Ballsy.

Ellen, Gina and I (oh, and Ellen's hubby Rob, too!) just returned from a trip to New York City. No work, gobs of eating, loads of walking, and a ridiculous amount of shopping. This was Gina's first-ever trip to the Big Apple, while Ellen goes many times a year, since her daughter attends school there.

And, to those of you that know Ellen, it should come as no surprise that she projects the most, um, authentic New York attitude.

By that I mean, balls.

This became sort of the unofficial theme of our trip. First, there was the view from our Marriott hotel room, which overlooked where they drop the "big ball" on New Year's Eve. Dick Clark could not have asked for a better view.

Gina's niece, Lydia, who works at the Ritz, got us a rockin' rate on this rockin' room. Thanks, Lydia! (Sometimes you just have to have the balls to ask).

The first night, we saw "Wicked" - fabulous as always - and had a great Italian meal with Ellen, Rob and their daughter, Ariel. Our waiter was good friends with Adam Sandler. Then, continuing the celeb theme, on the way home we noticed some guys with cameras standing around outside a tiny hotel on a quiet side street. So we lingered and out of a car pops Katie Holmes holding baby Suri. I kid you not! We were 10 feet from her.

The next two days were devoted to hardcore shopping. Ellen added the title "Cashmere Ho" to her long list of "ho" monikers ("Bag Ho," "Book Ho, "Ho Ho."). Here she is with more cashmere than she can carry - and this was just the beginning:

Next, we embarked on a 4-hour private shopping tour of sample sales and designer "back rooms" called the Elegant Tightwad tour. Here are Gina and Ellen at the entrance to the Garment District - love the giant button sculpture:

The bargains were amazing. I got a new leather "corset" jacket for about 90% off, and some fun finds like this cashmere scarf:

That evening, we did some sightseeing, and found some balls even bigger than Ellen's:

Our last day, we visited my favorite stop - the enormous Anthropologie store near Rockefeller Center. Their displays were just breathtaking:


And of course, they had balls too - the yarny kind:

Even Starbuck's has gotten into the yarn ball trend:

This is random, but it really does take balls to walk around in a costume for no apparent reason:

And finally, there was my favorite ballsy New York advertisement, pointing the way to the "Charmin restrooms":

That's the thing about New York: You've just gotta go.

- Shelley
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