Well holy cow...what a week I just had!
Last Monday, Erika and I flew to New York City where I was on the Today show on Tuesday morning. But let's start from the beginning...
...awhile ago, Erika told me that if I ever got the chance to do any sort of cooking in NYC, she wanted to come with me. She had never been and I thought it was SO SWEET that she wanted to come with me. Fast forward to the very beginning of February and Today reached out and asked if I wanted to cook with Kathie Lee and Hoda on April 5. (I couldn't say "heck yeah!" fast enough!) I called Erika and she said she was in. Tab and Andrew held down the forts at home and we took off for a little girls trip in the Big Apple.
Erika and I both took pics from our week and are blogging them today and tomorrow. We tried to take pics of different things so that our blogs wouldn't be redundant...but some stuff will probably repeat a tad. You can read her recap here today. And if you missed my segment on Today, you can catch that here :).
So, here we go. Two girls, very, very, very cold weather, over 20 miles walked, two shows, amazing food and of course, Kathie Lee and Hoda. A-mazing.
I hate to start the post with a "you need this top" caption...but YOU NEED THIS TOP. Okay, you know how I love those Lush tops...well this one is more like a linen and less like a silk/polyester and it DOESN'T WRINKLE. Friends, I wore this on the plane for 3.5 hours and in the rain and it looked perfect. I loved it so much that I came home and ordered it in a second color. #noshame #ilikeawrinklefreeshirt The top comes in 7 colors. I want them all. (And I'm wearing one of my favorite camis underneath it...the ones I wear every.single.day.)
So...Erika and I got up Monday morning and flew to NYC. I have no pictures...hopefully, she does on her blog. We arrived and it was pouring rain and FREEZING. Like legit freezing. We dropped off our bags, added some layers, grabbed our umbrellas and ran across the street from our hotel (The Millennium Broadway) to get a bite to eat. We ate wraps upstairs at this cute little deli and then headed back across the street to the hotel to get into a car and head up to 30 Rock.
At 4:00, I had an appointment with the foodies there at Today and the segment producer to go over my stuff and make sure I was happy/not missing things/comfortable. Here I am...soaking wet and happy as can be!
Show prep, show prep, show prep.
After this, Erika and I walked 5 blocks in the rain to Dry Bar! Woohoo!
Our "before" selfie.
After Dry Bar fixed us up, we walked a block over for dinner at Nobu.
Here we are with fresh hair at Nobu! Friends, this dinner was divine! We had lobster tacos, yellowtail fish with jalapenos, shrimp and the best black cod I've ever tasted (it melted in my mouth). We rounded things out with their light coconut cake. Oh. My. Deliciousness!
After this, it was still raining, so we got us an Uber ride and headed back to the hotel for some sleep.
The next morning, I opened my eyes and look what I was able to see from my bed...
...the Empire State Building! The day before had been so cloudy and rainy that I couldn't see it...but on this day, it was bright, sunny and FREEZING. Erika and I kept laughing because we watched their local news and then Today as we were getting ready and the weathermen kept saying "wind chill of 12", "bring a blanket on the subway", "don't go out unless you have to", "this feels like February", "record breaking temps". What are the odds? At least it stopped raining though!
Now, Today said they would do my hair and makeup or touch up...my choice. I decided to have my hair and makeup done in our room and then let Today touch up once I arrived (that way, we didn't have to hurry). I had read about Glam Squad in Instyle magazine, so I downloaded the app a few weeks ago and booked a hair and makeup appointment. Right at 7:30, two angels appeared and glammed me up for my big day. I was a little nervous using them (because I didn't know anyone who had used them before)...but figured if it all went wrong, I could politely ask the people at Today to fix it. However, it all went right! I loved Glam Squad :).
Sheaffer texted us and wanted selfies. This is me showing Sheaffer my hair and makeup in our room :).
And another pic of the back of my hair for Sheaffer too :). It was Sheaffer's BIRTHDAY on this day too. Love that friend of mine!
At 9:00, Today sent a car to pick us up and take us to the studio. So cool!
Here I am hanging out in the greenroom at Today with all of the guests.
At this point, I stepped in the back so they could touch up my makeup just a bit and when I came back out, Erika was kind of freaking out. She whispered, "there's a Manzo over there" and sure enough, it was Chris Manzo from The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Y'all...we fan girled.
Big time.
Not only are we both Real Housewives junkies...but any true Real Housewives fan will tell you that the Manzos are legendary. They are this amazing family and they kind of beat the odds of crazy reality TV people...they always appear so sweet, genuine and down to earth...so we tested that theory and went over to him...
