Less than two weeks from now, I will celebrate 10 years of marriage to a man I met 12 years ago who became my best friend. Our first exchange happened in the lobby of the beautiful Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. Last weekend, we had the opportunity to return to that crazy place that is New York. We landed at LaGuardia, grabbed our luggage, and the speedy Dial 7 car whisked to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Now, before the romantic awards start piling up at my husband's feet, I would like to thank the lovely folks at Progresso Soup, for hosting me and my guest, as one of three grand prize winners in the "Souper You!" contest.
After submitting an entry to the contest, and by the amazing response of "voters like you", I was one of the winners in the contest, grand prize including two nights at the Waldorf-Astoria, a head-to-toe makeover at the fabulous Louis Licari Salon on 5th Ave, and a personal shopping consultant/shopping spree at the luxurious Lord & Taylor.
I don't exactly know how to describe our trip, so I guess chronological would be best ... we landed in NYC just before noon, on a drizzly day. We checked into the hotel, changed clothes (it was cooler than I expected!), and headed out to explore the city. Now, the fact that we have been to New York in the past did allow us to skip things like the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Rockefeller Center, so after eating the Italian lunch special in an Irish pub, we set out for Canal Street in search of some "real" Oakley sunglasses for David. That was an adventure in itself ... as none of the stalls seemed to carry the illusive grand, but upon asking about them, amazingly, there were some hiding that were available. My favorite line: "Sir, the policia just walked by, but if you come back in like 5 minutes, I can show them to you." Great, that sounds fantastic.
After walking through Chinatown, spotting NYPD headquarters, City Hall, St Andrew's, and the judicial buildings, we saw the Brooklyn Bridge, and headed back to the beautiful Waldorf-Astoria. We planned to rest a bit, change, and go out for dinner ... it was Friday night in New York City! However, when we woke up at 9pm after falling asleep at 6:30, we ended up falling back asleep until 5am when it was time to get up the next morning. Yes, I see the irony ... the Rahijas, who are never in bed before 1am, asleep at 6:30pm, Friday night, NYC ... geesh!
After a VERY refreshing night of rest, we woke early Saturday morning to get ready for "the big day" of pampering! We met the other two winners, Dawny and Kristi, in the lobby at 7:15. The "entourage" assembled around us, with two photographers, a videographer, two folks from Progresso, one from General Mills, two gals from the pr firm, and one intern that we can't agree where she belonged. They took some before pictures of us in the lobby, did a small interview, and then we all loaded into a Hummer limo for our trip to Louis Licari's Salon. We were all so excited!
Upon arrival, Matt and Gill, our photographer friends, had us pose in the street for some more before pictures, which, is a little nerve-wracking if you've ever seen New York traffic! It was funny to watch a small crowd assemble, as people on the street wondered what kind of celebrities we were ... one of the girls from the PR place told one of the crowd that our cd would be in stores next week. That poor lady will be sorely disappointed!
We entered the salon, had some yummy breakfast, and were sent our separate ways. I started with Gus, the hair color genius and his assistant Wyatt, with Elena delivering my first pedicure and a lovely French manicure. Upon first glance, Gus suggested we do some fun highlights and brighten my brunette locks, which I thought was fine, but when he came back (after conversing with my husband), he was sure, "I NEED to make you a red!" I was excited to try it - hey, go big, right?! After coloring, tinting, and painting, Louis Licari Red toe nails, a French manicure, and colored eyebrows, and I felt like a whole new woman!
Next, they ushered me to our lobby area where I grabbed a quick sandwich. Vera came to take me to her room. Vera gave the facial portion of the day - another first for me. I had a few feelings of discomfort when she closed the door and had me disrobe, mainly because no one explained what was happening in this phase, and also in part, that Vera crooned in something like Russian the entire time. She put plastic on my face, hot towels, and after a few minutes of upper back, shoulder, and decolette massage, she proceeded to remove blackheads from my skin. Yes, doesn't that sound lovely? I am not exactly sure how she did this, except that I think she pricked them with a needle of sorts, then used her fingers and called to them one at a time - yes, she talked to them. Vera was lovely, and amusing, and caring. It was at times relaxing, and at times, very, how shall I say, ... surprising.
Lena came to whisk me off for a hair cut and style. She did a fantastic cut and style, and took me downstairs to Enid O's cosmetic counter, and so very graciously agreed to use the Mary Kay colors I brought with me! She did a wonderful job, and I loved visiting with Lena about different colors and techniques!
