A Friendly Visit

For the past few days I've had some friends in town and it has been a blast. I met up with them in Times Square where we ate some BBQ at Famous Dave's. This summer should probably be dedicated to all food BBQ because I think I eat it at least once a week. Or every other week. It's a lot.

We went shopping at American Eagle and since my friend bought something, we were able to have our picture taken and displayed in Times Square. Here's a picture of my picture!

We also went to the M&M Factory and to the Hershey's Factory. I resisted buying all of the chocolate I wanted to, but we did have some fun with the themed products.


Best part of their visit? Eating at Da Gennaro in Little Italy. That place was delicious! I can't describe how wonderful my gnocchi with pesto sauce was. A large group of people speaking Italian showed up around 9:45 to start dinner. You know it's good when Italian people eat there. Probably my favorite dinner in the city.

A day at the beach

All day Saturday was spent some great friends in the sun. I felt (and continue to feel) so lucky to be here in New York City, to be close to the ocean, and to have befriended such great people.

Thanks to SPF 50, I did not get burned. Instead I developing a nice golden glow. While I'm still pretty light compared to others, it's a lot better than the pasty color that many a Rexburg winter has preserved.

Did I really eat all that in less than 24 hours?

Yes. That is actually the title of my post. It was my roommates last night and so immediately after getting in from D.C. I went straight to a Yankees game! It was pouring rain but eventually let up. Although they lost (lame), I still had a great time with friends.

See? I have friends! :)

I had to get me some ballpark food to really enjoy the experience so I got a massive Italian sausage dog. So delicious and greasy!

After the game (at around 12 or 12:30 am) we went to Juniors bakery in Time Square that of course was open. It's the city that never sleeps, remember? I got a delicious carrot cake cheesecake. Two in one amazingness!

And the next day as a last hurrah, my roommate and I went to Levain's Bakery where I ate (not in one sitting) a gigantic chocolate chip walnut cookie. Probably the best cookie I've ever had.


All of that was within a 24 hour period. Actually, probably less than that.

Did I stop there? Of course not! A friend from my interior design program got into town for a month long internship in the city and as we were walking to her place, we realized that our favorite cookie shop (that I just went to a few days before) was right there! So I got another giant amazing delicious chocolate chip walnut cookie. Aaaand to celebrate her arrival, we all went to Shake Shack. I resisted getting a burger, or fries, or a shake. But I did give in and get a rootbeer float. That's better, right???

After writing all of this I'm kind of appalled. I mean, it sounds like all I do in this city is eat eat eat. There is some crazy awesome food, but there needs to be some self-control! Can you just feel my pants getting tighter and my round face getting rounder??? In my defense, I have also eaten more fruits and veggies this week than I have over my entire stay here. I guess since I'm not used to it, I probably needed to over-compensate! :)

Don't worry. I will be a good girl from now on. Really.

Vacation to D.C.

I took off a week of work to visit my wonderful friend and Washington D.C. It was so good to see here and to see a new city... not as a 9 year old. We took a stroll through Old Town Alexandria to the Potomac River.

We ate AMAZING burgers at The Burger Joint. I got the Lamb burger that is a (dare I say?) better version of a gyro. Mmm good! To top it off, we shared the most delicious sweet potato fries I've ever had. Needless to say, I enjoyed that eatery very much.

We toured the great capitol of our country on bikes that we rented for only $5 for the entire day! We road to the Lincoln Memorial...

...went through the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Very moving, heavy stuff.

And jumped for joy at the Washington Monument.

We also saw the White House, the Smithsonian Museums (but didn't have time to go through them), and the Agricultural Building that has corn lining the sidewalk. Bike riding is a great way to see the sites and get a good work out without killing your feet.

After a day in the city, our next day was spent in the country (so to speak). We drove along the lovely Potomac River to Mt. Vernon, the beautiful estate of George Washington. Yup, that's him.

Due to renovations, the front was block by scaffolding. Lame. Luckily there was a miniature scale model inside so I got a picture of it. It was so cute! I love little buildings!!!


Other events in my wonderful week with my wonderful friend included splitting a tasty salmon for lunch at Whole Foods, shopping at Target (where I purchased light wash jeans and peachy nail polish), and taking siestas every day. Siestas = favorite thing ever. That and having air conditioning. Such a luxury! All of you back home better be grateful for it. Or else!

Now I'm back in the great city of New York. I could literally feel the change in me as I stepped off the bus. It was probably my blood pressure rising...

