last night in town

"this is the day that the Lord has made - let us rejoice and be glad in it!" -Psalm 118:24

yesterday began with a mid-morning breakfast date with the one and only, katie hilliard. lauren and i met her at "good enough to eat" - a cute little restaurant on 83rd and amsterdam.




the food was DE-licious. mmmm especially the biscuits because they gave you strawberry butter to spread on top!


after breakfast we decided to take a walk through central park, where we quickly ran into a looooooong line of people waiting to get tickets for 'shakespeare in the park.' lauren said they had probably been there since at least 4 or 5am that morning! crazy people.


the sky was absolutely gorgeous!


and there were so many beautiful landscapes - i clearly did not have a problem taking tons of pictures.






katie and lauren stopped for a cold treat - lime freeze pops!




green tongues!


after saying goodbye to katie, lauren and i headed back home to meet up with tara. on the way we walked right through the set of 'curb your enthusiasm' (the tv show). if you look really closely you can see larry david and jeff garlin at the restaurant, "isabella's." this was unfortunately the only picture i could capture before being told to put my camera away.


after meeting tara we went to hale and heartys for a late lunch! this is one of my favorite places to get a salad. you get to pick any and every topping you want and then they mix it up right in front of you. its great!


later that night, on our way to musical world, we stopped by magnolia bakery to get a little something to tide us over for the night. sugar was the obvious solution.






we saw 'everyday rapture' - a one-woman musical starring sherie rene scott.


after the show, we ran into casey castine in times square! then lauren, casey and i headed to the west village to meet up with kara and max.




later on, aaron and ariel met up with lauren and i and we all decided to venture around the west village. first stop: joe's pizza.










it ended up being a GREAT night with awesome friends. it was the perfect last night out in the city! im going to miss all of these people and they better come visit me in NC! :)

empire state of mind

"friends come and go, but a true friend sticks by you like family." -Proverbs 18:24

today was an interesting day, but wonderful nonetheless. i had planned on going to a dance class in astoria this morning, but switched up my directions and ended up in brooklyn (over an hour in the wrong direction). needless to say, i was running around like a crazy person, but at least i got my workout! before meeting friends for lunch, lauren and i took a trip to 5th avenue to try on some shoes at the nike store. it was a nice walk with beautiful city sites. :)






after visiting nike, we headed back to the upper west side for lunch with aaron and ariel at the shake shack - the best burgers in town for sure.








after lunch, we took a stroll down to lincoln center to walk off those burgers and fries and also did some shopping at lulu.


check out what i saw along the way! they even like silly bandz in NYC - thats saying something.


next stop: pinkberry. they have all new flavors and toppings! good stuff.




after pinkberry, we said goodbye to aaron and ariel and headed back to the apartment for a nap. after two wonderful hours of much-needed rest, we grabbed some cosi for dinner and set up a picnic dinner on the living room floor. it was SO yummy.


the night ended with some bachelorette and lots of girl time (sorry matt). i loooove me some seester and tara hope!

so broadway

"delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

this morning began with an early trip to the 'memphis' box office. we arrived around 10:30am and it didnt open until noon. but don't worry, we ended up getting front row tickets for only $26.50 a piece!! i was beyond excited - i even cried a little bit.


with tickets in hand and tummys grumblng, we met up with matt and tara and went to matt's FAVORITE pizza restaurant: sal and carmine's. we ordered a huge cheese pizza and ate the entire thing. mmmm




matt was very excited and proud of his pizza choice. he eats its so much he may turn into a pizza.






after lunch, lauren and i went to see 'memphis' and absolutely LOVED it! sitting on the front row made me feel like i was literally on stage with the characters! so awesome.


after the show, we walked right across the street and met tara to get tickets for 'american idiot.' we ended up getting box seats on the side of the stage. the show was pretty much a green day concert - they did a great job and i may or may not have a huge crush on stark sands. dont worry dad, hes like 32.




so many shows made for some tired girls! today was incredible though, and im so blessed to have been able to see two amazing musicals.

the other coast

"where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." matthew 6:21

on friday night, lauren and i said goodbye to san diego, CA and headed to the airport. after about 8 hours of traveling across the country, we made it to NYC at 5:30am. upon arrival at tara and matt''s wonderful apartment, we were greeted by the one and only - roxie. :)


after standing in line for tickets in the HOT sun (we were not used to this after having been in CA weather), we took a 6 hour nap and then got ready for the night. our first stop: dinner at chipotle (seester's favorite).


and then it was obviously necessary to stop by magnolia bakery on the way to our show. lauren also loves cupcakes, in case you weren't aware.






lauren got a smores cupcake and i got my usual, red velvet. MMMMM






after we ate our cupcakes, we headed to the show - 'Promises, Promises' - starring sean hayes and kristin chenoweth. we were so excited!!




the show was amazing! definitely a must-see if you come to the city.


after the show, we wandered around time square on the way to meeting up with friends. there were soooo many people - not surprising.






finally we met up with kara, max, their friends, and lauren's juilliard buddy, aaron elgart. it was great to see everyone and we had a lot of fun!