NYC | Part 5

It's time for the last few photos from our NYC trip. Can you believe that tomorrow is February? That means our trip was almost 3 months ago. Well, technically it was at the end of November, so not quite.  Anyway...on our last day in the city, we walked from the East Village towards the West Village mainly because I wanted to check out Washington Square Park. It was a cold, but sunny and  beautiful day.  

And yes, I wore my Zella leggings every single day of our trip. I'm not exaggerating either. I totally fell in love with them and they are so comfy and cozy and go with everything. So there's that. 

Of course there was live music in the park. I felt like we were in a movie. 

That's it for NYC photos from this trip. I'm really hoping to make at least another quick trip sometime during 2015. I think it would be nice to go in the Spring since we haven't been during that season yet.  

Until next time,

Kim 

NYC | Part 4

Last time we visited NYC, we spent some time in Williamsburg and honestly, we weren't that impressed. We knew Brooklyn would be gritty and not as fancy as the city, but the impression we got this past summer wasn't the greatest.   We were determined to spend more time in Brooklyn to really decide if it was a place we truly loved or if it was a place we could pass on. Thank goodness we gave it another chance, because we totally fell in love with it! We rode the subway to the Financial District and got off at the last stop before the bridge. We knew we wanted to walk over it and we amazed by it's size! We knew it was big, but we didn't know it was that big!  That's what she said? Sorry, it seemed natural. 

I remember watching Million Dollar Listing and hearing about DUMBO {Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass} and ever since then, I've always said I wanted to check out what all the fuss was about. We walked over the bridge {I highly recommend doing that if you haven't before!} then walked down under the bridge for that iconic view. 

Here's that photo you've probably seen 8957483 times.

Cue impromptu photo shoot with cool brick background. Too bad it was freezing cold and I couldn't bare to take my puffy coat off. Don't make fun of my nikes. My feet were DEAD.

Jake's fave shot of the day!

I read this blog and she recommended checking out Jane's Carousel. It was so fun! We took a ride and felt like kids again! Best $2 I spent in the city.

That's it folks. After our day of exploring, we Jake tried some beer from Brooklyn Brewery then we had dinner at the Reynard in the Wythe Hotel, complete with pre-dinner drinks at the bar which has a killer view of the NYC skyline. For further reading, check out this blog post I wrote about Brooklyn for Dwellable. 

Stay tuned next week for the last NYC post of this trip. 

xoxo,

Kim

NYC | Part 3

We decided to explore different parts of the city on this trip, so on FRIDAY after a much anticipated tour of the Federal Reserve Bank including the gold vault which holds over 300+ billion dollars with of gold {this is a must do if you can get tickets}, we wandered around the Financial District. It was really cool to see Wall Street and the Stock Exchange especially after seeing it in so many movies over the years. Very iconic! 

Then, we walked by the new World Trade Center and saw the 9/11 memorial which was very overwhelming and sad. Again, this is something we had heard about and saw on TV for years..  decades even and to see the area in real life was just very powerful. I'm not sure I could go into the museum just yet, I really think that would be something I would have to really prepare myself for. Maybe someday I will be brave enough to step foot in there. 

We were watching TV the night before Thanksgiving and noticed that my alma mater - Gonzaga was playing in none other than Madison Square Garden - turned out it was a tournament with the Championship Game being played the day after Thanksgiving. So we bought tickets and made our way over the Madison Square Garden on Friday night - it was the first time for both of us and it actually seemed pretty small and intimate. It was nice to root for my Zags in person again. 

After that we hit the town and checked out Cask Bar in the East Village. I am proud to say that after a night of light drinking and a desire not to ride the subway or take a taxi, we decided to walk 26 blocks back to our hotel. Doesn't 26 blocks seem super far? Well, its actually only 1.5 miles and only took us about 30-35 minutes or so. It was nice and refreshing. And I met my step goal for the day, so I was a happy camper. 

The next morning {SATURDAY}, we had brunch reservations at Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental along with this view of Central Park. Pretty nice, right? I could definitely get used to living the high life in this city... no pun intended!   

Below is the first course which included 4 small tastings.

I had the granola crusted brioche french toast. Let that sink in for a minute... and it tasted as delicious as it looks. Bon appetite! 

xoxo,

Kim