NYC: {Days 1 & 2}

Like I said before, we went allllll up and down the island of Manhattan on our NYC vacation. We even ventured into Brooklyn. It was a busy four days, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say we walked for 5+ miles on a couple of those days. It helped burn off a few of the excessive calories we were consuming at every meal! 

I just have too many pictures I want to share. It's dangerous having my nice new camera! I should do some collages or the like, but I don't want to. I want to just soak up all these pictures on their own, and make this a long ass post full of pictures. Sorry to any of you reading this on your smart phone... I know the pictures can get annoying. But it's my blog, so I'll be annoying if I want to ;)

Saturday started with a long walk from Murry Hill up to Central Park. We took a scenic walk uptown, enjoying the sights along the way. Our friends were great tour guides, stopping along the way to point out important neighborhoods or landmarks. We stopped for a required picture in Times Square, and it is as horrible a place as you'd imagine. Reminded me a lot of Navy Pier in Chicago... you have to visit sometime, but you shouldn't make it a habit. Then we continued on North, visiting the Whole Foods in Columbus Circle (my store's biggest competition), and then landing in the one and only Central Park.

We walked through the south end of Central Park, and ended up over by the Met. This seemed like a legit place to visit, so we headed on in. We only had an hour or so to spend there, so we oped to pay only part of the usual $25 donation to get in, and we spent most of that time visiting the Andy Warhol exhibit. It was interesting, and we saw some interesting art in the museum, but I'd be willing to say that the Art Institute in Chicago gives it a run for the money. The best part, for sure, was the rooftop patio. What beautiful views of Central Park and the Upper East Side!

Day two involved less walking, and maybe more drinking. We started at Danielle's for a delicious brunch, with lots of mimosas. It was nice to just relax with our friends for a bit, before another busy day of wandering New York.

Hostest with the Mostest!

After brunch, we jumped in a cab (ok, actually we ordered a towncar... so fancy, right? Thanks Daniel!), and we headed to Brooklyn. We had the hookup at Brooklyn Brewery, thanks to a connection at work, and enjoyed free beer, a tour of the brewery, and some sweet t-shirts on the house. I like hookups, and Brooklyn makes some pretty tasty beer!

I was reunited with my Chicago friend Stacy! She's living in New York now,
and it was great to catch up with her. We always end up having a good time together!

A couple people wandered off and asked us to hold their drinks.
Daniel and I felt quite powerful in this situation.

After the brewery, we took the train to Cobble Hill, a cute Brooklyn neighborhood. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time, but we stopped long enough to enjoy a cocktail and some live music at Bar Tabac. I could tell it was a great area to hang out in, but it was later on a Sunday evening, so a lot of shops were closed. Plus, we had plans to meet friends back in Midtown, so we finished our drinks and zipped back to meet up.

The first two days were quite a success, full of more adventures than I could even capture here! We got some necessary sightseeing out of the way (Times Square-- no bueno), and soaked up the vibes of both Brooklyn and the Upper West Side. We were charmed, for sure, and went to bed Sunday feeling grateful that we still had a couple more days of exploring to do.

To Be Continued...

NYC stole my heart!

We are back from our NYC trip, and it was epic. From lunch at a 3 Michelin star restaurant, to a Broadway show, we really made the most of our time in the Big Apple. I'm sure I'll do at least two blog posts with some of the highlights, but here's a preview of some of our favorite moments. Let's just say that I loved it, and am already planning when I can visit again!

The food. Oh, the food. Amazing!

From Battery Park to the Upper West Side, we saw so many sides of the city.
More than once, we savored a little time in Central Park.

Seeing some of our good friends was a major
highlight. Seeing them while exploring the city
was even better!

Notre Dame Football Adventure!

This weekend we got to go to South Bend, IN for a Notre Dame football game, courtesy of my generous uncle in California. He had entered a lotto for tickets, and ended up getting tickets that he couldn't actually use. A few weeks ago my aunt called to see if we were interested in a set of tickets, and you know we couldn't pass up that opportunity! We had a blast exploring the campus, and experiencing the rich traditions of this historic university.

The campus was full of students and visitors, eating, drinking, and seeing the sights.

The main administrative building was beautiful!
It was full of intricate murals, and had this amazing dome about four floors up.

The basilica was amazing!

After exploring campus, we went to Legends, a bar right across from the stadium.

The band was great at getting the crowd excited... and the crowd was huge! 

They were playing Air Force, so there was a fly over before the game! Too cool!

Go Irish!
(We got shirts before so we would blend in!)

