Sunday Smiles

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The plans of the heart belong to man. But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

- Proverbs 16:1

30 x 30: Watch All of AFI's 100 Movies

One of the things on my 30 x 30 list was to watch all the movies on the American Film Institute's top 100 movies. I decided to go with the 10th anniversary edition (for no real reason). And the rule (that I arbitrarily set for myself) was that I had to watch all the movies on the list this year- even if I had already seen them before.

PS. I hate scary movies...

1. Citizen Kane 4/10/16

2. The Godfather 3/14/16

3. Casablanca 2/25/16

4. Raging Bull 5/6/16

5. Singin' in the Rain 10/10/16

6. Gone With the Wind 2/27/16

7. Lawrence of Arabia 4/5/16

8. Schindler's List 10/15/16

9. Vertigo 7/23/16

10. The Wizard of Oz 7/11/16

11. City Lights 5/8/16

12. The Searchers 2/23/16

13. Star Wars 3/18/16

14. Psycho 1/9/16

15. 2001: A Space Odyssey 3/28/16

16. Sunset Blvd. 12/27/15

17. The Graduate 6/11/16

18. The General 9/15/16

19. On the Waterfront 4/21/16

20. It's a Wonderful Life 12/23/15

21. Chinatown 2/24/2016

22. Some Like it Hot 4/4/16

23. The Grapes of Wrath 1/19/16

24. E.T. The Extra-terrestrial 3/1/16

25. To Kill a Mockingbird 1/7/16

26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 2/17/16

27. High Noon 12/27/15

28. All About Eve 8/5/16

29. Double Indemnity 6/9/16

30. Apocalypse Now 4/8/16

31. The Maltese Falcon 4/14/16

32. The Godfather Part II 3/15/16

33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 4/23/16

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 6/1/16

35. Annie Hall 10/3/16

36. The Bridge on the River Kwai 3/10/16

37. The Best Years of Our Lives 11/20/16

38. The Treasure of Sierra Madre 4/20/16

39. Dr. Strangelove 10/4/16

40. The Sound of Music 11/12/16

41. King Kong 7/25/16

42. Bonnie and Clyde 2/18/16

43. Midnight Cowboy 8/7/16

44. The Philadelphia Story 11/7/16

45. Shane 2/6/16

46. It Happened One Night 10/27/2016

47. A Streetcar Named Desire 1/13/16

48. Rear Window 1/1/16

49. Intolerance 9/3/16

50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 3/26/16

51. West Side Story 11/25/16

52. Taxi Driver 3/7/16

53. The Deer Hunter 6/8/16

54. M*A*S*H 3/21/16

55. North by Northwest 4/22/16

56. Jaws 3/4/16

57. Rocky 1/25/16

58. The Gold Rush 8/24/16

59. Nashville 4/25/16

60. Duck Soup 10/13/2016

61. Sullivan's Travels 10/19/2016

62. American Graffiti 9/9/16

63. Cabaret 11/5/2016

64. Network 10/1/16

65. The African Queen 8/14/16

66. Raiders of the Lost Ark 3/23/16

67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 5/16/16

68. Unforgiven 2/5/16

69. Tootsie 11/15/16

70. A Clockwork Orange 3/30/16

71. Saving Private Ryan 1/23/16

72. The Shawshank Redemption 9/17/16

73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1/1/16

74. The Silence of the Lambs 2/4/16

75. In the Heat of the Night 5/3/16

76. Forrest Gump 12/30/15

77. All the President's Men 7/11/16

78. Modern Times 4/29/16

79. The Wild Bunch 1/17/16

80. The Apartment 12/7/16

81. Spartacus 4/28/16

82. Sunrise 10/6/16

83. Titanic 5/21/16

84. Easy Rider 8/12/16

85. A Night at the Opera 9/12/16

86. Platoon 5/28/16

87. 12 Angry Men 5/23/16

88. Bringing Up Baby 12/4/16

89. The Sixth Sense 1/20/16

90. Swing Time 9/29/16

91. Sophie's Choice 1/10/16
92. Goodfellas 4/15/16

93. The French Connection 4/12/16

94. Pulp Fiction 1/5/16

95. The Last Picture Show 1/27/16

96. Do the Right Thing 9/19/16

97. Blade Runner 4/17/16

98. Yankee Doodle Dandy 10/21/2016

99. Toy Story 2/13/16

100. Ben-Hur 5/12/16

Whew! I took a long time on this one. I got a subscription to Netflix DVD, put all the movies in my queue and they just sent them back to back. It worked out great! And most of the movies I like a lot better than I thought I would- especially the "scary" movies. General thoughts: I'm a huge sap. I love romantic comedies. I'm not a big fan of westerns. I'm too ADD for silent films.

