Scenes from The Big City

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Our girl's day in THE City was a fun time, needless to say. I have absolutely the best group of girlfriends . . . ever! I've been planning a post in my head for weeks about girlfriends, and more specifically MY great sista-friends. I so cherish each and every one of them and their friendships . . . I'm digressing . . . more on the BFF's in a future entry.

On with the trip. But, first, a disclaimer. My picture-taking skills or lack thereof stink, as does the quality of my camera. And, I took my little camera that fits in my bag better. Oh, I wish I could take and post beautiful snaps like Heather or Vanessa or Camille, but I can't, so y'all have to just bear with my blurry, poorly lit, unattractively composed photographs.

Canal Street

Ann Marie trying to score some good jewelry buys.

Pam, our chauffeur (thanks Pam!), trying to outdo Ann Marie on the bargain hunting!

Our first stop was on Canal Street where we all really snatched up some bargains. We all bought a few . . . uhumm . . . handbags (if you know anything about Canal Street in NYC, you know exactly what I'm referring too!), and and Pashmina scarfs were big purchases for some of the group, too.

Costume jewelry - I snatched up a pretty believable knockoff Tiffany ring.

And another splurge find for me where these Coach shoes. I would never pay full price, cause I'm too thrifty - CHEAP! - not to mention my shoe size is extremely hard to find. Let's just say all through my childhood, growing up, my older brother would quite frequently refer to me as Sasquatch! Nice, huh?! Yes, I have big feet! I wear a size 11 - honestly, I wore a size 9 before I had kids - no lie! - which are hard to find a lot of times.

When I saw these shoes, I thought for sure the street vendor would not have my size. He did! When I tried them on, they were too small (probably the reason he's selling them - defective or mismarked). Oh well. My friend - thank you, Tracy! - asks if he has a bigger size, "oh yes, I have twelve". No way! OMG! Now, I'm exclaiming, OMG, because it looks like I'm getting a pair of Coach shoes, and OMG, I have to buy a 12!!! Don't tell anyone . . . Annndddd, we got him to come down in price from $45 to $35. It was meant to be. I'm sure they're an old style, or defective, or something, but I sure as heck don't care! I gotta bargain!

Enough show and tell. Here are some pics from our excursion.

Tinsel Trading was closed :0(. Talk about being disappointed! I did get to go into M&J Trimming, though. Rows and rows filled the walls from floor to ceiling with trims, tassels, cording. It was absolutely overwhelming!

M&J Trimming

M&J Trimming

We were two days too early to view most of the Christmas displays around the city. Macys had one side of their building adorned with a Christmas tree, but the Hearald Square side was not lit up. Nor was the huge Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. It was still covered in scaffolding.

Rockefellar Center. The tree's not in the pic - couldn't get a good shot in the low light.

Chelsea Market.

Oh!!! Anthropologie! Their store windows are unbelievably creative! And the shopping inside . . . wish I could have shopped longer, but we were pressing time to get to our dinner reservation.

Dinner was crazy! We ate in a little restaurant in the West Village called Lips. Here at the end of a lovely tree-lined street of stately old brownstones sits the most bizarre, crazy eatery employed solely of drag queens! It was different for sure. It was fun, a little disheartening, though, how a man can dress up in women's clothing, don a wig and stage makeup, and look better than us middle-aged housewives! It was a fun ending to a tiring day of shopping.

Me, Pam, Tracy, Ann Marie and Beth

That was our server, Devon, isn't "she" glamorous?

Me and the bartender, Chandy (short for Chandelier). "She" was a tall girl! You see, I'm 5'-10" (hence the big feet!) and I'm wearing about 2 inch heals in this picture. She's towering over me at 6'-8"!!!

I'm sure some of you might be wondering why we didn't dine at one of the many, many restaurants in NYC that are known for their fine cuisines and rich atmospheres. Well, after a day of schlepping around the city in our comfy shoes and jeans, none of us would have wanted to dine somewhere super-nice. So, we opted for crazy entertainment and something totally out of ordinary. Lips pretty much fit the bill!

Until next time . . .