Christmas Time in the City

^^ first night in New York and we ran into Sisters from Jari's Mission^^

^^Friends^^

^^Jari found this dollar while crossing the street to serendipity. It was a fortunate stroke of mmmm... serendipity ^^

^^ wish I had that ball of chocolate on my desk right now^^

I have always admired my friend Haley and her family for having a yearly girls retreat, it always looks like so much fun. So when we decided to have a girls weekend in the city I was pretty excited to call it our first annual Santos Girls Getaway (hear that mom? it's time to start planning for next year). I normally can't truly enjoy traveling without Blake, there's too many things I wish he could have seen and experienced, or foods I know he would have loved. But sometimes it's crazy fun to leave all the boys behind and get to spend 24/7 with my mom and sister, filling our days with truly girly things. My mom had never seen New York before, and boy did she see the place this trip. That woman amazes me! Not only did she keep up with the fast paced city and her daughters but she even passed me up when I felt like my feet could walk no more. In the end we crossed everything off our NYC Christmas list and more. We watched the ice skaters at the Rockefeller Center, went to the Christmas Spectacular, walked around Macy's, and 5th Ave to see the window displays, saw snow in central park, ate at Serendipity (we love that movie), and walked through the Christmas market where Jari and I became greek goddesses. We also went to the 911 memorial, saw the empire state building, spent an afternoon at the MET, watched and loved Wicked (it was my first time and the songs are still ringing in my head). We ate either French or Italian food everyday, always ending with dessert at someplace new. Went to the Manhattan LDS Temple and spent Sunday in New Jersey while we met/ate with the wonderful people of Jari's mission. I'm really missing those two right now, can't wait for our next great adventure. 

A Video: Girls Trip To NYC

More Christmas fun with my wonderful Mom and sister before I left. Man, I love those two so much!!!

Girls Trip To NYC from A.Russ on Vimeo.

Pictures and stories to come soon.

Road Trip: NYC

We got to NYC Saturday night for a double date with Johnny and Emily. They took us to dinner at Carmines where Johnny used his "businessman" skills to get us a table when they were turning away all guests without reservations. After dinner we walked around times square, got ice cream, and split up. Emily and I went to see Newsies, while the boys saw Iron Man in 3D. I was so excited almost giddy about seeing Newsies. When we walked into the box office "carrying the banner" was playing, and my childhood crush on cowboy came rushing back. I had forgotten how much I love Newsies. The best part was the show lived up to all of my expectations, I mean with singing, dancing, and live music how could Broadway go wrong? Emily and I ending the night with Baked by Melissa mini cupcakes and getting my butt grabbed by a street performer. 
Sunday we spent relaxing at Johnny and Emily's house playing with the kids. As I said before I'm super sad that we did not take pictures or video while we were with family. It was so much fun getting to know the personalities of only 4 nieces and nephews at a time instead of 22.

On Monday we took the train back into the city. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, and had planned to eat at the famous Grimaldi's but the wait was too long. So we settled for the pizza place right next door, where we ate a wonderful coal brick oven pizza. Desert was found just down the road at the Brooklyn Bridge Ice Cream Factory where we enjoyed our ice cream while looking across the east river to Manhattan.  After Brooklyn we spent some time at the September 11th memorial. Then made our way to the upper west side to see the LDS Temple, also where I found a Waffle of Massive Deliciousness. After our nap in central park, we walked to time square and on the way got the best cheese cake ever ($9 for a slice of cake it better be amazing right?). We talked over the cake while just enjoying being in the city. We were told for dinner to try the Shake Shack, and what a hamburger they serve there, WOW. I was glad to have found a Shack just opened down here in Miami. We then wondered around waiting for night to fall, so we could enjoy the New York lights from the top of the Rockefeller Center. There are tons of things to do in New York and one day is not enough to do it all, I'm already looking forward to our next trip someday.