If you want any movie recommendations, just let me know!

Sunday Smiles

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Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

- Hebrews 4:16

My Brother is Coming

The title says it all. My brother is coming into town today and will be here until next weekend when he flies out of Nashville back home. In case you didn't know, my brother moved to Seattle at the beginning of the year for a job. This is his first time coming back home in almost a year. He is staying at my house which I'm super excited about, but that also means that I have had to get my house "guest ready," which has included taking all the stuff I was storing in the guest room up to the attic and putting up a Christmas tree. I also took a trip to the grocery store the other night while my mom stayed home with Molly and binge-watched Gilmore Girls.

We have a few things planned- starting with a welcome dinner at Houston's. Of course! And since he's staying at my house, he'll be on puppy duty next week which means at least another week that Molly doesn't have to be in the crate all day. (The next few weeks my mom will be on Christmas break so I'm trying to talk her in to coming over some {or every day} to play with Molly so she's not left alone all day).

I'm excited to hang out with my brother and think that it will be a good trip! I'll write all about it when he leave!

Molly the Mini

If you follow me on any social media, then you already know but... I got a dog! I have wanted a great dane for as long as I can remember, but it has never been the right time or I haven't been in the right place. Now I have a house and space and a yard and no reason not to do it (minus the time...)

I looked for a while and found one in Johnson City that I immediately fell in love with her pictures. I called the owners and arranged a time to meet and pick her up. My mom and I drove to Nashville on Saturday to hang out with my sister and her family and then left Sunday morning to drive to Knoxville and get Molly. She is absolutely adorable and slept in my mom's lap the whole drive back. We stopped in Nashville again on the way home because my nieces were dying to meet her. I think she was a little overwhelmed by it all, but overall did great. Then we drove the rest of the way back home.

I took the week off for bonding (and a training bootcamp) and so far it has been lots of sleeping! I'm trying to get her on a good schedule and get her crate trained and house broken before I go back to work next week. Wish me luck!

She's tiny! The owner told me she was 9 weeks, but the vet thinks that it might be closer to 6- or she's just the runt! We are waiting until her adult teeth come in to know for sure. Her mom was 130 lbs and her dad was 150 lbs. She's about 10 lbs right now so she has a lot of growing to do!

I can't wait to see how much she is going to grow and transform. I already feel like her paws have gotten bigger and I can't help but laugh anytime she runs because she looks so clumsy! It's going to be such a fun adventure!

Give Thanks

First of all, can I just say that I am really bad at taking pictures? Really! I don't think I have any pictures from this weekend. The only few that I did take were on Snapchat and are no lost to the interwebs.

But overall, it was a good weekend. I got off work on Wednesday, ran by Fresh Market to pick up some flowers, rested for a little bit, drank some coffee, and then got up and cleaned my house some. I was trying to get as much finished as possible on Wednesday so that I wouldn't be so stressed on Thursday morning.

Thursday morning, I finished cleaning up a little bit and then met up with a friend and my sister for the Turkey Trot. It's an annual tradition with my sister and me but I was a little worried about it because I have not been running regularly- at all. Katie and I ran together for the first 3 miles and then I could tell that she was starting to speed up, so I told her to ditch me and I ran the last mile (slowly) by myself. It was a lot of fun, but I'm hoping that it will be good motivation for me to be more consistent with running. Sheesh!

After the race, I went back home, prepped some food, and jumped in the shower. My mom initially told me that she was going to come to my house around 11 so I was nervous that I was in a major time-crunch until I called her and she was still out on a bike ride. So I basically got ready a lot faster than I had to and had time to spare, which gave me time to open up a bottle of wine and put on music and dance around my house! Then the chaos hit all at once. Family all arrived and we got all the food set up and then the eating started! Everything was delicious!

After dinner the guys watched football for a little while and then we busted out Kinect and had some dance battles. So much fun! And it got all our heart rates up a little bit!

