Sexy Spin! – kandid memories

Monday, July 26th

Happy 13th Anniversary!!!

Unfortunately, it started out a bit rough…Maybe because it was our 13th anniversary…lol. Jared and I got up early to get a head start on the day because we knew we had a lot to fit into the day. We ran down stairs and out to the first bagel vendor on the street for breakfast. We were going back up to our room to finish getting ready and to eat it there and on our way up the elevator between the 4th and 5th floor we got stuck!! 🙁

Not the most favorable way to start our anniversary. Don’t we look so sad and pathetic??? LOL! We took these with Jared’s Blackberry. 😛

I’m fairly claustrophobic but I kept it together pretty well. I had a moment where my eyes welled up and my anxiety almost got the best of me but I tried to be brave. 😛

About 40 minutes into this ordeal the Security Dude Jeff finally found us. He and his crew were yelling to us to find where we were and making sure we were ok. But for some reason, they couldn’t see where we were. We were talking on the emergency phone to the hotel concierge trying to give them a better idea of where we were in the elevator shaft. It was nuts!

Our hero Jeff!!

He eventually found us and as you can see we are ‘between’ floors. They wouldn’t let us just jump off because they were worried that it might decide to move and then we might end up seriously injured. He was able to pry open the doors so we could get some cool fresh air, which helped immensely! It was sooo hot and muggy in there.

They called for the elevator company to come to rescue us and after some investigating, they found that the fuse just totally blew out. We were in there for a good hour before we were able to get out. Once the doors opened on the Mezzanine floor I ran out as fast as I could and I’m guessing the stress, anxiety, and just irritation got to me and I started to bawl. I felt like such a dork!

Jeff was great though, he walked us up to our room up the stairwell and asked if we wanted a room on the lower floor and was trying to do everything he could to get the hotel manager to make it up to us.

We ended up declining the room since we were only going to be there one more night and I didn’t feel like packing everything up. The next morning we spoke to the manager and he wanted to give us a free night for a future stay. However, this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and we weren’t planning on coming back. So we ended up agreeing on a complimentary town car for our return trip to the airport. 🙂

After all, that was settled Jared and I hopped on the City Sights bus and headed to the Empire State Building.

You know..because we hadn’t had enough of elevators that morning! hahahahaha!

Here we are at the top! Well…not the tippy top. You have to pay extra for that and we sorta felt the view was probably next to the same. 😛

If you look closely you can see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. 🙂

The Chrysler Building is so beautiful…especially at night! I think it looks like a jewelry box.

As you line up to go up the elevators to the top of the building they have a photo-op..and it ISN’T an option to pass it up! LOL! The lady was very serious about her job. We figured since we couldn’t skip it we’d make it extra cute….

We left the Empire State Building and walked over to Macy’s. We’d heard they had an old wooden escalator inside and we had to go check it out.

Tada!! Here it is in all it’s glory! OOOOOO….AAAHHHHH!

We finished at Macy’s and walked over to Grand Central Station.

Sometimes I get frustrated with cameras. They just never see what my eye sees. This picture really doesn’t do justice to the beauty of this building.

After admiring Grand Central Station we were starting to get very hungry. We also needed to start making our way over to the 30 Rock Building to see my Boyfriend. 😛

We ended up eating at this amazing Jewish restaurant that we didn’t know was Jewish or that we were the only non-Jewish people eating there..lol!!! I totally forgot to take a picture of it but the name of it was Cafe K. I ordered this life-changing ravioli. It had spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, portabello mushrooms, and tons of ooey gooey cheesy sauce. MMMMMM!!! It makes me sad that I’ll probably never get to have it again! 🙁

However, I was struck enough by these old-school mailboxes and I did take a picture of them…Don’t ask me what my thought process was…

Now that we were well fed…I really ate WAY too much ravioli! We walked over to the 30 rock building to check in for The Jimmy Fallon Show! (GIDDY!!)

I love Jimmy Fallon!! Jared likes him too! 😛

So not only did we get to see Jimmy’s show, Jared was being Mr. Cool while we were waiting to be let into the studio and the Talent Scout Guys saw us and came up to us and started talking with us.

