saturday

the metropolitan museum of art

We began our day at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since we were short on time we stuck to the impressionist rooms for some favorites-- Picasso, Seurat, and my favorite: Monet.

We headed over to the flat iron district and went to the eately for lunch. 

Making fresh pasta from scratch

THE BEST ham & cheese flat bread and yummy vegetable salads

We walked for hours… through Greenwich Village, SoHo, Washington Square, the French-NYU campus (who knew that was a thing?), the Financial District and the Brooklyn Bridge…

We also stopped at Amorino’s Gelato along the way for my favorite gelato from France! Literally shipped from Paris, it’s a ten.

BROOOOKLYN

Aaaand after crossing the bridge and walking through Brooklyn (nine miles later) we arrived at momofuku’s milk bar for (more) desserts! My dad knows how to order… we averaged 2.5 cookies and 1.5 pies per person. Diabetes, who wants it?

We hung around Rockefeller Square for a minute and then took the subway to east village for tacos. The night life in east village was crazy & we had an hour wait for the restaurant (bar). SO we stopped in a Baptist cathedral & listened to a group perform THEN went and got pedicures together!

which…was…the…best…call…ever

After days of so much walking nothing has felt better.

THE HIGHLINE, THE TONIGHT SHOW & THE HIDDEN BURGERS

The Highline is one of my favorite places. It’s an old railroad track turned into a beautiful green lounging & walking path with a great view of the city.

We walked from one end to the other and enjoyed the beautiful weather + views right down to the Chelsea Market.

The Chelsea Market has great gourmet food markets and miscellaneous shops with local vendors. The jewelry is my favorite!

Everyone has been suggesting Artichoke Pizza lately, it’s right across from the Highline so we went for lunch—we died, it was the best.

We had a white pizza with ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese complete with olive oil spilling off all sides.  

Kens & Kara headed over to Soho for an afternoon of shopping while I met up with my dad & Loni at The Rockefeller Center for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. 

After the show, we all met up for dinner at my dad’s favorite and semi-secret burger place … it’s a hamburger joint behind red curtains at a hotel near Rockefeller plaza. We ate chocolate shakes, fries, and cheeseburgers like it was our job

HOW TO DO IT ALL

So this week(end) my roommates came to visit! We had a huge bucket list of things to accomplish, eat, and see during our time together. And we did it all.

Thursday morning kens & I walked along the Hudson River to Columbia University and then grabbed bagels at Bagels & Co (my girl crush, Taza’s favorite). 

On the way, we stopped by the thrift store and I found this JCrew jacket that I wore all day long! Can you beat JCrew with a $15 price tag?

When Kara arrived we hopped over to the Upper East Side to walk through Central park, Madison Avenue, and the Plaza’s food court.

We also walked back over to the Upper Westside for Shake Shack burgers, which we ate outside of the Museum of Natural History.

Here’s to Abe!

Naturally when we walked by Levain Bakery we had to stop and try their dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookie … how do you say no to cookies? 

NEXT we ran over to Times Square to get tickets for the Broadway show, Once. (which the song Falling Slowly comes from)

In between our ticket purchase and the actual show we spent some time in China Town. Kens was determined to find some fake Ray Bans & heard you had to dig a little to find them. She asked every storeowner if they were sure they didn’t have any more glasses… it was amazing.

A tiny and mysterious old woman led us around the corner to half-a-dozen other women selling 110% illegal merchandise sooo smoothly. It felt so wrong but it also felt so right… In the end, we not only found our Ray Bans but we also ended up scoring a ton of other goods! 

After the show, we ended the night splitting sundaes as big as our heads at Serendipity. 

Why I love the Knot & why you should too

Aside from exploring all that NY has to offer, I really look forward to going into work everyday.

While assisting with the latest magazine I was amazed with all of the talented and smart women that constantly create beautiful ideas & work.

The past couple of days I have been helping the style and fashion editors with a few different projects. For one of our spreads we are covering gay wedding couples. My assignment for this was to accessorize a few different matching outfits based on their themes and looks—glam, vintage, or modern.

Another fun project I had was for The Bump Magazine, our magazine for expecting mothers. I did research on the current most popular baby names compared to most popular 30 years ago per region. 

Shout out to my brother Christopher for having the most popular name all around in 83! 

I win for largest sweet tooth

I realized I’ve been really good at fitting a dessert in every day. Out of my to-do lists in NYC, my list of dessert places is the longest (& most in-depth). I’m going to be coming home looking great…

Emack & Bolio's Ice Cream 

they wrap your cone in rice krispy treats!! (or whatever you like...oreos, nuts, fruity pebbles...) 

AND their flavors are all A++... almond coconut bar with chocolate, pumpkin, chocolate oreo, carmel pretzel chocolate, the list goes on and on... I highly recommend it!