When everyone left, my head was killing me! I think between running and wine I was super dehydrated! I grabbed some water and tried to relax on the couch for a while, but it didn't help much. I final gave up, put away the food that was still out, and went to bed. When I woke up Friday, I did more cleaning. Finished cleaning the kitchen and washing all the dishes and sweeping and vacuuming everything! Then I did something I have never done before... went Black Friday shopping! It's not as exciting as it sounds. I didn't go until like 11 on Friday and because all the craziness starts on Thursday night now, it wasn't bad. Also, I went to Hollywood Feed. I had looked at the one in Collierville and the guy said that the kennels would be on sale on Black Friday so I picked up a kennel and some BOGO dog food. (Oh yeah, if you don't follow me on Snap, I'm getting a dog. This weekend I think, so she'll get her own post next week!)

The family came back over on Friday afternoon for leftovers and my nieces were itching to play Kinect again so we got it back out and had another dance party. When they left, it was still early so I bundled up and went over to a friend's house for a Gilmore Girl's Revival watching party!

We only watched Winter and Spring that night, but I finally finished it last night. That may need an entire post of it's own. If you have already watched it and want to have a postmortem just let me know. I'm pretty sure I cried the entire way through Fall. I went through a whole gamut of emotions as I related to various aspects of the show. I think I ended the night on a mix of anger and sadness. I will probably be the only one, but I don't want another season. I don't know if my heart and my emotions can handle it. Whew! I told you this needed its own post!

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. Saturday I did a little shopping. Having a bunch of people over made me realize some things that I still needed around the house. I have also had an empty guest room for months and my brother is staying with me in a few weeks so I needed to buy a new bed. I actually bought a new bed for me and I'm going to move my current bed into the guest room. But then I had an "if you give a mouse a cookie" moment and wanted new sheets and a new pillow and a new headboard... The list continues. So my mom and I went out and knocked some things off the list. Then we hung out on Broad for small business Saturday and did a little Christmas shopping. When I got home, I made a list (or 7). I plan to do a little more shopping online tonight during cyber Monday. There are a few things that I still need to get (no one sells large, elevated dog bowls in stores!) and my goal is to finish all my Christmas shopping this week! Wish me luck!

What did everyone else do for Thanksgiving? Anyone else knock out some shopping?

Sunday Smiles

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Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever.

- Psalm 118:1

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, guys! Hope everyone has a wonderful day! I am running the Turkey Trot this morning and then... I'm hosting my family for Thanksgiving dinner at my house! I'm excited about having the space to entertain. Hopefully it will go okay.

Tomorrow, everyone is coming back over for "Liquor and Leftovers" before my sister and her family have to get back on the road for work. It will be a fun, family-filled weekend. I'm sure I'll be back with plenty of stories next week.

Reflections

In case you have been hibernating for the past year or so, there was an election recently. And... I'm not going to talk about it. It has been everywhere! It's all over social media and the news and, to be honest, I'm kind of sick of it. But even more than that, I don't even know what to say. There are so many thoughts swirling through my head (per usual) that I can't even really pin down a complete statement. So I won't even try.

But what I will say is that through all the crazy social media explosion, I have seen some friends that have said things far more eloquently than I could. Friends who have put into words what I was thinking and feeling. I have been reflecting a lot on some of the things that I have read and I can honestly say that I am so thankful.

I have talked about this a little before, but my parents were very intentional with my siblings and me. They placed us in situations of diversity constantly. We celebrated Christmas at home, but I had vivid memories of playing with dreidels and eating potato latkes in elementary school when we were learning about Hanukkah. I remember learning about Kwanza and Ramadan- not just because it was part of the curriculum, but because there were students in my class that observed each of these holidays and we were able to experience some of their traditions with them.

In high school, I had many conversations with peers who had differing opinions and beliefs. These were not arguments or persuasions. They were discussions of differences. Through those discussions, I was challenged to think through what I believed and why. Some conversations caused me to question things, but in the end my faith was strengthened through those discussions.

As I have been perusing facebook and other sites, I can honestly say that I am proud of my friends and the way that they have handled tough conversations. They have asked thoughtful questions and facilitated difficult conversations. They have shown compassion and tolerance and love! They have continued to show that we don't always have to agree, but we can always be kind! For this I am forever thankful!

