Mother/Daughter NYC Trip, Day Two

Friday morning, we woke up around 8:00 and Mom was craving breakfast. We did a little research and ended up at Ellen’s Stardust Diner. The food was standard breakfast fare, and certainly no more expensive than what I pay at Café Brazil in Dallas, and most definitely better than what I had at Café Rouge a couple weeks ago in London. However, the real treat at Ellen’s Stardust Diner was the entertainment.

All the waiters and waitresses are most likely aspiring Broadway stars, and they sing while waiting on you. These guys and girls are truly talented, singing a myriad of oldies that everyone can enjoy. I figured this place would be a bit of a cliché and not worth its salt, but the singers were truly talented and made for a fun morning.

After breakfast, we set off for some serious shopping at Bloomingdale’s. We started on the top floor and worked our way down. I found two Ralph Lauren dresses in stock for $70 each, and the sales girl located another one I wanted in my size and offered to have it shipped to my house. Mom ended up with approximately $2000 worth of clothes for less than $300. No lie. With all the discounts, coupons, and sales, she saved a TON of money. Why can’t I ever find deals like that? Mom and I were both excited, because we were able to buy things in smaller sizes. Our weight loss is paying off. Mom also decided to get a makeover at YSL, since I let her try some of my products and she LOVED them. We spent a couple hours there and decided to take a cab back, instead of lugging our purchases through the streets.

After dropping everything off at the hotel, we headed downtown to Anbar Shoes. This place is incredible. They sell overstocks and last season’s shoes at a marked down price that continues to go down every 15 days or so. They had a pair of $700 Manolo’s for $249. I bought a pair of Lily Pulitzer shoes for spring for $125. The store is divided up by color, and prices range from $29-299. I saw several shoes that I would have loved to take home with me. I settled for the Lilys though, because they will go with so many things I already own and they will be great all spring and summer.

It was nearing 5:00 when we headed back uptown, so I suggested we go ahead and do dinner and beat the pre-theater crowds. We ended up at John’s Pizzeria, one of our favorite restaurants in the theater district. Within 30 minutes, there was a line out the door and starting to head down the block. It was just as good as always though.

We headed back to the hotel to get ready and stopped by the Center Stage Bar in the hotel to have a drink before heading down to the Nederlander Theater to see Guys and Dolls. The drinks were EXCELLENT, but very pricy at $14.00 each. The bar is in the middle of the hotel lobby, so it’s not really an intimate place, but it did the job. At 7:30, we headed towards the Nederlander, arriving in time for the show, but not so early that we had to wait in line.

Guys and Dolls was a fun show, though admittedly, it didn’t seem like it was ready to open. Both Oliver Platt and Lauren Graham looked a little lost on stage at times. THAT BEING SAID, Lauren Graham is BRILLIANT as Adelaide, and the show was really well done. I know a few people haven’t liked it, and it got trashed by the critics, but it’s a new spin on an old classic. The audience LOVED it, especially during Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat. I’ve never seen such enthusiasm from the crowd as there was during the curtain call. This is not an audience who hated the show, proving that critics don’t always know what they are talking about. It just goes to show that we don’t need the sex, violence, and language to have a good show. It’s a fun show – see it with a discount, they’re readily available on Broadwaybox.com.

After the show, my mom and I hung out at the stage door in hopes of getting Lauren Graham’s autograph. We did! She and Kate Jennings Grant were both very personable and signed autographs for awhile. Oliver Platt didn’t stay as long, but he did sign a few. We were so excited about getting Lauren Graham’s autograph – we absolutely love her on Gilmore Girls.

Not a bad Friday the 13th for us!