The met gala

Last night the stars were all in town and dressed up for The Met Gala. After work a group of us met up at the red carpet to watch them go in. Some of my favorites: David Beckham & Posh, JLO, Beyonce, and the Kardashians

After Heather & I walked over to Shake Shack for dinner

Try their cheese-stuffed mushroom burger & custard

(they have pecan praline, cookie crunch, and peanut-butter chocolate…one of my hardest decisions here…)

Columbia

Not only is Columbia the oldest university in the US but it is also one of the most beautiful in my opinion.

My favorite buildings are the smaller ones surrounded by trees and covered in ivy. I have a thing for ivy. The library is stunning as well. 

LITTLE ITALY

After work Friday I met up with Meg, another intern working near the financial district, and we went to Trader Joes by NYU. Since Trader Joes is inexpensive (and amazing) it was chaos. But dried mangos & trail mix are always worth it.

After, we headed over (with about a half-dozen apples and other groceries stuffed in my purse) to Little Italy. We shopped around a bit and met up with some other interns for an authentic Italian dinner … Nude Julius Caesar statue and all … 

Little Italy has so much personality. It also has cannolis on every corner. We heard Ferrar is the place to go and it was a good choice.

We also made our way over to China Town and then Times Square. Which were really fun.

MY DAY JOB: THE ULTIMATE TOURIST

I’ve decided Saturdays are going to be dedicated to all things New York. And just straight fun

In the morning we ran along the Hudson River. There was a huge group, “the shore walkers”—at least a thousand walkers who just walk along different NYC shores every Saturday morning. I’m seriously considering joining.

Then we went to Central Park for a picnic with a group from the YSA ward. It was like no other picnic I’ve ever been to with YSA members. (not that I have ever attended one but I can only imagine…) Anyway, we had French bread, spreads of different cheese, salami, fruit, and cookies freshly baked from the bakery.We had such a good time meeting some of the locals here!

Next we hopped over to Donut Plant. Sadly, they were out of their seasonal menu item, the banana pie donut, but we split a few different ones.

My favorites: crème brule, peanut butter & jelly, and coconut cream.

Donut Plant is pretty close to the highline & Chelsea market so we walked over, enjoyed the view, and window-shopped.

We also went over to SoHo where there is the best shopping, ever including Chloe, Ben Sherman, Rag & Bone, Madewell, Tory Burch, Free People, and so many more including awesome local boutiques

After what felt like an eight-hour treadmill session, we were pretty tired and decided to head over to Times Square to see the new Spiderman. Our movie didn’t start until pretty late so we had some ample time to walk around & enjoy some talented performers like this guy…

(“freeeeeedom”)

Don’t worry he had his BFF with a video camera on top of things so you should be seeing it on MTV at any day now… and I’ll be in it for sure!

LINCOLN SQUARE

Our ward meets at the NYC temple in Lincoln Square right across from Julliard. The area is amazing and has great restaurants including Magnolia Bakery… so of course we went to as soon as church was over. After fasting all day, few things have tasted better. 

Banana-Bread Pudding: the best

At church a group of guys invited us to a barbeque at their apartment on the upper-west side.

OK the upper-west side has quickly become one of my favorite places. We got off at 79^th and walked down to 72^nd… it was the coolest walk. I can’t wait to go back and spend some more time there!

Their apartment was on the first floor with an attached, private courtyard in the back. The courtyard was all brick and line with dangling lights, the sun was setting and it was a beautiful night. We had such a blast getting to know everyone and felt so welcomed! 

THIRSTY THURSDAY TO KICK IT OFF

Thirsty-Thursday is serious business for spiked-company bonding over at The Knot. They do margaritas and guacamole every Thursday at five, something we never did at BYU Broadcasting. But of course I was in for guac…

Walking through the main lobby on my way out of work.

While I’m out here I’m enrolled in a media and world religions course. On Thursdays we meet to tour & to learn something new. 

Today  some of my favorite sites were:   

·    St Paul’s Cathedral –right across from the World Trade Center (also right next to my work) this is where George Washington went to church every week. It was the first church in NY & also was a relief sanctuary for 9-11 victims & heroes

·    Down Wall-Street –to the old NY capitol building where George Washington was inaugurated as our first president. Side note: Also the location to the original Tiffany & Co.

·    The ports –LDS history site where LDS missionaries were first sent abroad to England… as well as the gates where thousands of converts entered America for the first time

After our tour we were starving & on our way to Korean-karaoke… We stopped and got Indian food. After we finished, Brock & I established our BFF relationship when he suggested getting ice cream, because you always need something sweet after every meal. Right? We found Grom… one of my favorite Gelato restaurants from London.

chocolate-hazelnut and coconut-chocolate cone

(Ice cream selfie!)