At this point, we were "all dolled up" and we did a reveal to each other. Kristi and Dawny looked beautiful, and we each felt like a million bucks! More photos, more video - so glad there were "after" photos, as they took several "before" and "during" throughout the day. Saying our goodbyes, we loaded into the elevators, and back out into the street for some more traffic-dodging photo-ops, and we dove back into the limo, off to Lord & Taylor!
At Lord & Taylor, each of the winners had a personal shopping consultant, which is something I was REALLY anticipating, and I feel I was very blessed with Martine! As we tried on lots of clothes, pausing for more video footage and photo moments in the "good" outfits, it was good to feel a growing sense of what were the "wowee" ones, and the "never, take it back off" ones! I have such a poor sense of that, and it was really great to have help developing that in myself! I was very pleased to purchase a suit, a dress, a fun skirt, a set of capris, and several tops that mix and match between the outfits, for 11 different combinations! I was the winner of the "contestant closest to the retail value of the prize without going over" award, and while we didn't even get near the shoe department, I found a pair of those upon arriving home that are fantastic with a few of the outfits! It was fun to come out for a "reveal" for David, as he had left us during the end of our time at Louis Licari to visit the TKTS stand in Times Square and was not around for the clothes parade. The "entourage" asked us to each put on one outfit for our final "after" photos. The original plan was to take these in front of some NYC landmarks, but due to time and the rain, we forfeited that plan, and used the fabulous lighting inside Lord & Taylor for some great photo moments. One of my favorites was when the old man rear ended his way into our "walk zone" - it was kind of like in a movie when people that are in a hurry have to wait for a herd of sheep or cattle to amble across the lane, and I was chuckling to myself. We did our "power walk" with shopping bags, and got some closeups, said goodbye to most of our entourage, and headed back to the Waldorf-Astoria, in our limo. What a day full of amazingness!
Well, a Sarah Rahija story would not be complete without some lateness and a mishap of the clumsy nature or ten, so here we go! We arrived back at the hotel at 7:10, and our tickets for Million Dollar Quartet that David purchased in the afternoon were for 8:00, and we had to get a cab to get there, plus change clothes and freshen up -- dinner had to wait! We tried to go through the lobby to the elevators, but a private event had us detour to the back of the hotel and the elevators there. We quickly got to our room, dressed, and headed back down to the elevators. We waited nine minutes, and realized that the elevator cars were passing our floor, so we scurried to the other elevators on our floor, found our way to the front, hailed a car, and buckled in for our ride there. The clock said we had eight minutes to curtain. Our driver was really great, and we enjoyed a bit of conversation with him, got into the theater, found our seats, and I decided to take a quick shot of the two of us dressed up in our fantastic garb ... only to be shot down with a "no photography in the theater, ma'am." reminder - oops! We made it with a little time to spare, and as the music started, we settle in for a great show! We knew lots of the songs, and the storyline was good too!
We walked back to our hotel, through the buzzing Times Square - from 12 years ago and THE jumbo-tron to every building aglow with digital advertisements, it was quite ... bright. We stopped by the concierge to get a recommendation on dinner with live jazz, and the man who reminded us both of our friend Steve Knots from ESU, suggested The Garage, down in the Village. I asked what the dress code was, and he smiled, and asked why, I said, well, I don't want to go dressed like this and have it be a jeans and t-shirt type of establishment. He laughed and said, "That's exactly what I try to do everywhere I go, I don't want to be defined by where I eat dinner." We liked him instantly! We told him to make the reservation, and headed out front to grab a taxi. We finally got one, and had a really non-smooth ride to the Village. It was a really fun atmosphere, with a live band, and good food. Two highlights of that excursion: 1. Fried donut ice cream sandwich (an "off the menu" item discovered by the owner while tailgating) 2. The Clumsy Sarah moment ... I was trying to point out what I wanted to the server, and my menu knocked over my ice water. Now, by itself, this would not have been an extreme case, but, we happened to be sitting in a raised area, against the railing, with another table below us, and of course, my drink poured right down the back of a lovely woman sitting there. I am guessing shock and horror graced my face as I turned to look at her. Shock and shock were the emotions on her face. I began apologizing profusely, and thankfully, her shock turned to pity for me, I think, and she shared that she had just taken a job as a waitress for the first time this week, and was just waiting for the moment when she dumped a drink on someone. She was glad it wasn't wine, just water, and laughed. I was so relieved, and felt awful. Our server, gave me the cold look when it first happened, but I think soon also felt sorry for me, and by the end of our meal, was chatting with us about KU Basketball, and recommending the fried donuts. The Rahijas: making friends via strange means wherever they go! A smooth cab ride back to the hotel ended our evening, full of fun experiences and memories!
