TOCK's Zoo

I left in the dark on Saturday morning.

The sun still wasn't out when we pulled away from the gate.

But it was rising by the time we got on the runway and waited for our turn to take off.

As we started our descent into New York City, I could see there was a bit of snow on the ground.

I'm so glad I was on the left side of the plane and could see the city as we flew in.  I just love seeing all of the skyscrapers and how densely populated the city is with buildings on top of buildings on top of buildings.

You can see a stadium with blue seating in the middle of this shot.  That is the main stadium in Flushing Meadows for the tennis US Open.  Todd would LOVE it if we could go to the US Open one year to watch the pros play tennis.

Apparently spitting has been a problem in the past on New York buses.  This was the first leg of my ride out of LaGuardia before I got on the subway.  Finding the right bus and train to the city wasn't bad (although not as easy going back to the airport).

I met Lorelei and Nancy inside Penn Station after wandering around through hallways, departure areas and train tracks.  We finally went up to street level to find each other because it was just an underground maze that I couldn't find my way through from the subway.

Once we met up with Erin, we took a taxi to our hotel on Times Square.  The size of the billboards was overwhelming and the fact that many of them were LCD screens showing videos/commercials was absolutely amazing!  The video billboards were three dimensional and wrapped around corners.

I think more advertising is packed into this one block than in the whole city of Atlanta.

We found ourselves on the big screen!

Look closely, we're in the bottom right waving at ourselves.  You can spot Erin with her bright blue scarf and hat!  Lorelei is to the left of Erin, Nancy to the right and then I'm to the right of Nancy.  :)  We were dorks waving at ourselves, but not alone in our waving. 

Tinsel Trading was the first stop on our map.  This shop was mainly a collection gathered by the owner's grandfather during World War II.  Everything was manufactured in the late 1800s or early 1900s.  Floor-to-ceiling shelves of trim lined the entire wall on the right side, as well as dozens upon dozens of reels of ribbon.  Card catalogs were filled with vintage buttons and beads.

I think Nancy and Lorelei were in heaven in this shop and found so many beautiful things to buy.  I can't wait to see what they make with all of their new found treasures!

All of the trim was arranged by texture and color.

Since I wasn't shopping (I blew what budget I have for the season year on my plane ticket and photography workshop next month in San Diego), I sat down and paged through one of their books on craft projects created from items found in the Tinsel Trading basement.

Tinsel Trading had a ginormous mirror, so Nancy and I snapped a few shots before Lorelei and Erin joined us.

We all had our cameras out to get pics of ourselves.  I think these are the only ones of all four of us together where we are somewhat in focus.  :)

Toho Shoji had a long counter filled with jars of lucite beads.  I'm not big on lucite, but I loved the colors.  I only got a few pics before one of the employees told me to put away my camera.  Bah!

Saturday night, we ate at a wonderful Mexican restaurant.  We didn't know they had two different entrances and ended up walking THROUGH their kitchen to get to the other dining room.  The kitchen staff seemed amused and very friendly as walked through to get to the other side.  Lisa Peters met us for dinner and we had a WONDERFUL evening together.  Here is a pic that Nancy got of all of us.  LOVE!

We ate lunch at the Soup Man restaurant on Sunday afternoon.  This was opened by the Soup Nazi, who was the subject of conversation in several Seinfeld episodes.  He had closed down his original location a few years ago, but recently opened this one.  The soup was divine!  And even though we're all blurry, I love this shot of us together.  :)

Nancy's birthday was on Friday.  I had made a special Mississippi Mud Cake to bring along for the trip, so we pulled it out after lunch and sang while lighting the candles for her.

After the others had exhausted their bead budgets, we found an Anthropologie store near our hotel.  I loved their displays and all of the colors they used (inside and out of the store).  This was the first time I had ever been in one of their stores and can now understand the fascination with their clothing and other products.  I bought a most yummy candle to bring home with me.

We walked down a side street and ran into Radio City Music Hall.

And next to a park that was by a university campus and behind the New York Public Library.  I LOVED this whole line of trees that surrounded the park!

I was sad to say goodbye to my friends at Penn Station at 4 o'clock, but it was a good thing I left as early as I did.  I had a long maze of tunnels and hallways to work my way through inside the station before I finally found my train back to Queens.  Once I got off the subway, I was very confused about how to find my bus back to the airport.  I was lost, walking for blocks upon blocks and sometimes in circles as I searched for the bus stop for my particular bus for over thirty minutes.  I was surrounded by tons of shops and people, but no one spoke English.  There were many middle-Eastern folks, as well as Puerto Ricans and Cubans.  The smell of food was absolutely mouth-watering!  I made it to my gate just as they started boarding.  By the time we pushed away from the gate, the sun was gone.