MoMA

The MoMA is free on Friday nights!  The Museum of Modern Art offers free Friday nights for anyone and everyone--you don't even have to have a student I.D.  Keep in mind that this place will be PACKED full of people, but if you don't have any money and still want to enjoy some culture, it's a great option.

My roommate and I went last Friday night and enjoyed looking at the art, feeling smart and cultured, and taking pictures.  We also enjoyed the price-tag of it all.  Emilie even got to take her picture with good ole James Dean.

It was a fun night until we got to the top floor and saw the special exhibit of naked people self-mutilating themselves (beware of the Abramovich exhibition!), but besides that-it was a great time!

PulseJFK---greatest thing since sliced bread.

If you are a young person (or want to act like a young person) in New York, you MUST get a Twitter account and follow PulseJFK.  They let you know of movies and shows filming in New York that you can go be a part of.  They tell you all the open bars and restaurant deals for each night.  They tell you all the promotional events and free things that you can take advantage of each day.

New York is such a big city that businesses have to have free events or give away gifts from time to time and PulseJFK gives you up-to-date info so that you CAN have fun in New York on a budget!

Hell's Kitchen Flea Market

My roommate and I have found the "macdaddy" of cheap, real, vintage clothing!  The Hell's Kitchen Flea Market is held EVERY Saturday & Sunday  on 39th street and 9th Avenue.  They had all kinds of old designer clothes, shoes, handbags, etc.  They even had fur coats for around $100.  My boss always wears a fur coat so I had to take a picture of me in one!

Apparently, this flea market is must-see for stylists looking for vintage pieces or new ideas.  They were even selling "Hell's Kitchen Flea Market" t-shirts.  I'll definitely be back next Saturday.

Easter Parade!

New York has a parade for everything.  I had planned on spending the day catching up on homework but when I found out that the Easter Parade was going on just a few blocks from my apartment, I had to take a break and go check it out.  It was hardly worth it!

All it consisted of was people walking down 5th Avenue in their homemade Easter hats.  There were some crazy hats-don't get me wrong-but there was no formal processional or anything.  If I would have known this, I would have made a hat!

The girls above had boys in line to take pictures with them all afternoon!  All they did was put on cute dresses and make matching hats and suddenly they were celebrities for the day!

Yep, definitely making a hat next year....

Empire State Building-Best thing yet!

I've been wanting to go the Empire State Building since I got here in December.  No one ever wants to go with me but my mom promised she would accompany me on my journey.  We had heard that if you go early in the morning, you can beat the lines.  We ignored that and went late at night.  I wanted it to look just like the scene in Sleepless in Seattle--so of course we had to go at night! There was hardly a line--we ended up waiting for about an hour total but that included both elevator rides up to the 86th floor.  You could pay more and go to the 102nd floor, but we figured 86 was high enough.

When we finally got to the top, it was magical.  I finally got to see "the lights" as they were meant to be seen.  Everyone up there was in awe.  It was one of my most favorite moments of New York.

It's Springtime in New York!

When the sun comes out in New York, this place is a whole different city! People come out of their hibernation and actually start interacting with each other! The flowers are in full bloom and suddenly the place doesn't look dirty anyone--it looks absolutely beautiful.

When my mom came to visit, we took a bus tour with GrayLine tours (located in Times Square-1560 Broadway) so that we could see all of the city without having to walk as much.  While some parts of the tour were lame (depending on who your guide was) we really enjoyed getting to see so much in so little time.  We rode down to Wall Street and found this beautiful little garden.  It's the oldest garden in New York and it was put here by the Dutch.  The tulips were so beautiful, we just had to get off the bus and take a picture!

Last Weekend in Brooklyn

The weather is finally nice--thank goodness!  My roommate and I decided to go for a walk by the water since the temperature had hit 70 degrees.  We started at the bottom of Brooklyn--on 100th Street and 3rd Avenue.  We walked all the way up to 77th street where we found an amazing pier that you could see the city from.  I had to be a tourist and take a picture pinching the Statue of Liberty!

There were many people jogging, biking, playing with their kids--it was a great day to be outside.  What amazed me the most was how far I can walk now and not be worn out!  We walked from 100th Street up to 70th Street and back down to 100th Street and I didn't even complain! I guess I finally have gotten broken into the city.

This weekend we moved to 36th Street and 7th Avenue in MANHATTAN! It's pretty much real estate heaven.  Pictures will soon follow with awesome stories about living in THE CITY!

Carmine's-A Place Everyone Can Love

For the most part, I try to try new things every chance I get.  However, Carmine's keeps calling me to revisit.  It's an excellent, semi-fancy Italian restaurant in Times Square.  My sorority advisor, Heather Adams, took my friends and I here on our first night in NYC.  Since then, I've taken everyone who has come to visit me to Carmine's.

It's "family-style," so you get a HUGE plate of food (enough for 4-6 people) for $25.  It's REAL Italian food and it's delicious!  Carmine's is right in the middle of the Theater District, so it's a perfect dinner option to try before a Broadway play.  I made reservations for when my mom and her sisters are coming up in April & I don't have to be nervous about whether they will like it or not because I really think it's a place everyone can love.

I feel bad for people who have to wait in line....

I've found the secret (or not so secret) way to enjoy New York nightlife: KNOW SOMEONE!

A co-worker of mine has a friend who is a club promoter.  This means he gets paid to invite his friends to awesome nightlife spots.  We recently attended the opening of the Hudson Terrace-a new rooftop club overlooking the river.  It was freezing outside & I was so relieved when our whole group of about 10 people (guys and girls) got to bypass the huge line & ride right up to the top of the roof and then receive our own lounge area free of charge.  We had a fun time feeling like VIPs.

