Our day started bright and early outside of the Today show. The Friday concert series was featuring "Black Eyed Peas." The front area is reserved for special guests of the show and artists - not us. And, I wanted to sleep in (you know, till 6!) - so we didn't get "super close" - but we were right outside of Dean & Deluca's...which was recommended as the spot to watch according to my travel guide. It was a fun show and we had a great time with the ladies right in front of us! We had a great view of the back of the stage - the keyboardist, drummer, dancers.... If you check out Lisa's facebook, you can see a video of me dancing.
After that, Jena went to work for the day and we started our day on 5th Ave. We checked out St. Patrick's Cathedral, Nine West (where I got an amazing pair of heels for an even more amazing price!), Tiffany's (looking for Lisa's birthday present) - as we entered we renacted the scene from Sweet Home Alabama, one of the many Trump Towers - where I realized that TWENTY years ago I was in the same place - and where we also rode all the escalators trying to take pictures of ourselves in the many mirrors (cheap fun, okay? money is time!)...and then we hit FAO Schwartz. 
It was AMAZING! 
Multiple levels of fun!
It was AMAZING! 
Multiple levels of fun! It was after noon at this point, and I was feeling a little famished. So, we took my cousin Dave's advice and hit up a street vendor for a pretzel. Good advice about the mustard, Dave! Without it, it would've been really dry. At that point, we realized we were on the edge of Central Park and in front of the Plaza Hotel. But, Central Park wasn't on our list that day, so we headed back down 5th Ave. to Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building and the NY Public Library.
When I say "headed down," I don't mean that GCS was near FAO...we walked about a mile to get to FAO and at least another mile back to get to GCS. Remember: money is time! :) And we weren't gonna waste any of our money, so we had to spend our time (and energy!)
Grand Central Station was really cool. It has amazing architecture. It's really hard to take in the beauty of Chrysler Building when you're underneath it - so, not so impressive. We did shop more, though - hitting up an Ann Taylor Loft and this little handbag shop where Lisa got a heckuva deal.
The New York Library was just 2 blocks from GCS on 5th Ave. I'm gonna say this folks: ignore the "25 things to see" book and just look from the outside. It is a beautiful building; it is also "home" to a lot of homeless during the day. We had quite the encounter with one gentleman in the video room.
By now, the day was getting pretty long. Our NBC tour with Jena kept getting pushed back, so we just kept pushing on. We were hoping for comfy couches at the library and instead got a sockless homeless guy. So, we kept walking and came to an Ann Taylor - where I found a great dress - again, for an even better price!
Finally, we got our NBC Studio tour - and it was worth the wait! We got to see the NBC Nightly News as it was being filmed (from the outside - they don't have a live studio audience); Jimmy Fallon was, like 30 feet, from us because they'd just finished filming his show (so we didn't get to see the studio - but we got to see him!); AND - my highlight - the SNL studio & dressing room. Again, we didn't get to be on the set because they were having a leadership symposium. It was so cool! They had pictures up from skits past lining one hallway and the opposite had pictures from this year's skits. Even better, though, were 3 costumes on display: Jane Curtain's Conehead, Dana Carvey's Church Lady, and Molly Shannon's Mary Katherine Gallagher.
By day's end, we were shot. The TV shows/movies covered today: What Not to Wear (the shopping spree part), BIG (FAO Schwartz), Sweet Home Alabama (Tiffany's), the Today Show and CBS Early Show (which films on the plaza outside FAO).
Here's us with Matt Lauer (I guess he really is this tall in person):
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