Sunday Smiles

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And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

- Hosea 2:19-20

Overcoming Hardships

I said it last week that life has been hard. So hard! But I can now say that it is starting to get better. Slowly, but surely. I felt like things were going smoothly and then I hit a bump in the road- a giant, mountain of a bump. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Then came the dark cloud. Things felt heavy, like I was moving through molasses. I went to work and went through the motions. Then I came home and went to sleep, not because I was tired but because I didn't want to be awake anymore. Last weekend, I think I slept for 22 hours. Sheesh!

But slowly things have started to get better. I have clung to the Lord and spent time in prayer. I have realized my own humility and weakness. I have discovered, once again, that I can do nothing on my own strength. I have forced myself to get out of the house and spend time with friends. I have relied on others instead of going down a rabbit trail of thoughts within my own head. And then I went to therapy last week and got to process it all with her.

I know that doesn't automatically fix everything. I know there will still be times when things are hard and when situations and issues come back to haunt me, but for now things are looking up and I do feel as if I am in a better place than I have been. I am still excited to celebrate the small victories and to store up stones of remembrance. (And to get a permanent reminder soon!)

Sunday Smiles

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

- Daniel 7:14

Friend Groups

Life has been hard recently. Let's be honest. It's been shit. I thought about writing an entire post about it to try and get my feelings out, but I really don't even know where to begin. I'm still trying to process things and figure out my feelings. (I think it might be time to reread Voice of the Heart...) If you haven't read it, I recommend it. I really think that I should probably read it twice a year just to remind myself of my feelings. :)

But that's not what this post is about. I still need time to process all those feelings. This is about friendships. Going through hard times always causes me to reflect on friendships. And I have been hanging out with various friend groups recently which has really made me think about how different they all are...

The night of my Day in the Life post, I went to dinner with some nurses. One of them is married, but doesn't have kids and the others are single. The next night, I went to dinner with friends from high school. They are all married and have 5 kids between the 3 of them.

The evening (and the conversations) were very different. From talking about dating and drinking to diapers and daycares, I think we covered just about every topic between the 2 nights. And I think I need that sometimes- both of those conversations. Although sometimes I feel like I am right in the middle. I don't really know why. I think my feelings are still just all over the place. But the point of this post was mainly just to say how thankful I am for friendships- off all kinds.

Sunday Smiles

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For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

- Hebrews 8:10

Moon River Fest

I have been slacking on posts and trying to play catch up, so this is super behind. But a couple weeks ago, I headed out to the Moon River Fest. It is a music festival hosted by Drew Holcomb. It featured lots of indy, folky groups/friends of Drew and Ellie from Nashville. :)

I'm not a huge music person. I enjoy music, but do not really follow any artists or keep up with anyone so I didn't know most of the groups playing but it was a great weekend nonetheless.

The lineup was really good. I knew Drew and Ellie were great. And I have loved Dave Barnes music since I first heard it in high school at a Young Life camp. I have actually met Abner and Amanda Ramirez from JohnnySwim when I lived in Nashville. They are friends with my sister. I knew they played music, but had never heard them until this. They were great! And had just left Waco for the Silo-bration so that's pretty cool. But all the music was really mellow and cool. (Clearly, I'm not a music aficionado and don't even know the right words to describe it, but it was good.)

And the weather was perfect. It was actually hot during the day, but we brought layers because it cooled down quite a bit when the sun went down. We mostly just relaxed, chilled on a blanket, ate food truck food, drank beer and listened to music.

The weekend ended with the whole crew singing Hey Jude. I couldn't get the video I took to load, so I posted this one from YouTube. I actually like mine better because I like the view from the crowd, but oh well! It was a great weekend!

Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! Have fun. Be safe. And eats lots of candy!

Tieks Review

*This is in no way an official review. Unless of course, Tieks sees it and wants to send me free shoes in exchange for a review. Then, I'm totally game!

So, I bought a pair of Tieks a few weeks ago and some people have asked me what I thought about them. I was pretty obsessed with them right away. The packaging was impeccable and they came with a handwritten note. I am a total sucker for good costumer service, so I was sold!

I wore them to work a few days and they were super comfortable. From day 1. They didn't rub at all and there were no blisters. I was amazed!

Then I took them to New York. This was the ultimate test run!

I wore them every day in New York. I'll be honest. They weren't like walking on clouds. My feet hurt at the end of the day, but after walking almost 17 miles, I think that my feet would have hurt in any shoe. It was mostly my heels that hurt from just standing and walking all day. And there were still no blisters or anything. I put them on the next day without hesitation.

