My Favorite XMAS Tunes

Checking off "The List"

This weekend my good friend Lauren came to visit. Lauren and her husband Jared drove into New York Friday morning from DC.  I love when friends come to visit because it really pushes me to go out and continue to experience the city. I have been living here for seven months and I think I may be getting a little complacent. I have to remind myself that I live in New York and although it is easy to be comfortable, New York always has so much to offer. 

Lauren was the ideal visitor because she came with a full list of things she wanted to do. We kept referring to "the list" when deciding what our next plan of action was. Like I mentioned, Lauren did not compose a small list with just two or three place she wanted visit. It was a hefty list, but surprisingly we managed to get through most of it. 

Saturday Morning

Breakfast at Balthazar 

The first thing on "the list" Saturday morning, was breakfast at Balthazar. Balthazar is a hip French brasserie in Soho. It is pricey but so delicious. We were fine with it being slightly expensive because we thought it would be best to share a couple items on the menu. We didn't want to fill up on one meal and we also didn't want to spend too much money in one place. 

Macaroons at Laduree

Laduree was the next stop on "the list". Laduree is a luxury french bakery. It is one of the best known makers of macaroons in the world and they only have a few locations in the US and only a couple locations in New York.  

Bleecker Street Records

Bleeker Street records was one of the only places on "the list" that wasn't a restaurant or bakery. It is located on the East Side of town. Even if you don't listen to music on a record player, it is still an interesting store to visit. They sell records and cds in every genre of music. It is crazy cds are becoming such a novelty now. My friend Susannah tagged along with us and the four of us had a great time hanging out in this record store. 

Hot Coco at The City Bakery

The hot chocolate from The City Bakery is intense. It is super thick and super rich. It is seriously a liquified brownie with a marshmallow on top. We each paid $7 for one. Even though we all wanted to call it quits after a few sips, we were determined to get our money's worth. We were all in the salad mood for lunch after a treat like that.  

Another weekend has come and gone just like another year has almost come and gone.  Lauren, Jared and I were talking about how we have all known each other for more than a year now. The three of us were reminiscing on our college days and how a year ago at this time we were at completely different place in our lives. We were college students, unsure of our lives after graduation. We would have never thought, a year later we would all be casually hanging out in New York. A year ago we were concerned college students hoping that after graduation we would be happily employed. Now I am working for a PR fashion agency, Lauren just accepted a job with the State Department and her and Jared got married. It is difficult to predict what is going to happen in life,  but it is always interesting to see how it plays out. 

Christmas Time in the City

So...... I am a little obsessed with Christmas, if any of you haven't already noticed from my social media posts. There is an undeniable feeling of happiness that comes at this time of the year and I love that charity, joy and love are emphasized. Christmas is absolutely my favorite time of the year and Christmas in New York is a DREAM! The buildings and stores are decked out in darling Christmas decor. The only thing the city is missing is that magical snow fall I always see in movies..... Too bad movies are never an accurate interpretation of reality in any scenario. A part of me is happy it hasn't snow yet, considering I have to walk everywhere! But Christmas and snow.... it is just meant to be.

It has been a week since I arrived back in New York. Last week I was home in Utah for Thanks Giving and I will be home again for Christmas in three weeks. Although I love living in NY, I can't deny that it felt so nice being home. I have forgotten what it is like to be comfortable and I have forgotten what it is like to be around what is familiar. I love living in the city but there really is no place like home. That is why living away is such a good thing, you have a greater appreciation for your loved ones. 

I recently bought these ear muffs at JCREW. I have always thought ear muffs were kind of a funny looking accessory but I am realizing they are totally practical and great. I  wear my ear muffs almost every day. 

How to fake suburbia when in NYC

We are totally getting into the Christmas spirit at work. Today we through a Christmas party for my coworkers kids. I died. Kids are so cute. The reaction on their faces when they saw Santa come to the office was priceless. 

We had to be creative with our decorations. We didn't have a ton of decorations to work with and we did not have a real Christmas tree, but I think we did a pretty good job with the resources we had.  

These Christmas cookies are the best I have seen and they were delicious! 

 HO HO HO HO HO

Downtown Manhattan 

I decided I needed a mini tree for my apartment. I bought this at Whole Foods for $20 and decorated it with gold tissue paper. 

These are my favorite Time Square subway station performers. I see them at least once a week on my way to work. This particular day they were playing Christmas music with Santa Hats, it was the cutest thing. 

Eat, Shop, Sleep, Repeat

I am a week late blogging about our girls weekend in NYC. My best friend Julie came to New York  with her good friend Becca to visit me! This is not Julie's first time in the city. She visited back in May, when I had only been living in the city for about month. Now I have been living in New York for almost seven months! Oh how time flies! Sometimes it feels like I have been in New York my whole life and other times it seems like I just moved here. 

My friends and I had a fun weekend shopping in Soho and exploring restaurants on the Upper West Side. It's great having visitors come who don't particularly care about going to visit all the tourist sites. I have been to Time Square, Ground Zero and the Brooklyn Bridge a few too many times. How did we spend our weekend? We did what girls do best; eat, shop and have slumber parties every night.

This is the view from my living room window of my apartment. This is taken a week before all the leaves fell off the tree. Fall was short lived, but it sure was beautiful while it lasted. 

The Butcher's Daughter 

The Butcher's Daughter is a restaurant in down town Manhattan. I have walked by it a few times and I have always wanted to try it. There was about a 25 minute wait. While we were waiting we ordered warm drinks because we were starving and it was freezing outside. The food was great! I ordered Eggs Benedict, which is my favorite breakfast item. This Eggs Benedict was served on avocado toast, it was delicious!

I had to take a picture of this building because it is the first Christmas decoration I have seen in New York. I am sooooooooo excited to spend Christmas Time in the city. I plan to do all the cliche festivities I have seen in the movies, including ice skating in Central Park, drinking hot chocolate at Serendipity and visiting the tree in Rockefeller Center.  

Photo Booth at Bubby's Restaurant in Tribeca 

Bubby's is a restaurant in Tribeca. It is known for its yummy food, a photo-booth in the basement and most importantly it is a hot spot for celebrities. This is not the first time I have been to Bubby's, however I have never seen a celebrity. I have been told Jay Z and Beyonce live close by and one of my friends has seen Justin Timberlake there. So for all of you who get just as excited about celebrities as I do, then I definitely recommend visiting Tribeca and ordering some grub at Bubby's.  

Doesn't this gelato look like a scoop of chocolate fudge? I have never seen gelato this thick before!!

Levain Bakery is a very popular cookie shop on the Upper West Side of town. I know they have other locations but this is the closest one to my apartment. We had to wait in a long line before ordering,  but both my friends and I agree it is worth the wait. It is a mystery to me how Levain's cookies are crunchy on the outside and warm on the inside. The chocolate chips melt in your mouth, it's awesome. 

I guess regardless of how many times tourist come to New York, they still always want to visit Time Square. It is not my most favorite place to go. It is the tourist capital of New York and because of that, there are too many creepy costume characters harassing you for money. We went later in the night, so it wasn't too bad. I have to admit, when I go to Time Square it makes me feel like I am visiting New York. I love feeling like I am on a vacation, so sometimes that is my incentive to go. 

Having your friends in town means having slumber parties every night. Luckily I have a decently sized New York apartment, which is rare and hard to come by. I got really lucky finding awesome housing. My two friends slept on a mattress next to my bed. We had fun staying up late and falling asleep watching Netflix. I sure do miss them now that they are gone :(