big city christmas

We had planned to go in to NYC one weekend in December to savor the Christmas traditions of New York. We scheduled this particular weekend because we wanted to catch a concert on Friday night, spend the night in the city, and see the sights on Saturday. Unfortunately, work and train schedules prevented us from making it in on Friday night, but I'll still put in a plug for the artist, Britten Newbill, because I like to encourage the new guys. Available on itunes December 15th.

We didn't let a little traffic get in the way of our weekend, though. We just set out on Saturday morning instead. It just so happens that a certain Pioneer Woman, who's blog I enjoy, was doing a tour to promote her new cookbook and was doing a signing in NYC this weekend. She had already been to Oklahoma City and my dear mom had managed to get a cookbook signed for me already, so I didn't need to buy one . . . I just wanted to catch a glimpse of her.

On the train I tried to share with Matt why I found Ree's blog so appealing, reading him funny parts of her stories . . . he thought it was funny and took a picture of me trying to psych him up for the experience.

She was supposed to be in a bookstore at Chelsea Market at 11:00. I like Chelsea Market a lot, it's full of cute boutique stores and bakeries and flower shops and a book store . . . what's not to love? Bonus: it's all indoor and WARM. It looks artsy and extremely aesthetically pleasing on an average day, but even more enchanting for the holidays.

We got to the bookstore before 11:00 and saw this line outside the door and winding around the corner. Yikes!
But, my husband is sensible, and led us right into the near-empty bookstore. We browsed inconspicuously for a few minutes while I eavesdropped on the owner and Ree's agent discussing her signing the night before at Columbus Circle and when she would arrive today. Then we meandered towards the back of the store and saw a table laden with cookbooks stationed in front of the children's books section. Perfect. I planted myself next to the Eric Carle shelf and read The Hungry Caterpillar, one eye trained on the door.

And within a few minutes, Ree arrived, slid into her chair, and started chatting and signing away. I tried to play it cool and snap some inconspicuous photos from behind.

Inconspicuous, as I said. Hat hair, anyone? Oh, boy.

We got a little more daring and Matt went around to the front of the table.

It's almost as if we're standing next to each other!

I was having fun listening as Ree talked to the endless line of fans loaded with cookbooks and post-it notes with comments to copy into the front cover. After a bit, Matt urged me to just jump in line and say hi to her, tell her I like her stuff, whatever. I, being a rule-follower, protested that would be unfair, and I didn't have a cookbook to sign, and no, what would I say? We happened to have this conversation in front of the line-patroling security guard, who also encouraged me to jump in and just say hi. Well, I don't like to argue with the security guard, so I obliged. I realized that this was a perfect Christmas gift opportunity, and dictated my message to the post-it note lady. Then there was no one ahead of me, and I shyly presented my cookbook for signing.

Hi I really like your blog and I have one too and it used to be about Africa and you might think it still is from the title, but it's really not, it's just about me and my husband and our little life but I like reading about your life and looking at your pictures and I really admire you for homeschooling and I'm kind of from Oklahoma, too, and I make a lot of your recipes and my friend Kelly told me about you and I told my friends Kerry, Lori, and Jenna and they all read you too and so does my mom and gee I like your hair and I really tried to win a mixer several times from your site. Gawrsh.

No, just kidding. I didn't say any of that stuff. I just pointed out Matt as my "Marlboro Man" and he told her how much he enjoyed her "squash boats," which is not the actual term for her baked acorn squash that I may have prepared one too many times, but that Matt kindly tolerates and even pretends to like. She was nice, although I'm not sure she recognized "squash boats" as one of her own creations.

It was over in a jiffy and we were back into the cold. I might have been a teeny giddy after it was over.

Thank you, Matt, for taking me to see Pioneer Woman.

Other activities on this trip . . . we visited a crazy flea market full of the most random assortment of items . . . we saw one lady plunk down $450 for a ring, no questions asked. How she knew that one was worth $450 amidst the piles of old jewelry everywhere, I have no idea. There were several albums and boxes of old family pictures that just made me sad, somebody's history thrown in a corner of a stall in a converted parking garage. I'd like come back for some antique Christmas ornaments someday but the sheer volume was a little intimidating on this trip, and we left empty handed.

We met Matt's friend John Black for lunch and caught the last half of the UK-IU game (Cats 10-0), and dropped our stuff off at his apartment, and introduced him to Pioneer Woman's website. We hit up a Christmas market in Union Square, some shopping on 5th Ave, and swung around to Rockefeller to see the tree all lit up.

Oh my goodness, it was crowded with holiday shoppers! For our evening entertainment, we decided to head over to Juliard. We were directed to a line for a show of ???, what, we did not know. But it was Juliard, so it should be good, right? Tickets turned out to be free, and we found ourselves watching a showcase performance of the four dance classes. The dancing was, of course, phenomenal, even though some of the plot lines escaped me.

Pizza dinner. YUM. We finally crashed at John Black's apartment to prop up our sore little feet and sleep soundly until the next morning. JB is a worship leader at a church in Gramercy.

I enjoyed the service and the tunes. Kids singing Christmas carols - it gets me every time.

I also really enjoy drinking my morning coffee during the message. But really, it was solid, and you should check it out sometime.

After that, it was home again, to our rainy house, which has started to sprout water in places it shouldn't. Busy next couple of days - I fly out Wednesday morning to Chicago for Erin's wedding! So seasonal duties/cleaning/packing/fridge stocking to be done. Just a little holiday rush!

Merry Christmas!