I have had the busiest five days. But, they were great, so I’m not complaining. Well, maybe a bit about the lack of sleep. But that’s it. It started on Friday, when I left work and met up with Mike as he explored Times Square. We walked around a bit, popping into some cool stores, then braved the MOBS to look at the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. I am not kidding when I say mob. It seemed like the entire population of Manhattan was jammed into the center to look at the damn tree. Don’t get me wrong, it was very pretty – better than last year’s, in my opinion – but PEOPLE! Oh, the shoving. Mike was laughing at me because I was cussing out all of the tourists. He was like, oh, you’re here for two weeks and you are all against the tourists now. Well, yeah! My bus route doubles in length because of the tourists! I can’t go to J Crew because of the tourists! And…other reasons. Tourists are rude. That applies to wherever you are. I used to get the RUDEST people in the bar when I was bartending, and it never failed, they were always tourists. But I digress. After the tree sighting, Mike and I took the subway home, quickly changed, then went down to the West Village for dinner. I was proud, I found our way there with no problems, which, if you know how crazy the streets are in that area, is amazing. Dinner was really good. When I made the reservation I said that we would be celebrating a birthday, so our waitress gave us a glass of port and a free dessert. They were very attentive, I love that in a restaurant.

On Saturday, we dressed for the cold and took the bus to East Midtown so we could eat at Serendipity 3. The wait, however, was two to three hours! No way we were going to wait that long to eat. We put our name in, then walked around the area a bit. We were right by Bloomingdale’s, so of course there were tons of people around. I came across a restaurant that I’d eaten at with my mom a month ago, so we had brunch there. I love brunch. Then we went across the street to a place called Dylan’s Candy Bar. It’s basically a Toys R Us with candy instead of toys. Mike and I were cracking up because all the songs on the loudspeaker were candy-themed. We walked in to “Tootsie Roll,” then slipped into “I Want Candy,” followed by “Candy Girl.” We waited around to see what the fourth song would be, but it sounded suspiciously like “I Want Candy” again, so we quickly got the hell out of there. We went back to Serendipity, and sure enough, we were the next table for two! We had a great seat right over the door of the shop, so we could look at all the poor, poor people who weren’t lucky enough to be drinking a Frozen Hot Chocolate like us. When we were done eating, we could have rolled out of there we were so fat. But satisfied! Yum.

Have I mentioned that Mike and I are sort of lazy? After we left Serendipity, we got on the subway for ONE stop. Yes, we could have walked the four blocks west, but why? We went to Central Park to take a carriage ride. We thought there would be an orderly line for a ride, sort of like Disneyland, but we were wrong. So wrong. People were all over the corner where you get picked up, and they were jockeying around trying to get the attention of the arriving drivers, waving their hands in the air and shrieking, “We’ve got four! We’ve got THREE!” It was nuts. Mike and I looked at each other and we knew we had to be proactive. We stood so we were in view of the drivers, Mike stuck his hand up in the air, and I took off my hat in an attempt to look “cute.” It worked. We stood there for maybe 20 seconds when we were picked by a driver. The people around us were pissed! It was awesome. We ran down and hopped into the carriage, and that is when we were introduced to our driver. He hailed from Ireland, and was pleasant enough, pointing out different landmarks in the park. Then he turned and said, “Do you mind if I smoke?” Since we were outside and I’m a sucker for an accent, we said to go ahead. Shortly thereafter, I looked at Mike and mouthed, “Do you smell that?” I guess we were a little presumptuous to assume that when he said “smoke” he meant a cigarette. Yes, our carriage driver was smoking a doobie. I started shaking with repressed laughter. It affected the driver pretty quickly, because the next thing you knew, he was turned all the way around in his seat, chatting us up and giving me tips about living in the city. Ah, I love the stoners. They are my people. Oh, and the carriage ride was fun, even with a high driver. Once it was over, we walked around a bit more looking at the street vendors, then went home and changed for our anniversary dinner. Mike took me to a really yummy restaurant near Lincoln Center. It had a huge appetizer bar, and the BEST pizza I’ve eaten since I got here. It had really thin crust…so good. I had a great night.

On Sunday, we woke up and it was snowing! The weather people freak out about snow here the same way Fritz wets himself over rain in LA, and they were all talking about THE SNOW! How it would TURN INTO SLEET! THEN RAIN! BEWARE OF FREEZING FOG! So, with the warnings of all that weather crap, we figured we didn’t have too much time to play in the snow before it got washed away by rain. I made us some waffles in my trusty new waffle iron, then we headed to the little park on the corner of my street that overlooks FDR Highway and the East River. We threw snowballs at each other, played snow basketball, and, most importantly, made a snowman. Our snowman skills got us a snowman that was about a foot tall, but he was majestic, I tell you! Majestic. We were out there for about 45 minutes, then the snow started really coming down, along with a crazy wind, so we went back inside for the rest of the day. I made dinner, and we watched “Concert For George” and The Simpsons and the Survivor Finale, and every now and then one of us would look out the window and say, “Yeah. It’s raining.” It was nice to be warm and dry inside with Mike. On Monday morning, we got ready quickly then went to breakfast. After that I had to return some furniture I’d bought that had a part missing, so Mike got to be my pack mule and help me carry it back to the shop. Then I had to say goodbye and go to work! I was so sad to leave him there, but I know I will see him soon. Just after Christmas!

Okay…I actually have a lot of work to do, so I will tell all of you about Monday and Tuesday tomorrow. I know, it’s crazy! Me, working! It’s raining here right now, and all I can think about is how much I wish McDonald’s delivered because I am really jonesing for some french fries. McDonald’s might be the only place in New York that doesn’t deliver. Watch, though, I’ll find out that they do. This place is nuts.