NYC, y'all

This past weekend, the sisters, Chuckie and I traveled down to NYC. I had a very strict and packed itinerary planned out for us and we followed it pretty well, but unfortunately weren't able to fit EVERYTHING in... There was just too much to do.

Saturday morning started at the World Trade Center Memorial. The weather was gorgeous, so the memorial had a long line and a big crowd inside.

 

 

After the memorial, we headed north to the High Line- a park made from an old, abandoned railroad track. If you're in NYC and looking for a place to just walk and get some good pictures of a different part of town, this is the spot. 

At the High Line, we met up with our cousin Megan and her boyfriend G who drove in from New Jersey to hang out with us. The 6 of us drove from the High Line to our hotel near Central Park for a little pregaming and UofL game watching before our dinner reservations. We played the game Heads Up on the iPhone and laughed a lot.

Dinner that night was at PJ Clarke's- an American restaurant across the street from the Lincoln Center. I'd highly recommend this place to anyone looking for relatively decent dinner prices and a view.

Once dinner was over we cabbed it to Times Square, mostly for photo ops and people watching.

Oh and we had a good time photobombing just about everyone around us for 15-20 minutes. Some people are going to get some nice surprises when they get home and look at their pictures up close. :)

After a lot of photobombing, we made our way to McGee's Irish Pub. It was inspiration for the bar MacLaren's on How I Met Your Mother (one of our favorite shows) and the cast of the show has been known to make appearances from time to time. As an added bonus, the pub is Irish and it was St. Patrick's weekend, and also the bar was 3 blocks from our hotel. Sadly, we didn't run into Neil Patrick Harris, but we did rack up a large bill and played more Heads Up and laughed a LOT more. (Yes we played a game at a table in the middle of the bar and yes people stared at us and no we did not care.)

Sunday morning we were all miraculously feeling great, (I said it was a birthday miracle!) so after some showers and checking out of the hotel, we got Starbucks and walked around Central Park.

Next we were back in a cab heading south to meet some other cousins for brunch at Baracca's. The food was delicious, the Bottomless Sangria brunch deal was fun, and our company was great.

After brunch we headed to the Met- Sami's one and only wish for our NYC to-do list. We basically ran from gallery to gallery and decided the Met needs a whole weekend to itself to properly see everything and in a way you're not just running past it. But what we did see was awesome. Who isn't impressed by standing a foot in front of an actual Monet?

After the Met we went on a hunt for ice cream, which proved impossible as it was after 5 pm on Sunday and apparently no one serves ice cream (at least not where we were) after 5pm. So we decided to start the drive back to Boston and look for ice cream on the way home. After 2 hours of driving and no ice cream, we caved and stopped at a McDonald's for some McFlurries and milkshakes. It wasn't quite what we had in mind but, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Monday was St. Patrick's Day. We slept in a little, watched some TV, and left the house in time to have lunch at Border Cafe in Harvard Square. Yep, we had Mexican food on an Irish holiday. Then we spent the afternoon shopping in Harvard Square, playing Scrabble in a Starbucks (because why not?) and mostly just chilling. We redeemed ourselves later that night and made our Irish ancestors proud- we had drinks at an Irish restaurant followed by dinner. Oh and we had birthday cupcakes.

That night we watched The Departed and then just like that the trip was over. :( I think we made the most of our time in NYC and we especially loved getting to spend some time with cousins we don't get to see a whole lot.

Highlights of the trip (besides all the sight-seeing and food):
-  Laura, Sami, Megan and G got into a cab behind mine and Chuckie's and Laura got to say the line "Follow that car!" just like she wanted to.
- We watched Newsies Friday night before NYC which gave us some really good taglines for the weekend like "Headlines don't sell papes" and "Awww, Crutchy."
- I kept calling the Empire State Building the Eiffel Tower
- Playing Heads Up in the bar but especially when we had to act out "Losing Keys" and G threw his actual keys halfway across the bar.
- We took a birthday shot called a chocolate covered pretzel and it changed our lives.
- Laura and Sami took some of the cupcakes home to Louisville with them and live tweeted the journey with the hashtag #travelingcupcakes.


