New York City (Part II)

Since we pretty much saw half of the city on our first day in New York, we took the rest of the long weekend slow and steady. 

Sunday morning, we woke up and headed to brunch in the Meatpacking District, one of NYC's "poshest" areas. We dined at the incredibly adorable Standard Grill, which sits at the base of The Standard Hotel. In addition the fact that I just about died and went to heaven with their french toast + berry bowl + freshly squeezed orange juice, I also fell in love with this cafe's adorable ambiance.

via

Next up, we stopped by the incredible Chelsea Market. We seriously need a hot spot like that in Atlanta... the colorful fruits & vegetables, the freshly baked bread, the Anthropologie... it was all amazing!

After our fill of amazing food all morning, we decided to take a stroll along the Highline, New York's newest park. The city basically took a set of raised (about 2-3 stories in the air) abandoned railroad tracks and turned the space into a walking trail and park. Genius! 

 

We took the rest of Sunday to relax and prepare for my sweet friend Courtney's amazing Golden Globes party. She and her hubs Matt hosted us in their Upper West Side apartment with some amazing food, a little bubbly and a whole lot of red carpet fashion action.

The next day, we reserved tickets to see the World Trade Center memorial. It was truly amazing.

 do you see the rainbow?!

yes, I know Sarah's hat is fabulous... I gave it to her for Christmas!

For those of you who might not have seen it before, the memorial consists of two waterfalls located in the base where each of the two World Trade Center buildings used to sit. Around each base is a list of names etched into stone. Such a powerful reminder of what we lost.

One thing I really liked is that while the memorial remembers the devastation that occurred,  it also focuses greatly on rebuilding and regrowing. In fact, the new World Trade Center building is on its way up right now. Word has it that a new floor is being built every week. Incredible.

I feel really blessed to have spent time at this memorial. It was so moving!

The rest of the day, we shopped in SoHo. And yes, I did make it to C. Wonder! Such a cool store.

Sadly enough, the weather didn't permit us to make it over to Central Park as we had planned on Tuesday morning before our flight. Oh well, that just means we need to book another trip up soon!

PS. As I was editing these pictures in Picnik, I was reminded about how amazing all of your comments were on my no more Picnik post. THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all of your advice and tips! I am in the midst of checking out all of your suggested options and will report back with my findings : ) Thanks again, everyone!

New York City (Part I)

Last weekend, David and I stuffed our warmest winter clothes into a suitcase and traveled our little southern butts up to the big ol' island of Manhattan. I like to call myself an old pro at the city (been to visit several times and even worked one summer at a camp in Connecticut that was run by a children's school in Harlem, so we were in and out of the city a lot) but this was actually David's first time to the big apple. 

Luckily, two of my closest friends in the whole wide world live in the city (Sarah, who you'll see below, and Courtney, who you might remember from here and here), so we had automatic tour guides to show us around the whole weekend. It was amazing. 

Our first full day in NYC was a doozy, in the best possible way. It really was the perfect way to spend a day touring New York. Oh and did I mention it was a really cold doozy? Mhm. These two Georgia kids were shaking in our inadequately lined boots.

First stop: a walk along the water towards Battery Park with a view of Miss Lady Liberty from afar.

me + Sarah, my best friend since I was 14!

Then we took the train down to Grand Central Station, the hubub of it all.

David was really excited to reenact that flash mob commercial he finds so ridiculously funny...
don't lie, you know the one.

After touring Grand Central and its fabulous dining hall, we took the train over to Times Square. In David's redneck small town words, it was "sensory overload." In a good way, of course.

Next, we headed over to the fabulous Macy's at Herald Square, where we shopped for boots (our tootsies were beyond cold) and lunched at the Cellar.

After our late lunch, we stopped to watch the adorable ice skaters at Rockafeller Plaza. Then it was time for one of my favorite events of the trip- the top of the Rock tour. The views were stunning. And I'd like to say we planned it, but honestly, luck got us to the tour at just the right time. We showed up around 4:30 PM and stayed for about an hour, meaning we got to see the city from the top of the Rockafeller Center in daylight, at sunset and at night. The views were priceless!

we look warm, right?

the glow of Times Square

So gorgeous, right?

And don't worry, after a fabulous dinner at WhiteHall, I was about ready to call it a day. After all, I had to save up some energy for days 2-4 of the trip!

Which one of these NYC hot spots is your favorite?

The Big (Frozen) Apple

Happy Monday! I've been living it up (ahem, FREEZING it up!) in NYC all weekend, having a ball. I can't wait to share more pictures later this week. Until then... hope you are all bundled up and having a great week!

Sonoma, San Fran and Scary Streets... Oh My!

Hi friends! Happy Friday! Exactly a week ago today, my sister and I were in San Francisco. I've already shared about our bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and the big blogger meet up at the San Francisco Design Center, but my favorite part of the vacation?

Our day trip into Sonoma.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day (we were so blessed to have incredible weather the entire trip!). Tori and I also got lucky in the form of my dear friend Kate, who mapped out her local's perspective on how to spend a day in the Sonoma valley. Her advice was spot on and we had the best time.

Viansa winery

Viansa

Viansa

lunch at Viansa

Jacuzzi Vineyards

Jacuzzi

Gloria Ferrer Winery

Gloria Ferrer

On Saturday, we were lucky enough to have another beautiful day. Tori and I met up with Michaela for a day of adventures in the city. 

First stop? The Ferry Building Market (thank you, Jacin for the advice to visit the market!).

We also spent some time shopping in Pacific Heights and lunching with another blogger, Kelly! We had so much fun exploring that part of town and spending some time with Kelly- she is the sweetest and has some amazing travel stories!

Then Michaela decided to drive Tori and I down Lombard Street- the most crooked street in the world! I had full faith in M's driving skills, but I will have to tell you... those hills and those turns are SCARY!

I was a liiiitle nervous... but we made it down safely! : )

So that's our trip to San Francisco, in a nutshell! I think we did a great job of hitting all of the highlights the beautiful city  has to offer. And I can promise you, we had enough fun and laughs to last us for awhile!

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I'm really happy to be over at two other amazing blogs today!

Rhoda has sweetly featured my house tour on her blog and Blair (who just had a baby!) has me guest posting on a few of my favorite things (here's a hint: I wanna be a princess). Please stop by and say hi!

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Also, I decided to leave the Blessed Graphic Design giveaway open until midnight tonight...

 lots of chances to enter!!

San Fran Vacay

I've already shared one part of my trip to San Francisco last week- the blogger meet up!

But the main reason that I headed to Cali last week was for a vacation with my little sister, Tori (she just started her teacher blog, so drop by and say hi!). At 23, she had never been on an airplane... so I decided it was high time that I made that happen! I gave her two options- New York or California? And she chose Cali! So off to San Francisco we went. And we had a ball.

Here are some of the pics from the first half of our trip, running around the city.

San Fran architecture

Union Square

Conservatory of Flowers, Golden Gate Park

cable cars on Powell-Mason line

Chinatown

our bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge

across the bridge in Sausalito (I want to move there! just sayin....)

city by the Bay

(picture taken from the ferry out in the bay!)

And yes, we did all of this (along with the blog meet up!) in less than 48 hours. We were busy girls, but loved every minute of it. Tomorrow I'll share pictures from the rest of our amazing adventures in San Francisco (and Sonoma!). The last two days were actually my favorite days of the trip. What are your favorite parts of San Fran?

Don't forget to enter the Blessed Graphic Design giveaway! It ends tomorrow night!