A Trip to the Big Apple

Last week was Big Sis' birthday and sister weekend in NYC. She chose to spend her special day at home with our parents, eating cake and opening gifts. I can't say that I blame her, our Mom is an amazing entertainer, so it was a blast.

The next morning the sisters took off for twenty four hours in the big city. A little (or a lot) of unexpected traffic caused a delay in weekend plans so things didn't exactly work out the way we hoped they would - read on to hear about our silly adventures.

We drove into the East Village to find parking and hit up a few places. The restaurant we had planned on eating at, was super hectic and closing soon so we didn't want to chance waiting an hour and then not even sitting down. We get mean when we're hungry (and in traffic for that matter) so we put our heads together and decided to look for another place.
Next up was the vegan bakery Babycakes that Little Sis wanted to visit. She is on a non-dairy diet to try to combat some health issues so I gladly accompanied her, but didn't buy anything, just on principle. Actually, nothing was calling my name. I'm sure they were delicious but I guess they just lose their attractiveness when they're not using real sugar and butter. They look amazing on the website and the place was so cute, so I might try it next time around. The employees were dressed in vintage uniforms and friendly (for NYC anyway).

After dessert we were on a serious mission for lunch. We ran into a nice looking place called Apl, it seemed nice from the outside but the service was spotty, the food undercooked, and everything lacked flavor (except our waiter). At this point we realized why we were the only lunchtime diners. I'm linking it so you will stay away from this place the next time you're in NYC. Needless to say, we left quickly after getting our food, and did a little shopping before cabbing it up to my sister's place to rest up for our night out.

On our way to dinner, Little Sis decided we should make a new "tradition" of taking photos in the wall of mirrors outside the elevator. She may have been onto something here, because we always stop to apply lipstick and  double check if our shoes match our outfits. But we never needed a picture before (I secretly think she just loved her outfit so much she wanted to savor how good it felt to see her image in that mirror).

We met Big Sis' friend B at a restaurant called SEA in the Meatpacking district. It was a trendy Thai restaurant with delish drinks and spicy food. I ordered a coconut mojito, it was the perfect summer blend of mint and coconut. It seems huge but it really wasn't big enough when I got to the bottom :( And at $14 each, I just stuck to one.

Our post dinner plans were to catch a comedy show at Caroline's in Times Square. I'd been here once before to hear Dave Attell, when I was obsessed with his late night show Insomniac in college. I'm not really sure what the appeal was now, because all he would do was get drunk and sloppy, stuffing himself full of fattening foods, and insulting people left and right. I guess it was a phase I had to go through in college. So tonight's comedian was Greg Behrendt, the author of He's Just Not That Into You. While I never read that book I did thoroughly enjoy his break up bible entitled It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken.

This book caught my eye on a late night trip to Target where I was looking to mend my broken heart with some retail therapy. Of course it found a good home in my cart, right next to the Double Stuff Oreo's. Once home, I was delighted that I invested in this book. It was so funny! Beyond its groundbreaking advice, it had me laughing out loud. He wrote the book with his wife and they both wrote their own breakup stories. Not only was it nice to read that I wasn't alone in my patheticness, but it was also inspiring to know that these two crazy people had found love in the end! So the next time you find yourself or someone you love, struggling with a breakup hand them a copy of this and a tub of ice cream, and send them on their way to recovery.
He had a talk show a few years back that bombed but since then I hadn't really seen him. So needless to say I was looking forward to hearing him do stand up. I wasn't entirely sure what his material would be, but I was hoping he would tap into his expertise and school us all on relationships.

I would give his show a B-. He was funny, but oooold. He talked mostly about being a parent and his recent trip to South Africa, neither of which I could relate to. Here is a glimpse at some of his better material.

He was a consultant on my favorite TV show Sex and the City - another small reason why I love him.

The next morning we hopped on the subway at Columbus Circle and went to Chelsea for brunch at The Park.

This place had a comfortable vintage feel, complete with old fashioned drinks. The restaurant is half indoors and half outdoors. There is a huge garden area that had walls on all four sides so it felt private. We chose to sit inside instead of waiting but we had a nice booth with a view of the garden. The Park had a small menu of terrific, farm to table food and we were all happy.

After fueling up with caffeine, we walked over to Chelsea Market. If you haven't been here, you need to go. There is so much diversity between the restaurants and retail spaces. Here you can find everything from Amy's Bread, a basket store, lobster restaurant, coffee counter, book store, designer sample sales, cheese shop, and Anthropologie. We spent quite a bit of time browsing cards at the book store because they carried our favorite line. You have to know the right people to send these to but trust me, they'll appreciate it!

Each of us got a little something something and soon our sister weekend was over. So early Sunday evening we went our separate ways and back to our own busy lives. Oooh well, it was sweet while it lasted :)