Tennessee in the City

The weekend was finally here and my family was in town for four days! My mom, my grandma, my aunt Abbay and Kendall all flew in on Saturday the 19th and I was happy as a clam. They landed at 11:30 am and I went to meet them at their hotel, Eventi, around noon. I was so excited to see their faces and hearing Kendall say, "aww there's Dadoo!" melted my heart. It's been weird not being home this summer, but I was so happy for everyone to be together in New York. Except for my dad, who sat this girls trip out.

On Saturday we went to eat lunch at Eataly and even though the wait was long, the food did not disappoint. We were able to get a glass of wine and walk around while waiting for our table, so we looked at all of the cheeses, coffee options, the Nutella store, cookbooks, and more. It felt like we were in Italy. Finally we were seated where we all got either pizza or pasta. Kendall and I split the margherita pizza and it was definitely the best one I've ever eaten.

After lunch we walked to Washington Square Park. My mom always says I am Sally in When Harry Met Sally when she orders food, so I had to show them where Sally dropped Harry off in NYC - the arch. Between the sand art, chalk on the streets, the piano man and children playing in the fountain, there were so many things to see! From Washington Square Park we walked through the West Village and up to Meatpacking. I got to show my lovely little Dannijo buzzer that I click every morning to be buzzed up, The High Line and the rest of 14th Street in Meatpacking. We did a little shopping on lower 5th then headed to dinner. 

If you can't tell by these photos, my sister is so old now and the cutest. She's way cooler than I am, is that awkward? For dinner we went to The Smith which I had been wanting to try all summer. I got the grilled shrimp with jalepeno grits which felt like a little slice of home & Oxford. Saturday was the night I met up with the roomies at Buddakan for Fran's birthday dinner, so I split from my family after dinner for them to go to sleep. They were tired from traveling so the overlapping of plans worked perfectly.

Sunday morning we were up far too early! We ate breakfast at 10 at The Smile, the love of my life. I met my family in SoHo at 9:30ish. We were first in the restaurant because we had not a second to waste of time in the city. I got my usual, the waffle, and suggested the chocolate scone to my grandma so I could also have a bite too, of course.

After breakfast we hit the streets of SoHo to shop. The cute little blue purse is my new favorite bag. It's not black, which literally all my other purses are. I love it! We hit the usual spots in SoHo for shopping - Zara, H&M, Brandy Melville, Sam Edelman, Georgetown Cupcakes and Piperlime. I ran over to Fran's birthday brunch at Laduree for a bit. The Laduree gardens are so beautiful in SoHo and you feel like you're in Versailles. Everyone in my family got their first bites of macarons and they all loved them. My mom's comment: "It looks like a baby hamburger." Well, okay sure, I guess.

For a late lunch we ate at Lure, which I had seen written all over the city. Not sure I would ever go back, but it was nice. The restaurant was decorated like the inside of a nice yacht. Everyone split orders of fish and chips, along with Bloody Marys and Mimosas. We continued shopping after lunch, then went back to the hotel to change for dinner and free wine at the hotel. What hotel serves free wine from 5-6?! A heavenly hotel, that's who.

Sunday night I ate the best dinner that I've ever had in New York. We went back to SoHo to go to Mercer Kitchen. So many cool things about this place. It's a hotel, you walk downstairs to get to the restaurant which is all black, and the food is insanely good. Here's my cute little fam bam in the city:

 No one really is crazy about this photo of us because we are awkwardly posed, but hey, it's the only group photo we got.

Mom (my grandma, yes tricky I know that I call her mom also) taking the city by storm in the taxi

Once again Monday morning we were up and at it in the Upper East Side by 9 am. I was able to not work on Monday which was so sweet of Dannijo, I was happy to have the extra time with my family and it worked out perfectly since I had worked on one of my off days. To begin the day we went to the Central Park Reservoir, I love this place. 

The Upper East Side around 90th St. was super residential, I loved it. What I would give to be able to go in one of these! So many moms walking their dogs and pushing babies in strollers. I would love to be an Upper East Side stroller baby on a Monday morning.

