NYC Weekend (**very long post**)

Hi All!
  Sorry I haven't posted sooner, I'm still trying to recover from this past weekend. NYC was amazing, as expected. It went by too fast (doesn't everything when you've been so excited for it?). The girls and I laughed till we cried and ate till we couldn't button our pants. ;) We didn't do as much shopping as I thought we would, but that's more than okay. We all just enjoyed each other and the time we had.

 Waiting for my plane

   When I left Saturday morning everything went as planned, which I was super surprised. My flight leaving was about 20 minutes late to take off but we got into NYC 20 minutes early. I walked out of the airport and got into a taxi, which was actually an Uber car. I will say I was slightly nervous. I took pictures inside the SUV and sent them to the girls saying if anything happens these are the details, haha! It was so nice though! I felt like I had car service. And the traffic in was non existent, which is amazing for driving into Manhattan. I was at the hotel in about 30 minutes. Everything said it would be about an hour, but thankfully it didn't take that long. As with my flight and the taxi timing seemed to be everything on this trip.

driving into the city, It was a beautiful day.

   When I got to the hotel I met Jenn (more like running off the elevator and shrieking like 12 year old girls when we saw each other). After talking we decided to head to the Intrepid. Not only was it something for us to do while Sam and Jill were at IMATS but it was also about 5 piers away from where IMATS was being held. On our walk to the Intrepid Jenn and I saw a Welcome to NY sign:

We had to take a picture because its TSwift

   We went into the Intrepid and walked around. That Aircraft Carrier is HUGE! I love seeing things like that and how they had everything set up. They have a whole interactive area on the Carrier, so of course we went and played a little. We ended up catching a tour in the anchor room right before we left with this little old man explaining everything. I loved it, I actually didn't want to leave but Sam and Jill were done at IMATS and it was time to meet up with them. I couldn't wait to see those two!

Just relaxing in my rack

   Jenn and I left the Intrepid and walked down a few piers to meet the girls. Sam and Jill said IMATS was a mad house and that they will never go back. Disappointing, but I think it's time they start coming up with a better plan to organize this, it's just starting to get too big. A bunch of the Beauty Vloggers were not allowed in so they were taking pictures outside the venue. Which I found silly considering this thing has gotten so big because of them, but I digress. We arrived just in time to meet one of my favorites, Nicole Guerriero (again with the timing). We also saw Manny Mua and Patrick Star. I've only just started watching Manny, but he's one of Sam's favorites. We wanted a picture but their line was really long and we were starving. I was so hoping to meet Jaclyn Hill but she showed up later that day.

Us and Nicole

   From IMATS we headed to Shake Shack, YUM!! That place is just delicious. I got a chocolate shake, the cheeseburger and cheese fries. HEAVEN! We walked to Central Park, it's just down the street from the restaurant, and sat our happy butts down and ate.  We did this exact same thing 3 years ago, except we couldn't sit on the grassy area we had last time. So we took over a big rock. We did a lot of people watching and literally laughed till we cried. I wish I could share, but those are the fun secrets kept between friends.

Shake Shack Yummy-ness

hanging in Central Park

   After eating and just hanging we walked a little through Central Park, I've never done that and boy is it beautiful. We stopped at some shops on our way back to the Hotel, but didn't buy anything.

    Back at the hotel we relaxed for a little and tried to figure out where we were going to eat. We called down to the concierge and they set reservations for us at this Italian restaurant called La Masseria, it was about 2 blocks away from where we were staying. We got all fancied up and headed out. The food was AMAZING! It was so good we were still talking about it the next day. 

My beautiful Girl Friends and I

because there always has to be one silly face

   Sunday we all woke up before 6:30, go figure right. First night I'm away from the kids and I'm up at normal time. So we all got ready and headed out the door before 8. We stopped at Starbucks in Times Square; got my non-fat tiramisu latte and an almond croissant (if you haven't had one, you need to!). There was this awesome photo booth type thing in the Starbucks that let you take a picture and than email it to yourself. Well, I'm a little annoyed with Starbucks. We took two pictures, one on each of the cameras. I emailed them to myself and I never received them. BOOOOOO!! They came out so good and we never thought to take a picture with our phones. So now they are lost in la-la land. I'm literally just waiting for them to randomly show up one day.

