30 Rock, Hearts and Flowers, and Dr. Oz -- all for Pink Saturday!

On Tuesday of this week, I went into Manhattan to 30 Rockefeller Center, also known by it's nickname "30 Rock."  Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings, covering 22 acres, between 48th and 51st streets in New York City. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987

(all photos will enlarge when clicked on)

 30 Rock is a 70-floor, 872-foot building, now known as the GE building.  It is home to the NBC TV studios and the Top of The Rock observation deck, and the Rainbow Room restaurant, which, sadly, is closed right now as the search for a new operator is ongoing.

It is also the location for the NBC Today Show, and this is a view of the side street where hosts  Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, newswoman Ann Curry, and weatherman Al Rocker greet the waiting crowd in the morning.

Some views of the Rockefeller Center Plaza and inside the beautiful art deco designed 30 Rock building.  I was here to attend the Dr. Oz TV show, but  it was a little early, so I decided to window shop around around the area to take these photographs for Beverly's Pink Saturday Valentine's Day celebration!

Beautiful red hearts and pink and pastel flowers were in the windows of Swiss Teuscher Chocolatier, located  at 5th Ave and Rockefeller Center.  Teuscher's is especially noted for their fabulous champagne truffles!

The Anthropologie store at 50 Rockefeller Plaza always has wonderful window displays. Currently the windows are full of fanciful spring flowers made from colorful recycled drink bottles in shades of pastel pinks, yellows, blues and oranges.

The windows of the Godiva Boutique, located at 52 W. 50th Street in Rockefeller Center, was full of Valentine hearts and rose petals and their signature gold boxes.  If I had a little more time I would have stopped for one of their luscious chocolate covered strawberries.

The Swarovski boutique, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, not only had samples of its exquisite glass crystal jewelry in their windows, but also reminders that February is American Heart Month, and the symbol of the red dress is the national symbol for women and heart disease.  Heart disease is the number one killer of women, and this event reminds women of the need to protect their heart health and inspires them to take action to improve their health.

This was also a reminder to me to go back upstairs and wait on the line to be admitted into the audience of the afternoon taping of The Dr. Oz Show!

Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show”, is Vice-Chair and Professor of Surgery at Columbia University, and he also directs the Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He gained much popularity as the resident health expert for five seasons on The Oprah Winfrey Show.  His show is very informational and highly entertaining. Even though I am a registered nurse, I usually learn something new and interesting each time I watch his show. To see if his syndicated show is available in your area, and what time and channel it would be on, you can enter your zip code on this website link.

The Dr Oz Show is pre-taped and the episode I saw should be aired in two to three weeks. The segments of this show were about agoraphobia -- fear of the outdoors or public places -- and an interview with a woman who gained 100 pounds in a year after she lost her job, with suggested interventions that will help her lose weight.  Dr Oz also has a audience member come down on stage to be his assistant, as he does every show. This segment was very interesting, as he has two actual human hearts on display.  One was a normal heart and one was large and thickened through untreated hypertension-high blood pressure. To see the changes that high blood pressure could make to a heart was an eye opener to me.  Dr. Oz took the blood pressure of the audience assistant and found she was hypertensive, a fact she was unaware of.  Dr. Oz then said that many people are unaware they have high blood pressure and that we should all make it a practice to check our blood pressure on a regular basis. Preventing or treating high blood pressure will help prevent the ill effects of strokes and heart disease.  He suggested everyone buy a blood pressure machine at our local pharmacy so we could keep regular track of our pressure, and he also suggested that we all get to know our pharmacists, who are an excellent source to go to with our questions about health concerns, medications and supplements both over the counter and prescription, and possible drug interactions and side effects.

Luckily, for all of us in the audience that day, we were each given a $50 Walgreens gift card and a premium blood pressure monitor to take home, courtesy of Walgreens! 

So it was a day of Valentine hearts and real hearts.  A day to remember that heart disease is the number one killer of women, and that all women should be aware of the symptoms of heart disease and high blood pressure and how to prevent and treat it. 

I hope that this Valentine's Day you make a promise to schedule a time to treat yourself to a good medical check up, so that you will be around for a long time to love and be loved for many Valentine's days to come!

Please visit Beverly today at How Sweet The Sound  blog for her popular "Pink Saturday" event and visit all the links to blogs participating with special Valentine pinks and reds! Beverly had her gallbladder removed yesterday, so be sure to send her your prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery!  All the best to you Beverly!  Get well soon dear friend!

My Dream in D.U.M.B.O.

We are expecting a big snowstorm tonight in New York City and temperatures in the high 20's low 30's.  Snow accumulation is estimated to be a foot to a foot and a half.  Needless to say I will be shoveling a lot of snow tomorrow.  So what am I dreaming about tonight?

This:

 photo source: Ángel Franco/The New York Times

It is  the Clock Tower Building, one of the tallest buildings in a neighborhood in Brooklyn known as DUMBO  .. an abbreviation for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. I blogged about this neighborhood once before.  It was once a manufacturing district, housing factories and warehouses that made and stored machinery, paper boxes and Brillo soap pads, among other things. When those businesses left the area, these buildings became primarily residential for artists and other young homesteaders, who were seeking relatively large and inexpensive loft apartment spaces for studios and homes. As popularity for DUMBO grew many of these buildings were renovated and converted into luxury apartments and condos/co-ops.

So why would I be thinking about this building on this winter night?   For this reason:

   photo source:  Ángel Franco/The New York Times

And this:

 

   photo source: Ángel Franco/The New York Times

They are the spectacular views taken from the terrace of the penthouse condominium this past summer, and shown in this New York Times real estate article.   I have been dreaming about it ever since. It has unobstructed views of New York Harbor, the East River, Lower Manhattan, and both the Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge! I would love to sit here on my teakwood lounge chair on a balmy summer night and watch the city lights twinkle all around me as I sipped my ice tea.   Yes, I could spend many hours on this terrace observing the car traffic on the bridges and the boat traffic on the river, listening to the hum of the greatest city in the world, and watch both the sun rise over Brooklyn and set over Manhattan.
 
Of course the interior is also a thing that dreams are made of:
 

   photo source: Ángel Franco/The New York Times

The interior of the 6,800 square foot triplex condominium is dominated by four working synchronized clocks housed in four 14-foot-high round windows, which provide nearly unobstructed views out to the four points of the compass of the buildings tower.
 

   photo source: Ángel Franco/The New York Times

The New York Times article states

"The 3,000-square-foot main floor has an open living room, dining room and kitchen with 16-foot-high ceilings. A glass-walled elevator and a three-story floating staircase at the center of the space lead to smaller floors that narrow toward the top of the tower. There are three bedrooms on the 2,300-square-foot second floor (watch your head as you walk along the exterior walls), and on the floor above that, a 988-square-foot open loft with a 15-foot ceiling."

 photo source: Ángel Franco/The New York Times   Mosaics made by me.

A fabulous video about this condominium, as well as the floor plan and additional photos, can be viewed on http://www.clocktowerny.com/

The building is owned and developed by David C. Walentas, and the price for this condominium is 25 million dollars  -- the highest asking price for a home in Brooklyn to date!

So for me it will forever remain a dream ....but what a fun dream it is!

I am linking this post to Susan at A Southern Daydreamer blog's "Outdoor Wednesday"event and Jenny of the Jenny Matlock blog's "Alphabe Thursday" event....the letter this week is "D"  Thanks Ladies!