Wow. I'm so freakin' worn out!!!

I had my trip to NY for the contest I won, and lemme tell you, that's the least relaxing vacation I've ever had. (And you should know, I'm typing that with a smile on my face, so it must be a good thing.)

First of all, we had almost no sleep the night before. We both had full days, and we had to be up at 4am to get to the flight. We were trying to take care of last minute details, and didn't get to bed until after midnight. Plus, we are both cursed with not being able to sleep on a plane*.

The airplane was tiny. I mean TINY!!! My son's school bus to a rural school holds more people. Fortunately, our airport wasn't difficult to get through, especially at that time of morning. On the way out there, we were seated in the last row, which was by the only bathroom. My husband is over six feet tall, and there is no legroom for normal sized people. Not to mention, I told him that he must have been DB Cooper in a past life, because he has BAD airplane karma. He always gets behind the person that wants to recline their seat back to perfectly horizontal. Add to it that we had a girl getting sick. Now, the plane hadn't even taken off, and she's running down the aisle to puke. This was gonna be a bad flight. She continued the whole flight, and we just knew we were going to catch some awful virus and it would ruin the whole trip. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

I've decided that airline attendants are the perfect hostesses. They make sure everyone has food and drinks, and they do charades at the beginning, so that everyone knows where the emergency exits are. Ours was especially chatty, and I know exactly what type floors she has in her home.

We get off the plane and they had a black car waiting on us. Now, I can do perfectly fine without a stretch limo, but this one was nice enough that I decided I'm going to buy one and ride in the back, and let my kids drive us around. Ok, maybe not.

We drove into the city, and the skyline was obscured by the rain. :( And sadly, that rain continued and got worse throughout Friday. The weathermen sounded like it was an unusual amount of rain. All I know is that it caused a lot of problems. It got my shoes wet, and also my socks. That was the only pair of socks I brought, because most of my shoes were heels or sandals. They still haven't dried out. We walked around from about noon to 8pm, when we decided that it was wet, cold, and that the island was too damn long. So yes, our first night we went to sleep at 8:30PM in the city that never sleeps. lol

On Saturday, my shoes and socks were still wet, so I decided it was a good day for my wrap dress. We went to see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and a few other sites on the south part of the island. We never made it to see where the World Trade Center stood. We drove by, but that was the closest we got. We were running late for a fitting, and had a problem creep up that almost derailed the whole purpose for being there. But although those specific plans didn't work out, what did happen was even better. Trust me, you gotta go read on my other blog (but give me a day or two to sort it out, because I'm still starstruck).

We didn't expect the fitting to take a long time, but because of some rescheduling, it ended up taking up most of the rest of the day. During the exciting side trip I took, I found a shoe store with shoes that defy gravity. United Nude shoes are a collaboration between a Dutch architect and an English shoemaker. And god, are they ever gorgeous! Chloe saw them and liked them. When I told her that I good price on them, she guessed that I spent 3-4 times what I did, and that was her "good price guess". Meaning, these look like $400-800 shoes, but they didn't cost anywhere near that! And the price I paid was less than the website, just so you know. I got the Mobius in white, and the Porn Z in Clay. I also loved the Eamz, but they needed to wait for some other trip.

I mention the shoes, not just because they were so great, but because they are what really killed me. I didn't have my comfy shoes available, because they were wet. I had spent all day walking around in some sandals I don't typically wear. And then I switched to these. And although these were comfy, you can't wear shoes that you aren't familiar with for the first time, walking around NYC, especially Times Square on a Saturday night. I have blisters on the top and bottom of my feet, and shin splints. It was not the shoes that caused it. My hubby has blisters the size of half dollars, and he certainly didn't wear the shoes.

The next day, we checked out, with a mixup about who was paying for the trip causing our credit card to be frozen. It's ok, and they are straightening it out right now, I'm sure. We did a few bookstores and saw the Flatiron building, but mostly took it easy. About 1pm, we decided we could not walk another step, so we grabbed some lunch and napped/waited for the limo in the hotel lobby.

I love the city, and I'll definitely go back, although I won't be so arrogant mext time. This time, I stupidly thought that I walk over 10 miles a day, and could easily do more. So I thought I should have NYC cranked out in an afternoon. lol And then I actually tried to do it. You can't go about it like that, as my body will attest to. I am so sore, all over, and because of the rain/unfamiliar shoes/walking, I am hobbling today. But it was a hell of a trip!