New York City





















My friend Coleen & I made a Fall trip to New York last week and we had a blast. Take a glimpse into the fun we had:























The primary reasons we made a visit to the city were to go to the Madonna concert and to celebrate Coleen's birthday.

We packed A LOT into 4 days - shopping on 5th Avenue, walking thru Central Park, seeing the Broadway musical "In the Heights", spending time in Times Square, bargaining on Canal Street in Chinatown, eating at fabulous restaurants, visiting Rockefeller Center, and WALKING all over the city until our feet gave out! An all-time high was hit on my pedometer. Over 21,000 steps in 1 day. Wow! No wonder you never see an overweight person in NYC.















FALL
The weather couldn't have been better - sunny, fall-like, cool crisp air, low humidity. What a great time of the year to be in NY!


















HAPPY BIRTHDAY
We celebrated Coleen's 37th birthday at a restaurant called Thalia. It is in the theatre district and I highly recommend it! All 4 courses were to die for - carrot & ginger soup, tomato & mozzarella salad, salmon & chicken main entree, and quite possibly the best desserts we've ever had - cheesecake for Coleen and carrot cake for KV.



















Coleen's sister blogged about Coleen's last childless birthday. Click here to read the story.

HOTEL
We stayed at the Marriott Marquis and had an overall fabulous experience. For NY standards, the rooms were sizeable. Each had new flatscreen tv's and very comfortable beds. One never knows what to expect in an elevator experience from a high rise hotel but they were programmed with such efficiency that we never had to wait more than 1 minute for the speedy ride. If you have ever traveled with me, you know that I'm all about getting in good with the concierge. This service was top-notch and didn't let us down. We got great restaurant recommendations & reservations. The Atrium Lounge was a lively but peaceful place to hang out with its decor a sight in itself. Moving over to the Broadway Lounge, the floor to ceiling windows overlooked the busy Times Square.







CHANGES
It has been almost 3 years since my last trip to NY and that is too long. Since my first visit in the early 90's, not a full year passed without me going back. This city makes me too happy to be away for so long. Here are some of the things that have changed (this is mostly for Paula):
* taxis now take credit cards; they are all equipped with card swipe machines and touch screen gps-type devices
* Chinatown has turned in to thug land; it has always been a somewhat shady area but now there are hoodlooms lining the sidewalks with big open suitcases full of loot; it makes you appreciate & feel for the asian store owners who have to compete













WINDOW DISPLAYS
One of my favorite things to do is to stroll down 5th Ave and look at the fabulous window displays. You just don't find the artful, creative talent displayed at the malls in Texas. In NY, it doesn't have to be the holiday season to get an eyeful. The window displays are great anytime of the year! Bergdorf Goodman had some of the best displays for fall but unfortunately I could not get any good pictures because of the reflections & glare.
























Coleen & I each took >300 pictures. Here is a sample:

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THE MADONNA CONCERT
STICKY & SWEET TOUR
OCTOBER 6, 2008
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NEW YORK CITY

Well, if you aren't entertained yet by this blog post, you will be after you read about our Madonna experience. It was everything I wanted it to be - a spectacle, entertaining, edgy, controversial, sexy, overstimulating, electric, bold and AN EVENT.






Coleen is the co-author. As we flew back to Dallas, her creative juices were flowing (while mine were asleep) so she jotted some notes and provided them to me for this post. Our story is just that - a combination of her words and mine.

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As we came down Broadway and approached 31st Street, we knew were going to be part of something special. The energy was palpable and excitement we felt all day accelerated.

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The ticket had a start time of 8 o'clock but after reaching our seats, we knew it would be well after that. In the time before she entered the stage, something magical happened. The attendees realized that her delayed appearance was intentional. It was a time to get the party started! We mingled, interacted and came to know our co-concert friends. The 4 bartenders (that were gay as christmas) sitting behind us became our buddies. We laughed, took pictures, toasted Madonna, and one of them even decided he needed to "fix" my hair.

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Coleen & I mingled separately with the crowd around us and realized very quickly that we were surrounded by girls and gays. The scene was that of feather boas, impostures, transvestites, fingerless lace gloves and marilyn monroe-esque hair. We loved it!

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Madison Square Garden is an old place. I don't know how old, but older than what we are used to in Texas (remember, when something reaches about the age of 20, people abandon it). It was nice that my necklace and scarf blended nicely with the aqua blue Little Mermaid colored seats of the arena.

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Suddenly the lights lowered and we scrambled back to our seats. Emerging on stage on an "M" shaped throne was the one and only MADONNA. The crowd went wild and didn't slow down during her 2+ hour show. We were in awe of her perfectly chiseled body, the immense talent, her aerobic stamina, and techno dance club scene that ensued.

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The show had 4 different acts and her costumes perfectly fit the scene and era of the songs in which she performed. (1) gansta pimp (2) old school (3) gypsy (4) rave

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During the song "She's Not Me", 4 impostures appeared on stage dressed in one of the former looks of Madonna. She sung for all to hear that anyone besides "me" is simply an imposture. No one can epitomize the fullness and ever-changing being of Madonna. By the time you try to capture her essence, her core image has once again changed and better yet, evolved. She illustrated this by forcefully knocking down, metaphorically resisting those attempting to copy her.

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As one must expect, the show can't go on unless political controversy is involved. Madonna taught us that Sarah Palin's middle name starts with an "F" and that she isn't invited to her party. The big video screens showed her adoration for Obama and dislike for McCain.

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During songs that included another artist, such as Justin Timerlake in "4 Minutes", they made onscreen appearances on the towering video screens. The choreography was such that they could have been present in the arena. Very well executed!

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During a rare unscripted & unchoregraphed part of the show, she asked an audience member for a request. "Lucky Star," he said. Madonna quickly admitted that she doesn't remember the words to her old songs. The audience didn't miss a word of the song and it went off without a hitch. I guess Madonna doesn't listen to Madonna CDs.

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"Thank you for coming to my party." Whether it was perfectly orchestrated or an impulsive environmental response, Madanna knew she was the host of one of the year's biggest parties. The only song when the crowd sat down was during "You Must Love Me" from Evita. At one point, Madonna yelled out to an individual to "get up and dance".

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Game Over. Reminiscent of the video game era that started at the same time of Madonna's success, those words illuminated on the enormous video screens and told us that all good things must come to an end. No one was ready for the show to be over, but she had done all she set out to do. With her fishnets, red heeled thigh high black boots, electric guitar playing, natural born dancing, sexy costumes, story telling, singing songs of present and past, she achieved another milestone in the career of Madonna. I was so glad to be a part of it.

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But wait! Was the party really over? Not a chance. Even after Madonna left the stage and the lights came on, a final song "Holiday" played through the Madison Square Garden speakers. With the crowd still on their feet, the dancing ensued and the partying continued. We danced our hearts out with our newly found friends and had our own finale.

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Enjoy our view of the show. 90% of these pics came from our cameras but a few (the close-ups) came from the internet. They HAD to be included to capture the essence of this icon.

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