Monday, June 1, 2015

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband

Phillip and I just got back from an early anniversary trip to New York City. It was 6 days, the longest we've ever been away from the kids.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Biking in Central Park -- don't we look sad?

At the risk of being the 1950s neighbor who makes you sit in his living room and look at all his vacation slides... well, I can do that if I want. It's my blog.

But how about a twist?

I'll do it all using quotes from Phillip, who's quite hilarious.


"I don't know where we're going, but I feel like we should walk there really fast."

We took a bus to NYC. Even though it was in driving distance, we didn't want to pay for parking.

Stepping off the bus with my little roller bag and staring up at all the tall buildings, I really did feel like the country mouse visiting the big city for the first time.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}


I'm sure it was extremely annoying to the locals who just wanted to walk down the sidewalk when I kept stopping to drool at every intersection.


"You take a million people and a million cars, put them in a pile, and that's New York!"

We stopped at a Whole Foods near our hotel to pick up some breakfast the first night, since we fully intended to wake up, eat, and go back to sleep on our first morning without children present. (That's how we vacation. Don't judge us.)

Anyway, this was the line at the checkout.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
8.4 million people live in NYC, and all of them were in line ahead of us.

And the parking. What happens when you have a few million cars and nowhere to put them all?

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Special! Only $21.12 (plus tax) per half hour to park here!

A few weeks ago I was just mentioning how bad the parking in Boston was, with cars jammed like sardines into tiny lots. But at least they weren't stacking them two deep!

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
DIY parking garage in NYC. Creative!


"These people may have more money than me, but I can run faster than anybody in here."

Okay, so we may have been a little intimidated walking into the fancy-pants stores on 5th Avenue. As a runner, this mantra helped Phillip feel better about himself when we walked into Saks with its $400 sunglasses near the door.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Please note that the sunglasses on my head were purchased at Walgreen's for $2.

Upstairs in the women's department, the sweater on the left cost $1,395:

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Phillip's comment about the dress: "Hmm. Should I go on a diet or just buy a dress with a picture of a skinny person on it?"

The most upscale places had suit-wearing bouncers standing outside to discourage riff-raff like us from coming inside.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Phillip refused to be intimidated.

Out of morbid curiosity we browsed the engagement rings at Tiffany's. Rich couples were consulting with salespeople off the sides at mahogany desks over champagne in fluted glasses.

That's when we knew we didn't belong and got the heck out of there.


"Well, that's going to kick up some nasty smells."

When it started to rain, we were a little apprehensive what it might bring.

We loved New York and are already plotting our next visit, but let's be honest: where there are a ton of people, there's also a ton of trash.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Smelled exactly like it looks.

Garbage bags were piled up on (almost) every corner waiting to be picked up. Whenever there was a breeze, the aroma of garbage wafted gently through the city. Charming, I'm sure.


"That's how they do it in New York. They take out all the sugar and punch you in the face."

Maybe it was simple coincidence, but it seemed like all the flavored lemonades and fancy beverages we tried were more tart than sweet.

Eating out was, in many ways, my favorite part of visiting NYC.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Tony Dragon, a food truck by Central Park, sold the most insanely cheap and tasty Greek food in New York.
New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
I'm not ashamed to say we stopped at Schnipper's in Times Square twice in the same day for milkshakes.

And when we got tired, we picked up some gourmet cupcakes and headed to our hotel to watch Downton Abbey.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Nothing wrong with a cupcake bigger than my head plus the Dowager's one-liners. No, sir.


And then there was this:

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
It was my birthday, okay??
If someone had told me before this trip that I'd be choosing individual truffles at Godiva for a lady to remove from the case with gloves, and that I'd be paying $18 for 6 of them, I would have slapped them.

But that's what New York does to you.

In retrospect, we saw pretty much everything we wanted to see, but didn't get a chance to eat everything we wanted to eat.

That's why we need to go back, you see.


"You pay for everything, and you get... Nah-thing!"

Until you've been to NYC, you don't know the meaning of a competitive real estate market. There is no horizontal space to be found there. None. Many of the restaurants we ate in were the size and shape of subway cars, but somehow a dozen and a half people were crammed into them all the same.