After the trip to New York and the miles of walking, I can definitely endorse the Tieks without question. I am already looking to buy another pair! I'm just trying to decide between metallic bronze, green, or a fun pattern. I also really like the vegan greystone. So many options...

What do you think? Which should my next pair be?

Sunday Smiles

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Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

- Joel 2:13

30 x 30: Eat at a Michelin Star Restaurant

I talked about this briefly in my last post, but while we were in New York we planned to eat at Chef's Table in Brooklyn. We were not allowed to take pictures of the food, but they wouldn't have done it justice anyway. Neither will my description, but I'll try...

It was easily the best food that I've ever eaten. Easily. But it was so much more than the food. It was the entire dining experience. They have 2 staggered seatings a night- a 6 and 6:30 and a 9:30 and 10. Our reservation was for 9:30 and the website said to allow 2 1/2 hours for the dining experience so we knew it was going to be a late night. The restaurant is small. There is a single hollow square. 2 servers remained inside the entire time. Around 3 sides, there was seating for a total of 16 people. The fourth side was where they plated the food and the food was all cooked behind the fourth side so we could see everything being cooked and plated. The chef came around and introduced himself to each of us before then meal and then again periodically while we were eating to make sure that everything was satisfactory.

We had already paid for our dinner ahead of time, but the sommelier brought the drink menu for us to look over. (And by "menu," I mean book. There were so many options!) We were a little overwhelmed about which one to order, so she suggested a white burgundy to start. We shared a bottle of that and then each ordered a glass of red when the meats came. I wish I could tell you which red wine we got, but we asked the sommelier to bring us a glass of red and I have no idea what it was, but it was delicious.

There were 15 courses. Yes, 15! And everything was amazing! It was seriously all a work of art. The first course was a trout caviar. It was served on a mini puff pastry crust. Ha! That does not even begin to describe what it was. But as they were plating the food, there was someone that came behind with tweezers in case any of the caviar rolled off the pastry. Then they, of course, had to wipe the plate off afterwards. One course had flowers and I watched them hand-select each flower before delicately placing it on the plate.

I won't go through all the courses, but we ate caviar, sardine, langoustine, sea urchin, king crab, snapper, squab, beef tenderloin, pork wagu, huckleberry sorbet, caramel souffle, lemon tart, chocolate tart, milk chocolate with almond. I'm pretty sure that everything was "the best thing I've ever eaten!" My favorites were the langoustine ravioli and the beef tenderloin. If I had closed my eyes, I wouldn't have known that it was meat. It was that tender. It basically just melted in my mouth. The caramel souffle was probably my favorite dessert, although they were all incredible!

It was definitely the most expensive meal that I've ever eaten, but 100% worth it. It was, by far, the best meal I've ever had and I would totally do it all over again. If you ever get a chance to go, I definitely recommend it!

New York, New York

Megan, my friend from college, and I went to New York a few weeks ago. First of all, let me just say that I absolutely fell in love and now I want to move there- immediately! This was my third trip to New York, but this time just felt different. I think it's because we didn't as much tourist stuff this time. I don't love doing all the tourist attractions. I would much rather see the city as a local and I think that this trip, more than the previous ones, was more local and less tourist.

We left Nashville at 6:30 on Thursday morning, which was ROUGH- especially considering that I had driven to Nashville after work the day before and was already tired. Waking up at 4 was no fun, but I slept most of the plane ride and my adrenaline carried me through the day. The good thing about leaving so early, is that we touched down in New York at 9:30 and had the whole day ahead of us.

After we landed and got our bags, we bought a MetroCard and caught the bus to the Subway. Then we took the train into Grand Central. It is on 42nd and our hotel was on 48th so we walked the 6 (short) blocks to the hotel. Check-in wasn't until 3, so we were just planning to drop our luggage off with the doorman and come back later, but they let us check in early! We went up to our room early and freshened up and then were on the hunt for food.

We walked around a little bit and at one point were (inadvertently) followed by the Secret Service. The United Nations General Assembly was there the same time we were, so there was always lots of Secret Service around. The delegates from Germany and Cyprus were staying in the hotel next door, so we passed their cars everyday. The delegates from the Congo were staying at our hotel and one night there was a reception for the President of Namibia!