 After that quick bite we walked around Times Square, took in the sites of the crazy people and walked into some stores that are right there. Around 10:30 we caught a cab to Soho where we went to our favorite restaurant, Sanctuary T, for brunch. It's an adorable little place that is mostly known for their teas. I will say their food wasn't as up to par as it had been 3 years ago. It wasn't bad, but I just remember it being amazing and all 4 of us agreed that it wasn't the same. The Sangria I got last time also wasn't available (2 for 2), I did get a Bloody Mary and it was good but extra spicy. Not my favorite. I'm really not talking up this place, am I? Well, even after this trip I will still recommend it to anyone that is going to the city. It's just an awesome little restauranteur to hang in. We also saw Ami James from MiamiInk and NYInk. We couldn't for the life of us figure out who he was, so I had to ask the waitress. She said his shop was around the corner and a lot of celebrities actually stop by there because of how low key it is. Our waitress, Jennifer, was a sweetheart. She started out a little rough, but after getting our drinks she was super sweet and totally awesome. I'm telling you, just go. I'll forever and always tell anyone to go there.

Yummies from Sanctuary T

   After that we walked down to the 9/11 Memorial. I'm from NY, I was in 10th grade when the towers fell and I didn't leave NY until I was 20. I had been to the city a handful of times and I never once made my way over to where the towers stood. We all agreed that we wanted to go see it. The Freedom Tour is amazing. Absolutely stunning. The fountains, where the Twin Towers once stood, are just as amazing if not more so. I got emotional, very emotional. Thank God for sunglasses. The feeling there is just so solemn; sad and heartbreaking. Yet you get a feeling of selflessness and patriotism. I remember everything about that day and to actually be standing there and seeing it as it is today was just over whelming. I looked around at all the people and the kids. It made me realize that kids today don't fully understand the magnitude of what happened. But I believe that same statement can be said for my generation and older about Pearl Harbor or even when President Kennedy was shot. You know the history, you know what happened, but unless you were alive to fully feel the effects, you will never really understand it. I was also a little stunned at the lack of respect that I was seeing. Listen, I'm all for a selfie but I found it incredible disrespectful of all the people taking selfies and smiling with the fountains in the background. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe my feelings are a little too deep. But when I'm fighting back tears reading these names on the wall and other people are smiling taking pictures, well I just can't wrap my head around how they think that's okay. There's a time and a place for a selfie, this isn't one of them. And than the people sitting on the walls of the fountains, UGH! I could go on, but I wont.

Freedom Tower

This was in the Museum, I took the picture from outside.

One of the fountains

   After that we decided we need a little pick-me-up and headed to Serendipity3. We were still pretty full from brunch and couldn't figure out what else to do. So why not eat?! Haha! We got into a cab and drove from downtown all the to the Upper East Side (I think it's on the Upper East Side). We got there at the perfect time, we waited less than a half hour and the host said its usually a 2 hour wait. Once again, timing was everything on this trip. This was dessert heaven!!! We only ordered two dessert between the 4 of us and we still couldn't finish them. The whole place is super cute and the desserts are just amazing. I really wanted to try their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate but I was a little cold and I knew there was no way I could take on all that chocolate. If you happen to ever be in NYC you have to check out Serendipity3.

Heaven in dessert form

End result

The ceiling in the restaurant

   After finishing our dessert we walked to 5th Avenue, than we headed back towards Times Square and stopped to get a slice of pizza. No pizza any where beats NY pizza. You will never be able to convince me differently. Never, ever. After pizza we went back to our hotel. It was about 6:30pm at this point (a looonnnngggg day!). Jenn had some issues with JetBlue, poor girl was so frustrated but it got figured out and she left at 8:30 to get to the airport in time for her flight. Sam, Jill, and I said goodbye to her and than headed out to get some Chipotle for dinner. We brought it back to our hotel room, ate, watched TV, packed and went to bed by 11. We were up at 4:30 to get a cab by 5:15 to the airport. I had to be dropped off first because I was on a different airline then Sam and Jill. It was a short and sweet goodbye. Half rushing, still half asleep. But once I got settled at my gate the emotions started flowing (and so did the sappy texts and Instagram pictures).

   You can only hope you meet at least 1 friend that just gets you in every way possible in your life time. I, some how managed to find 3. We all live in different areas, we are all in different stages of our lives, but yet when we are together its like we were never apart. I can't wait to see them all again. #JJSN

   Thanks for reading all the way the through, I know it was long.  If at any point you are going to be in NYC please check out all the places I mentioned, I promise you will love them all.

Xo,
  Nikki