And just as I start writing this, this song pops onto my Pandora. Isn't it weird how Pandora or even your average radio station just reads your mind sometimes? We'll go with it I guess...snow day. *Update: We have. Stayed in and read/watched movies/slept all day. Made a massive vat of chili we dubbed "The Devil's Chili" because it was SO hot...guess that's what 4 jalepenos will do. And the recipe even called for 6?! Appropriate for a Halloween snow day though, right? :)
Anyway, like I said in my first post, this blog will not be perfect or necessarily even updated regularly (obviously). Sometimes I feel inspired and have the time, and sometimes I am just busy. Lately, we've been busy. Visitors, exploring, soaking in the essence of the fall season in the city. I believe in the importance of being present in the moment, and devoting myself to the people I am with (don't even get me started on how social media has ruined this--another reason I suffer with blogging regularly), so this blog may suffer in the meantime. But don't worry, I will do my best to update when I can (my updates just might not be the timeliest :)). Thus, "The Blog Post of Epic Proportions."
Part I: The Hewitt Family Storms the City
So, my family came to visit- YAY! We love New York so much, but the only thing it's missing and makes us homesick at times is that we can't share it with family and friends. I was so thrilled when my family decided to take a long weekend to come up to visit. Two weekends ago now, shesh...time flies. My parents had never been to the city before, so we had lots of fun touring the town. Heck, we had fun being tourists for the weekend. The city is so big with so much to do, so it was fun riding around and taking notes of places and spaces we want to delve into sometime in the future. That's us up above in Times Square on the big ol' tour bus we took throughout the city for the weekend...kind of cool seeing the city from above the street level. A totally different perspective...I think tourists might have something in the whole "looking up" bit :).
On Friday, the family arrived and Lillie peed on the couch she was so excited. We were too, but we held our bladders. She proceeded to be cute the whole weekend, even if her sleep schedule was massively thrown off by our coming and goings.
We wrote greetings on our freshly painted chalkboard wall. So very hostess-y right? Oh and that's our new wall spice rack we made from one of the old crates we had. I like that it's a little spice display...I think spices are pretty, is that weird? Side note: At some point, I really need to get some apt pics up here. But that's for another day.
We went for a walk in the neighborhood. According to Abbey, we saw the Brooklyn Bridge...even though New Jersey was on the other side ;). We love our views of the George Washington Bridge!
Doesn't Austin make the GW bridge look good?
Then we went down and got some lunch at our favorite Grey's Papaya for some franks. Recession specials all around! I also tried the Pina Colada juice for the first time-- not the classic Papaya, but super delicious! We stood in the window and took in the Upper West Side (No Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks sightings though) and then took a walk along the Hudson by the Boat Basin. Hello, New Jersey! (If you haven't seen You've Got Mail, you really should. I make way too many references here, but that's just a part of my daily life. Just ask my bestest and former roomie Aubrey)
Then we headed up to Austin's school. Which is really so, so beautiful and I promptly kicked myself for not tagging along with him more.
Then, the night of all nights! For my mom anyway :). We went to Carnegie Deli for some massive sandwiches (ruben, please?), legendary cheesecake, and celebrity sightings and reminiscence over the floor to ceiling pictures covering the walls. We tried to stay dry in Times Square, and ended up heading to FAO Schwartz to reinact the piano scene from Big (seriously, not the funnest scene ever?) and to see some pretty epic legos. Finally, we went to see Mama Mia! on Broadway (mom's dream come true, just look how excited she is in the pic below) and had so much fun we ended up singing the songs the entire way home on the subway.
Saturday we toured away, taking in major sights both downtown and uptown. We made a stop at the Greenmarket for some sweets and apple cider, and of course for some coffee along the way (since there's a Starbucks on every corner). For dinner, we stopped at Eataly for pasta and took in the Flatiron building from Madison Square Eats with some donuts and macarons for dessert.
Sunday we went and saw Lady Liberty and for a cruise along the rivers to see all the bridges (the Brooklyn one included this time, Abs :)). Then went over to Brooklyn and I kicked myself again for not making it over there yet (there's too much to do in the city before we start crossing bridges).
It was a whirlwind trip, but we had such a great time. It was so great to be able to share the city with our family, and for them to be able to see some of the reasons we are so in love. Can't wait to have them back!
Fin, Pt I
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