Anyway, we found a little hidden ramen bar for lunch and it was delicious! We also laughed at the people sitting next to us who, I assume, were on their lunch break. They, at one time, compared New Jersey to California. Megan and I are fairly certain that they have never been to California...

After that, we decided to venture of to MoMA. It's one of my favorites so I was excited to start off our trip and our museums with this one. It was entertaining as always. There was an exhibit by Bruce Conner. It was just weird! It made me want to do more research on him- and maybe write a research paper about him. And about the link between artists and mental illness...

It was later than we thought when we left MoMA. We had dinner reservations, but not until late so we thought we might want a snack. We took the train to the Lower West Side, walked around Lincoln Center and then went for drinks and appetizers at the Empire Hotel. In true tourist fashion, I ordered the Chuck Bass and it was delicious!

After the Empire, we went back to the hotel and showered and changed for dinner. We had reservations at Chef's Table in Brooklyn. It was on my 30-by-30 list and was the best meal that I've ever eaten. It gets its own post, so stay tuned. We didn't leave the restaurant until after midnight so we took some pictures to keep ourselves occupied while waiting for the train.

 

Friday
We slept in Friday morning- much later than we planned, but Thursday had been a long day. While getting ready, we looked over the map and tentatively planned the day. We got coffee and took the train to the Museum at FIT. We got there early. It didn't open for another 15 minutes so we sat on a bench and pretended to be students. We watched the photography students working on shoots and practicing their lighting and angles. Then the museum opened. There was a really interesting exhibit on the evolution of the uniform. It showcased school uniforms and uniforms for work, the military, and sports. It also showed how designers had gotten inspiration from different kinds of uniforms to design high-end fashion. So fun!

When we left FIT, we headed over to Madison Square Park. We were going to go to another museum, but were hungry so we decided on lunch first and, of course, we had to have Shake Shack. The burgers were amazing and the weather was perfect for a parkside picnic!

When we finished eating, we headed across the street to the Museum of Math. When I saw this on the map, I knew that I wanted to go check it out. I thought it was going to be a typical museum about mathematicians and stuff and I was really excited about it, but then we got there and it was even better than I expected. It was interactive! We spent hours playing around on all the different exhibits. We did puzzles and played with 3D shapes and created patterns. It was awesome!

After we had finished playing, we took the train to Times Square. I took one obligatory tourist pic and then when got in the TKTS line. The line wasn't bad. It actually moved pretty fast, but if you're going to do this, I recommend going to a different TKTS booth. This is definitely the slowest one. But since I didn't want touristy things, this was our only time in Times Square.

While waiting in line, I started to get a migraine. That's when I realized that I hadn't really had any water today. The migraine just got worse and after we got our tickets, we headed back to the hotel. I took some medicine, chugged a bottle of water and then lied down to take a nap. We both slept for about an hour. When I woke up, I attempted to sit up but my head was still pounding so Megan got up and started getting ready for the night while I drank some more water and lied back down. I finally forced myself to get up and took some more medicine.

We walked back towards Times Square and found some classic New York style pizza. Then we headed to the theatre for Chicago. It was a small theatre and felt very intimate. The actors interacted well with the audience. It was so good! After the show, we walked the long way back to the hotel enjoying the weather and looking at the city at night.

Saturday
We woke up earlier on Saturday, ready to tackle the day! Thankfully, because this was a busy day! We went all over. I felt like we rode the train a lot today, but when we got back to the hotel, my phone said that we had walked almost 17 miles! We started the day the same way we did every day... coffee! I also made sure to grab a bottle of water from the hotel before we left today! We took the train down to the Highline. The Highline is an old railroad line that has been converted to a walking path. It was so peaceful up there and had great views.

The Highline ended in the meat packing district and we grabbed hot dogs from a street vendor for lunch. When in Rome...! Then we started walking downtown. We walked to the West Village and I immediately fell in love. We passed the park and the farmer's market and then the brownstones. This is when I decided that I wanted to move to New York! It was its own little adorable (expensive) town here! We also found $2.89 mimosas so we obviously had to stop!

After our mimosas, we headed down to SoHo to meet my friend from high school for ice cream. She and her husband live in Brooklyn and they had been in SoHo for brunch so we met her for ice cream. It was a quick trip, but so fun to catch up!

