In a New York Minute

About 4 months ago, I was fumbling around Martha Stewart's website, just searching for recipes and crafts. I stumbled onto the "Martha Stewart Show" section and saw that you could request tickets to her show. After submitting the request, I saw that the show was filmed in New York City. With nothing to lose, I just forgot about my previous request. Three weeks ago, right before Christmas, I find in my e-mail box an e-mail from Martha!!! I had "won" the tickets to her show! Frantic, I call Bobby asking him if we can go! He obliged, but couldn't possible see the thrill of learning the differences between pink pepper and green pepper, so he told me to find someone else to take. My immediate thought was my sister-in-law, Jen, who is also a HUGE Martha fan. Fun! We made the plans, and a few weeks later, we were on our way up to New York!
On the way up, we discussed shoes... both of us had bought new shoes a size too small because the store didn't have the ones we wanted in our size. This unfortunate decision will be elaborated later...
So we wake up 2 hours early so we can both do our hair, pick out the perfect outfit, do our make-up, etc. We stop at one of the 8 Starbuck's on the way (yes, that's right... 8 Starbucks within a 6 block radius) and head off to the studio. After standing in line, we finally entered the wonderfully decorated studio! It was a mecca for domestic diva's like myself and Jen. We found it so surreal to be sitting in the studio! She had several different sections of her studio that she used for sewing, cooking, gardening, etc. Very impressive! So the show starts out with Martha explaining the differences between each kind of pepper you can use in cooking. She follows it up with the star from the new movie, "Hairspray," which we received a copy of compliments of Martha herself! Next, they had a representative from Dove skin care who spoke about women over 50. Although it was so completely relevant to me and my 30-something sister, we were each handed a "goody-bag" of Dove products after the show! Needless to say, it was amazing.
After the show, Jen and I switched our too-small heels for flats and started touring the city. We started out with lunch at a small cafe. I paid $11 for a salad and afterwards, we found a bakery (like the ones you see in movies!) and both got a gigantic pastry. We stopped at the Mall of Manhattan then decided to try our hand at the Metro. New to the city and the so-called "normalities" that go on there, we found several grown men doing the choreographed dances of Michael Jackson. In awe, we both started taking pictures...soon thereafter realizing that that was not the normal thing to do! We quickly headed to our metro train and headed to the famous 5th Avenue shopping area.
We came out of the metro under the Rockefeller Center and went into the American Girl Doll Store (Jen has 2 young daughters) and walked around Tiffany's, Sak's 5th Ave, and the various other stores that were way too expensive. Since we were in the area, we bought tickets to go to the "Top of the Rock" (very top of the Rockefeller Center) and enjoy the view. Breathtaking!!! Pictures are below...
When we returned to our hotel, we got all dressed up and headed to a trendy New York dinner. Our restaurant just happened to be next to the famous Macy's, so we thought it might be fun to check it out! For those of you who don't know, the Macy's in New York is about 10 stories. Coming right from dinner, we were both in our too-small, brand new heels. After the 10th floor of the store, we learned one very important lesson: shopping + new shoes + 10 flights = P-A-I-N!!!!! Lesson learned. We went back to the hotel, very close to barefoot, changed into flats and went out for New York Cheesecake and a fancy New York cocktail! We were out cold by 10:00pm.
It was a fabulous trip and we've decided we're going to make it a yearly tradition! Next time, however, we will break in our cute heels before we go! Here are some pictures from our travels!
Martha answered some questions after the show:

The Empire State Building... from below:
The Rockefeller Center Ice Rink:
Jen in front of the NBC Studios (ha, ha , just kidding!):
Central Park from the top of Rockefeller Center:
Empire State Building. Ground Zero is behind it closer to the water:
Me and Jen!