OMG, NYC!

Where to even begin? I got back from New York last night and it was one amazing trip. I arrived Wednesday night and the next 3 days were a blur of fun and craziness.

Thursday

Since Kristen had to work and Jared wasn't scheduled to arrive until Friday evening, I had the pleasure of spending the whole day alone exploring the city. I started off at the High Line to grab some of my favorite SF coffee in NYC at the Blue Bottle kiosk. The High Line was amazing! Such an amazing way to incorporate some nature in such an urban setting. 

Yummmmm! 

Bird House Sculpture

Cool Benches Overlooking the Streets

After grabbing a quick crepe at Le Grainne Cafe (very cute), I decided to walk to the Met through Central Park. This was about 3.5 miles away, but I felt like it would be a great way to see the city. Since there was a threat of rain, it was a pretty quick walk, but I made it just in time.

 The Mall in Central Park  

The Met

The Met was beautiful and completely overwhelming. I focused on two photography exhibits and then just did some general wandering. After about 3 hours, I decided to see if the rain stopped and walk around a bit more. Fast forward past some light shopping and more walking, and I met Kristen at her apartment with a bottle of wine for a pre-dinner cocktail (and a pain reliever for my poor feet).                                                           

These dogs were barking! 

Amanda met up with us for dinner and drinks a Public (Amanda had kangaroo!!) and then we hit one of their neighborhood bars. And, boy, did we hit it hard. There are no pictures of this, thank God.

Friday

Since I was super hungover, I spent most of the day walking around Kristen's neighborhood and playing with Jackie's puppy Nikita. I stopped at The Grey Dog for some lunch and decided to treat my hangover with a little mac n' cheese. 

So good

That evening, Jared arrived and I met him at the hotel. Since we weren't in the same city for my birthday, we decided to celebrate Friday with a date night. We had one of the best meals I've had in a very long time at Scarpetta. Fresh, homemade pasta and an amazing steak were the highlights of the meal, well, besides the company, of course :). After dinner, we had a drink on the patio (I guess that is what you would consider the area we were in) of the Standard Hotel. Such a lovely night with my favorite guy. There are no pictures because we were just too into enjoying each other's company (awwwww!). 

Saturday

We started the day by meeting Dana for brunch at Peels. I had shrimp and grits topped with a fried egg and a side of fried chicken (yes, I was being a total fat kid, I know). After catching up we headed our separate ways: Dana off to Philly for a half marathon the next day and Jared and I off to explore more of the city. Jared and I started by checking out Governor's Island, which, to both of our surprises, was totally free. We decided to rent a quad cycle to check out the island, which I was really happy about since my poor feet weren't fully recovered.  All the pics for this portion of the trip are still on Jared's camera, which is with him in NYC, so I'll post those later. 

After we left the island, we decided to walk to the World Trade Center site and we ended up also finding a moving photo exhibit in a nearby building. The pictures almost brought me to tears and reminded me of what a tragic day that was for so many families. 

We were both a little pooped at this point, so we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap and to get ready for the evening with Kristen, Chelsea and our significant others. We all met at Southern Hospitality, where Chelsea works, for some delish BBQ and drinks. After dinner, we made our way to Terminal 5 (cool venue, rude staff) for the Ghostland Observatory concert, which was AH-MAZING! 

GLO!!!

Since it was my last night in NYC, we all decided to get another drink at a bar with a great view, so we headed to Ink48. The bar had a breath-taking view of the entire city. It was truly a perfect setting to catching up with old friends on my final night on vacation. 

Ink48

ZTAs in NYC! 

The End

Sunday was a little rough, but I was so glad to get home. Perfect birthday vacation with lots of my favorite people!