I was so bummed when I missed the Japanese Cherry Trees blossom last year while I was living in NYC, so I planned a trip to see them this year. I decided to go during Sakura Matsuri, Brooklyn's annual Cherry Blossom Festival. I was very grateful for one of my best friends, Alexis, to offer up her couch and a lot of her time to hang out. It ended up being an amazing weekend! I got in Friday late afternoon, after being delayed in Orlando for a while (ugh!). After taking the bus into Harlem, then the subway down to Grand Central (Ben made fun of me for this, but hey, it only costs $2 this way!) I made it to Alexis's apartment with no problems. She soon got home from work and we decided to take advantage of the free admission the MOMA offers on Friday nights. We also met up with my friend, Jenn, who's living in NJ. Jenn and I worked at DC together back in the dolphin days and I was really happy to get to see her! Other than it raining and Jenn & I getting our umbrellas stolen at the museum, it was a fun time. Later that night, Alexis, her boyfriend Ben, and I headed out for some dinner; we ended up down in Nolita at Pinche Taqueria, which translates into F@#$ing Taco (I thought that was pretty funny).
We woke up Saturday to forecasts of cold, clouds and rain ALL day - so naturally, when we got to Brooklyn, it was warm, dry and sunny! The rest of the weekend did follow suit with the forecast, but for the afternoon I had been looking forward to for soooo many months, it could not have been more perfect weather! I don't know how I got so lucky, but I will be thankful for a long time to come for the rain deciding to take a break for those precious hours. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden could not have been more beautiful with all those cherry trees in blossom! It was really crowded when we got there, but it didn't take away from the experience at all - it almost made it even better, seeing all those other people enjoying the beautiful weather and soaking up all the beauty. It really made me miss NYC...
Nothing but pink blossoms and blue skies!
After leaving the garden, we walked around Brooklyn for a while, stopping to eat an early dinner at Flipsters and even ran into the coolest named bakery EVER, Sweet Melissa Patisserie, although I didn't get anything (boo!) so I guess I'll have to take a trip back soon (yeah!). We then headed back to their apartment, got ready super fast (and I mean SUPER FAST!), and headed back out to catch the Broadway play, The Philanthropist, starring Matthew Broderick. It was classified as a dark comedy, and it definitely was just that - but it was pretty good, and I was of course thrilled to get to see another show!
:D
After the show, Alexis and I headed over to Serendipity 3 for some frozen hot chocolate. I thought back and realized I haven't had frozen hot chocolate since October 2007, so I was definitely a little bit over-due! Afterwards, we met up with Ben at a karaoke bar near their apartment and even staying sober, we had a great time :)
Soooo Yummy!!!
I woke up kind of early (well, early for my standards) and headed up to the Nederlander theater an hour before they opened in the hopes of getting some student rush tickets (yes, I still use my student id!) to Guys & Dolls for that afternoon. I was the first one there, ha ha, and Alexis met up with me right before they opened up, so we were able to snag tickets for the two of us, plus Jenn. We "wasted" some time before the show shopping, and I got to hit up one of my favorite stores, H&M, where I of course found a few things I just couldn't live without.
Guys & Dolls proved to be very entertaining - it was definitely the epitome of a Broadway musical, flashy lights and all! Afterwards, Alexis, Ben and I went out for sushi at Sushi Sen-Nin. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, which was amazing!
Monday morning Alexis and Ben had to re-join the real world and head to work, so I was on my own! I made plans to have lunch with my friend Andres, whom I worked with at Belzberg while I lived there. I went down to Bowling Green a little bit early, hoping to do some street vendor shopping, but unfortunately the rain scared most of them away. I did get to see my favorite tree though, so that made me happy. It made me even happier to see it for the first time in bloom! The story behind my favorite tree is a little silly, but I'll share anyways - I took a trip with Amanda & Christina to NYC back in 2005. One morning they were proving impossible to wake up, which frustrated me, so I ventured out on my own. I took the subway down to see Ground Zero and afterwards walked down to Bowling Green. I don't know why, but I sat down on a bench and just started to stare at that tree, thinking about how amazing it would be to live in NYC. I stared at it for so long, realizing how beautiful it was (even compared to all the others of the same species around it), so I asked someone to take a picture of me with it. For some reason, the picture of that tree has symbolized Manhattan's beauty for me ever since. While I lived there (and worked just steps from my tree!) I would often visit it and just think about how appreciative I was to get to experience living there. So now, somehow, that tree has become a representation of all the things I've gotten to experience from life. Yes, I know, it's silly...
Me with "my tree" in 2005...
...and in 2009 (notice I'm wearing the same jacket - this shows how much I dislike buying cold-weather cloths, ha ha!)
