New York, New York

In three weeks James and I are headed out on our first ever solo vacation without the kids. First ever, ever! And, even better, it's in one of my favorite cities, a place that I most definitely want to take the kids but am also quite happy to explore as an adult with another adult. AND it's for the super fancy black tie wedding of James's swim teammate who tore up the dance floor at our own wedding back in 2005.

dancing Dave; now a dentist and pro-triathlete

I am SO excited. We fly in Saturday at noon and are staying in midtown, 2 blocks south of Bryant Park. We have some time to do city things before the rehearsal dinner (in midtown too; as are all the wedding things) at 7. Then the (enormous, uber fancy) wedding isn't until 6:30 on Sunday at the beautiful Gotham Hall, so we'll have the whole morning and early afternoon to wander the city, eat delicious things, and generally enjoy being non-stroller and dialer-bag-wielding adults. We fly out Monday around 1 so we should be able to squeeze in a breakfast before we go too.

I haven't been to New York in a few years and James hasn't been since we went with his parents in 2004 to look at Columbia and NYU law schools after I was admitted and we thought we were 100% moving to New York. His jaw was wired shut (he'd just had MAJOR jaw surgery) and we were with his parents most of the time so I'm going to say it was not his favorite vacation. We need to make up for that and I need your recommendations. (And actually during my last trip to NYC James lost his job the first day I was gone and didn't tell me until I got back three days later, so yeah, let's make some new NYC memories!) I've done all the usual touristy stuff and seen all the big things (James has too), though I'm open to revisiting any of them. But mostly I just want to walk. I want to soak up every moment of being in a vibrant, living, breathing CITY. God I love them.

So what should we do? Where should we walk? See? Explore? I don't need a detailed itinerary, just some general goals or landmarks we should ramble too. What's your favorite part of the city to wander? I'm open to taking cabs and the subway as well, particularly to get somewhere else I can do more walking and soaking up of city-ness. I just don't want to wander aimlessly in midtown and come away not having done anything New Yorkish at all.

And then even more importantly- where should we eat? We have lunch (or a late brunch) open on Sunday and breakfast on Monday/Memorial Day. Maybe some after dinner drinks on Saturday night? I enjoy delicious foods (all kinds except Indian; apologies to curry lovers, but just the smell makes me very sick) and need somewhere fun and tasty to take a break from all the walking I'm going to make James do.

On things I can play all by myself -- my outfit! Though not quite by myself, I'm heavily utilizing Rent the Runway (referral link; if you use it, you get $20 off your order and I get $20 off my next order too!) and I am so excited about it. I haven't had a reason to dress up since we moved to Fort Worth. The SEC doesn't have fancy parties, James's swim school doesn't have fancy parties, and we missed my friend's beautiful black tie wedding in NYC last summer because we were in Jamaica. Should I ever get a chance to dress up again in the next 5 yeas, I'd want a new dress, so I decided to follow the lead of my fabulously stylish friend Katie and rent something fabulous too.

Rent the Runway has a huge inventory of items for all occasions that gets updated with the seasons. I've had so much fun perusing their selection since we heard about the wedding last summer. In fact, I had so much fun perusing I almost forgot I did actually have to reserve a dress before the wedding date. I finally booked one on Wednesday and the earliest they can get it to me is the day before we leave (though they promised I'd have it, and I get to save a little money with the 4-day rental option instead of the 8-day I was going to do). Dress shopping can be tricky for me- I have upside-down triangular body proportions (my hips are several sizes smaller than my shoulders), and I always need a size long/tall-- and I wanted something fun and different, Spring-y (no black!), and dressy enough for a NY society evening wedding.

I finally decided on this cobalt blue Shelli Segal gown and I think it's going to work. It's beautiful and fun and is open at the shoulders and zips low in the back.

And even more fun, I got to rent accessories! Specifically, this clutch:

and these earrings:

And I have these shoes:

I just love it all. And if it doesn't work, I have free same-day NYC delivery to secure a backup dress or I will more likely just go to their NYC store to try on whatever they have in my size. There were several others I was mulling over on the website, so surely something will work.

And then, to pull it all together- someone else is doing my hair. As I have previously mentioned, I have absolutely no hair game. I've never used a curling iron, though I've owned 2 different ones for 8 years but they intimidate me and I always sheepishly put them back in the drawer anytime I pull them out. I don't own hairspray and usually brush my hair with my fingers. This is how my hair looks right now:

I'd like to pretend that today's 'do can be blamed on my rather constrained toilette facilities this morning (i.e., the tiny shower room at the Orangetheory gym), but this is how my hair looks 90% of the time.

But I found out that Dry Bar does on-site service calls for $10 more than their usual price! So someone else can give me a proper blow out, some loose curls, and maybe pull back back a little from the front. Nothing too fancy- I'm just a guest, but something pretty that make me feel good because damnit I have a lot of hair and people constantly compliment the color and someone should do justice every now and then since I clearly can't.

So it's going to be awesome. I really really love cities and I love being with James ever more than that. And he loves dancing and there WILL BE DANCING. In a fancy dress with fancy hair and no children to wake us up in the morning. I almost can't even imagine. Three more weeks!