 I also learned a new clubbing word.  Apparently, if you describe a club as a "zoo," that means there are a lot of random people there.  Hudson Terrace was definitely a zoo--a mix of old, young, foreign, cute people, not cute people, etc.

The decor was cute-white couches, curtains, small tables, and a huge dance floor.  It will definitely be more fun in the summer when it will be open air.

An AOII Day in NYC

AOII was founded at the Barnard College library in 1897 by 4 incredible women.  Every year, all the AOIIs in Manhattan get together to celebrate Founder's Day at the beginning of the new year.  I was VERY excited to be able to join this outing and see where AOII was founded.

The day started off with the famous New York brunch.  We enjoyed ours at the Arte Cafe on West 76th street.  There are many cute cafes all over the city that offer excellent brunch menus accompanied by unlimited mimosas and champagne.  Ours was no let-down.  I enjoyed a HUGE waffle and was able to network with fellow AOII New Yorkers.  They even let me read a portion of the Founder's Day message.

After a wonderful brunch, we rode the subway up to 116th street to Barnard College only to find that THE LIBRARY HAD BEEN TORN DOWN!! But we took a picture at the entrance anyway.

Even though the library wasn't there, it was still a magical day for me knowing that the AOII founders had walked on the same sidewalks I walked on!

Cupcakes!!

New York tries to claim everything---fame, opportunity, pizza, and now cupcakes!  I was told that I HAD to eat a cupcake in New York, so of course I didn't complain.  Every one I've had so far tastes the exact same--not homemade, they taste like they come from a factory in the midwest or something--and they are HUGE!  I still haven't found one that compares to my funfetti homemade ones, but I'll keep trying! :)

Christmas in the City

                                               The Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center

There is no place that will put you in the Christmas-spirit like New York can. (Ok, ok, Gatlinburg wins...but besides that...)  I'm so glad I got to interview for my job before Christmas so that I could see all the beautiful decorations.  & I'm so glad that they don't really take down the decorations until the end of January-kind of weird-but I love Christmastime, so it's a good thing. :)

Ground Zero-another one I'm not a fan of

Even though it's just a short trip from anywhere on the Downtown E train.  Ground Zero isn't really worth the time right now.  This is what you'll see :

It's just a big construction site right now.  They are going to make a really cool memorial with waterfalls and cool things, but right now, it's a bunch of cranes.  However, it IS quiet! I had always heard that it was quiet down there & it truly is, except for the people saying "Is that it??"

Central Park-not a fan.

So while my friends were here, of course we thought Central Park was a must see.  Well, we must have seen the wrong parts of it.  The one good thing about the trip was this pretty cool picture we took via self-timer.

Our first mistake was that we took the subway to the 103rd stop on the East Side--aka GhettoVille!  Then we finally found the park after asking a few people, "Which way is Central Park???"  They just pointed and laughed.

We went to the information center to ask where the ice skating rink was.  Once we saw the rink, we decided maybe that wasn't a good idea.  Half of it was closed and it looked pretty dirty.  So then we walked around hoping to find something cool...it never happened.  I wanted to at least be scared or something-that comes from watching too many CSI: New York shows, I suppose.

All in all, it just made my feet hurt for no reason.  I'm going back in the summer when apparently it's super fun and everyone lays out.  We'll see.

Enjoy the GO!

So what do you do when you've been walking around Manhattan all day & you suddenly need to use the bathroom?  Most places do not have bathrooms due to limited space so imagine our surprise when we found a huge store in Times Square devoted just to bathrooms---the Charmin "Enjoy the Go" superstore!

First, we had our picture taken with the Charmin bear.

(Notice the toilet girl dancing in the background)

Then, we went upstairs to the restroom oasis.  There were many stalls with many different types of Charmin paper you could choose from to use!  There was a karaoke stage, painting stalls, and many picture opportunities.  The staff was so energetic and excited.  We just couldn't stop laughing and smiling, not to mention we were SO glad we got to use the bathroom for free.  We even got our postcard picture made on the big toilet.  My friends said it was their favorite New York moment! haha

A New Year in New York!

I was warned.  Any traveler's book will tell you--DO NOT GO TO TIMES SQUARE FOR NEW YEAR'S EVE!

I did it anyway.

As you can see from the picture,  I didn't exactly make it to an ideal location for the ball drop, but I was close enough to check it off of my "things to do in life" list.  My new roommate & sorority sister, Emilie, and I decided that we would ignore everyone's advice and experience 12:00 on the square.  We arrived at 6:00 p.m. only to be told by the policeman that Times Square was closed.  They kept telling everyone to walk further and further away.  Apparently, you had to buy a very expensive ticket to get closer to the ball.  The policeman were so rude and finally told us at 9:00 that we would never see the ball drop.

As determined as I was, I didn't except that for my fate!  We finally ended up riding the subway to Central Park and then walking towards Times Square from there.  We met the crowd at 57th street (the ball is on 42nd, mind you), had our bags searched, and then stood there. In the rain.  It was 9:30.

Well now what?  We were surrounded by people from just about every country you could name, and we were all looking at each other like, what now?  We stood around and the spanish people sang songs and jumped around until FINALLY 11:59 struck and we began the countdown.

That's when it was all worth it.  Everyone began jumping up and down in the rain and counting down in their own language in their most excited voice.  Then everyone switched to English for 10, 9, 8, 7....and it was pretty exciting, I'm not going to lie.  Then fireworks exploded on both sides of us-Times Square and Central Park.  People were pouring champagne everywhere & everyone was celebrating.

Say what you want, but I'm glad I went.  I'll never go again.  But I'm proud I can say that I braved the cold and started my new year off the way that everyone else in the world wishes they would have started theirs!