November Photo-a-Day Part II

Day 16: The View From Your Window

View from the car window on our way to College Station

Day 17: The Last Thing You Bought

Spike Fun Fetti milkshake (with Cake vodka) from Grub in College Station...YUM...and I'm not going to lie....this was my first purchase of the day at 11am - not my last :)

Day 18: Happened This Weekend

Watched the sky change beautiful colors while watching A&M BTHO SHSU!

Day 19: Something Awesome

The dogs have the whole cage/2 beds to lay in but instead they squeeze into one...I think they're trying to kill me with cuteness!

Day 20: Work/Play
I thought 2 screens was enough but apparently I need 2 computers/3 screens! Hanging out in the car on the way to Bastrop!

Day 21: What You Wore
Shorts during the day in Texas (80 degrees)...Winter coat at night in CT (35 degrees)

Day 22: Grateful
I am grateful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my husband and my family in Connecticut

Day 23: Black
Black night sky in Times Square

Day 24: Sound You Heard
Heard lots of loud subway trains!

Day 25: Sky
Pretty pretty blue sky in NYC

Day 26: In The Cupboard
Our cup cupboard

Day 27: Tree
Our beautiful Christmas tree!

Day 28: Vehicle
The Rogue

Day 29: Big
Ok so these are just normal size cupcakes but aren't they cute??

Day 30: On The Wall
Frame in our bedroom that had engagement pics...but I replaced them with some of our x-mas pics :) They were very similar poses - just 3 years later!

New York City | Saturday

Let me just start out by saying our trip would not have been near as fun if we had not talked to my cousin Emily and her husband Ryan at Thanksgiving dinner. They live in the city and gave us tons of great recommendations. Emily suggested the app HopStop and it was a LIFE SAVER! If you are going to NYC (or pretty much any other major city) download this NOW! Justin and I ended up riding the subway 17 times and only once did we end up confused and had to walk a couple extra blocks to get where we were going. My dad asked me if riding the subway was easy and I told him extremely, but if we hadn't have had that app I would probably be singing a different tune! 

We only had 2 things planned for this trip - go to the 9/11 Memorial on Monday and go see The Performers on Broadway on Saturday. Well the Performers closed after only 7 performances (and 20 something previews). We were disappointed but decided there was nothing else we REALLY wanted to see (we are going to see The Lion King & Book of Mormon in Austin next year) and we have both seen shows on Broadway so we didn't want to go just to go. I'm glad we didn't schedule anything because we would have ended up missing out on all the other fun stuff we did! Oh and we brought our student IDs for student discounts at the museums and I'm so glad we did...the perks of looking young!!

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and grabbed some Dunkin Donuts coffee and headed into Manhattan. It was only about a 20 minute ride downtown and there was a train that came about every 5 minutes so it was really nice. 

I actually drank coffee! It was a peppermint mocha - Justin said it barely tasted like coffee but I would beg to differ!

We started our morning at Chelsea Market...in Chelsea of course. It's this neat indoor market with all kinds of food & shops. 

Pretty church in Chelsea

Chelsea Market

Pretty Saturday morning

Chelsea Market

Google was right across the street

Inside the market

All of the shops/restaurants

Lots of hustle & bustle even at 10am

Pretty architecture

Spice Market

Justin & the well inside

Fun boutique

Pumpkins for sale!!

We split a bagel with enough cream cheese to feed a family of 6....don't worry we scraped most of it off!

After eating our breakfast and walking through the market we headed up to High Line. Both Chelsea Market & High Line were Emily/Ryan's suggestions and I am SO glad we did them. High Line was probably my favorite thing we did the entire time!

High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side...To learn more about the park visit their website

High Line starts at Gansevoort street (is it sad that the only reason I know about this area is from Kourtney & Kim Take New York???) and ends at West 30th street. We started one entrance after Gansevoort at 14th street (where Chelsea Market is).

Love the view!

View of High Line from the street

View of the street from High Line

Some of the pretty plants along the walkway

There was stadium style seating where you could watch the traffic

Lots of pretty trees

Interesting...and seemingly uncomfortable benches/loungers

View from High Line

Justin enjoying our walk 

Me LOVING our walk!

Some of the vegetation incorporated into the old tracks

Interesting art on the side of a building

Old building...New building

Pretty red brick

It looks like something from outer space!

City view

More brick!

Old & New architecture mixed!

Super cool mural!

Up close!

More brick :)

End of High Line

After High Line we walked to the subway and went to the Museum of Natural History. Justin and I had planned to watch Night at the Museum before going here but we just ran out of time. Even though I haven't seen the movie in a long time I really was just expecting the exhibits to come to life! Unfortunately they did not but I still think they do at night :) We started out by visiting the planetarium...it was SO cool! It was a 45 minute show and it completely boggled my mind. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around our universe/galaxy let alone other ones! It was super informative and interesting. After resting our feet we set out to explore the rest of this massive museum. 

American Museum of Natural History

Scary dinosaur! 

I don't even know what this is!

GIANT sloth...like the size of a bear

Poor guy only has a head...but man he would be BIG

Pretty view of Central Park

Another view

And one more...it was just SUCH a pretty day!

More dinos...this one looks like it's ready to charge! 

Good ol' T-Rex

Happy little (I mean BIG) turtle!

OWLS!

Whooping Crane...They were whooping for Johnny Manziel & the Aggies

Christmas Tree decorated in origami

Really cool ornaments 

The biggest tree I've ever seen!!

After the museum we had some time to kill before our dinner reservations so we walked around Central Park for a bit. We even felt/saw some snow flurries!!

Justin in the Park

Me in the Park

A wintry looking day

So many runners! I was a little jealous but would not have been out running in that cold!

More pretty leaves/trees

Pretty pond

Skyline

While we were at the museum Justin and I were discussing dinner (we are always concerned about our next meal hehe) and we ended up making early reservations for Guy Fieri's American Kitchen & Bar. It's his new restaurant near times square that received AWFUL reviews in the New York Times a few weeks ago. We decided it was probably some stuck up food critic that wanted fancy food and not "American" cooking so we gave it a shot! 

Guy's American Kitchen & Bar

Vegas Fries...French Fries tossed in a Buffalo sauce with Wasabi dipping sauce

We ended up sharing 3 appetizers and each had a drink...the food was good - not great and the service was pretty bad (we were even there before the dinner rush so there was really no excuse). I think it was over priced for what we got but not more-so compared to any other restaurant in Times Square. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to people but I also wouldn't tell someone NOT to go.

After dinner we walked to Rockefeller Center and waited in line at Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes!

Some of my favorite Christmas decorations ever!

They were still assembling these but these are my absolute favorite!! I wish I could get these for our yard!!

Since it was so late they were out of a lot of flavors (including Snickerdoodle which sounded delish) so we got a chocolate with chocolate buttercream and a vanilla with chocolate buttercream. They were super yummy and we ate them while we watched A&M BTHO Mizzou so all was good :)

mmm Cupcakes