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 :( 

California Dreamin

This weekend I spent an amazing four days in Cali and I only wish I could have stayed longer. I had some frequent flyer miles saved up and I thought OBVIOUSLY I should use these up and visit the city of angles. California is beautiful. I don't think there can be a depressed person in Los Angeles. It is perfect weather all the time and the sun shines everyday. I felt like I went back in time to spring break and as soon as I landed in LAX I was in vacation mode. Of course like every weekend, this weekend went by way too fast :( but I certainly had a great time while it lasted. 

I think we all can agree the highlight of any trip, is the constant eating and relaxing. I ate so much good food and I didn't do any form of exercise. In my mind that is exactly how a vacation should be. Besides eating, the highlight of my trip was definitely going to the beach. I love the beach at anytime of the day, but of course seeing the sunset at Hermosa Beach Thursday evening was perfection!!!!! 

I love living in New York. It is an amazing place but I will definitely be dreaming of California during these long and cold winter months. I can't wait to go back and at the rate I have been going at, these last couple of years, I am sure I will be there again very soon. 

In the Spirit of Halloween

This year I have been totally lame about participating in Halloween festivities. I always over do it when it comes to holidays. Last year during the month of October my friends and I went to haunted houses and corn mazes. We through a big Halloween party and I made sure that I carved a pumpkin. This year the most exciting thing I have done is watch an entire season of American Horror Story in one night, by myself while drinking a peanut butter banana smoothie, which is totally lame because peanut butter banana smoothies have no relation to the month of October or Halloween. 

All month I have had a $2.99 pumpkin from Trader Joes, sitting on the top of my dresser. If I had to, I was going to carve it by myself. Times are not like they use to be and I don't have nearly as many friends in New York as I did in college. Actually, when I go to social gatherings people that I have met multiple times still ask me if I am new. I am like no..... I have been here 6 months,  yes I have already met you and we have had this conversation before. I am going to give these people the benefit of the doubt and say it is because I recently dyed my hair. Don't get me wrong, I have made friends but I haven't settled into a big group of friends yet. So when it comes to having a reason to through a party, I have like 4 people on my invite list. It is totally sad I know. 

This past weekend I did get a chance to carve a pumpkin and on Saturday my roommates and I took a train an hour north of the city to a little town called Tarry Town. If any of you were a Disney Channel junkie like I was growing up, then you will understand when I say that Tarry Town looks exactly like Halloween Town. I was like, "I need to live in a place like Tarry Town." I mean I can only imagine what it looks like at Christmas time. After my friends and I walked around the town and grabbed a bite to eat we were able to watch the Halloween parade that both children and adults participate in. I was like, "okay.... the people of Tarry Town are the bomb." "How do I get in with these kind of people?" I am amazed that everyone gets into the spirit of Halloween. The main event of the night was the lantern tour through the famous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. The tour was awesome and now I am completely satisfied and ready to move onto Thanks Giving. 

Happy Halloween!!