Happy belated 21st birthday, Sami and happy early 30th birthday, Laura!

Next week is Chuckie's Spring Break and my huge project at work is finished and turned in, so we are taking the week to get out of town and relax. Chuckie's sis invited us down to Virginia Beach for the week and since D.C. is on the way, we decided to stop and spend the weekend there before ending up in VA Beach. I haven't been to D.C. since I was 14 and Chuck hasn't been since he was 21, so we are excited to explore the city together and have a nice little vacation week.

Highs and Lows

In high school, my favorite part of youth group every week was at the end of the night when we went around the circle and shared our "highs and lows" or "glads and sads" from the week with each other. It gave us a few minutes to celebrate the happy things with each other and sympathize with each other on the not-so-happy things. Last week was the ultimate week of highs and lows, and since I obviously don't go to youth group anymore, I will share them here.

I don't want to recap the "lows" in too much detail because I don't want to relive all of it right now, or in the future either really. Last week, my Grandma passed away. She was one of the greatest people I've ever known and she was the best Grandma. My sisters and I were lucky to grow up 15 minutes away from our Grandparents and got to spend virtually every holiday and birthday with them, spend the night at their house often and go over for brunch after church or dinners on the weekends. You know all the good Grandma-like things that Grandmas do, like let you have an extra piece of candy after your parents said no, or take you shopping with them and spoil you? Well she did them all, plus more. Not only did she treat us like royalty, she was also funny as heck and a fiesty little woman. She loved all of her family fiercely, especially my Grandpa (and her 6 daughters, 16 grandkids, 25 great-grandkids, and 2 great-great grandkids!) and we all loved her back just as much. So Chuck and I cancelled everything in Boston and bought last minute plane tickets home to be with family for the memorial service.

When we arrived at my parent's house, we found out that our family dog, Lucy, was sick. After a few days of medication and no improvement, we took her back to the vet the morning before the memorial service. My dad got a call right after it ended saying that Lucy was not going to get better and it was recommended we put her to sleep. So, my parents, sisters, Austin (Sami's boyfriend), Chuckie and I went to say goodbye to her at the vet, immediately after saying goodbye to my Grandma.  It was pretty much the worst. We got Lucy when I was 15 and we all had our own special relationships with her. She liked to drive Dad crazy by running through his newly raked leaf piles in the Fall. She liked to give Mom "hugs." She liked to crawl on Sami on the couch. She liked to sleep at the end of Laura's bed. She liked to flop down in front of me and force me to rub her belly, a trick I accidentally taught her that she never forgot after the very first time. Lucy loved everything about her life and her family. She was a good dog.

Lucy and I still kept in touch even when I was in Boston.

If all of that, plus lack of sleep plus stress wasn't enough already, Thursday night when we had only 3 hours to sleep before we had to head to the airport, Chuckie got violently ill and stayed that way, even while we were traveling through airports all day. I've never seen him this sick in all the time we've been together. It was like a nightmare that wouldn't end. 

Friday afternoon we got back to Boston, along with my sisters who have had plane tickets to come up and see us for months. We had a whole weekend planned in New York City to celebrate all of our birthdays- specifically Sami's recent 21st birthday and Laura's quickly approaching 30th birthday. The weekend just also happened to be my actual birthday so we celebrated that too. Friday We used Friday as a day of rest so we could actually try to enjoy our weekend in New York. We slept most of the day, showered, went to the grocery and bought all kinds of food and then went home and ate it while we watched Newsies. It wasn't quite the day we had planned for months but, it was necessary down time.