ANYWAYS, then I met up with Andres for lunch at Ulysses' down on Stone St. It was nice to catch up with him, and get the juicy Belzberg gossip - Sid Belzberg got booted from being CEO by his board of directors! Crazy to think you can get demoted from your own company! Well, in better news, Andres got engaged, so it's good to see him happy. After lunch, I wasted some time visiting a few thrift stores Ben & Alexis recommended before heading to the airport.
Of course my flight back to Orlando was delayed, so I didn't get back in until 1am. But I didn't even care - I had such an amazing weekend! Thanks again to Alexis and Ben for letting me stay with them! I hope you'll have me back again soon! :D
Here are all of my NYC pics from the weekend!
We woke up Saturday to forecasts of cold, clouds and rain ALL day - so naturally, when we got to Brooklyn, it was warm, dry and sunny! The rest of the weekend did follow suit with the forecast, but for the afternoon I had been looking forward to for soooo many months, it could not have been more perfect weather! I don't know how I got so lucky, but I will be thankful for a long time to come for the rain deciding to take a break for those precious hours. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden could not have been more beautiful with all those cherry trees in blossom! It was really crowded when we got there, but it didn't take away from the experience at all - it almost made it even better, seeing all those other people enjoying the beautiful weather and soaking up all the beauty. It really made me miss NYC...
Nothing but pink blossoms and blue skies!
After leaving the garden, we walked around Brooklyn for a while, stopping to eat an early dinner at Flipsters and even ran into the coolest named bakery EVER, Sweet Melissa Patisserie, although I didn't get anything (boo!) so I guess I'll have to take a trip back soon (yeah!). We then headed back to their apartment, got ready super fast (and I mean SUPER FAST!), and headed back out to catch the Broadway play, The Philanthropist, starring Matthew Broderick. It was classified as a dark comedy, and it definitely was just that - but it was pretty good, and I was of course thrilled to get to see another show!
:D
After the show, Alexis and I headed over to Serendipity 3 for some frozen hot chocolate. I thought back and realized I haven't had frozen hot chocolate since October 2007, so I was definitely a little bit over-due! Afterwards, we met up with Ben at a karaoke bar near their apartment and even staying sober, we had a great time :)
Soooo Yummy!!!
I woke up kind of early (well, early for my standards) and headed up to the Nederlander theater an hour before they opened in the hopes of getting some student rush tickets (yes, I still use my student id!) to Guys & Dolls for that afternoon. I was the first one there, ha ha, and Alexis met up with me right before they opened up, so we were able to snag tickets for the two of us, plus Jenn. We "wasted" some time before the show shopping, and I got to hit up one of my favorite stores, H&M, where I of course found a few things I just couldn't live without.
Guys & Dolls proved to be very entertaining - it was definitely the epitome of a Broadway musical, flashy lights and all! Afterwards, Alexis, Ben and I went out for sushi at Sushi Sen-Nin. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, which was amazing!
Monday morning Alexis and Ben had to re-join the real world and head to work, so I was on my own! I made plans to have lunch with my friend Andres, whom I worked with at Belzberg while I lived there. I went down to Bowling Green a little bit early, hoping to do some street vendor shopping, but unfortunately the rain scared most of them away. I did get to see my favorite tree though, so that made me happy. It made me even happier to see it for the first time in bloom! The story behind my favorite tree is a little silly, but I'll share anyways - I took a trip with Amanda & Christina to NYC back in 2005. One morning they were proving impossible to wake up, which frustrated me, so I ventured out on my own. I took the subway down to see Ground Zero and afterwards walked down to Bowling Green. I don't know why, but I sat down on a bench and just started to stare at that tree, thinking about how amazing it would be to live in NYC. I stared at it for so long, realizing how beautiful it was (even compared to all the others of the same species around it), so I asked someone to take a picture of me with it. For some reason, the picture of that tree has symbolized Manhattan's beauty for me ever since. While I lived there (and worked just steps from my tree!) I would often visit it and just think about how appreciative I was to get to experience living there. So now, somehow, that tree has become a representation of all the things I've gotten to experience from life. Yes, I know, it's silly...
Me with "my tree" in 2005...
...and in 2009 (notice I'm wearing the same jacket - this shows how much I dislike buying cold-weather cloths, ha ha!)
ANYWAYS, then I met up with Andres for lunch at Ulysses' down on Stone St. It was nice to catch up with him, and get the juicy Belzberg gossip - Sid Belzberg got booted from being CEO by his board of directors! Crazy to think you can get demoted from your own company! Well, in better news, Andres got engaged, so it's good to see him happy. After lunch, I wasted some time visiting a few thrift stores Ben & Alexis recommended before heading to the airport.
Of course my flight back to Orlando was delayed, so I didn't get back in until 1am. But I didn't even care - I had such an amazing weekend! Thanks again to Alexis and Ben for letting me stay with them! I hope you'll have me back again soon! :D
Here are all of my NYC pics from the weekend!
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