this used to be my life

This past weekend I went to NYC!!!!! I cannot even begin to describe how great it is to simply write a blog post with the label "life in the city." I forgot how much I loved it there. It was sort of a last-minute, random trip that was all made possible b/c of my dentist appointment in Richmond on Monday. Hey - I guess cavities aren't so bad after all (more on that later).

So Friday after work I headed east to Richmond to stay with my aunt and uncle. At midnight my aunt and I boarded a bus and 6 hours later we woke up in NYC!!!!! This time I wasn't dreaming! We got into the city bright and early and took advantage of every second we were there. We dropped off our bags at our hotel and went straight to Alice's Tea Cup on the Upper West Side (I have now officially been to all three locations) and I devoured my pumpkin scone! NYC food is the best. Then, we went and got manicures and headed over to the Plaza Hotel to see the new Eloise room. It was sooooo cute, all girly pink and pretty! Take a look...

After our trip to the Plaza we headed downtown to Rockefeller where I got to try a french macaron from La Maison du Chocolat! Remember my list of "10 Foods from 10 Countries that I want to try in 2010"? Check. I gotta say, I wasn't impressed - $2.50 for a cookie the size of my eyeball?

After we had our sweet fix (we also tried some banana ganache - heavenly!!) we went to Radio City and got a back stage tour. The rest of the day was spent shopping and just "being" in the city. We went to dinner at Stand for shakes and burgers and ended our day at Madison Square Garden where we saw 101 Dalmatians!! It was so cute and they even had real dogs!!

Sunday we got an early start and headed over to Times Square where they had a Spring Street Festival going on. It reminded me of the summer b/c I'm pretty sure I went to a street festival every weekend when I lived there. So fun. We hit up Crumbs while we were there (how could you not?!?) and I got to try a new cupcake - banana crunch! We met Suzanne (who I worked with at Shape, remember?) and her family at Lombardi's for lunch. Great pizza and great company, what could be better? After lunch we walked down to the LES to try Stuffed Cannoli. I have only wanted to go here since before it even opened! And I was definitely not disappointed! I had a birthday cake, peanut butter cup, and dulce de leche cannoli - all so unique and SOOOOO good. The owner was there and he told us that he had 75 flavors and 48 of them have been released. I took a picture with him because he put in a challenge to Bobby Flay and I'm convinced he will win. Now I can say I knew him before he was famous!

After dessert we had to head back to catch our bus for VA. It was so sad to leave - time flew! We were back in VA by 10 p.m. and the next morning I woke up for my dun, dun dun...dentist appointment, which was conveniently in Richmond! Jess' brother Paul took care of me. He filled my "cavities" (I didn't have 4 by the way!) and I didn't need a shot or to have a drill or anything. It was completely painless. He put sealants on all my molars to protect them...an excuse to eat more sweets? Anyways, he was great and I would recommend him to anyone! Paul Miller!!

This weekend was the best.