LIFE LATELY, PART ONE: NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Whew. The past month has been a whirlwind. Actually, I think things got crazy in May and never quite slowed down. Steeplechase, home for tennis NCAA's, Memorial Day weekend, CMA Fest, the Glander's Wedding, New York City, and home for the 4th of July... yep, my weekends have been packed and the weekdays haven't been much slower with work, moving into a new house, kickball games, and happy hours. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining one bit! It has been wonderful, but I have sort of, really neglected this little blog. I can honestly say that I have missed blogging and sharing new finds and life with everyone following. So here's the first life update: my trip to New York. Warning: There are a LOT of pictures. Apologies for the long post in advance :)

My amazingly talented sister Jane spent the summer in NYC interning with Tibi, so naturally I had to make a visit to see her. This was my first time visiting the Big Apple and I was so excited. Jane worked Friday morning, so I spent most of my time wandering around - which I think is truly the best way to see New York.

Beautiful view of the city, overlooking the Hudson. Seriously couldn't get enough of this view.

When Jane got off work we went to get a late lunch at an adorable little restaurant called Jack's Wife Freda. It was delicious - I had a steak sandwich with garlic butter and Jane had a burger. I definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone in NYC!

Of course we had to get a beer to celebrate being together in the city!

After lunch we wandered around a couple stores, and then decided to take the train to Central Park - probably one of the most touristy things we did all weekend. That park is enormous. We didn't even make it through a quarter of it; partly because we worried about getting lost, and partly because my feet were dying from walking all day... not something that happens in Nashville!

Does this look familiar to anyone? Yep, pretty sure that a million movie scenes have been filmed here... I was just pretending I was Blake Lively in Gossip Girl... if only.

Friday night brought drinks at a cute wine bar in the West Village, then dinner at Rosemary's in Greenwich Village - such an amazing little Italian restaurant. The night was made even better because my dear friend from Indiana, Catherine Fee, met up with us. We shared a bottle of wine, each ordered the Orecchiette pasta dish, which was so delicious, and shared an awesome appetizer of essentially cheese bread, but way better than anything you could think of! Rosemary's has its own garden on the roof, which is where all of the herbs and produce comes from. So cool, right?!

I have a major thing about ambiance in restaurants, and Rosemary's definitely had it going on with all of the white lights. Take me back?!

The next day Jane and I went to Brooklyn to go to the flea market and Smorgasboard. I loved it. 

We basically spent all day in Brooklyn, meeting up with a good friend from home for afternoon beers on a rooftop bar. Saturday night we went to The Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District so that I could see the sunset with an awesome view. Let me tell you - it did not disappoint. Absolutely gorgeous.

On Sunday morning we brunched at Pastis, then walked around Meatpacking District on the High Line. The High Line is an old elevated train rail (think the El in Chicago) that has been converted into a 1 mile park. After that we wandered some more, stopped at Magnolia Bakery (yum) and a few more stores before I had to navigate my way through the subway and Penn Station to go to Newark and fly home. It was sad leaving the Big Apple, and Jane of course!

I knew I would like New York, but I didn't think I would love it as much as I did. Maybe it was being with my sister, maybe it was eating delicious meals, maybe it was the fact that we didn't do anything touristy and I truly felt like I was living there. Maybe all of the above! What I do know is I had a fabulous time and will be making many a trip back once Jane (hopefully) moves there permanently.

Happy Monday!