I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends! I'm so blessed to say that this year I had both with me! My sister Emily and her roomie Jessica came to visit me in NYC and we were able to make several new friends together, and visit with a few old ones.
I wish I would have done a better job of writing down each day all that we did because looking back it all seems like a blur! I'll try my best to hit the highlights, just prepare yourself for an onslaught of pictures.
Wednesday
The girls arrived in the evening and we headed up to Central Park to see the parade balloons being inflated. While it was a complete madhouse of people it was fun to preview the balloons before the parade the next day. After finally getting through the crowd we took a train down to the meatpacking district to have dinner at this scrumptious French restaurant, Pastis. With full bellies we went home and hit the bed since we had an early morning the next day.
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Em, me, & Jess @ Pastis
Thursday (Thanksgiving) We were up at 5, and out the door soon after to get a good spot for the 85th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I camped out at a spot and sent the girls to take some pics and see if they could find a better location...which they did, so we moved up to the NW corner of Bryant Park @ 42nd & 6th. We really lucked out, not only in our spot but also with the people around us. We had a sweet mother/daughter duo from Columbus, OH who pulled us into their front row corner and used their chairs as a blockade behind us so we wouldn't get smashed by the crowds! Watching the parade in person is nothing like watching it on tv. There are actually several blocks completely blocked off from the public for "quiet taping zones" where the performances take place. Sadly the singers don't perform throughout the whole route (you broke my heart Ingrid Michaelson), but the 610 Stompers did and they were definitely a parade highlight of mine! Since we were on a corner and in the pre-taping zone often floats would stop in front of us and we were able to have several conversations with various parade performers. We heckled the Naval Academy Glee club to sing for us to which one guy responded "I'm singing, and I'm on a float, in a parade" (Elf shout out!). I yelled out to figure skater Johnny Weir that his outfit was fabulous to which he graciously replied with a thank you and a pose. I'm sure there was so much more but it's hard to remember! (Please don't judge the bags under our eyes and lack of color/makeup). |
After the parade we met up with my friend Katie and found a random old school diner. We went back to my place for a quick cat nap & shower before heading to Top of the Rock for some killer views of the city. If you're looking for a 360 degree view this is the place to go! We went around 4 so we could catch the sunset and it was perfect!
I left the girls to explore for a few hours before our dinner reservation and took a chance to get in a quick nap. I'd worked the previous 3 nights and between the cleaning and excitement of their visit I only had about an hour of sleep before they came.
Chi joined us at Fagiolini for a Thanksgiving dinner and I can definitely say this is the first year our table topics ever included "royalty", handy root, urban African legend about sugar, and so much more that's not appropriate for table let alone blogging conversations :) We moved the party back to my place where I was quickly fading and shamelessly washed my face, put on pj's and got in bed. I don't remember much of what happened other than a lot of laughing and everyone finally got the hint that I needed to go to bed since I had to work the next morning...ugh.
Friday (Black Friday)
I went to work with a killer headache (probably from sleep deprivation)but had a fairly decent shift. Meanwhile, Em and Jess braved the MADNESS I mean "Magic" of Macy's to buy me a Christmas tree so they could decorate my apartment! I met up with them after work for dinner and it wasn't until 10ish that we got home and that's when I found mistletoe on my door! Inside it was even more magical as they had strung lights, hung snowflake decals on my window, and my little desk was illuminated by a mini tree! I couldn't help but cry at their display of love. They even got me the sweetest ornament to commemorate my NYC Christmas. Best hostess gift ever, and I did not deserve it. I'd been so snappy due to lack of sleep and mother nature. Fortunately this was the turning point and now that I didn't have to think about going to work and had some sleep I was ready for running around the town with them!
Saturday
We grabbed some Vic's Bagels (amazing bagel bar that is the "Coldstone" of cream cheese) and Dunkin' Donuts coffee before heading down to SoHo. Surprisingly this was my first time going to that part of town and after visiting I don't know how why I didn't go before! It is a shoppers paradise! The cast iron architecture is beautiful. The maze of stores and boutiques makes you feel that you could spend forever here and you'd never see it all. We came upon some great street vendors where we all picked up some scarves and sweet little pendant necklaces. Em is in the market for some new glasses and heard about this NYC business called
Warby Parker and they had a pop up shop near SoHo so we headed that way. It was actually really cool as they were sharing a garage space with Christmas tree vendors and had a tent inside an old garage with all their glasses on display. We even got to talk with their media guy and really learn about the company's background, growth, how they can be so affordable (only $95 for frames and prescription lenses!!!) and how their "Buy a Pair, Give a Pair" program works.
