Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Brilliant Plan, Except the Part Where I Wore Heels in NYC

Brilliant plans are often a collaborative effort. Ours began with a realization. Several months ago I was reading about a friend going to see Wicked. I thought it sounded like fun and left it at that, until one day it hit me that, living only a couple hours from Broadway, there really wasn’t anything keeping me from going. All I needed was a reason to be in NYC without kids.

(A side note/paragraph: in most things pop culture I am an idiot. I wanted to see this play simply because everyone kept saying how good it was. I went into it having never heard any of the music and knowing only the vaguest of plotlines, which mostly came from reading the first part of the book before I put it down because it was so filthy. I apologize for this shocking revelation, continue with the story.)

The second part to our plan came only a couple days later when Peter called me with a suggestion. His company had planned 2 recruiting dinners in NYC on my birthday and the following night. Since he has to attend a couple dinners every year, why not fly my mom out to watch the kids and make it an extended date/birthday present. Desire to be in NYC kids free plus a reasonable excuse to do so (with the bonus that Wicked has matinees on Wednesdays) meant the birth of a workable plan.

When I mentioned our idea to a couple of friends, they graciously offered to split my kids between them and save us my mom’s airfare for another day. I decided to cut my stay by a night, go to only one of the dinners, the matinee the next day, and then go home. It was a perfect plan.

(Another side note: it turns out that my sister already had tickets to fly out to visit my mom that week so she wouldn’t have been able to fly out to watch my kids anyway. So don’t feel gypped Mom!)

The weekend before my birthday I began to wonder what exactly one would wear to Broadway (and to a professional recruiting dinner). Can you believe that business casual does not make up a large part of my wardrobe? Then I remembered that it this was all my birthday present so I went shopping. Sometime during the shopping spree I decided it would be fun to try the whole jeans with high heels look. A new pair of jeans and shoes were added to list.

So the kids were successfully handed off to friends, the dinner was kind of fun, I like my new outfits, and my very first Broadway play was fantastic!! It was great to have some time alone with Peter and just talk. The only flaw was deciding to wear heels when I know our favorite thing to do in any city is walk around. Aimlessly. For hours. For miles. My feet are less than happy (turns out the prefer comfort over style). But every silver lining has to have a cloud, right?

Extra thanks to my friends for watching the kids- that deserves (and will get) a post in itself! As does the adventures of walking around NYC for a day and a half. As does the conversation at a dinner table full of emergency room doctors.

22 comments:

  1. Sounds like fun (except the sore feet)! I remember the style when we lived in NY was to wear sneakers without socks. Always seemed odd - until I realized how much walking was involved in the city (and how hot is in the summer).

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  2. Boy that Kim...ruining all kinds of plans. We were going to fly mom up here to help Brenda while she has been having all this morning sickness. So Kim next time you plan a trip far in advance you should thing of the rest of us last minute people and forgo your trip.

    Sounds like you had fun, Brenda would love to go and see a broadway show some day.

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  3. Walking through unknown cities is way fun. I used to do it near downtown SLC. El Paso doesn't have much of a downtown though, so it sucks to do it here.

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  4. Claudia- I don't think I could take sneakers without socks. I even bought these weird no-show things to wear with Sunday shoes when I don't wear hose. I have a post I'm working on about all the foot fashion I saw while I was there.

    Bryan- I know. Planning ahead is so overrated!

    Heather- It was so wonderful. I liked it even better because Peter's work paid for the hotel (which is expensive in Manhattan).

    Gordon- seriously that is what Peter does on all his trips. Sometimes he accidentally walks to the wrong part of towns, but he always manages to survive!

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  5. That sounds like it was a fun birthday, minus the high heels. But I bet it was worth it. Was the play good? I've heard the book was less than desirable and that the play was much better (and different) from the book.

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  6. I am so glad that you had fun! I'm sorry that your feet hurt but I'm sure you looked fabulous and felt carefree walking the streets of the city with only one other person that didn't require a leash to keep track of him. A jaunt in the city is a must from time to time.

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  7. I don't wear heels myself, between how much they hurt my feet and how much my hips hurt from the extra sway. I'm all about comfort. :)

    Emma, I sometimes think a toddler would be easier to keep track of than a husband, because you CAN put a leash on a toddler (or park him/her in the shopping cart). :)

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  9. Jamie- The book talked about nothing but s*x, but the play didn't. I really enjoyed the story and the creative twists in the Wizard of Oz tale.

    emma jo- Yes I realized a lot of my stress about going into the city involved the kids wandering off.

    felixandava- I'm an oddball that loves high heels. Haven't worn them other than church for a long time. When I started walking I did it on tiptoe so heels were a natural choice. (And love the comment about keeping track of husbands vs. toddlers!)

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  10. Sounds like a perfect birthday... I mean besides the heels. I have come to the conclusion that heels are meant for walking from car to chair and possibly for standing momentarily. It has saved my feet hours of pain.

    And LOVE the side notes BTW. ;-)

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  11. I have heard from several people of varying types and tolerance levels, that the book was really vulgar. Too bad that's probably turned people off from the show. Isn't it everything you hoped it would be and more?

    Sorry about your feet, but glad you got to get away!

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  12. I'm thinking about starting a "Help Me Lose My NYC Virginity" charity fund. Thoughts?

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  13. I am so jealous, I would LOVE to see Wicked.

    PS I want to see pics of the new outfit

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  14. Man I missed out on alot of flying and visiting kids. I would have loved to have spent time with Charlottes and Brenda's kids but I really did have fun with kids. I will have to keep you to the some other time.

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  15. Steph- What there needs to be are heels that go in and out, like those wheelie shoes. That would be nice.

    NOBODY- It did turn me off of it for a while until someone assured me it was nothing like the book. It was everything I hoped (and no one threw up on me- did you like how I linked to your awesome barf story?)

    Andrea- sounds like a worthy cause to me!

    Mom at our House- I had every intention of getting pictures of the new outfits, but didn't snap one shot. Maybe I can take them retroactively...

    Tucker Mom- that is what you get for being so popular.

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  16. I'm glad that I got the "Mom" time!! That is funny that she was in such demand! I'm dying to see Wicked. I love the soundtrack and it is on my list of things I really want to do. I'm glad you enjoyed it and that you had a great birthday.

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  17. Kim- It's OK Kim, we don't blame you (except we really do ;)

    The play was great. Elise has listened to the soundtrack nonstop since we got home and now she wants to go see it.

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  18. Happy belated birthday!! That is an awesome way to celebrate. I too want to see wicked for the same reasons so I am glad to hear that it was good. I'm super impressed you walked all over NYC in heels. I can't even make it to church in them.

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  19. 1st Fly your mom out??? Don't you know you have a sister who desperately misses your kids!!!!!
    2nd Where is the picture of your super cool super fly outfit?!?
    3rd I'm SO glad you got to do something fun on your Bday!
    4th I was gonna call but didn't want you to pull out your phone in NYC and then get mugged and killed.
    so 5th HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU OLD LADY YOU!

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  20. You should fly out to Chicago to see a show. Nobody and I could drive out to visit and we could all wear sneakers. Of course, I'd have to look up some gory case studies to discuss over dinner since I hear you're into that.

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  21. Bikmans- Thanks! It was a great play. My feet are still mad at me, but surprisingly no blisters.

    Boyer Family- A sister with a husband who works and 2 kids to take care of already. You should drive up and visit us again.

    I have a post about why there are no pictures. Just wait.

    ucmama- Someday, someday.

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