Everything is tall and skinny. If you want space, you've got to go up. Tall ceilings usually disguised how tiny the rooms actually were. Our hotel room, for example, was twice as expensive as the priciest place we've ever stayed, but looked like this:

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Barely bigger than the bed, same room as the bathroom.

Speaking of prices, we had a good laugh at the snack pack that was waiting for us in the room when we arrived. I couldn't decide what to try first, the $5 Snickers bar, the $7 bottled water, or the $10 tin of gummy bears.

New York City as Told in Quotes from My Husband -- Want to know what our visit to NYC was like without feeling like you're being forced to watch someone else's home videos? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Tempting, very temping. Not.

Overall, we had an awesome trip to New York City. We've never in our married life had 6 days all to ourselves with no kids, no responsibilities, and nothing to do except walk around seeing cool stuff and holding hands.

On the bus ride home I was thinking about all the hand-holding to myself and thinking, "Why don't we ever hold hands at home?"

I remembered the answer when we walked in the door and were immediately tackled by 5 laughing, yelling, fighting, singing, wiggling little people. It's good to be home.

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9 comments:

Lynne at The Sweet Midlife said...

That sounds like a delightful, delightful weekend. I love New York. You are right: you spend crazy money on goofy things and you still kinda like it.

Jenny Evans (sister, not author) said...

I love Phillip's comment about the dress. Sounds like you guys had an amazing trip, so glad you got the chance!

Jenny Evans said...

Me, too. I'd forgotten how funny Phillip was because all we ever talk about is who is giving who a ride to soccer practice and whether he can buy milk on his way home from work.

Anonymous said...

I feel good reading this post cuz it reminds me of the days when me and my husband went to HK. Free and game to just about anything and everything.

Thanks for sharing your post. Its really nice to read =) #thetruthabout

Unknown said...

Going to New York and doing the whole week-long sightseeing thing is right up there on my bucket list Jenny! However, the logistics are a bit more complicated :-) I went for one day back in 1993 coming down on the train from Kingston, upstate New York where I was spending Christmas with my friend from there during my year studying in the US. I remember the Subretts hot dogs, going up the Empire State, and visiting Greenwich Village and some shops with ridiculously 'out there' clubwear! So, so many things I didn't get to do (and it was early January so bitterly cold!). I love all Philip's little quotes though - he tells it like it is! :-) thanks for linking up to #thetruthabout and so glad you had a lovely, practically romantic (?) week away together Xx

Rachel said...

More than $20 for a half hour of parking??? And I thought Chicago was bad. ShenZhen is actually bigger than New York City by population, but it's not built in such a small place so you don't really feel like you're in a city of 11 million most of the time. Except when riding the metro or waiting in line.
Glad the food was so delicous! One time we wandered into a real Nordstrom (not the Rack) in downtown Dallas and I was so sure they were going to kick us out for our lack of money. It's bizarre to walk around looking at $3,000 dresses....my wedding dress cost $150, people....

Jenny Evans said...

I overheard one lady who was looking at a dress on a mannequin ask a nearby salesperson "What's the price?" He looked at her like he didn't hear correctly and said, "Price?" Obviously money was no object - and I mean NO object (as we saw many, many dresses that cost $3-5K) - to the regular clientele there. The whole time Phillip and I were like, "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!" for fear of You Break It, You Buy It.

Anonymous said...

Always hold hands. My sweetheart and I have been doing it for 26 years, even when we both have a "little hand" or two on the other side of us. She is a school librarian and I part-time substitute...the kids love watching us walk down the hall together at lunch time.

BTW...our oldest is headed to Boston U for grad school this fall.

Jenny Evans said...

We'll try! Once we saw a man opening the car door for his companion in a parking lot and my stepmom commented how sweet it was that he was opening the door for his wife.

My dad said, "That's his girlfriend, not his wife."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Because he opened the door for her!"

We all laughed, but it's a little true that you kind of forget to do that stuff after you've been together for a while.