so, my last post was on october 19th....since then so much fun has happened...
we went back to osu and had a blast at homecoming. no, we didn't go to the game, we tailgated the whole time and let me just tell you, that's how you do an osu game. no ridicuously priced tickets, you get to see the game, you can actually stretch your legs and move around, and you get to do it with all kinds of friends. after the game we made our way down to the strip and had a fantabulous time at murphy's.
the thursday after the game, me, my sister and her bf abbie, went to new york city! i love new york city. abbie's step brother lives in the city monday - thursday and then flies back to his family in st. louis every thursday evening. so, we had the awesome opportunity to stay in his apartment, which is located on 61st between park and madison avenue! yea, awesome location. we were in new york from thursday until monday. the weather was perfect for fall. cool enough so you could bundle up, but not so cold that you were freezing. the trees were changing colors, it was beautiful! pictures aren't done yet, but here are the highlights of the city:
*****warning...long post!***********
thursday:
-navigated the subway from the airport to the apartment
-strolled down 5th avenue
-gazed at all the lights in times square
-quote of the trip happened while in times square:
"ladies!" said by random man on street, "did you know that today is National Take Home a Puerto Rican Day? you're lucky, my credit's good and i have all my shots!"
-dinner at serendipity. great food, terrible service. if i ask for a suggestion, or your favorite meal, don't read me the entire menu! if you ever go you MUST get the frozen hot chocolate for dessert. i know, it's an oxymoron, but don't question, just get it. fabulous!
-to bed early for a big day on friday
friday:
-starbuck's in the morning, gotta start your day out right!
-subway down to century 21, a department store, which happened to be right accross from ground zero. it amazes me that it has taken basically 10 years to build a memorial. that is just ridiculous.
-let me explain centry 21. it is a huge, 3 story building that has everything from home items, jewelry, perfume, makeup, clothing, purses, and shoes. it is basically a tj maxx on steroids. there are lots of designer items {stella mccartney gold studded leggings for the sale price of $799...original price $2,400} and high end brands {seven for all mankind, paige denim, etc.} for at least half the retail price. we were a little overwhelmed to say the least! i feel like we did pretty good, though. we only spent 2 1/2 hours there. we came out with some pretty great finds. one being these leggings that we all bought for $6. what we didn't know at the time was that they are awesome for winter b/c they have fleece in them...so they are warm! unfortunately everyone threw away the packages, so we have know idea what brand or anything.
-lunch at an amazing french bakery/cafe. we had a vegetable quiche, curried chicken salad and smoked salmon. fabulous!
-down to the pier to try and take a harbor cruise so we could see the statue of liberty and the sky line. the directions from the internet weren't that great and we ran out of time.
-headed to SOHO for some evening shopping. the last time i was in nyc we didn't make it to SOHO, so i was determined to go this time. great area! it amazes me how so many of the same stores can stay in business. we saw many stores that had multiples within SOHO. hard to imagine having enough traffic to sustain a whole store....but everything was packed!
-Little Italy for dinner. We chose Giovanna's based on the I Phone's "urbanspoon" app. smart phones come in so handy when traveling, FYI. Giovanna's had a 100% approval raitng and the reviews raved about their garlic oil dipping sauce. AND it helped that we were able to negotiate a free glass of sangria, just sayin'.
it was a super quaint little restaurant. when we walked in there was another couple eating with a little boy. the little boy ended up making friends with us. he was 2 and his name was Claudio. he was a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. with his dark hair and dark eyes. his parents either knew the people who owned the restaurant or were part owners b/c after they left we had made fast friends with the bartender, Enzo, the chef and the waitstaff. it was a fabulous dinner. all the pasta was freshly made. we had speghetti carbonara, gnocchi, eggplant something and a penne pasta dish. and yes, the garlic olive oil dipping sauce and bread was to die for. oh, and did i mention the sangria? b/c it was fabulous as well!
-after dinner we had a cannoli in the streets and it was to die for. yum-o. so, yea, definitely visit Little Italy. made me want to go back to Italy already....not that i needed much help on that one.
-we walked back towards the apartment through greenwich village and then caught a sub the rest of the way.
saturday
-starbucks to get us movin' and groovin'
-down to the pier...again...to try and do the harbor cruise. after walking around for an hour, asking people directions based on what the internet told us and another random guy {who was a helicopter ride sales person} tried to help us, i finally got to talk to someone on the phone and he said, "oh, we don't have that cruise" so i say, "it's on your website", "just one minute...............yea, that cruise is a seasonal one and stopped at the end of the summer". me "um, that would be great information to put on your website so you don't have people wasting their time looking for it!". to say the least i was frustrated! precious time in nyc people!
