New York City 2011

In July my roommate Jennifer and I went to NYC for vacation! We had originally planned to make it a BFF trip with our 3rd Musketeer from high school. Sadly plans changed and she couldn't come after all, but we still had a great time! (We missed you Elyse!)

I've been to NYC three times before, the first time with my Gramma Rowe who took me as a HS graduation gift! Second trip was by myself to visit my Aunt Martha who lives in Summit NJ only 45 minutes from NYC! Third trip was right before my senior year of college with my parents and brother Brad. All very fun, but this time going with a friend was just a different vibe! I was pretty excited to visit a few places I had yet to see, and had a great time with Jenni running non-stop through the city for 5 days!

In order to make the posting a little easier I've decided to post on each day, so I apologize in advance for so many posts on the same topic!

Thursday afternoon we flew from Hobby airport to Newark. My cousin Axel picked us up from the airport and we headed out to Summit New Jersey where my family lives. We settled into our cozy basement apartment, picked up Aunt Martha and my cousin George and went to have dinner at a Jersey diner!

This tasty dinner began the fight for the check, in which I unsuccessfully attempted to treat Aunt Martha to a meal...and continued to be unsuccessful for many meals to come! She down right spoiled us and was such a sweet hostess and tour guide!

FRIDAY JULY 9, 2011

Friday morning we got up early to catch a train from Summit to NYC. The train ride was about 40 minutes, and we quickly learned that you DO NOT talk on the commuter train. People are serious about their reading, working or sleeping on the train. It was a pretty ride in, and our final stop landed us at NY Penn Station, right under Madison Square Garden!

We stopped at a Lenny's for a quick bagel breakfast and coffee, yum!

After breakfast we hopped in a cab and rode to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was one of our places that the City Pass got us into, and we had planned on starting there and then heading to two more museums that morning. Little did we know the Alexander McQueen exhibit was there! Although I like to pretend I'm fashionable, I have to admit I only knew his name because of the work his team did for Kate Middleton's wedding dress. People seemed really excited so we figured it was worth checking out! We hopped in line, waited 45 minutes and were SO glad we wandered upon that amazing collection! I bought a coffee table book with all the images from the collection, which has been really fun to look through and remember what we saw. I loved that some of his stuff was so frilly, while others were totally structured and some were almost ugly.
After the McQueen exhibit we trekked across Central Park (where I wish we had spent more time!) and headed towards the other museums on our list. We stopped for lunch at a really tasty organic/vegan place called Cafe Blossom. Next we walked to the American Museum of Natural History and had time to see the planetarium show that I thought was kind of a waste of our time. But if you want to hear Whoopie Goldberg talk about how the sun will someday explode and life on earth will end, maybe you would like it.

Friday night we booked a hotel so we could stay in the city for one night, and we chose the Hilton Fashion District. Although the room wasn't huge it had just opened in February 2011, and was down the street from Martha Stewart studios!
Since we ran around all day in the heat we checked in around 5 and showered, got dressed and fancy, then headed to Broadway!
Seeing Wicked was on the top of my to-do list this trip, so I was SO happy we made it happen! I am officially obsessed with this show!
The show was AMAZING and I wanted to go back the next night! Too bad Broadway isn't cheaper.... Wicked is traveling the country though and will be in Austin this next January, so you can bet I"ll be there!!!
After the show we walked a few blocks down to Times Square to check out all the lights at night.

It was raining a little bit but we had took it all in, snapped a few photos and then hailed a cab over to the always delicious Serendipity 3.I've visited this cozy little restaurant each time I go to NYC, and was excited to actually have dinner there since in the past I've always gone for their famous dessert! I love how girly and quirky this place is. Always something fun to look at.

I tried a tasty chicken salad that had lots of avocado, tomatoes and cucumbers! It was a HUGE portion though, and I wanted to save room for something sweet, so I know next time to share a meal!Jenni and I decided to share the Strawberry Fields Forever Sundae, and it was a great choice! Cheesecake topped with ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream...YUM!!!!!!!
After Serendipity 3 we went back to the Hilton to shower, sleep and check out the next morning!

Saturday coming soon....