I ♥ NY...Joni Edition

Many months ago, one of my besties, Joni, said she and a friend were planning a girls get-away to NYC, and would I like to come?

I didn't have any concept of what life in October would hold back then, so I couldn't really commit. Obviously, get-aways with besties are high on my Love To Do list, but there's that niggling matter called I'm A MoM that I have to balance.

But finally Doc's schedule for this month was figured out, and happily, it turned out that I would be able to get away.

I flew to NYC and arrived at the swanky diggs Joni had booked for us at the Waldorf=Astoria. Ohh Laa Laa! Actually, as impressive and historic as this hotel is, we were slightly underwhelmed by our experience with it (although I should note that there is actually an exclusive, elusive, secret hotel-within-the-hotel located on the upper floors which is purported to be quite the luxury experience). There are a lot of other, smaller, less-known hotels that offer nicer rooms, better service, comparable prices, and less-crowded conditions for anyone interested in staying in the city.

That night, Joni, her friend Amy, and I split from the other ladies and had a diner dinner (meh), and enjoyed a gorgeous evening walk to Serendipity III, which I'd never heard of but which I fell in love with. (Joni, Amy & Blue waiting for our delishUSness to arrive)

(another note: me not hearing of something has NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING to do with said thing's standing, reputation, popularity, or public image. I'd never heard of the Waldorf=Astoria either, before my uncle told me about it.)

What's not to love about a place that creates magical desserts?
(Joni after we'd made a dent in our desserts. OhSoDelish!)

Walking back to the W=A, we passed the Kimberly Hotel. The doormen were so charming, offering to take a photo of us in their "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" style car out front.

After a few minutes of their friendly banter, we ended up taking a tour of the place, and were VERY impressed with it. During said tour, aforementioned doormen put together thoughtful gift bags for us, which they handed us as we departed. Talk about class act! The W.=A. could take a page from the Kimberly's book.

Day2 of Joni-Time was chock full of shopping. Here is where things got interesting. Now I'd heard about the knock-off brand name purse industry before. And I'd seen the vendors on the sidewalks hawking their wares. I'd erroneously assumed that this is what people were talking about. But I was wrong.

So we five women took a cab to Canal Street in China town.

I'm guessing we had tourists with money written all over us, because it didn't take long for us to be approached by a "scout" whose job seemed to be to find tourists like us who are looking for the goods. Through a series of gestures and halted English, information was conveyed that some among us were looking for purses.

A few minutes later we were in a small shop that had tee shirts, purfume and other miscellaneous items lining a wall. It was a small shop, and I was standing near the doorway sniffing Magnetism purfume because I've always been drawn to it (seems whenever I bother to ask someone what they're wearing, it's always Magnetism. Clearly it works.) while the other four ladies were a few feet back in the shop. After a moment, I look up and they aren't there.

It's a small rectangle of a store, no doors, no aisles. They hadn't passed me and left. "Where are my friends?" I asked the guy showing me purfume.

"What friends?" he says back.

"The ladies I came in here with."

"You no come in with anyone." he tells me.

"No seriously, where are my friends?"

Another worker joins in with the guy "they left."

"How did they get past me without me seeing them (remember, I'm standing by the exit)

They teased me for a few moments like this, till one of them finally says "You want to go with your friends?"

"Yes, I do", I tell him.

"Okay, come here."

He leads me over to a little spot near some sweatshirts, tells me to be quiet and wait. I'm standing there feeling like an idiot, while the workers, with their cell phones and secrets do their thing, and suddenly the wall opens up to reveal an unfinished, dank wooden stairway leading down into darkness.

"GO!" the shop employee urges me

"In there?!" I replied, thinking I must be crazy if I'm considering it.

"QUICK, hurry! GO" they urged me.

So casting reason aside, I stepped down into the darkness, and the door shut behind me.

It turned out it wasn't pitch black. Once the door shut, I could see a faint light coming from around the bend. I got to the bottom of the stairs and moved my way towards the light....which turned out to be The Purse & Bag Room.

A finished, well-lit, very stocked room full of purses and bags from all different companies. Coach, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Channel, etc. I don't know if they were fakes or stolen...but the secrecy surrounding this room was complete.Happily, my friends were all there, as well as several other customers and a savvy Asian woman doing the deals.

We stayed for a while, while everyone shopped and bartered for better prices. Then when we were done, we had to wait till they cleared us for departure. I'm sure it was the tower at La Guardia who gave the go-ahead. This was the first of three such secret shops we visited that day. We attempted to return to shop number two after one in the group decided that she did want a bag she hadn't purchased while we were there, but when we got back to that part of town our unofficial guide informed us that it was "closed". Suddenly. Apparently raids are common.

I don't the difference between the vendors out in the open on the street and these secret, basement dungeons, and what all the hush hush low-down is about, but it was certainly not what I expected for our morning of shopping.

Joni and I split up from the other ladies and she treated me to an sumptuous dinner at Tavern on the Green that night, which is a historic, beautiful restaurant in Central Park filled with Tiffany lamps and elegance.


Our last day together was more shopping till you're dropping, because let me tell you, these women are doing their mightiest to pull our economy out of a recession. You can send your thanks to me and I will forward them to the appropriate parties.

And then, before you can say "New York Minute", the sad moment arrived when Joni and I had to say goodbye, and she spent her last night there visiting her cousins. I'm not too overwhelmed with grief because next week is her birthday and I'm going to fly her gift out to her to ensure it gets there in one piece...so after that I'll be sad about our good-bye.

The rest of my time away was filled with more wonderful experiences, but this post is longer than the checkin line at the Waldorf already...so tune in next time for news about the rest of my trip.

Grateful for:
1) New experiences
2) Cherished friendships
3) That we got out of Chinatown alive ;-)
♥