Bullet Points

• Ate a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon for lunch at the Melt Shop located in the Citigroup Center (which includes one of my favorite buildings)
• Did some cool drawings for work including a shower bench and a wine room door
• Ate cupcakes at Crumbs, Sprinkles, and Billy's Bakery. My favorite? Banana cupcake at Billy's.
• Had snowcones! Well, they're called Sno-balls in the south. Tiger's blood of course and they came in Chinese food take-out containers. Cute!
  

• Slept in... a lot
• Saw the movie Larry Crowne. It was over-priced (what's new?) and interesting
• Went shopping at Loehmann's, which is basically like TJ Maxx or Ross, and bought two shirts.
• Did NOT get sunburned at Rockaway Beach. Yay!
• Ate an ice cream cookie sandwich at Insomnia Cookie.
• Went shopping at Trader Joe's and resisted the need to buy the 5lb chocolate bar with almonds.
• Spent 4 hours at the D&D building shopping for samples for various projects only to have basically all of them turned down. That's the life of an interior design intern.
• Went to a karaoke bar. It was very entertaining.
• Do you want to know the best part??? I saw part 1 and part 2 of Harry Potter 7 at Times Square! It was the back-to-back midnight showing. I went there straight from work at 5:30 pm to meet up with friends and get good seats. I was there until 2:30 am. Can I now be classified as a die-hard fan?
  

• A great couple of weeks in a great city with great friends.
  

The Four-day weekend of the 4th

I did a lot this weekend with an extra day for fun.

I had margarita pizza from Lombardi's, New York's best pizzeria, though I like John's Pizzeria better--they pile on the basil!

I went to the Cloisters and explored architecture and artifacts from medieval times. It was pretty interesting but I especially loved the surrounding area that it was set it. There were were gardens, lots of trees, and parks. Being in the city, I forget how nice green, living things are!

On the 4th, some friends and I went to Coney Island to witness the hot dog eating contest world championships. I made sure to eat my hot dog from Nathan's (it's been around for almost 100 years!) before it started because afterward I never wanted to see a hot dog again.

I saw the carny (as in carnival) rides but I didn't want to take the chance to actually go on one. Plus the face above the entrance kind of creeped me out.

The beach was packed! I mean, look at all those umbrellas. Just don't look too close because there are probably people in swimsuits that they shouldn't be in. I warned you... Overall, Coney Island is a place you need to see when you're in New York because you're in New York. But once you've seen it, you don't need to go back.

Probably my favorite part about the weekend was going to Little Italy and Chinatown. Even though those places are pretty touristy, they have this charm that is unique to each place. I bought a little cell phone charm from a nice lady in Chinatown and I need to go back and eat some pasta at one of the many Italian restaurants that line Mulberry street.

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you had a great one!

Quick Update

It's been another great week in New York City! I finally got to see one of my favorite buildings...the Flatiron Building.

It was right next to Madison Square Park which had an outdoor Shake Shack. My friends and I got tasty burgers that, in my personal opinion, are way better than In 'n Out. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm eating in New York?

A smaller group of friends went to this amazing chocolate restaurant. Willy Wonka is alive and his name is Max Brenner. I got a waffle dessert with bananas and ice cream and chocolate. It came with my own little bowl of chocolate covered rice crispies. Delish!

Another night I went to Times Square to eat at John's Pizzeria. It's been the best pizza I've eaten yet. If you notice in the picture I'm wearing red pants! I just bought them that day along with a yellow pair of Toms. They'll be fun and comfy to wear around the city this summer.

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. Well, some of you. I got to spend all day at Long Beach in Long Island. So beautiful and sunny...

...yet such painful consequences. I am now a bake lobster. Every move is painful. At least I'm not the only one. As you can see, my other friends have a rosy glow too.

On a final note, I wanted to say thanks for your comments! I really appreciate them. Keep 'em coming!

It's Friday! Friday!

Work has been pretty busy and tiring so I haven't done much this week, excluding Friday. Holy cow that day was crazy awesome. My friends and I decided to go to New Jersey and on our way we had a pretty great view of the Empire State Building.

We took the Path (aka the train to New Jersey) and felt really smart figuring it out all by ourselves. We had a great view of the Manhattan skyline from across the Hudson.

The real reason why we went to Jersey was for the bakery on Cake Boss! Wow that place has gorgeous cakes. We didn't actually go inside because the line stretched down the street for two blocks. But I got a picture!

For lunch, we found this tasty Malaysian place (shout out to Shenli!) and I got curry soup, coconut rice, and some sort of chicken goodness. Mmmm good!

We took the Path back to the World Trade Center Memorial that is under construction. You couldn't see too much of it. I can't imagine just how chaotic and terrifying 9/11 would have been there...

We visited Trinity Church and I got my picture taken in place of Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill in its museum.