Afterwards we visited Kate Spade (our alter-jewelry ego) and took advantage of her free cab ride promotion. Kate, yes we are on a first name basis, was so kind to wrap 10 Lincoln Towncars in her candy wrapper paper and have them come pick up her fans outside of her SoHo and 5th Ave locations and deliver them anywhere in the city...for FREE! I'd read about it on her blog, told Em and Jess who took one on Friday and I just had to do it too! Our driver Nelson was fabulous! He usually drives a Heineken truck to Yankee stadium but he seemed to enjoy being a party cab and blasting some music for us to sing along with as he drove us to Magnolia Bakery in the Village. We grabbed some yummy desserts then headed uptown to the theater district to meet up with some Ohio friends @ John's Pizza. I'd been to this place before and their white pizza is to die for! Our company included the Beres family, they used to live near & attend our grandparents church so we've known them for years. In town visiting them was the Miller family who live about 40 mins from my parents in OH. It's a crazy small world. As much as I love the pizza there, I think the true highlight was when the whole restaurant started singing and cheering for Joey's 12th birthday. I'm sure it will be a lasting memory for this little boy from Amish country :) We ended the night with some Pinkberry froyo (shout out to my CA days) and parted ways.
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| I love you Kate! |
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Party Cab!
"We fell in love on a hopeless night" |
Sunday
We logged about 8 hours of sleep and were out the door by 10 to grab brunch at Penelope's. After some yummy granola, a fakin' bacon BLT, and punkin' pancakes we set off on a mile long journey to visit The Strand, an 18 mile long bookstore (not kidding). On our way their we walked through a fun holiday fair at Union Square and snapped these:
Just a few blocks before we reached the bookstore we came across this old church and couldn't resist a mini photoshoot. Here's just a small sampling.
We eventually made it to the bookstore, and then walked an additional mile to SoHo to visit a few more stores and vendors. While there an acquaintance from my Palo Alto days met up with us. It was fun to see Andrea and get to know her more in this one hour than I did while living in CA for 7 months. We headed over to Kate Spade for our last attempt at a free ride, with hopes of getting Nelson, our driver from the day before...and we did!!! We were so excited! We crammed in, turned the music up and started our party ride through the city! Nelson was so nice and dropped Andrea off at her place then took us all the way to the Upper East side so we could pick up a snack at Zabar's before going to church. We have so many great memories just from a 30 minute cab ride and I would definitely include this time as a highlight of their visit! Nelson shared food recommendations, stories about his own family, stories about the Russian mob and KGB from when he had a car repo business, and the most poignant was sharing his memories and feelings regarding 9/11 as a local and as a Veteran.
After exlporing Zabar's (Kosher grocery store on the ground level, kitchen gadgets on the second) we walked a block and went to the evening Redeemer service which is held in this beautiful, old First Baptist Church building. Jenn joined us and afterwards we headed for some quick apps at Fig & Olive before heading to Serendipity 3 for dessert! I'm embarrassed to say that I had an entire frozen peanut butter hot chocolate all by myself and I definitely regretted it afterward! While in the moment it tasted so good it was just way too much for one belly to handle! We came back to my place where again I donned PJs and got in bed half asleep and the girls ordered in Chinese and chatted away.
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| Jenn is really, REALLY excited. |
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| lookin' good pre-sugar coma |
Monday
We walked up to Central Park South (1.5 miles) for breakfast at Sarabeth's (so yummy!) and ate outside since it was 60+degrees which is unbelievable since it's the end of November.
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| Jess & coffee |
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| sister talk |
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| i don't even know |
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| "...and I said what? Oh..." |
Next we headed across the street to stroll through CP and of course, another photoshoot ensued. Em and I decided we'd go ice skating there when she and the parents come for Christmas. We really could not have asked for better weather!
Next we headed south on 5th Ave, made a quick stop into St. Pat's Cathedral then I left the girls at Dylan's Candy Bar while I made a quick trip home. We met up a little later in the Financial District to visit the World Trade Memorial and St. Paul's Church where the workers actually slept, were fed and treated by volunteers. It's so crazy to see so much empty space in NYC where the towers used to stand. There are lots of volunteers walking around with Ipads who will show you pictures of before the attack, during, and also what the site is projected to look like. It was very sobering and I'm really glad we visited and allowed ourselves to be reminded of the darker days and the strength our country had to survive it.
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World Trade 1 being rebuilt, currently
at 92 floors and counting. |
All too soon it was 5 and we had to catch a train home for some last minute packing, and at 6 the girls were in a cab headed for the airport! It was such a whirlwind and wonderful time! I can't remember the last time I've been awake that many "days" in a row and I'm thoroughly exhausted but the bags under my eyes and tired feet are definitely worth it! I have so much to be thankful for!!!