The "highs" of the week came Saturday and Sunday when we were in NYC. There is something so energizing, no matter what state of mind you are in, about being in THE big city. There's just nothing else like it. Our cousin and her boyfriend met up with us Saturday and we did some sight-seeing, had dinner and went out. I can't remember the last time I (personally) had as much fun as we did on Saturday night. Sunday we met up with more cousins for brunch (at a place with bottomless sangria...yum) before some more sight-seeing. The weekend was busy, funny and a great way to celebrate our birthdays. I have a lot of pictures so I will post them in a separate post soon.

Again like I said earlier- we had some of the lowest lows and highest highs all in the same week. Thank you to everyone who was there for our family last week and has reached out to me or them. It means the world. And thank you to New York City, for giving us one of the best weekends ever, when we needed it most.

New York City - Round Two

For Christmas this year, Chuck gave me tickets to see one of my favorite Broadway shows, Jersey Boys, in New York City. We've been trying to find time to go to NYC since moving to Boston, seeing as it's only about a 4 hour drive away. Chuck figured January was the perfect time- right after I left my job at MIT and right before we move (temporarily) to Seattle.  (More on that soon.)

We took the Megabus down on Thursday morning. The Megabus is awesome. You can get super cheap tickets, the bus has free WiFi, outlets to plug phones and laptops into, and it's kinda fun to ride on top of a double decker bus. Plus, someone else does all the driving so you can just relax and take in the scenery!

When we got to New York, we walked through the city, got a coffee at Starbucks, and slowly made our way to check into our hotel. I found a hotel online for VERY cheap because they were having a "winter sale." The hotel was right in Times Square and only a few blocks from the theater where we were seeing the show!

Before the show we ate at a restaurant called "Victor's Cafe." It was basically the NYC, slightly fancier version, of our favorite restaurant back in Louisville, Havana Rumba. It was SO. GOOD. Then it was off to Jersey Boys. That was also SO. SO. SO. GOOD. If you ever get a chance to see this show, please go see it. You will not regret it!

Friday morning we woke up, checked out of our hotel, grabbed some coffee and a danish and walked to Rockefeller Center.

A few people were ice skating so we thought about doing it too, but decided it was way too cold to be enjoyable. So we just had our picture taken in front of it instead.

We hung around there for a little while- spent way longer than a couple of 25 year olds should in the Lego store, stopped in the NBC studios store and thought about taking the tour but decided against it since we've both done it before, and then decided to tackle the NYC subway and make our way to the World Trade Center Memorial.

Thank God the Boston subway system is not this crazy.

Getting to the memorial was pretty interesting. For some reason I assummed it was just open to the public to come and go as you wish. Of course that's not how it was. The memorial requires (free) passes, a maze-like walk to the entrance, a security checkpoint similar to airport security (minus taking off your shoes) and about 5-6 points where you have to present your pass to be checked. When we finally made it  to the memorial it was very much worth it. I can't say the memorial is enjoyable, simply because of why it's there, but I can say it's a very  nice tribute to the victims of 9/11. And it was awesome to see the Freedom Tower and the other buildings currently under construction to replace the Twin Towers.

After the memorial, we had lunch at a hole in the wall Irish Pub across the street and then walked over to Wall Street. We wanted to go in and do some trading at the New York Stock Exchange but that place is on lock down!

After Wall Street, we decided to go see the 34th Street Macy's. I knew that store was big but I had no idea how big. I can't even understand how a store can be this big. My favorite floor was the 9th floor, furniture and whatnot. I really just wanted to stay there the rest of the day. Actually, I wanted to stay forever. They have a bed and couches! And look how nicely it's decorated!

By 6 o'clock Friday we were back on the Megabus making our way home. It was a pretty eventful ride home: snow, rush hour, 6 hours when it was only supposed to take 4, and a Charlie from LOST situation in the bus bathroom- some guy locked himself in and wouldn't come out.

We had so much fun in two short days but definitely agreed that when we go back, we should go when it's warmer than 20 degrees!

