NYC - Week 1

Dave and I arrived in New York City this last Monday night and had an amazing first week in the Big Apple. Dave is here for a 7-week training at his firm for his new job position and I wanted to come with. I have always wanted to live in New York, and since we are pretty much staying in California at this point, I wanted to take advantage of this short experience living in the city. Week 1 was definitely a success.

Dave didn't start his training until Wednesday, so he had Tuesday off to run around in the city with me. We started off at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I know, so touristy! We have never seen the Statue of Liberty that close before so we thought it would be a cool thing to do. Ellis Island was pretty historical with its museum on the history of immigration to the United States. We even saw some family names on the outside wall! After we got off the ferry after touring the islands, we walked up Wall Street and saw the bull statue. Then we went to Lombardi's Pizza for dinner, the first pizzeria in the United States which opened in 1905. The pizza was pretty good. I love the thin sliced pizza personally. We then went to Serendipity so Dave could try their famous frozen hot chocolate for the first time. The best part was being seated at the same table John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale sat at for the movie "Serendipity." It was so cool!

On Wednesday, I met up with my friend Estee at Los Tacos No. 1 which was pretty darn good. But let's be honest, all of the food in New York City is good! It was in Chelsea Market which was fun to go back to again. I wandered around after lunch and of course made a stop in Anthropologie, my favorite store. After that I came home to unpack our things, get organized, and catch up on personal matters.

Thursday was another catch up day for me. I worked out at the gym, ran some errands, and picked up Shake Shack for lunch.

Friday was an awesome day because I got to see one of my best friends Jennie! She came to the city last minute from Connecticut so we met up for lunch at Num Pang, a Cambodian sandwich shop. It was so fun to see her because it had been so long. She and her husband Eric live in Connecticut but lived in NYC for a while before that. I wish they still lived here along with some other friends who moved out. We at our lunch at Bryant Park, which is getting decked out with their Winter Village for the holidays. It was so windy our food was blowing away, ha! We then made a trip to H&M and walked through Times Square before we parted ways. It seriously made my day to see her! Friday night Dave and I went out to dinner in East Village to try Momofuku Noodle Bar. We had their shrimp buns and Momofuku ramen which was really good. We then walked a block away to Momofuku Milk Bar which is their ice cream shop. I got the cereal milk soft serve with corn crunch and Dave got the crack pie soft serve. It was so good! Mine tasted exactly like a bowl of corn flakes cereal with milk. I can't even tell you how full we were after our dinner and the dessert.

Saturday was a jam-packed day. We decided last-minute to go to Norma's for brunch which is in the Le Parker Meridien Hotel in Midtown area. Since we didn't book a reservation, we had to wait an hour to be seated. In the meantime, we headed over to 5th Avenue and walked in Henri Bendel and Harry Wintson (which are right next to each other). We headed back to Norma's when it was time to be seated. We got the crunchy french toast and the breakfast quesadilla. We totally splurged, but it was so worth it! After brunch we headed over to Central Park and walked around for a few hours. It was so beautiful and dreamy! I couldn't stop taking pictures. I seriously love New York in the fall. After we spent some time there, we headed toward Times Square to get tickets at the TKTS ticket booth to see a broadway show that night. We had to wait in line for a little while but got discounted tickets to Finding Neverland which we were excited about. Since we had some time to kill, we headed over to Junior's restaurant for a light dinner and to try their famous cheesecake. We got the chocolate mousse cheesecake which was bomb. After dinner, we walked across the street to the Finding Neverland theater. The show was amazing! I even teared up during the show. I loved the music and the story line. Dave even liked it too! We were happy we saw it. After the show, we saw that a bunch of people crowded around the door where the cast leaves the building to get their autographs. Since Matthew Morrison from "Glee" was the star of the show, we wanted to see if he would come out. A few minutes later, we saw him come out and start signing autographs. I was lucky to be close to the front and get his autograph on my playbill! I was honestly so starstruck (like always when I see a famous person). Such a great ending to a great day and week!