The Birthday Girl and her Photo Project

I had this plan to get as many people as I could to pose with me for a birthday photo.  I was going to go up to people that I saw wherever I was in New York and proclaim “It’s my birthday, would you take a photo with me?” Well as the saying goes the best laid plans of mice and men, etc.  I had this button made to wear and went out first into the madness that is Times Square and then froze.  There were just too many people (it’s more congested now that so much of the street there is torn up for construction) along with all of the street hustlers who were busy trying to get people to take photos of them in their Minne Mouse, Hello Kitty, Iron Man, etc. costumes for “donations.”  Some of those people were getting a bit more aggressive than I had ever experienced before; one even grabbed me by the wrist asking if I wanted to take a photo with them.  And we saw on the news that one “performer” nearly got into a fight with a tourist because of the amount of the donation given and had to be arrested by the police.  Not a good look for you Times Square.

Starting out in our hotel I got a couple of people to pose with me and then it was out into Times Square.  I managed to get into the Good Morning America crowd and right next to a little girl who was holding up a sign that said it was her birthday.  So my visage made it onto television.  I wished the little girl a happy birthday but neglected to take a photo with her.  Darn!  The over closeness of the crowds made me a little uncomfortable so I didn’t get as many shots in Times Square as I hoped I would.  But wandering off I did get a few photos in with strangers and had a ball in Saks laughing it up with the shoe sales staff (if you know me you saw that one coming).   My present, besides the trip and all, was a pair of shoes which the salesman wrapped up beautifully for me wishing me a happy birthday.  As we walked here and there (according to my FitBit I logged in 20,774 steps that day) many people who saw my button wished me a happy birthday.  So even though the photo project didn’t pan out as planned it was still a wonderful day.

Still wearing my button DH took me to see Les Miserables which was wonderful; if you haven’t seen it do go!  From there we had an after theater nosh at a very good tourist trap called Juniors Most Fabulous Cheesecake and Deserts.  The place was so good that we came back the next day: cheesecakes, Rubens, corned beef sandwiches, chopped liver sandwiches and the cake shake! What is a cake shake? Your choice of cheesecake + milk shake + ton of whipped cream on top with a cherry = Cake Shake.  Oh the goodness! Oh the calories! I didn’t care! I even shared a little with DH.

We had a wonderful server that birthday night.  A young lady from Hawaii who now lives in the New York area.  She was a sweetheart and we hit it off immediately.  She congratulated me on my birthday, talked to us about where to go visit in Hawaii, which airline had the better deals and facilitated a happy birthday moment for me as the clock was approaching midnight.  When my raspberry swirl cheesecake came it came with a group of Juniors servers who sang happy birthday to me; I was beaming.  My whirlwind day ended on a sweet high note.  If you are ever in Junior’s in Times Square I hope you get Kame as your server or at least say hello and that you heard about her from me.  Hi and thanks again, Kame 🙂

(On a side note – this will be the LAST time you will see this many photos of me in one post.  I prefer being behind and not in front of the camera.)

Hilton

Hilton

Times Square

Small Luxury Hotel

Saks

Saks

Imperial Theater Les Miz

Kame at Junior’s

The Cake Shake