Brunch on the Lower East Side

What began as an internet friendship quickly turned into a real-life friendship when I met Amy and her husband last September in the West Village for a day of sight seeing. I was so excited to hear from her again a few months ago to schedule another meet up! Amy and Chuck were in town to photograph a friend's surprise proposal in Central Park and met me in the Lower East Side for brunch the morning they flew in. We had a delicious meal at Freeman's, followed by pudding from Sugar Sweet Sunshine and ice cream from Ice and Vice. We had a great time wandering around and catching up! Amy and Chuck, thanks for another awesome day together. Looking forward to your next visit to the Big Apple!

License to wed.

Two weeks ago Brian and I took the afternoon off to go get our marriage license. We opted to go to the City Clerk's office in Manhattan to scope out the scene before our wedding. After we got our marriage license we had a date night downtown. We got our auras read at Magic Jewelry (both of our energies showed love and sensitivity- wedding ready!), had an early dinner at La Esquina, and picked up cold brew at Happy Bones. At the end of the evening we stopped at Sugar Sweet Sunshine to order our wedding cake. It was the perfect day!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Aside from our annual Thanksgiving weekend girls' day, Emily and I are rarely out and about just the two of us. Brian and I only get the weekends with her, so it is really important to do everything as a family of three! But two weeks ago Brian had a work conference in the city that he needed to attend. We took the opportunity to plan a fun day for just us girls!

We started our adventure at Juliana's in DUMBO. The pizza was delicious and our Brookie Bridge dessert hit the spot. Any dessert that includes brownies, Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory ice cream, and sprinkles is bound to be amazing! After our meal we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Emily and I both brought our Instax cameras and had a lot of fun capturing the bridge on film in addition to our iPhones. Once we were in Manhattan I walked Emily to where Brian and I will be getting married in June. I loved talking about the day with her and all of our plans for our wedding weekend festivities. We are now 2 months and 29 days away from our wedding day! Woohoo!

We continued winding through the Lower East Side and found ourselves outside of Magic Jewelry in Chinatown. We popped in on a whim and had our auras read, which was amazing! We finished our day at Sugar Sweet Sunshine, one of my favorite cupcake places in the city. We stocked up on lots of flavors that we enjoyed later that evening at home with Brian. Emily and I agreed that it was our favorite girls' adventure to date!

We will never forget.

I returned to the 9/11 Memorial last week with my parents, and it was just as beautiful as the first time I visited.

We walked around the pools as the sun set on the west side of Manhattan. After circling the North Pool, we returned to the South Pool and found one of my stepdad's friend's names, Darya Lin. Darya was last seen helping a pregnant client on the 78th floor before the South Tower collapsed. Hearing Chuck talk about what an amazing person she was made me think about how many stories I have heard about victims like Darya. Amazing individuals who sacrificed their own lives in the hopes of saving others. I am still incredibly saddened by the events of that day, but hopeful because of people like Darya. 

We will never forget. But I will always hold onto my hope.

A new book, moccasins, and birthday presents. It's all about the little things.

Here are some little things that made a big difference in my week...

A new book. After weeks of sleeping on the subway and browsing gossip magazines, I have returned to a real book. And it feels so good. I am really enjoying Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Moccasin booties. I am obsessed. Minnetonka Mocassins have always had a place in my heart, and now Minnetonka booties do as well. 
Birthday presents. I am so thankful for all of the cards and birthday messages that I received last week for my 27th birthday. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. As always, my sister sent me the most amazing package of goodies that brightened my week. Isn't the wrapping paper so cute? I couldn't resist snapping some pictures before I unwrapped my gifts. I am eager to update my workout mix with my new Lady Gaga CD!

Homemade pasta. Brian and I discovered Barbarini last summer (you can read more about our summer visits here and here), and it quickly became one of my favorite Italian restaurants in the city. Every time we trek downtown to the South Street Seaport, I make sure to order one of the restaurant's homemade pastas. I was eager for my parents to try Barbarini when they were in town, and the cold weather made the Italian comfort foods even more appealing. I thoroughly enjoyed my handmade spaghetti with sausage ragu. And best of all, I loved dining with Brian and my parents on my day off of work!

Exploring a rural area. For the past three weeks, my second graders have been learning about different types of communities and their transportation needs. After learning about urban communities and interviewing people around school about the types of transportation they use, we took a trip to the Top of the Rock observation deck to see our city from above. Next, we learned about suburban areas and traveled to Cold Spring, New York on the Metro North to interview suburbanites and explore Main Street. This week, we took our third and final trip to a farm in Goshen, New York to interview farmers about their rural community and transportation needs. Despite the cold weather, rain, and mud, we had a wonderful time walking around the rural area, observing traffic (or lack there of), and interviewing farmer John and his crew. I can't say it enough- I love my job.

Hope your week was full of little things that made you happy! Cheers to a fun and relaxing weekend!

Twelve dates of Christmas: On our ninth date of Christmas...

... we spent the morning in downtown Manhattan.

First, we visited the 9/11 Memorial. Then, we had breakfast and sipped on Starbucks in the World Financial Center. We enjoyed looking at the beautiful Christmas trees and lights that were scattered throughout the buildings. 

Our morning date concluded with a trip to the South Street Seaport, where we saw another beautiful tree and purchased tickets for our tenth date of Christmas... 

New York City is such a beautiful place, especially during the holidays! 

Twelve dates of Christmas: On our seventh date of Christmas...

...we spent the afternoon in the Lower East Side. 

Originally, we planned on having lunch at Katz's Deli and then stopping at one of our favorite bakeries for dessert. But, we had a few unexpected bumps along the way that ended up making our afternoon so much better. 

First, we accidentally took the D train all the way to Brooklyn, instead of getting off at Grand like we were supposed to.  We were distracted by our good conversation on the ride downtown, and by the time we realized where we were the doors were already closing at the last Manhattan stop. So, we took a little trip to Brooklyn. Luckily, we got some churros out of the deal before turning around and heading back to Manhattan. Yum. 

Then, once we finally arrived at Katz's Deli the line of people waiting to sit down wrapped around the block. There were so. many. people. So, we quickly abandoned our lunch plans and began searching for a new location. What we found couldn't have been more perfect. We stumbled upon kupersmith on Clinton Street, and once I read links and drinks on the front window, I knew I would like it. But, what really sealed the deal was that their selection of board games was listed on the menu. Date perfection I tell you. 

We settled into our table in a window nook, ordered hot coffee and tea, and played Yahtzee while we waited for our food. I loved everything about my meal, Toad in the Hole, which consisted of two pork sausages, yorkshire pudding, and gravy. Brian's also enjoyed his fish and chips. 

After lunch, we walked over to Sugar Sweet Sunshine for cupcakes. We devoured our pistachio and chocolate peppermint cupcakes in a matter of minutes before heading home. 

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect afternoon.