Concrete Jungles

There are a lot of pictures in this post. Be warned. 

Concerning New York, we hit the ball outta the park.

Grand. Freaking. Slam.

My two pieces of advice for traveling with friends: 

Delegate Responsibilities: There should never be more than one person in charge at a time, and one person shouldn't be in charge during the whole trip. We knew our strengths, and we trusted each other to lead and to follow. I probably couldn't tell you which train we took, but I know every penny each of us spent.

Maintain Unapologetic Enthusiasm: We got to the Nashville airport and the cameras were out. Life is too short to pretend like you're not a tourist. It is my opinion that the best thing in life is traveling with people who know you well, who don't expect you to act any differently than you do, and who will hold your cappuccino while you take pictures of everything you see.

  

We really, REALLY, went to some amazing places, and if you are ever in NYC I hope you take some of these fantastic suggestions. Thanks to everyone who offered their own ... we had more options and ideas than could physically be accomplished in three days. Which is fine, because that means we'll just have to visit again.

Saturday: 

The weather was pissed.

I wasn't kidding about the fact that we really wanted to eat good brunch while on vacation. It was the glue that held our itinerary together. On Saturday morning there was an hour-long wait at Peels, so we walked across the street to Think Coffee to have a cuppa joe and wring out our skinny jeans from NY's worst October blizzard ever. Then we walked back to Peels, and ate until the top buttons of said jeans had to be undone. If you have a chance to go to Peels, get the bread + jam starter. It's flaky and doughy and warm and salty and sweet and made from gods. 

 

After brunch, we headed to Time's Square to secure a place in line at TKTS. We decided on tickets for Memphis, and got seats in the eighth row at the Shubert Theatre. Seeing a live musical on Broadway may have been my favorite activity from the trip. It was the priciest thing we did, but it was completely worth it. And hey Nashville: It's coming to TPAC next week.

Sunday:

I was not kidding about the snow/rain on Saturday. So when we woke up on Sunday and saw a big, blue sky out the window, we all did a little dance, grabbed our scarves and boots, and headed out the door.

 

To celebrate, we ate brunch. Duh. 

Eggs on pizza? It's OK if you just gagged. I was feeling similar, but then it was so good that I ate the whole thing. Which is why you should always try something new. Pulino's is a great atmosphere and was the perfect place to start our second day.

 

After brunch, we made our way to the Empire State Building. It cost $22/person and took an hour to get to the top. Like eggs + pizza, I was skeptical that it wouldn't be worth our time and money. But I mean, heck, they had King Kong on one of the floors. So that was fun.

But they weren't joking when they made Sleepless in Seattle. The top of the Empire State Building was magical. THAT'S RIGHT: MAGICAL. It took 45 seconds up there to decide it was worth the time, and yes, even the money.

 

After The Empire State Building, we went to H&M. WHICH WAS AWFUL. I think that shopping in New York is the most romanticized thing in all of movie history. More so than the idea of true love or the pioneers' expansion into the West. 

Anyway.

Sunday night we went to the Beyond This Place screening at BAM, during which Sufjan Stevens played his original score for the movie.

And I was all like, "BROOKLYN SHUT THE FRONT DOOR, I COULD GET USE TO THIS."

[No pictures from that. Oops.]

Monday: 

Our last full day started earlier and ended later than the previous two. Monday morning we made it out the door in record time, and stopped at a badass lil coffee + pastry shop in Brooklyn before heading toward MoMA. Don't even get me started on MoMA. I loved it. Made me even tear up a bit.

After MoMA, we made our way to ABC Carpet & Home. If Anthropologie and IKEA had a baby, and when it grew up Stacey London gave it a makeover, that would [sorta] be ABC Carpet & Home. It was beautiful and much nicer than my experience with H&M.

Once we pried ourselves from the prettiest store in the world, we made our way to Central Park. Sadly, Saturday's storm had done a number on the area, so a lot of the trees were down. This made us feel very adventurous and we forged new paths through the wood.

Then we ate hot dogs, and took a billion pictures.

 

After Central Park, we made our way to SoHo, where residents were participating in a Halloween parade. Since none of us are big into parades or crowds, we snuck into Milady's on Prince St. for a drink. Then we went shopping again [UGH].

You may have noticed that our "brunch" Monday morning merely consisted of coffee and pastries. We planned it that way so that we could spend our last evening in Little Italy, tasting genuine pesto, drinking red wine, and sampling pasta, pasta, pasta. We did it right, y'all!

But, lameballz, we have no decent pictures from that night.

Well. That's all folks! Thanks for your well-wishes and suggestions. It was truly a fabulous vacation. 

But as homes go, it's always good to be back.