Codegirl had this bright idea to go in to the Marriot Marquis to a luncheon for 'working women'. I am not the Gloria Steinem....NOW type, but I am up for a day off of work & trapsing around the city for a lunch & lecture. And I enjoy adventures with Codegirl. She is hysterical on a regular basis so I wanted to see her in action in the city.
We met up at her house at 9:30ish and she wanted to drive in. I have driven with her before and usually she is pretty good. But--put her in the city & it's a whole other story. The cab drivers have got NOTHING on her. I saw my short life pass before my eyes a few times.
We managed to make it into Midtown without too many close calls and found AMAZING parking. Right across from the Marquis. For $20 for the day. Seriously? It must have been marked wrong but who cares?
We went inside & called her sister, Jerseygirl. She came in for the luncheon & shopping, too. I have met her before & we hit it off immediately. The three of us headed up to the 6th floor to sign in and get our goody bag. That really is the only reason to attend some of these events....the food & the goody bag. In the bag was a package of 100-calorie bagels, mints, perugina chocolate, a notepad, a coupon to test drive a Lexus &, if you do, you get a $100 amex card. I have to remember to sign up & go do that.
There were over 40 tables with ten people at each one. Pretty crowded and yet it didn't feel that way. We sat & they began the program immediately by bringing out the host & the quicky introduced Katie Couric, the guest speaker. I am not a Katie fan. However, she took me by surprise. She was witty, sarcastic, and very into anecdotes. I was torn between my chicken & risotto and listening to her. I am still not a fan, but I have a whole new sense of respect for her.
The program ended promptly at 12:00 and we went out & mingled some more. We then decided that we wanted to check out the revolving lounge that they have on the 43rd floor and it didn't open until 5:30--that meant killing time in the area. Easy to do on a dry day in the proper attire. Not so easy to do in business attire, heels, and rain. But we came up with a plan.
We took a cab to Sax 5th Ave. and did some shoe shopping. Well, Codegirl & I browsed while Jerseygirl shopped. She bought an adorable pair of Burberry galoshes. She immediately put them on because her cute shoes were hindering her ability to walk. Ah! Another woman willing to suffer for fashion just like me.
We got tired of that and headed back out on to the street. Where the rain had picked up. We wandered a bit further up (10 blocks to be exact) and found the Disney Store. It was raining, we had no umbrellas, and my shoes didn't want to go further. So we popped in. And found out that it was the release party for the Broadway show "The Little Mermaid". They had the leads for Ariel, Sebastian, and Ursula there singing the songs. It turns out that the three of us are HUGE fans of 'TLM' (ooh! I just realized that my initials and my fave disney movie are identical!) and wanted to stay and listen. We also stuck around for the q&a but decided to skip the signing portion and see if we could get a cab (in the rain mind you) back to the Marquis. We walked a few blocks before Codegirl could hail one & had it take us back to where we began our day.
We were hungry, wet, and tired and figured it'd be easier to eat at the hotel. So we went up to the 8th floor and ate at one of their diner-type places. We laughed & talked more & Codegirl began grilling me about every aspect of my life. Her sister joined in and I kept laughing & telling them to stop interrogating me. They'd laugh to and go right back to it.
We laughed a lot & waited until 6:00 to take the quick ride up to the 48h floor to -----Tada! --- The View Lounge. I was so giddy, I could barely contain myself.
We were seated & ordered. I had a caribbean rum hot chocolate. It was three types of liquor, hot chocolate, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and coconut shavings. Delicious & delirium. That's how I describe it. It was so pretty, so tranquil, and so romantic up there. Making me pine away for a guy who'd want to go and spend an evening doing something like that with me. The view? Loved it! I want to inquire about moving in up there for a week. That's all I want. Just a week. You know, like the guy who moved into Ikea? I want to go and say up there all day. And watch the city go by. Too cool.
It was well after 8 when we began our trek home. Oh no...........more zany driving a-la Codegirl. I was scared but too tired to hang on for dear life. I finally rolled in close to 10. The plans are in the works for the next luncheon. I don't know why I have to state the obvious. Who wouldn't want to do this all over again?