Sunday morning dawned rainy again ... I think I forgot to mention that it was cold and rainy most of the weekend, except when we were at the salon ... and we packed our room up, and called to have our bags checked for our pickup. The bellman arrived with a lot of advice about the stock market and how we could easily kick the rest of our student loans with a few quick transactions, transferring balances on new credit cards, and wow, I dropped Dave Ramsey's name a few times, hoping he'd check into that! He seemed authentic "New York" and we loved it! We headed out to see The Highline Park, Central Park, the Guggenheim, and snag some I<3NY things for the girls. We grabbed a hotdog from a street vendor - almost tasteless, saw Grey's Papaya and wish we had stopped the night before!, David had some coffee, we ate lunch at the Gaslight Pizzaria in Chelsea, and also ran across America's Top Chef on location, which was kind of fun! Our subway trip from the Highline (where we spotted Lady Liberty through the mist!) was interesting, as on Sundays, the lines run differently, and often sip several stops for their "express" trips. We ended up in Harlem, which was interesting, and we finally got to Central Park. The subway system is really fun, and each station/line seems to be different. The art in them is really fun - especially these strange sculptures of these little "people" doing funny things that are hiding all over the place! It was great to hear the musicians in the terminals, hear some of the scams people are running, and of course, open our backpack at a security check. Everything was really fun, and I'm glad we had a few "off course" moments! We bought candied cashews and almonds at the Guggenheim, and due to time, we didn't go in, but just enjoyed the architecture and the atmosphere of the people! We didn't have time for the carriage ride, but loved watching the joggers, balloons, ... of Central Park. It was just fun to "be" around in the city, walk the streets where the Cosby Show house was, and in some neighborhoods that were just "people" vs tourism. We had to hurry back to Times Square to find some trinkets for the girls, and get back in time to meet our car for the airport. David's "awkward moment" came during our walk back to the hotel ... some "aspiring musicians" were poised in strategic locations and were "giving" away cds, but needed some donations to raise funds for something. David got roped into shelling out cash for two of them, and finally we realized what was going on, and moved to the "inner" part of the sidewalk! On our way back, we spotted a giant yellow teddy bear, and asked what it was ... a large bronze sculpture, purchased by Christie's, was on display - only three made, the other two in Europe. We had to take a picture ... Happy and Hoppy, eat your hearts out! We got back to the hotel to meet our car, and learned he was not coming for another half hour, (of course, we had chatted with the bellmen and found some really interesting things!), and we went to get a drink from the vendor guys. We made it back with plenty of time, and still no car. Later, we learned, that he had been at the front door of the hotel, and had called me several times, but my phone volume had not been working for most of the trip, and I had just failed to recognize it. We rushed off to Laguardia, and hurried inside to the check-in kiosk, only to find we were too late to check our baggage there. A helpful man standing nearby directed us to the "special services" desk, and they were able to check our bag, but couldn't promise it would make it onto the plane. We ran-walked to the security station, to check in and get into the boarding area. David made it through with no problem. I on the other hand, set off the alarm, (forgot I was wearing a belt!). I had to go through again, and we made it to the boarding area before they even started boarding our plane. Whew!
Once on the plane, we traded seats with another passenger, so we could sit together, and were enjoying our flight, until we hit the line of storms ... the line that passed through Joplin, although we of course, were north. It was not a fun ride, and I was so thankful to land in Kansas City, where it was warm and not storming. Our suitcase did indeed make it on the plane, and we called our driver to find the meeting location. One last hiccup, he thought we were arriving on Monday, and was not at the airport. He assured us he could be there in 20 minutes, which was fine, it was just a long day with lots of adrenaline! Tim drove us home while telling us about his weekend with his son who was home on leave from Okinawa. As per usual, we love hearing the life-stories from those around us, and it was a great end of our trip.
We got out of the car at Mom and Dad Rahija's and learned that the girls had played hard all weekend, all had new shoes due to my crazy packing skills, and we decided to let them sleep there that night and just head out early in the morning (Erin still had school Monday and Tuesday). We were so thankful for the weekend away just the two of us, in the city where we first spoke 12 years ago, two weeks before our 10th wedding anniversary. So many helped make this possible, with gifts and time. So to you who voted for me, kept my kids while I packed, kept my kids while we were gone, gave advice on where to go, and are excited to see pictures and be excited with me, THANK YOU. It was the trip of a lifetime, and I will treasure it for many years to come! Here's hoping it's not 10 years until our next "alone" trip!
I'm having some trouble posting pictures other than at the top, so I may have to revisit with more pics later. Until then, there are photos of our weekend on my facebook page, and some also on Progresso's facebook page.