Since we were in the area, we checked out the New York Stock Exchange building and went all the way to the tip of the island. But it started pouring so we decided to run down in the subway to catch a trail up to SoHo. But that plan didn't work out because it was still pouring when we got there. Change of plans #3: Dylan's Candy Bar, a three-story candy store (heaven on earth) with all sorts of goodies. On the top floor they have a little restaurant of sorts. You can order a Nutty Fluffy Jammy (aka a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with marshmallow fluff) and we just had to try one! And they were so tasty! I brought home a little menu so I can try some of the combinations.

Going to the candy shop was perfect because it meant that when we got to Serendipity 3, we hardly had to wait. That was a miracle because it's usually takes two hours to get in. Serendipity 3, in case you didn't know, is a pretty famous restaurant known for its frozen hot chocolate (there's a movie about it with John Cusak). Here I am with my own frozen hot chocolate. It was huge and so good!

On our way home, we strolled through the Central Park (to walk of the exorbitant amount of food we consumed that day). I saw Strawberry Fields. Its a little portion of the park with a memorial for John Lennon (from the Beatles). So for the rest of the way home I was humming, “Strawberry fields forever…” A great ending to a great day!

Yes, I am still alive.

Life in the city has been good and busy, so I've been bad at keeping track of what I've been doing. Here's what I've been up to these past few days...

{Belvedere Castle in Central Park}

On Sunday, Elders L. Tom Perry and Quentin L. Cook came and spoke to single adults all around the area. They were very wonderful speakers and I felt so lucky to hear them speak.

Monday after work I went to Central Park with some friends to play games and listen to music. Every once it a while I would pause and remind myself that I wasn't throwing a football in any park; I was throwing a football in Central Park.

For work today, I got to go to a client's home to help get ready for a photo shoot. It was nice to feel useful and to see a completed project. Hopefully I'll be able to do more work at my job than just carrying things around. I guess that comes with the territory being an intern and everything. I'll try to do some interesting the rest of this week and take pictures of whatever I'm up to...

Can weather be bi-polar?

In New York City, yes. While just days ago it was a stifling 98 degrees plus humidity, today was in the 60s and has this weird, misty rain. So after dodging puddles on my run in Central Park, my roommate and I went to do some shopping! First we did the traditional trip to Time Square (can you say alliteration?) and ended up outside of the Harry Potter Exhibition. As my roommate can attest, I was constantly describing everything as "so great!" They displayed clothing and props from the Harry Potter movies. It was heavenly. My absolute favorite part was seeing the amazing detail in all of the wands. I was very tempted to purchase one in the store, but instead I got a chocolate frog. And this picture, as proof that I was there.

Once we exited the store, they had the Cake Boss Cafe with some tasty (and overpriced) treats. I had to try something because I love that show. Sometime while I'm here, I'm going to Buddy's shop.

After trying (and failing) to get cheap tickets to Phantom of the Opera, we headed to Macy's for some shopping therapy. THE Macy's. It was extremely overwhelming but when you're in New York, you have to go.

After all that walking, we were starving so we headed back uptown for dinner at a place on Columbus called Ocean Grill. I ate the best sushi I've ever had in my life there. Sea bass with pineapple, tempura (fried) sweet potato, and some magical BBQ sauce. Self-realization: I am in love with BBQ sauce.

We walked back to our apartment to change into some more layers and then headed out to see X-Men: First Class. Although the tickets were horribly expensive, I am paying for the experience to be able to walk out of the theater onto Broadway in the Big Apple. While I need to be wise with my money, I can't be a Scrooge and miss out on once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Goal for next week: balance. Work vs. play. Spend vs. save.

Cookies and Concerts

Guys, you know a cookie is good when you're willing to pay $4.00 for it. Yup, tonight after work my friends and I went to Levain Bakery and I had a Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie. It was about 4" thick and AMAZING! Hopefully you can get a pretty good look of it from the picture.

After that, we wandered down to the Lincoln Center (where we have church) and found this place that has free concerts on Thursday nights. While we were waiting for the concert, we saw the buildings for the New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, and Julliard. They are all really beautiful. We discovered some good deals so we can actually afford to go to those places, so you'll be hearing about those adventures at a later date.

The concert was a violinist and his accompanist, who performed music from Spain (and some Debussy). It was glorious and inspiring and free! They were both graduates from Julliard. Before the concert, the announcer person listed all of the awards and recognition that Julliard alums received and it was pretty impressive (but as she was talking, all I could think of was Lady Gaga and how I heard she studied piano there, I think).

After the concert, my friends and I danced through Central Park. So random and so great. Well, my first week of work is over and the weekend starts tomorrow. I'm super excited to play and we have lots of great plans I can't wait to tell you about.

Thanks for reading!