For brunch we went to the original Sarabeth's. Eating out is sometimes hard for me, and Sarabeth's was one of the places that I didn't love the menu since I don't eat eggs or meat. It was omelet city. Abbay had been before and said that their English muffins were so good and she was correct. I got that, peppers & potatoes (random), coffee and a peach mimosa. Sarabeth's reminded me of Weston's Bakery in Gilmore Girls, all that was missing was the owner, Fran Weston.

Once we were stuffed to the point we didn't think we could walk, Kendall and I split from the group and went to walk to The Met. We had to have a Serena and Blair moment together there. I absolutely loved having Kendall in town and I wish she never had to leave or could have spent the whole summer with me. She wore Dannijo on Monday and it just added to her coolness. Oh, and three cheers for new Converse!

Originally we planned to then take the subway from The Met to The Plaza, but we walked through Central Park instead. Literally we walked from 92nd to 59th, no quick or easy walk. Thankfully we had Central Park to distract us and I made Kendall pose next to everything we saw. Like this awkward photo of her sitting on Alice in Wonderland.

Finally we made it to The Plaza where our first stop was the Eloise store. Kendall and I's favorite movie is Eloise at The Plaza at Christmastime and we watch it every time it comes on TV in the winter. Luckily our family was running late to meet us there so we sat in the kids room and watched a little bit of the original movie. My aunt Abbay bought my cousin, Ella, the cutest Eloise toys and I wanted to be a kid again. After walking around and our mouths all watering at the desserts at the bottom of The Plaza, Kendall and I decided to split a cake push-pop, which is one of the greatest ideas anyone has had.

There's something so glamorous about The Plaza, and no matter how many times I've been, I always love coming back. As fun though as walking around and seeing The Plaza, we had shopping to get done. We shopped all the way down Fifth Ave until we hit Rockefeller Center. We saw them preparing for a summer concert, 5SOS, that was happening the next day.

Who knows how long we had been walking and we were all exhausted, but we still had one more place to visit on the list - the ever so crowded Times Square. Since my family had never been to New York before I wanted to make sure they saw everything. I showed them the red steps, where some of the plays were (hello Idina and Wicked!), the Forever21 which is my personal favorite, and we also saw a Project Runway taping happening. This was also set up in Times Square but I'm not really sure what it is or when it was placed there.

Finally after we finished shopping at Forever21 we headed back for the free happy hour at the hotel and to get ready for dinner, Susanna & Frances were coming too. All my people in one place!

For dinner we went to Stanton Social where it is all mini-plates that are meant for sharing. A phone call did have to be made to switch the reservation because we found a Nordstrom Rack and how could we have passed that opportunity up? We got too much food per our usual at dinner and ate the mini meals like: red snapper tacos, mac-n-cheese, chicken and waffle, chicken tacos and more. 

We were all members of the Clean Plate Club that night. It was so nice to see the roomies again since I had been staying at the hotel with my family and I really did miss seeing them because I now associate the city with having them by my side.

To top of the last night in the city we headed to see the city from the best view: the top of the Empire State Building. This was top on my family's list and I was happy to go back since I had only been once. The view is unreal. It's crazy to think that back in October I was up there and I was hoping and praying I would be able to come back to New York for the summer, and there I stood again in that exact spot with that dream fulfilled.

Seeing the city from up high is such a strange feeling. It seems so small and quiet. I loved knowing my surroundings better because I was able to really find where places were that I could see from the top.

It was just a bit windy up there if you couldn't tell

The last day of the family in the city was sad, I didn't want them to leave! Tuesday morning we checked off the last thing on the list that we all wanted to do which was going to visit Ground Zero and see the Freedom Tower up close. It is the strangest feeling standing there looking into that water and that deep hole that you can't see the bottom of. Every time I go I get chills. This coming week I want to go to the actual museum that just opened up in May.

Last and final stop in the city? Dylan's Candy Bar. Kendall was in heaven. We took photos in the photo booth and got a bag of candy for the road. We then all went to Grand Central to eat lunch and look around. Had to check off another Gossip Girl scene for Kendall! 

The time then came and it was time to say goodbye. I hated seeing them leave but I was so happy to know I would be able to see them again in about two and a half weeks. If they would have come earlier in the summer saying bye would have been worse. 

I'm so thankful to have these people in my life and I couldn't believe that I was so lucky to have them come visit me for four days. 

Adios family, see you August 9th!