Friends & the City

Thursday, July 10th was a big day in many people's lives. Susanna, Frances & I greeted Anna Claire, Betsy Kate, Alyssa, Bailey and Ginny to The Big Apple! How much of a tourist did I sound like calling New York the Big Apple? It's fine.

Our friends were here for 6 days! It was incredible and packed with so many good times. This post might be overwhelming, and if you don't make it all the way through I don't blame you, because I think we hit every spot we wanted to hit. Thursday at work I was so anxious because I knew my friends were meeting me at Dos Caminos in Meatpacking and I would finally get to see familiar faces.

Oh, let me tell you about how great work was though on Thursday! We celebrated Jasmina's 21st birthday. Everyone from downstairs quickly ran upstairs and we all yelled "Surprise!" when she walked in. It was a "mandatory team meeting" that was randomly called. It was good I tell ya. Everyone had champagne and cupcakes and as if I don't already love it there so much, moments like this happen and I just look around and am beyond happy.

Fun fact, now everyone at work knows about my strange eating habits. It went down like how it normally does, people yelling out food choices and me most likely responding, "no." Basically I only like 5 things: pizza, cupcakes, icecream, french fries and pasta. Yeah...

Dos Caminos was a bad experience - they overcharged us all, especially Bailey who accidentally got charged $124. Good news though, Dos Caminos gave us a bottle of free champagne and it made everything better! We then walked to The High Line and showed everyone where Fran & I work in Meatpacking on West 14th. All of us ended the night getting Baked by Melissa. Thursday was also a fun day because Ann Marie met Jodie and Danielle at an event at Liberty in London. My worlds totally came together in London & it was too funny!

Friday at work flew by and then you will never guess where we went afterwards. Coney Island. Susanna, Betsy Kate, Bailey, Anna Claire, Alyssa & I headed on the L to Coney Island, aka the last stop on the subway. Coney Island is a strange experience that I don't think I would ever want to have again, but I would never have traded that Friday night. The beach and boardwalk with the rides reminded me of Ocean Shores in Rocket Power. Let me tell you, all I ever wanted to be when I was younger was Reggie in the camo pants.

Coney Island surprisingly had a lot of rides to offer, yet it was a little disgusting thinking of who had been in the rides before us. The roller coasters were NOT messing around. Steeplechase was a fun one, you rode on horses. I know you're probably giggling right now. The other roller coaster was another story and I saw my life flash before my eyes. It was like your usual superman ride where you're on your stomach but I was not in the ride tight enough and I thought I was about to be free falling over the good ole Coney Island.

Two of my favorite rides were the swings and the Electro-Spin. You could see the entire park plus the beach and it felt so nice to see that view. It was away from tall skyscrapers. I was also having FOMO that I was missing my family's beach trip.

Coney Island was good until the sun set and fog overtook the entire boardwalk. We were waiting for the fireworks but quickly ran back to the subway when the hobo karaoke got a little weird and we couldn't even see the ocean anymore. Ran so fast.

Saturday morning we were up and at it going to The Plaza for brunch in the bottom. I had a Nutella crepe and was in heaven. Fran, in her natural ways, had sushi for breakfast. The Eloise store in the bottom of the Plaza is any little girls' dream. So much pink. So much frill. It's a good thing I wasn't allowed to go in there as a child, or I would have been Veruca. Once we had our Eloise fill, we continued on to be children again and we went into FAO Schwartz. I had never been in there before and I really did love it. So many Barbies, baby dolls, dress-up clothes and HUGE stuffed animals.

Afterwards then we walked around Fifth & went to FAO Schwartz, Lindt, saw St, Patrick's Cathedral and more. Finally we made our way to Dylan's Candy Bar to get some candy and candy drinks. We sat in cupcakes and it was a total tourist move, but it was too good having a rock candy lollipop in a mango tango drink. To wrap up the Upper East Side we went to the steps of the Met to once again pretend we were all Blair and Serena, and to the Central Park reservoir to pretend we were Charlotte from Sex & the City. 

Saturday night we went to dinner at Mira Sushi, then went to The Standard. Instead of going up to the rooftop we went to one of the places in the front which was a cute restaurant where we sat and talked, and Fran met up with us after dinner with her other intern friends - face paint included. This was (cheesy I know) definitely one of those moments where I was thankful for these friends and that they were able to come to visit us in the city.

Sunday morning Betsy Kate, Bailey, Anna Claire & I went to church at Hillsong, I was so happy to finally go to one of their services! The building is absolutely beautiful and the worship songs were some of the new ones. We all loved it! Oh, and they give you a cookie as a snack. Victory.

For lunch we all went to The Smile, always a favorite. I tried the waffle for the first time and the other times I've been to The Smile apparently I've been missing out. We shopped around SoHo all day, looking at Free People, H&M, Paige, Bloomingdale's and Piperlime. Obviously Betsy Kate and I bought the Sincerely, Jules t-shirts from Piperlime and black matte Birkenstocks. To hide from the rain that hit that afternoon, we ran into Laduree SoHo and had a little afternoon snack. What more could I want than ice cream with a macaron on top?

 

Sunday night we had dinner at Angelo's in Little Italy and all appreciated red wine & pasta (not that we already didn't) for Alyssa. This was one of the best pastas I've ever eaten. Way too much food in one day, but it's fine.

Monday was a work day for Susanna and I, but that didn't stop anyone from running around the entire city. I had to run a few errands at work. I was on cloud nine at work because I finally wore my Celine Dion shirt. That afternoon on my way home it was a torrential downpour so Erika and Elizabeth walked me to the subway with their umbrellas and it was just adorable. Bonding. For dinner Fran found a new place for us to try, Cafeteria.
 They had mac-n-cheese spring rolls so I was happy to venture to a new spot. The mac-n-cheese spring rolls didn't disappoint and they were one of the greatest appetizers I've ever eaten. I'll never not love mac-n-cheese.

After dinner we got a phone call from Anna Claire saying that her flight was cancelled because of the rain so instead of her leaving on Monday, she was going to be leaving on Wednesday just like everyone else. What a bummer, extra days in the city! Susanna went back to the apartment to let her in while the rest of us went to Momofuku which we had been dying to try. They have soft serve icecream that was flavored like cereal milk. It was one of those things that I couldn't stop eating it, but I actually don't think I liked it. Next on the list is to try their birthday cake!

Tuesday, a day off! Finally we slept in. Our plan was to go to breakfast at Cafe Gitane but it was way too crowded & so we tried The Butcher's Daughter. This was my happy place. No meat, only vegetarian options and most even were vegan. I got a kale salad with green apples and sunflowers, literally my two favorite foods. Almost everyone else got the avocado on toast which was my worst nightmare, but they said it was delicious.

When we were sitting outside eating more rain struck. This time it was basically flooding and cabs were splashing us from the streets. As soon as we could we got into a cab and came back to the apartment, instead of shopping in SoHo like planned, and everyone went to get high tea at Bergdorf's, but Fran & I stayed back. Napping never felt so good. The rain cleared up a little, but it was still sprinkling. Around dinner time we went to Chobani, Birchbox, Laduree and then ended up at a mexican restaurant. Chips and salsa, all I need. Anna Claire and Susanna went to the Of Mice & Men stage door after dinner to see James Franco.

 Birchbox SoHo

 Fish tacos

Fran was splashed by a cab aka hobo water everywhere

It was sad to see our people leave on Wednesday morning but we had a great time with everyone being here. This made me so thankful for one more year in Oxford with everyone, even though I do love working in the city.