...and we were right. He was SO NICE! He was like super, super friendly, funny and thought it was cute that we both wanted to join his family.
Around 9:45, I headed upstairs to check out the kitchen area of Today and look who I ran into in the hallway...
...Willie Geist! Talk about someone who was nice. He was so nice! The food prep people had been roasting garlic and cooking bacon all morning for my recipe, so the studio smelled amazing. Willie was so sweet, told me he was now craving pasta for breakfast and left with my cookbooks. Win.
Speaking of win...
...we were standing outside of Al Roker's dressing room...at one point, Erika was halfway in it and he had to politely ask her to move so he could go do the weather hahaha! When he came back from the weather, he introduced himself to me and asked me a million questions about me. Where was I from? How many kids did I have? How old were they? What the heck was I making that smelled so good? Can I have a copy of your books? I mean...my heart forever belongs to Al Roker. He could not have been sweeter and more genuine.
And then Kathie Lee and Hoda's hour started and I positioned myself in the kitchen...
...because I knew I was going to be wearing a Today apron, I kept things simple underneath...I wore a shirt from Anthropologie that's like two years old, white jeans and wedges. And pink earrings, of course :).
And then, I met Kathie Lee and Hoda.
I love them.
They came in before my segment and started chatting, then would run off and do a segment and then come back and chat some more. Here are some pics that Erika took while we were chatting in-between segments and/or taping...
Y'all...these ladies are just as nice as you would expect them to be. They also asked me a million questions about myself, they were outrageously funny and so genuine. They hugged me, they thanked me, they were unbelievable gracious to me.
As we were leaving, Kathie Lee was leaving too and...she had a big plastic container of my leftover pasta. How fabulous is that?!
The entire experience was such a blessing.
So...what do you do after that high? Well, you go back to your hotel room, add on about 4 layers and head out for the rest of the day. The best part about being Erika's tour guide around NYC is that she said she didn't want to see one famous monument or historical site...she wanted to see where famous people live, eat and hang out. Girl, that's my kind of vacation!
Since we only had a few hours, we spent the rest of the day uptown. First stop, lunch at Sarabeth's!
A girl needs a lobster roll, coleslaw and homemade chips after surviving her first Today show experience.
It was FREEZING! But candy from Dylan's Candy Bar warmed us up (or at least we told ourselves that!).
Just two weirdos standing in front of Kelly Ripa's house. I fully expect restraining orders in the mail any day now from a handful of famous people. Erika wanted to see where famous people live...what was I supposed to do? #showedherallthefamouspeoplehouses
Freezing cold but we walked and walked and walked...
Hey there Central Park. Don't mind if we cut through on our way to the Upper West Side.
Where they filmed a scene out of You've Got Mail.
Okay, so we walked and walked and walked (8 miles to be exact...thank you Apple watch) through the Upper East and West Sides, grabbed coffee as we went, stopped and went through a store or two, saw some famous celebrity/movie/entertainment sites and then walked back down to Midtown.
Time Square :)
We had theater tickets at 7:00, which meant dinner reservations were at 5:00.
Warning...two stupid girls to follow...
You see, we weren't prepared for Arctic temps, so we thought we could still wear our dresses to dinner and the theater. Thus, we put them on (along with heels) and headed out in the 20 degree weather. #stupid
I'm smiling because I haven't been outside yet. I'm almost crying five minutes from here because I'm so darn COLD!
(And pssst...I'm in love with my green dress!) It also comes in 10 other colors here. Love, love, love it!
We had an amazing steak dinner at The Strip House. The creamed spinach was life changing. The restaurant was a nice spot for us to thaw out after being outside in our dresses in the weather. We were laughing as we were walking to the restaurant because everyone else was dressed appropriately outside (boots, coats, hats, scarves...lots and lots of layers!) and we looked ridiculous. Cute...but ridiculous :).
And then, we headed to see Wicked! We picked two shows that neither of us had seen before, so Wicked it was on the first night. Spectacular show!
Whew! That was Days 1 & 2. Tomorrow, we finish off our trip.
Don't forget, you can see Erika's post about these two days here on her blog.
And one last thing...
...Meal Planning Monday is today!
Five yummy suppers your family will LOVE (like this Lemon Poppy Seed Baked Chicken)! I have the simple recipes here.
And on Wednesday is our first linkup for this...
Wednesday's topic is: What three things would you bring to a deserted island from your medicine cabinet?
Blog and link up Wednesday!
xoxo