Fun tradition-- they lift the students up and down whenever the Irish score.
They do it as many times as they have points, so people joke about starting
with their heaviest friends first, in case it's a high scoring game.

Touchdown Jesus!

Speaking of high scoring... it was a great day to be a Notre Dame fan!

Thanks again Ron and Anne for the tickets!!! We had a blast!

Your Typical Missouri Weekend...

The title of this post is quite sarcastic. I lived in Missouri for a total of six years, and most of the events of the past weekend were things I had never done before. The difference is this was a country weekend in Missouri, as we headed to a small town in the middle of the state for Joe's high school reunion. While it sure was different than our usual Chicago weekend, it wasn't any less fun!

What's that you say? You'd like some pictures? How about this:

This is me, shooting a real gun. It was weird. Kind of fun, but weird. I shot two types... this was a 22, which is a "girlie" gun, then also a 9mm, which is a handgun like what police officer's normally carry. I doubt I'd do this again, but it was something different to cross off my life to-do list :)

Yes, Joe got to play, too. He's a country boy at heart!

These guys have been friends since elementary school!

The weekend was filled with highlights of small town living. Some were comical, others just relaxing and enjoyable. We looked at the stars, ate down home cooking, and paid a visit to Walmart (where we bought craft beer and nothing else). It was great to reconnect with old friends, and to enjoy a little time away from the big city!

I hope this isn't their only fire truck!

Enjoying some Boone's Farm "Fuzzy Navel" in the parking lot.
Classy, huh?
Not just any parking lot, either. It was the 4H parking lot.
Surrounded by corn on all sides.

Serious small town breakfast.

In case you were wondering where all the crazy Tea Party folks are,
the answer is small towns in Illinois. Yikes.

I got to reconnect with my good friend Michelle. I miss this girl!

We squeezed in a visit to Flat Branch,
a favorite watering hole during our college days in Columbia.

It was a great weekend away from the city, catching up with good friends over a cold beer (or five). Thanks to everyone who made it such a fun visit!

Weekend Recap: Single Girl Version

I don't always do "weekend recap" types of posts, but this weekend I'm going to make an exception. This weekend was a great one, because I had the whole thing off, and did only what I wanted to do for myself. Joe was out of town, so I took full advantage of having the time to indulge in whatever I felt like doing!

Friday was a wine tasting at a friend's apartment, with plenty of wine and fantastic food pairings. Surrounded by great company, I managed to enjoy the wine and conversation until after 2:00 AM! It was pretty much the definition of a great party, and I kept thing under control enough to have a ton of fun, without too much of a headache the next morning :)

I started Saturday with some necessary sleeping in, and started to clean up around the house. After some halfhearted attempts to coordinate with friends, I decided to go see The Help alone, a newer experience for me. If you haven't seen a movie alone, I'd recommend you give it a try! It's really nice to just soak up a movie without having to worry about anyone except yourself. The movie was followed by frozen yogurt for lunch, and an unavoidable visit to Urban Outfitters. After my late night out on Friday, I soaked up the idea of spending Saturday night at home, watching stupid TV and just relaxing. Oh, and by relaxing, I mean canning some corn relish, then sitting on the couch after it was done! I am weird, and totally ok with that... I did have to laugh at myself when I thought about the fact that my "single lady" weekend without Joe involved shucking corn on the porch and watching too much reality TV.

New infinity scarf from UO

All the relish ingredients were from last week's CSA box!

The corn relish turned out fantastic! 

I didn't actually relax much on Sunday, but I really enjoyed all the running around that occurred. I started by literally running around, doing a three mile run on the trail by my house. Then my friend Chelsi and I headed to the farmers market, to score some more fresh veggies to can. Once we had the produce we needed, we went to Wicker Park to check out the Sidewalk Sale at Big Star. IT WAS AMAZING!  We got there about 30 minutes before it was supposed to start, and it turned out they couldn't fight the crowds and ended up starting the sale early. I got TEN awesome beer glasses... for a grand total of FIVE DOLLARS. Yup, these suckers were $0.50 each, which is why I couldn't resist buying so many!

The glasses are a mix of US craft brewers, like Great Lakes or Ommegang,
and Belgian brewers like Chimay or  La Chouffe.

Of course, we couldn't leave Big Star without some of their amazing tacos, and getting there so early meant we actually got a seat on the patio without any wait! Then Chelsi and I went back to my condo to do some canning, and made a whole bunch of Dilly Beans and Spiced Beets from this book. I can't wait to taste the results!

Now my handsome husband is home, and I have to go snuggle with him on the couch! While I did have a wonderful weekend, it's never as good when he's here. Hope you all had a great weekend too!