Cherry Blossoms

Last year I was reading one of my favorite blogs and discovered the Washington D.C. cherry blossom festival.  I decided then that if I did move to New York, I absolutely had to see these for myself.  You can imagine how excited I was when my friends and I decided we were actually going to make this spring trip happen.  Without too much prior planning we hopped on a bus after work and made the 4 hour trip down to our nation's capital.  It was such a fun weekend and I really have such a larger appreciation of D.C. than I ever thought I would.  

I can thank my 5th grade class field trip to Washington D.C. for teaching me all the major historical events I now know but I was amazed at how much I really loved it this time.  It really is the best of both worlds, with "normal" neighborhoods, trees, and cars and an amazingly close proximity to a big, fun city.  No, I don't intend on changing the name of this blog to loveyourcitywashingtondc.blogspot.com anytime soon, but it just reminds me how many fun cities there are in the U.S. and how great it is to be able to take advantage of how easy it is to get to all of them from NYC.

Pretty great traveling buddies I have!

The 3,000 cherry blossom trees were a gift from Japan

Favorite trees ever - they remind me of spring in Oklahoma!

Weekend!

 Hey Everyone.  I'm off to

   

 To see this...

 See you Monday!

How Many Friends Can You Fit Into A New York Apartment?!

6!!  Tried, tested and true!  Last week the rooms and I were treated to 4 Oklahoma/Texas visitors and it was lovely...crowded but lovely!  Visitor busy season started 3 weeks ago when my parents came to visit, followed shortly by Kelley's parents, and on the heels of their visit came my little bro Jacob and 3 OU friends.  The last of the visitors left on Sunday and our apartment has seemed abnormally quiet and kind of like a ghost town these last few days.   

I have to say I really get the opportunity to take advantage of the city when I have visitors in town.  A few highlights from the past week:


I accompanied little J to 1 of the 4 Broadway shows he saw in his 4 day trip to New York.  

"Catch Me If You Can" a cute new musical starring an equally cute Aaron Tveit/Trip Van Der Bilt (you know Nate's cousin in Gossip Girl).

I went out with the girls in the Financial District on St. Patrick's Day

Borrowed this Guinness from the rooms for photo purposes

Took Friday off work for a little grown up Spring Break of my own and hung out with baby bro bro all day.  I lucked out and chose the best day New York City has seen this year.  The temperature was in the mid-70's and the sun was out all day.  I was loving it!  I think I wore Jacob out but he can now say he walked ALL around this city, uptown/downtown/midtown.  

Bagels for Breakfast

Graffiti photo ses.

Washington Square Park where we narrowly missed an Andy Cohen spotting

Friends Dinner

I had so much fun with everyone and can't wait for more visitors in April!

Hibernation

OH My Gosh Wow!  Where have I been?  It's been so long since I last blogged that I had a difficult time even remembering my Blogspot password.  I think I'll just say that my blog has been in winter hibernation.  Today however we had the first glimpse of spring in NYC with temperatures tipping a little over 50 degrees and a warm sun on top of that and I am excited!  I even went for a run in Central Park and it was great!  I very well intend on adding C.P. runs to my routine now that the lonnnnnnnnng winter season in New York might be wrapping up.  Quick story: a few weeks ago I was feeling advantageous and saw that the temperatures were going to be above freezing so I decided I'd like to go for a run in Central Park but about 5 minutes into my run it started snowing...that run in the park quickly turned into a run home.  


So let me tell you what I have been up to during my winter hibernation (and since my last post):


1) I'm sure you have all figured out what I was for Halloween via Facebook but in case anyone is still wondering...I was a geisha.  See below picture:

2)  I got a new job!  I'm on the account team for an advertising agency in the city and its been a great experience so far and I'm really enjoying it!


3) I had wine and conversed with Penn Badgley for about 3 hours.  It was my favorite NYC night so far and Kristen, Kelley, and I are still hoping we run into him again and can pick up where we left off that wonderful Saturday night in November :)

4)  I went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years and loved seeing my family and friends again!  I miss them all a lot!

