Over the weekend, my mom visited me in New York. And as we always do when she visits, we went to see a Broadway show! Back in November we tried seeing If/Then starring Idina Menzel. We had amazing seats and were so excited...but five minutes before the show started we found out Idina wasn't there. I'm sure her understudy was great too, but since the main reason we wanted to see the show was because of her, we decided to leave and exchange our tickets for This Is Our Youth starring Michael Cera (which was so good too!) If/Then is about to end its run in about a week, so we knew we had to see it while we still could!
The show centers around Idina Menzel's character Elizabeth and shows how much little decisions can completely change the way your life turns out. After getting divorced and moving back to New York from Phoenix, Elizabeth isn't sure what her next steps in life should be. When she has to choose which of her two friends to hang out with one afternoon, that tiny decision completely changes the path of her life. "Liz" meets a guy and starts a family but doesn't have a career she's really happy with. On the other hand, "Beth" has her dream career but a rocky love life. Scenes switch off between the two characters and we can see how different their lives become.
I had never seen a show or read a book with a similar storyline, and I think it was so creative and original! You find yourself rooting for the two characters at different times, not sure which path is better for Elizabeth since both have their ups and downs. There were a lot of funny parts in the show and really touching parts too, so it was really the perfect variety. And of course, since Idina Menzel was the lead, there were lots of songs! They were fun and catchy, and a lot of the songs switched back and forth between being Liz or Beth, so it was really interesting! I really liked all the songs, and Idina Menzel was amazing live. Although I've heard she can be a bit of a diva, there's no denying she is so talented! The rest of the cast was so great too. Anthony Rapp, who costarred in the Rent Broadway show and movie with Idina, was in the show and really good. And the other stars LaChanze and James Snyder were really impressive too. If you are in New York City and have the opportunity to see If/Then before it ends, you definitely need to go see it!
Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp in the show
To this date, I have seen ten Broadway shows and even though I have liked all of them, If/Then was one of my favourites! I would love to see Idina Menzel in another show someday, and seeing this has gotten me excited to see even more Broadway shows soon. The next ones I'm planning to see...Cabaret starring Emma Stone and The Heidi Chronicles which just started!
My mom and I both loved the show and had an amazing night!
A little over a month ago, I made a big move to New York City. Two weekends ago, my mom came to visit me, and we had such a fun time! We did some shopping, ate a lot of good food, explored, and went to see the show This Is Our Youth on Broadway! She was my first visitor since I arrived in NYC and it was so nice having her here!
She arrived on Friday night just as I was getting out of work, and we decided to hit up a few happy hours! We went to a couple places for drinks, and then found a restaurant called Tony's near Times Square. It's a family-style Italian place and was so good! We got a big serving of spaghetti and meatballs that was delicious!
On Saturday, we did quite a lot of exploring! We started off the day at the Bryant Park Christmas Market. It was so cool and there were so many cute little shops! There was ice skating too, which we didn't do, but it was cool to see. There was a chocolate shop that was giving out samples of chocolate covered almonds that were so delicious! I think I may make a couple detours there after work soon to get some more samples :)
ice skating in Bryant Park
a cute vintage shop in Bryant Park
Next, we did some shopping and walked through Rockefeller Center. We saw the ice skating and we even saw the famous Christmas tree being put up! Then we took the subway up to the Upper West Side/southeast Harlem because that is one of the areas I want to look when I start searching for a new apartment. The area was even nicer than I expected and actually had kind of a Parisian feel to it! There were a bunch of cafes and outdoor fruit/vegetable stands, and the architecture was really pretty. We also saw the Columbia University campus which was amazing! It looked like it was taken out of a painting.
Columbia University
On our walk back to the subway, we came across Tom's Restaurant...aka Monk's Cafe from Seinfeld! Me and my entire family are huge Seinfeld fans, so we were so excited to see this! We had already had lunch a few hours earlier, but we stopped in for some hot chocolate. coffee, and cheesecake. It was delicious and all the other food we saw people eating looked so good too! There was Seinfeld memorabilia all over the walls and some of the waiters even called customers by the Seinfeld characters' names! It was such a cool experience and we definitely want to go back next time my dad is here too because we know he would absolutely love it!
Tom's Restaurant, aka Monk's Cafe!
After our awesome Seinfeld experience, we headed downtown to the Financial District. That is another area where I want to look in my apartment search. I have been to this area a bunch of times, and I already know I love it! We saw the Freedom Tower, went into some shops, and then walked to Soho and Little Italy where we found an amazing restaurant called Bianca's. It was such a cute restaurant and had a great atmosphere! My mom and I both ordered lasagna, and it was probably the best lasagna I've ever had! I definitely want to go back there at some point!
the Freedom Tower
delicious lasagna from Bianca's
Fast forward to day 2 of my mom's visit... we started off the day by heading to Times Square to get discounted broadway tickets! We originally got tickets for the Idina Menzel show If/Then and we were so excited because everyone in the ticket line was raving about it. So we bought our tickets, got lunch, did a little shopping, and headed to the theatre. We found our seats and they were in such a perfect spot! But then, less than 5 minutes before the show was due to start, we heard people complaining near us about how Idina Menzel was sick that day and wasn't going to be performing. A lot of people were leaving and getting their tickets refunded, so we decided to do that too, because Idina was the main reason we had wanted to see the show. We brought our tickets back to the TKTS office in Times Square and got a refund and were able to get tickets for the other show we had really wanted to see...This Is Our Youth starring Michael Cera!
That show wasn't starting until a few hours later, so we had some more time to explore. We walked around and came across another iconic Seinfeld attraction—the Soup Nazi stand! We got a butternut squash soup to split and walked to nearby Central Park to eat it. It was so delicious! The stand is famous on the show for having the best soup in New York, and I can see why! Unlike on the show though, the people working there were really friendly. I gotta say I was a little disappointed about that because I wanted them to be rude like the Soup Nazi and say "no soup for you!" That is another place we want to take my dad next time he visits because he would love it! I can picture him ordering his soup in the exact structured way that people order it on the show :)
No soup for you!
Thanks for the delicious soup, Soup Nazi!
After eating our soup, we walked around Central Park. The foliage was looking so pretty that weekend so I really enjoyed it and got so many nice pictures!
Central Park
Then, it was almost time for the show! We wanted to get some food before, so we stopped at Junior's. We got some Thai chicken wings which were delicious and of course we had to try some of what Junior's is famous for—their cheesecake! The cheesecake was so good and I will definitely being going back there at some point to get another piece!
our tickets for This Is Our Youth
yum!
And then it was time for the show! It took place in the 80s in New York and starred Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, and Tavi Gevinson. It's a coming-of-age story about a boy (Michael Cera's character) who gets kicked out of his dad's house for smoking weed all the time. He then steals thousands of dollars from his dad and goes to his friend's house where he looks for help to solve his dilemma. The play takes place over that night and the next morning and involves friends, disfunctional families, and romance. I'm not very good at explaining plots, but it was a really good show, and the actors were all so amazing! I would definitely recommend seeing this if you are in New York.
Michael Cera!
I got to meet Michael Cera after the show! He's one of my favourite
actors so I was really excited, and he was such a nice guy!
My weekend with my mom was so amazing and I was so happy to have her here! I was sad for her to leave, but on the bright side, I am going home for Thanksgiving in a couple of days so I will get to see my family again soon!
If you're interested, I also tried my hand at vlogging for the first time while my mom was here, so if you'd like to check out what our weekend was like in video form, you can check it out below :)
