I Took a Bite...

Thankfully, my plane did not get delayed coming back from New York City. When I checked the weather last week, it said that there was going to be a big storm last night and I just knew that I would get stuck in New York City (not that I would've complained).

For those of you who don't know this, I went to NYC on Friday and met up with my really good friend Julie. We stayed with her brother and sister-in-law in Manhattan. Apparently, it's a mansion by New York realty standards. It was gorgeous and it was in a great location i.e. there was a Starbucks and a bagel shop within 100 ft. We flew in on Friday and immediately went to this jewelry store that Julie loves (do you see why we're friends). I bought a new purse and a necklace. Like I need a new purse, I know. This store was so cheap but the stuff was amazing. I can't believe that I didn't come out with more. Friday night we went out to dinner with Briton. We walked through China Town (pretty lady want a new purse, very nice) and ended up eating at this cute little place in Little Italy. We walked in and Wild Thing was playing and the waiters had Brookyln/Italian "accents." It was hilarious. The food was pretty good and they did give us free after dinner liquor so that made me happy. After that, we went to this bar called The Joshua Tree (cool name, I know) and they played 80s music and had huge screens showing the videos. It was by far, one of my favorite places. George Michael...ha!

On Saturday Julie and I played tourist and went to The Empire State building. We thought we were lost because we couldn't find it and people were giving us weird looks. Yeah, we were standing right under it. Look up, duh. We stood in line for an hour, walked around for 20 minutes, took some pictures, and came back down. While we were walking around looking for The Empire State Building, I discovered heaven and it is called H&M. I bought some of the cutest clothes and THEY WERE CHEAP!!! I haven't bought any clothes in months and it was so nice to get a few new things. Retail therapy does wonders for the soul. After we did a little more exploring, we headed back to the apartment and met up with Jim and Merritt. They took us to a thai restaurant (I was in heaven) and then we went on about a 3 mile walk down Broadway and around some of the surrounding streets. We bought cupcakes at this place called Magnolia Bakery. It was like tasting heaven. Hmmm...I'm still thinking about them.

The next day we went to church with Jim and Merritt. I really loved it and it made me wish that I could find a church like that in B-Lo. After that, we had lunch in a great bagel shop and Julie and I went to SOHO. It was so much fun to go into all of those funky little shops and pretend that we actually had enough money to buy stuff in there. I know that I want to spend $30 on a bar of soap...pshhhh. We found another H&M and I ended up buying a dress. I'm so glad that there isn't an H&M in B-Lo. I'd be broke. I really liked SOHO. It was funky and cluttered. After that, we headed to Central Park and we went to the Apple store. It was really cool because it looks like it's just a glass cube and then you walk inside and you go underground to actually get to the store. It was right beside FAO Schwartz so of course we had to go in there. It was the coolest place on earth! I had flashes of the movie Big when I saw the guys playing around on that giant floor piano but the Lego area was my favorite.

When we'd finished playing with toys, we headed over to Central Park, and we watched the people ice skate and then we walked around a bit. By this time, we were kind of tired so we hopped back on the subway and headed home. Julie and I are pros at hopping on the subway now. We have skillzzzzzzz. Before we got home, Julie wanted to stop at this place called Beard Papa's. They sale these cream puff things filled with custard. They are amazing! We spent the rest of the night relaxing at the apartment with Jim and Merrit, eating pizza and playing spades (Jim and I won, yes!!!).

I think that I fell in love with the city this weekend. It just felt...right. I am so glad that Julie let me come with her and I'm so thankful that Jim and Merritt let us stay with them. I've had a rough few weeks and this weekend was the break that I needed. I can't wait to go back.

Click on the link to the right and you'll see the rest of the pictures from the trip.



~TaraRhee