They wanted to know how many people were in our group? They were surprised it was just the two of us I guess because they saw Jared schmoozing with everyone around us. (He was purposely trying to get picked he knew what they were looking for I guess. 🙂 ) Then they asked who got the tickets? We told them Jared had been calling for a month before to make sure we got in. They asked what my favorite bit on the show was? I told them Slow Jammin’ the News with Brian Williams and that we watch EVERY night, and we were here celebrating our anniversary.

So with Jared’s schmoozing, our enthusiasm, and my cute looks (hahaha) they ended up picking me to be one of their guests on the show to play a game. It was a dream come true!!!!!

I signed some waivers, they gave us the rundown about not high jacking Jimmy’s mic. to give shout-outs to Grandma Pearl in Minnesota, and they led us to the studio. It was so weird to see it in person. They do an amazing job of making it look soooo much bigger on TV. It’s very small.

They took us to our assigned seats and told us to relax, ya right..I was shaking like a leaf. They put mics on us which I think the sound guy really LIKES that job when girls are involved. They ran through the bit telling us what they wanted us to do, but wouldn’t tell us what we were going to be playing. The stagehand accidentally said too much though (only cuz I watch EVERY night and he said he was a big wheel so I immediately knew what game we were going to play) the stage manager was mad at him for saying that… LOL! The other two people on with me had no clue and I had to impart my wisdom. 😛

We took our seats again and we waited for everyone else to file in. The warm-up guy was hilarious and so quick-witted. He was great! When it got closer to time the band, The Roots, came strutting in. They are amazing!!! Then it was time for the man of the hour I was pleased as punch to find that he looked just like you would expect him to…but he’s taller. He wasn’t overly made up with gobs of make-up he looked perfect!

He did his monologue and a quick bit called “He said, She said”, then it was our turn. We played a game called “Wheel of Carpet Samples”..it’s a silly game but pretty funny at the same time. If you want to see my National Television Debut click here! 😛

If you are wondering who whistled at my “Sexy Spin” it was Jared of course!! He cracks me up! 🙂 I like to think Jimmy thought it was Sexy too!! Hehehe! When the bit was over I was standing right by Jimmy (like how we are on a first-name basis now..lol) and I HAD to talk to him. So before he walked away to get his ‘touch-up’, I grabbed his arm to get his attention and told him that I love his show and we watch it every night. Then he told me I was such a sweetheart and he squeezed my arm! (giggle) I was totally geeking out but it was so awesome!

It’s weird seeing yourself on TV..I don’t really think I look like that. But perhaps I do! 😀 After we sat back down in our seats they handed us another stack of forms to fill out for winning a cash prize to make sure all the tax stuff gets reported.

Jared and I had such a fantastic and memorable time! It’s one for the memory book for sure!!!

When the show was over we decided to walk around Rockefeller Center and take some pictures of some of the things we see every day on TV.

Well we don’t see this cathedral on TV, but it was right across the street from 30 Rock and it was just gorgeous!

We actually ran into Ken his girlfriend after the show! 🙂

In the winter they clear this place out and turn it into an ice skating rink. 🙂

We found the Arizona flag!

This is the famous Dean & Deluca that you see during the Today Show.

The studio where they film the Today Show.

I love our flag. It’s beautiful. I have a hard time passing up opportunities to take pictures of it.

By this time it was getting late and as apart of our City Sights Tour package we got one Night Tour. We heard seeing New York at night was a must see so we made sure to not miss it. We walked over to the bus stop just in time. 🙂

The first thing we saw was my ‘beauty’ the Chrysler Building…

Isn’t she a gem?

Our night tour guide was the best we had had the entire trip. He knew everything about everything. He knew stuff that made you think how in the world does he remember all this?? He was superb!

He was showing us here on his cell phone a picture of the damage left behind after the Empire State Building had a B-25 Bomber crashed into it in 1945. It hit the 79th floor creating a hole in the building eighteen feet wide and twenty feet high. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver was injured and rescuers took the weakened elevator not knowing of its compromised state. She survived a plunge of 75 stories, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall recorded.