Then we did a quick walk through Little Italy and Chinatown to the train. We said bye to Chelsy and she headed back to Brooklyn and we went downtown to the World Trade Center memorial. It was kind of surreal to be there. The last time I was there was in March 2003- 18 months after 9/11. There was scaffolding up and pictures of missing loved ones. Now there was a huge memorial. It was a solemn moment.

As we were leaving, we saw a group of people taking a picture with some cops. We stopped to watch for a second and they asked if we would take some pictures for me so we obliged. After the pictures, we talked to them for a little while. The "tourists" were police officers from Virginia that had been at the Pentagon on 9/11. What a special connection!

After the photos, we jumped on the train to the Statue of Liberty. We didn't take any of the ferries or anything. I couldn't be that much of a tourist, but we did take pictures from the shore. Then we sat down in the grass and hung out for a little while like we just do this all the time.

We left at the perfect time. Apparently the ferries were about to stop running and everyone that works down there gets super pushy about trying to sale tickets before closing! We narrowly escaped! We jumped on a train back up town and made our way to The Met.

We walked through an exhibit or two before making our way up to the roof for a drink. We didn't plan it this way, but it worked out perfectly that we made it to the rooftop right at sunset. It was gorgeous! We also conveniently (and unplanned) were there during the Global Citizens concert. So our evening ended up consisting of drinking wine on the rooftop of The Met at sunset while listening to Ellie Goulding perform in Central Park. New York perfection!

 

When we left The Met it was dinner time. We decided to walk through the Upper East Side to a Mexican restaurant that someone had recommended. Yum! We discovered that drinks in New York are expensive and these margaritas were no exception. But they were strong! I think that makes up for the price. And we figured that they can make drinks in New York stronger because no one is driving. Also, guac!

We walked for a little while after dinner before taking the train back to our hotel. We decided that Sunday was our catch up day so we laid the map out on our bed and made a list of all the places that we still wanted to go see.

Sunday
I wanted to go back to the West Village again because I was seriously obsessed. Megan appeased me and we headed back to the WV. We walked up and down the streets again while I looked for places for rent and then we ate lunch at a cute little sushi place.

For some reason, I cannot remember the order that we did things in this day. I know what we did, but not when. Oh well! We walked around Gramercy and NYU. We went by Kleinfeld's and tried to decide who was there for an appointment and who were just tourists wanting a photo op.

We went to Bryant Park. I wish we had more time there. I would have loved to hang out in the "Reading Room" for a while- just sit at a picnic table under the trees and read a book. There is also a cute little game area with lots of tabletop games. So fun!

After Bryant Park, we checked out the NY public library. It was gorgeous! I loved all the architecture. You can't actually check books out here- except for the children's section. We walked down there to look around. They had the original characters from Winnie the Pooh on display. It was awesome. There were also children down there exploring and checking out books so pictures were not allowed. When we left the library, they were doing a photoshoot on the front steps. We stood around and watched for a little while before making our way to the train.

We rode up to Washington Heights to check out Columbia. It's beautiful there! You are just walking along the streets of New York, but when you enter the gates on to the quad, it feels very secluded. We walked around a little bit and then sat on the steps of the library pretending like we were students and reminiscing about college. Then we took a stereotypical sorority picture where our sorority first started!

After that, it was dessert time. First we went to Lady M on the Upper East Side for a great local flare. Iced coffee and a chocolate raspberry bar cake. Yum! Then for a total juxtaposition, we went to Serendipity 3 for the total tourist experience. Both were amazing in their own way, but if I have to choose, I pick local! Every time.

 

We headed back to the hotel after our double desserts. We hung out for a little bit and got ready for dinner. We had passed Rockefeller Plaza earlier in the week and decided to check out dinner there. And it was the perfect night too. Our waitress told us that it was the final night of the Rock Center Cafe. She said that when they closed that night, they were packing everything up. Ice skating starts soon! The weather was amazing. The music was great. The food and drinks were delicious. It was the perfect ending to a fabulous trip!

 

 

Monday we packed up our stuff to head back South. It was a sad trip back home. I was definitely not ready to leave. Megan randomly knew our flight attendant though so we got free wine. That made coming home a little bit easier.

It was a great trip. The perfect mix of local and tourist. And a great girls trip to catch up with Megan. I fell in love with the city, so if anyone wants to go back, let me know. I'm 100% game! And I may have already started looking for jobs in New York, just in case...

Sorry this was so long. I wanted to get it all out so I could remember. And I didn't want to split it up into 2 posts.