New York New York

2015.  Oh 2015, you are going to be an awesome year.  In March I turn 40 and in July Pedro and I celebrate 10 years of married life.  Ten years!  So...... we are taking a trip, JUST US!  Oh my God, this is only possible because I have the most amazing parents in the world and they all live here, all four of them.
Lupe has gone away for a whole weekend with the grandparents before, and Liam has gone for a sleep over once.  It went well.  Well, he fell off the bed, but that is an easy fix.  I would normally be most amazed at the fact that we are going to be away from our kids for five days, for the first time ever.  But, all I can think about is New York City!  For anyone who might not know, I lived there for 6 years in my twenties.  Six amazing years.  1997-2003.  And I haven't been back since, it's been 12 years.  What?  I haven't been back to NYC in over a decade?!  It's amazing when  you are old enough to start thinking in decades. I will soon have been alive for four of them.  And Pedro has never been.
I want art and culture and diversity, multiple languages heard on the street, music and dive bars.  Pedro wants Times Square and tourist attractions.
So, here's what is keeping me up at night, my head swimming with memories, fleeting images of street corners, random hours on subway trains, cheap slices of pizza and happy hours at Brooklyn bars.


Pizza slices from Sal in the LES who's been serving New York pizza for eons.
Walking from Little Italy, where there are still old Italian guys in bars that look right out of a movie, to Chinatown wondering how to order some good authentic Chinese food.
Storefront signs with Chinese lettering and Hebrew.
Sixth street in the East Village, an entire block of Indian restaurants with excessive amounts of multicolor Christmas lights.
An Irish pub with straw on the floor.
The 9/11 memorial.
Pretzels in Times Square and swing dancing.
Seeing HighLine park for the first time.

Deli coffee where they prepare it for you and a bagel with scrambled egg.  Is it still $2.99 for that combo?
A new ferry line on the East River, stopping in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, DUMBO, the Lower East Side.
Maybe a fancy drink at the Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South.
Taking Pedro to the Met.  The lions in front of the main Public Library.
People from every corner of the globe.

My Uncle Patrick and Aunt Mariah.
My old stomping ground of Orchard Street, just off Houston, around the corner from Katz's Deli.
Seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.
Brownstones and African restaurants and black culture in Brooklyn.
Canal street.
Museums and art spaces in graffiti covered building in Long Island City.
Art. Art.  Maybe a little bit more art.
Souveniers for my kids.
Showing Pedro around my city. Oh my god I can't wait.