a message that you're a Manic reader, and let me know how long you've been reading!

Oh, and winners of the Year of the Cock will be announced later this week!