5) I celebrated my first birthday without my twin.  Definitely a change and a little more difficult than I expected.  I was already a little debbie downer about the whole day and had a panicky feeling about getting old but I did celebrate the next day with friends and dinner at a true SATC spot Il Cantinori

Now that spring is on the horizon and I already have lots of exciting things planned including a visit from my parents last weekend, Kelley's this weekend, little baby bro Jacob on Tuesday, several college friends on Wednesday, a trip to Washington D.C. for the cherry blossom festival, and more visitors in April, I hope to have updates a little more regularly!  

Happy Halloween!

If you know me, you know I love all holidays and Halloween definitely falls very close to the top of that ranked list - just barely below my tops Christmas and Valentine's Day.  And I am so excited to celebrate my first New York Halloween this weekend - the girls and I have a busy weekend planned and I couldn't be more excited.  Can't reveal the big costume yet but I have left a hint below.  Not hard to believe that it's probably my favorite part of the costume!
 


RED LIPS

  

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Boston!

Doesn't get much more fallish than this

One of the things I was most excited about when planning my Big Apple move was the idea of quick weekend trips to all the fun cities so easily accessible from New York.  So you can imagine how excited I was to find out that New York makes it even easier to visit all these wonderful cities with hourly bus departures to fun cities like Boston, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia all without much prior planning required and at extremely reasonable prices.

Since August, Kelley, Kristen, and I have been dreaming about how wonderful Boston must be in the fall and that we couldn't imagine anything more fallish than a weekend spent soaking in all it's history and charm.  It was decided then that we had to reserve a weekend in October to experience what Boston had to offer us in the fall.  So last weekend, for just about $40 and 4 hours on the "MegaBus" through Connecticut, we were able to experience a perfect Northeastern weekend.  The weather was chillier than I had anticipated, but the beautiful fall colors definitely made up for it.  We spent all weekend admiring the orange, yellow, and red leaves and living  out the pages of a 5th grade textbook.  It's amazing how much American history that city has - Paul Revere, Boston Tea Party, even the cemetery where Mother Goose is buried.  I can't wait to have many more fun weekend getaways like this in other great American cities!

Can you believe those colors?!

Seriously cute Boston door!

S'mores under the Boston stars

 New England Clam Chowder - Must do for a Boston trip

It's My 2 Month Anniversary!

Today is my 2 month anniversary of living in this great city!  On one hand it feels like the time has flown by but on the other I can't believe I've only been here 2 months.  My weeks go by so fast, and I have seen and done so much that I can't believe its only been 2 months.  So in honor of my anniversary, I thought I would dedicate this post to a few of my new favorite things in New York.  Undoubtedly these will all continue to change but for now here's what I love:

Bryant Park: My new favorite place to go on a nice weather day

I worked right around the corner from Bryant Park for a few days and I loved eating my lunch at one of the cute outside lawn tables.  Around lunch time the park is full of other 9-to-5er's and moms with their cute kids.  And it is surprisingly quiet and peaceful.  

Empire State Building: My new favorite thing to look for at night

Being one of the more famous architectural structures in New York, I was very familiar with the Empire State Building, I've waited in the monstrous lines to visit the top, and know the great view of the city it provides, but before moving to New York I didn't realize that just about every night it lights up in color!  Most often it is to signify an organization, charity, or special event - but no matter what the color happens to be, I love when I catch a glimpse of it peaking through other buildings. 

(secretly really hoping it looks like this on Valentine's Day)

Brunch: My new favorite weekend meal

BRUNCH! - clearly this isn't me at brunch though

Prior to 2 months ago, I really didn't like breakfast or breakfast food or coffee or eating real food so early, but 2 months in and New Yorkers love of weekend brunch has changed me!  It now is by far my favorite weekend meal and probably my favorite meal of the week too.  Bottomless coffee, mimosas, and warm food - really what's not to love?

*my 2 month anniversary was actually yesterday, but I failed to get those posted in time 
oh and in the apartment adventures...our ceiling started leaking tonight - eek!