Tuesday 17 April 2012

nyc. . .

logan & i went to the big apple last week
for a fun spring break vacation to visit my sister and her husband.
it. was. awesome.
everything was perfect with the exception of my sister
getting strep throat while we were there :(
while she was quarantined in her apartment, logan & i
had fun exploring the city.

we made a trip to the 9/11 memorial that is just a few
blocks away from my sister's place.
it was really amazing seeing the two huge memorial pools
where the two towers used to stand.
they had the names of all the victims etched into the sides
of the fountains, and the giant freedom tower being
constructed on the site is HUUUGE.

we went to a store right around ground zero called century 21.
it is basically like a nordstrom rack on steroids.
i could tell logan was slightly overwhelmed as we entered the mad house.
however, after a few minutes, logan was thriving right along
side of all the other crazed shoppers searching for a deal.
he quickly accumulated a small wardrobe for himself to try on.
don't let logan fool you-he says he hates shopping but
the man is a sucker for a good deal.

we ended up making two more trips to century 21 just for logan :)

a trip to nyc wouldn't be complete without a visit to
times square & rockefeller center.
i think times square is actually a little more exciting at night
when everything seems bigger and brighter, but we still
managed to have a grand old time in the middle of the day.
we quickly made some friends as we wandered around.
they acted so excited to see us as they posed for multiple pictures.
as soon as the pictures were taken they also waved there cute little
bags on our faces and insisted on being compensated.
we gave them $2 and quickly went on our merry way.


on our flight to nyc logan saw a commercial for this huge
car show that was happening that weekend.
he got super excited about it and made me promise we would go.
i wasn't too thrilled at the idea-who would want to
be stuck inside looking at cars when we are
in new york?
i have to admit, it was actually pretty cool & there
were some pretty amazing cars there.
needless to say, logan was in heaven.
i also had some fun of my own checking out the new beetle.
i seriously had to wait in like for like 10 minutes just
to sit inside and take a picture-i guess everyone else
loves the new beetle as much as me!





the other highlight of the car show was getting to take a
picture with the kia soul mascot- the hamster.
was i embarrassed to take this pic?
not at all :)
since logan got to choose the car show- i got to choose the
art museum we went to.
we ended up only having time to go to one, but since i had
already been to the Met before, i wanted to check out the MoMA this time.
going to the museum was probably my favorite part of our trip.
i LOVE seeing works of art that i've only seen/studied in books.
the highlights included works by van gogh, mondrian, pollock & warhol.

there were also works from picasso, matisse, rothko and monet that i loved.
trying to take a picture of monet's 'water lillies' was a little
frustrating because 1. it's huge and 2. the camera could
not capture how amazing the colors really are.
oh well!

besides seeing cars and paintings, we ate AMAZING food.
and we at a lot of it.
i guess it was a good thing my sister let us use two of
her passes to a spinning class at Soul Cycle (which i could
write an entire post about because it was SO intense).
you can read my sister's post here & get the general idea.
we burned a lot of calories that day.
plus we did a lot of walking the whole times so it all balances
out in the end, right?
i hope so.

our fave place to eat for a quick bite was Shake Shack.
i'm pretty sure it's only an east coast thing- but let me just
tell you we are missing out here in the west.
the burgers are SO fresh and the fries are delicious!
not to mention their shakes which are divine.
we ate there twice but if we had one here in UT you can
bet your bottom dollar i'd be there like every day.

another fave place was grimaldi's pizza.
we took a ferry ride over to brooklyn just to eat it.
we had to wait in line for about 25-30 minutes but it was
totally worth the wait.
we met up with my dear friend hannah who is about to graduate
from FIT and become a famous textile designer :)
after dinner we walked across the brooklyn bridge
back into manhattan.

i also had the privilege of seeing another dear friend
of mine who just so happened to be in the city the same
weekend as me.
katie was in town competing in a duathalon that she ended up taking
3rd place in for her division!
needless to say, our reunion on the steps of anthropologie
was nothing short of magical.

other eats included lemon ricotta pancakes at sarabeths's
which i literally didn't take a picture of because the second
they were brought to me i scarfed them down.

cupcakes from magnolia bakery as well as georgetown cupcakes.
i prefer georgetown cupcakes but that's just me :)

we kept it classy and ate gyro's along the hudson river.
that tiny object to the right of logan's cute face
is indeed the statue of liberty.
we ate the best mexican food i've ever had at la esquina.
the cochinita pivil (sweet pork tacos) were spectacular.

but the crowning food-moment of our nyc experience
had to be the cookies from levain bakery.
honestly-i can't tell you how good they are.
you really have to try one for yourself but i can assure you
that after you have, you will also be a believer.
they are thick and dense and warm and baked to perfection.
this was logan's actual reaction is he took his cookie out and looked
at it up close for the first time.
i made him keep it in the bag until we found the perfect spot
in central park to sit and enjoy them.

the neighborhood around levain bakery is also to die for.
i love brownstones.

our trip to nyc was pretty spectacular.
we enjoyed all the big moments and everything else in between.
we would love to go back soon.
hope you feel better SJ-thanks again!


7 comments:

  1. Very very cool trip and great pictures. Glad you had fun, that is to bad that Sara got sick while you were there. Looks like they have some incredible food there in NYC.

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  2. Sounds like it was so fun! When Max and I make it over there I want to go with you guys, you sound like you know everything there is to know about touring New York. So fun.

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  3. I love going on trips. It sounds like you had a lot of fun! I must say, the best cupcakes are in Provo. I wasn't impressed with Magnolia Bakery when Heather and I went there.

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  4. Wow what an amazing tip and all the yummy food!! I've only been to NYC once and I'm dying to go back - especially now after seeing your pics!

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  5. okay, these images are perfect! and seriously, eric won't stop talking about shake shack.
    really need to go asap!!!!
    xo TJ

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  6. Looks like THE PERFECT trip! So jealous :) haha LOVE your mustard yellow shoes in your header picture, my fav color!

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  7. How fun! Sounds like you had a blast :) Wish I were there

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