I love to travel with my husband and there is nothing like introducing your children to your favorite places on earth - but, there is something to be said for weekend trips with your girlfriends where the only person you are responsible for is yourself (and your friend, but only if a man in a bandana tries to pick her up on a Harley). I had the immense pleasure of spending this past weekend in Gulf Shores with four of my favorite friends. There is no possible way to recap the entire weekend and I'm not sure I would want to if I could. We waited two plus hours both nights for dinner, we danced, we misplaced debit cards, we walked miles for an ice cream, got kicked out of the pool by a security guard, got pulled over and yelled at by a real cop, bought clothes, had a couple of near-death ...
travel
the GrandLife
Our plan for the last day in NYC was... you guessed it, to walk around some more. Since we're both big Lumineers fans, Josh wanted to walk to the corner of Canal & Bowery. We saved that for Sunday and spent the morning exploring Chinatown, Little Italy and more of SoHo. The neighborhoods were beautiful, the cheap goods were abundant and the food was delicious. I've only stayed in the city twice and both times were for business trips where the hotel were paid for. Once we stayed in a smaller boutique hotel and the other time, a massive modern chain. Both times were in midtown, only a few steps from Grand Central. Since Josh was working part of our last trip, we opted to stay outside of the city closer to his office and take the train. It was less expensive for us, but we ...
Brooklyn Bound
We slept even later on Saturday morning than we did on Friday morning and it was WELCOME. I think I woke up somewhere around 9 o'clock, but it was closer to 10 before I made myself get out of that cushy hotel bed. We were just about 15 minutes from the Brooklyn Bridge, so we took our time getting ready and then set out on foot. The last time we were here, it was freezing and when we got to the halfway point we turned around and found the nearest Starbucks to warm up. This time, we planned to walk into Brooklyn for lunch and some sight-seeing. Just in case you haven't noticed a theme, SD & I are masters at the self-portrait. We always laugh because people volunteer to take our photo (and we let them), but we still take one of ourselves, too. One day I'm going to put together a post of ...
City Love
We haven't been to NYC enough that I would consider us pros in any sense, but had definitely hit all of the tourist traps on our last visit and decided to take this trip at a decidedly slower pace. We didn't have an agenda, just a handful of restaurant recommendations and a few must-sees that we knew we wanted to fit in. Otherwise, this trip was a walking tour of quirky neighborhoods and an inventory of hole-in-the-wall restaurants we found along the way. We slept in on Friday morning (and watched John Mayer perform on the Today Show while we got ready). At the recommendation of one of my favorite girls (hey, Leila!!), we made brunch reservations at Sarabeth's in TriBeCa for Friday morning. It was about a ten minute walk from our hotel and the restaurant itself was adorable. The ...
Independence Day
The fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays and while we usually spend it laying around the pool enjoying BBQ and homemade frosties, this year we did something completely different. I was sad to leave my girls, but so excited to spend a few uninterrupted days with SD. Some of our best trips have been spur of the moment and this was kind of one of those. When we decided not to go to Europe this summer, we contemplated what to do instead. Early in May Josh mentioned spending a weekend in NYC and before he could change his mind, I booked non-refundable plane tickets. That's one way to guarantee your trip! When he asked me what I wanted to do when we got into the city, the first thing I said was SHAKE SHACK. Y'all, it is crying shame that we don't have one of these in the south. I ...
NYC Revisited | Our Farewell
I decided that while we were gone, we would re-visit our last trip to NYC, especially for those of you who weren't hanging around in 2011. When we're back in town, there will be dance recital recaps, beach fun and new adventures in the Big Apple. You can find this original post here. December 19, 2011: On Sunday, we knew we were flying home, but we tried to squeeze as many things in our short day as we possibly could. That included packing our bags for the airport, checking out of our hotel, taking the train to the city, getting some Christmas shopping done and visiting the 9|11 Memorial in lower Manhattan. This was probably the coldest day we spent in NYC -- the high was 38 degrees. We bundled up as best we could, but it was windy and the city is still in the shadows at 9 o'clock, so ...
NYC Revisited | The Best Day
I decided that while we were gone, we would re-visit our last trip to NYC, especially for those of you who weren't hanging around in 2011. When we're back in town, there will be dance recital recaps, beach fun and new adventures in the Big Apple. You can find this original posts here and here. December 15, 2011: ...alternately titled, "the one with all the pictures"! We took so many pictures this day that I'm going to have to split it up into two posts! I knew that seeing the Statue of Liberty would be cool, but I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. We took a ferry cruise from Battery Park at 9 o'clock on Saturday morning. After standing in line and clearing security, we were statue bound. It a gorgeous day, cold and crisp, not a cloud in the sky. The water was choppy and ...
NYC Revisited | Strawberry Fields
I decided that while we were gone, we would re-visit our last trip to NYC, especially for those of you who weren't hanging around in 2011. When we're back in town, there will be dance recital recaps, beach fun and new adventures in the Big Apple. You can find this original post here. December 13, 2011: For as long as I can remember, I've been a Beatles fan. More specifically, a Lennon fan. My dad and I used to listen to their music together when I was a girl. I have the albums on disk and on vinyl. For my sixteenth birthday, my mom won tickets to a Beatles tribute band concert and I could not have been happier. I visited London (would still like to visit Liverpool) when I was 14 and loved seeing the memorabilia everywhere and walking where they walked. And I've always wanted to visit the ...