New York City!

While our husbands were enjoying the warm, sunny weather in LA this weekend at the end of the Plant Trek, my friends, Ana and Rachel, and I decided to take a road trip to New York City. The city is only about 4 hours from Boston, Ana has a car, and we had a free place to stay, thanks to Ana's new and very sweet mother-in-law who lives there! We only spent a day and a half in the city but we squeezed in as much fun as we could.

We started our Saturday early. We took the train from the Bronx into Manhattan and went straight to the theater where the musical "Once" is performed to wait in line for rush tickets. We weren't sure if we'd be able to get tickets or not, so it was a very emotional and stressful 45 minutes of waiting.

But we held strong and stayed positive, and what do you know? We were able to score some $27 standing room only tickets for the Saturday night showing of "Once" - the winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical. We could hardly contain our excitement!

After that, we stopped by a Starbucks to thaw out our frozen toes and drink some hot chocolate. Then we were on our way to a park called The High Line. The High Line is a park built on an old abandoned train rail. It stretches several blocks and there are great views and unique art to look at along the way. We walked the entire thing.

Then we took a little rest on a nice bench.

We did a lot of walking, so at the end of the High Line, we decided to find a place to sit and have a nice lunch. We ate at a place called The Standard and it was DELICIOUS. As an appetizer, we ordered oysters and I had my very first oyster. It was so good. Here's the damage we did to them.

Up next we took the train down to catch the Staten Island Ferry which is great because it's free. The ferry goes to and from Staten Island and has amazing views of the city and the Statue of Liberty. If you visit,  I strongly suggest taking this ferry rather than paying lots of dollars for a touristy ferry ride that basically gives you the same views but for a silly amount of money.

My favorite picture from the trip:

When we got back from our ferry ride, we were back on the train and off to Central Park. By the time we got there, it was dark outside, so we only walked in Central Park for a quick minute. We then stopped at a nice lounge-y bar called Whiskey Park which had a view of Central Park and had a couple drinks before we had to head to our show.

Around 7:15 we headed back to Times Square for our show.

The show was AMAZING. I didn't know much about the musical before the show, but it was so much better than I ever even expected. It's hard to explain in words how good it was... Really. You just need to see it.

When our show let out, we headed back into Times Square but before we got there, got distracted by a celebrity sighting! We saw a big crowd of people, all with their cameras up in the air trying to snap a picture of someone, so we headed over to check it out. We pushed our way up to discover.... RICKY MARTIN! Oh yeah!!! He's apparently starring in Evita on Broadway right now and that show had let out before ours. He signed a few autographs on the way to his get-away car, gave one last wave and was gone. Ricky Martin, still Livin' la vida loca!

We ended our night with a drink in an Irish pub a couple blocks from Times Square and then started the long trek back to the Bronx to get some sleep. It was a loooooong but very successful, fun-filled day.

Sunday morning we woke up and took our time getting ready. Then we headed, with the car this time, back into the city to the Upper West Side to meet some of Rachel's and Ana's college friends for brunch. We ate at a place called "Good Enough To Eat" and it was amazing. There was a line out the door down the street that we waited in, but it was totally worth it. After brunch, we took a little stroll down the street with Rachel's friend Ben. Our initial goal was to find a bakery to get some goodies to bring home, but instead we ended up coming across The Dakota, the apartment building where John Lennon lived and was murdered in front of (lovely, I know) and then Central Park. Since we didn't see the park in the daylight the day before, we decided to walk through the park to get back to the car and then head home. It was a gorgeous day and we felt very New York-y.

 

 

We were very sad to leave the city but had to head home to be there in time for the husbands arrival back in Boston. I think we had an extremely successful trip though. There's not much I would say we missed out on!

 

 

And anything we did miss out on, well, Chuck and I can make up for on Thursday when he and I head back to New York for 2 days in the city and Jersey Boys on Broadway!!!!