quick trip to NYC. . .

so last weekend i took a trip to NYC to run a half marathon with

my mom and sister.

i was super excited to hang out with the madre and the sis-not as excited

about actually having to run the 13.1 miles :)

the day i got there it was the big SJ's birthday so we celebrated

and relaxed by getting our nails did.

we ate dinner at a legit italian place to carb load

before the big race.

for dessert we picked up some georgetown cupcakes.

we did some shopping before we headed back to the apartment & i

guess we were aggressive shoppers or something because

the cupcakes didn't exactly make it home in one piece...

sorry SJ :)

we figured they would still taste good despite being mutilated.

i have no shame in admitting that i scraped the frosting off

the sides of the box & ate not one but two cupcakes.

the next morning we woke up early & took a taxi out to the start.

quick thought about NYC cab rides:they are terrifying.

i always feel like they are going to get in an accident.

the speeding.the honking.the mug shot-like photo of the cab driver 

staring you in your face.

terrifying.

anyways, it was pretty chilly which i wasn't expecting but i  

 would much rather run in windy chilly weather than 

blistering hot & humid weather.

yuck.

the race actually went great!

it was my goal to finish in 2 hours and i did it by the skin of my teeth:)

i ran with SJ about half way before she took off and left me in the dust.

my mom may or may not have also finished before me by a few minutes.

go mom and SJ!

i felt great the whole race but the last half mile or so was death.

i just wanted to be done SO bad.

i just kept on thinking about all the treats i was going to eat

when i was finished & those thoughts carried me

to the finish line.

post-race food fest took place at norma's.

you guys.

norma's is the bomb!

i decided the pictures i took of the crunchy french toast

did NOT do it justice so i swiped one from the internets.

thick golden brown french toast with powdered sugar,

crunchy goodness & caramel sauce?

yes.please.

i was loving my life eating back every calorie i had just burned at the race.

we felt pretty good the rest of the afternoon but around dinner time

we were all BEAT.

SJ & i volunteered to go get shake shack for everyone.

we looked awesome & did not even care.

pajama pants.sneakers.flats.sweats.

#winning.

the rest of the trip was spent doing what we do best:shop & eat.

quick shout out to my mom for being so great & always

making everything so much fun.

my mom has got some serious style & i'm not even exaggerating

when i say that literally every store we went into she got

like 20 compliments on her outfits:)

we went to a place in the flat iron district called eataly.

if you are in new york go there now.

it's like a giant hub of legit italian food galore. 

get ready for a picture of all the amazingness we

consumed while there.

the trip was amazing & i miss hanging with my ladies.

sweet baby caroline is an absolute darling & i wish

i lived closer so i could hold her more!

thanks for the trip mom & thanks for showing us a 

great time SJ! 

lylas!

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!