-headed back towards times square and saw the west side story matinee. it was very good. we really wanted to see mary poppins, but they didn't have anything available for the time we needed.
-after the show we had some street food...gyros...that were awesome and headed back to the apartment
-abbie's step-sister lives in connecticut and came to have dinner with us saturday night. we ate at seraphina and had pumpkin ravioli, veal parmigiano, white pizza with black truffles and truffle oil. again, fabulous! after dinner abbie's ste-sister headed home and we headed to find a nice little pub or something to hang out at. unfortunately the area of the upper east side that we were in doesn't have random little pubs and such. it's a little too uppety for that, or at least that's what we determined! we turned down 58th street, right off madison ave. and saw that there were two restaurant/clubs, TAO and LAVO with a bunch of people. everyone was dressed up for halloween, except us. we were standing around just people watching, because we weren't dressed up and we figured either we wouldn't be able to get in or it would have a large cover. an older guy with a mask came out to smoke and abbie said, "well, hello zorro!" to which he burst into laughter b/c he wasn't zorro, he was the phantom of the opera. we all started talking and found out that he was an investment banker from Brazil who had just flown in from Tokyo. he asked why we weren't going in to LAVO and we said b/c we weren't dressed up, etc. he said, "come on, i've got a table", so we followed and got to skip all the lines. when we got down stairs, the place was filled with people all dressed up. the actual room itstelf was beautiful {the designer in me scopes out everywhere!}
it was fun. the guy we met was there with a bunch of his co-workers. we stayed for a little bit and then headed out. when i got home from nyc i decided to look up LAVO and see what i could find out about it. the next night, halloween night, heidi klum and seal hosted their halloween party there! now, that would have been the night to be walking by!
sunday {my favorite day}
-breakfast to go at a bakery
-the green flea market in the upper west side. before leaving for nyc i googled flea markets in nyc and found this one. it sounded fun, so we headed over there. it was great! they had everything from clothes to hats to furniture to antique toasters, etc. the weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a blast rumagging through all kinds of stuff.
-lunch at the shake shack. yum-o! this was a suggestion from my friend Francie who lives in nyc. they serve burgers and fries and they were awesome. we grabbed ours to go and ate outside. i have a cavalier king charles spaniel dog, which in tulsa aren't very popular. they were everywhere in nyc. everywhere we turned we would see one or two being walked. made me miss my oscar!
-after eating we were walking across the street and i hear, "alayna!". yep, it was Francie! i had told her i would be in town, but we didn't make any plans to meet up. how random is that? we were only a few blocks from her apartment, so we went over to check it out. super cute. they even have a huge roof top patio that is all theirs. super cool! oh, she also had some amazing wallpaper in her living room. i will post a pic later of it.
-headed towards central park where we spent close to 4 hours just wandering around. the trees were beautiful and lots of people were out enjoying the weather. i love central park. so fun.
-sunday evening we dressed up for halloween...well kelsi dressed up {as a ninja turtle}, me and abbie just sort of found somehting to wear and put on some crazy makeup and i frizzed my hair out real big. we headed to greenwich village for the halloween parade. now let me just say here...i am a G-rated halloween kind of girl. no blood and guts for me! there were a TON of people out {i think around 40,000 or so}. i was amazed at the NYPD. they were everywhere and seemed to have a good handle on things. we got some pics of the teenage mutant ninja turtle with them. the parade is kinda crazy. there are some floats, but then really anyone who is dressed up can walk in it. so, what did we do? we hopped right in the middle of it! it moved really slow b/c there were so many people. after about an hour we decided we were hungry and made our way out of the parade. Francie had suggested Westville for dinner in that area. it is a tiny place, so we had to wait out in the cold for a good long while. but it was soooo worth it. they had amazing food...can you tell i like my food? the had "market sides" which were all kinds of vegetables that they got from the market and then fixed up. it was fabulous. after eating we headed towards the subway, it was cold and the longer the night went on the crazier the costumes got!
monday
-didn't have much time b/c of our flight. but we did have enough time to hit up H&M. and boy did we load up! i really wish we had one here in tulsa, or at least in dallas. maybe someday!
-lunch at a pizzeria and then off to the airport.
it was a great trip and as always, goes by way too quickly. sorry for such a long post! i am planning on using blurb to print out my blog, so this is my way of documenting travels and such. my pictures to come at a later date!
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