thanks for waiting for me

Last Friday we took a semi spontaneous trip to New York City and it was a lovely little weekend. We came across cheap flights one night in December and decided to book the trip because you only live once. I'm so glad we did. My heart often aches for the east coast and especially this crazy, bustling city. We had the chance to meet up with old and new friends and even welcomed the beginnings of the not so blizzard Juno.

We flew into LaGuardia at 8 PM and went to The Meatball Shop with friends. I was happy to try TMS because 2 Christmases ago I wanted so badly to have lunch there but it was closed or something because we went the day after Christmas. We stayed with our friends Dustin and Kari Drees on the Upper East Side.

Saturday morning Kari and I woke up bright and early to get our butts kicked at Soul Cycle. I'm obsessed with this trendy spin class and would love love love if they opened one in Dallas. I think it would do really well here because we have a lot of rich sorority girls who care a lot about their bodies and expensive fitness. After Soul Cycle we ventured to Nolita and had brunch at Jack's Wife Freda. I heard a lot about this place aka saw many pics on Instagram via my girls Karlie, Chrissy and Taylor so I just had to try it. Confession: it's not worth the 1-3 hour wait, but it was a yummy, fresh, Mediterranean experience. We dodged the super long wait time by a miracle cuz we met up with friends Jadyn and Sean McGrath who got to the restaurant a little bit after us and were told they could have a table if we showed up in 10 mins. So we hustled and ate.

After brunch we visited the Saturdays NYC shop because #menswear. Apparently the store has a reputation for having terrible customer service from a bunch of dudes too cool for school. It lived up to its rep, but that didn't stop me from dropping $20 on a graphic tee, my ultimate weakness. After Saturdays we went to visit the civil engineering marvel that is the Brooklyn Bridge. Preston narrated a history for us while we walked back and forth and admired the structure. It really is an awesome bridge and I love how pedestrian friendly it is. After the Brooklyn Bridge we visited the 9/11 Memorial and parted ways with Jadyn and Sean.

My parents got into the city Saturday afternoon and while we were waiting for them to finish up at the temple, we went the Dover Street Market. Preston found out about this place and explained to me beforehand that it was basically a giant showroom of designers' recent collections-- Prada, Commes des Garcon, Alexander Wang, Jil Sander, Rick Owens, etc. Basically it was a dream house for me cuz lots of FW14 pieces were on display to touch and potentially buy (lol). If you like clothes, hit this place up. After Dover, we met up with my parents at a Filipino/Thai restaurant called Pig and Khao.

Before leaving, we scanned concert sites for any fun shows that would be going on during our stay and saw that Kap Slap would be at Webster Hall. He's a fun mashup DJ and for $25, we decided to go. Our friends Deb and Rique agreed to join us, which was perfect since they were regulars at our Provo IDPs. It was fun re-living our Provo days, despite being surrounded by 16 year olds making out for dear life. It was pretty hilarious and I am in awe of the upcoming generation and genuinely wondered if I was as weird/disgusting/annoying.

Sunday morning we met my parents for church and WE SAW TAZA AND TIESANDFRIES. I mean Naomi and Josh and their darling children. I didn't realize until 30 minutes into sacrament and then I spotted them and forgot to breathe. Apparently my parents were in the elevator with Josh and babies and exchanged good mornings. Eleanor and Samson were very shy hehehe. Preston was embarrassed of me, but it made my morning.

After starstruck sacrament, we went to brunch at Jacob's Pickles. You guys, this place is goooood. It's Southern food which you'd think I'd be sick of by now but oh my goodness best fried chicken of my life. Also true to the name, the pickles are fantastic. We actually had the sampler which was pickles and pickled carrots and green beans of assorted flavors. Really great meal, worth the hour wait. After brunch we went to the Museum of Natural History to kill time before seeing the New York City Ballet perform 3 Balanchine movements. This was one of my favorite thing we did. As a retired ballerina, I was mesmerized by the grace and strength of the men and women of NYCB and I reminisced on my own dancing days. I had never been to the Lincoln Center either, which was a beautiful sight in itself.

Following the ballet, we hopped over to Magnolia's to secure the famous and incredible banana pudding as well as cupcakes and a magic bar (I swear it was called that). From Magnolia's we had dinner at a Greek restaurant called Kefi. This place was ok, but we had a super tiny table in a corner despite having a reservation and arriving when there was plenty of other tables. The food was good, but nothing spectacular, but alas. Now we know. We said goodbye to my parents and took the subway back to Dustin and Kari's to enjoy our Magnolia spoils.

Monday morning, Juno morning. I forgot to mention that while we were at the ballet we got an email that our 8 pm Monday flight was canceled. Thankfully we were able to book a 1 pm flight to Dallas, but it cut our trip short about 6 hours. We woke up early, got me a bagel and headed to the Guggenheim. This was the most depressing part of the trip because 1) it was frigid cold and I literally uttered the words, "I want to die" repeatedly 2) Guggenheim is being renovated so only the bottom floor was available to tour and you couldn't go into any of the spirals. We were sad because the Guggenheim was the one museum we definitely wanted to hit and spend the most time in, but it was a blessing in disguise because we wouldn't have had much time anyway and we were able to go to Laduree. I got my delicious overpriced macarons and we did a quick walk through of the Ralph Lauren mansion before taking 2 buses back to LaGuardia.

It was stressful watching the snow fall from the airport and even more stressful when we were packed like sardines on the plane and still hadn't moved for 45 minutes. Thankfully we were able to safely make our way back to Dallas, which was a tropical 72F when we landed. I was actually kind of depressed about it.

New York was a ball and it was so nice to see so many friends in such a short amount of time and great to hang out with my parents.