NYC Birthday Trip (Part II -- Everything I Thought It Would Be & More)

When I texted Jay Saturday night after spending nearly an entire day in NYC, he asked me what my favorite thing was so far. My answer? EVERYTHING.

It was literally that difficult to pick my favorite thing because a)we had done so much and b)I was enjoying every single second. If I have learned anything over the last six years it is take NOTHING for granted. And, with this trip, that was not hard to do at all!

I got to the house in Brooklyn just after noon and got to meet the housemates (Sara, Lindsay, Sofie, Kerry, Kay, and Max). 

THE HOUSE!

<3 <3 <3

THE HOUSEMATES

(but wait for Sara! and where's Kay?)

PERFECT :p

After all the introductions -- they had all arrived the day before -- we headed a block down the street to Gates Station to take the J line into Manhattan. Yes, that's right. I just typed that sentence and it really happened. I will never get over it. (See what I mean about finding joy in all things? So frickin' easy on this trip)

TAKING THE TRAIN TO MANHATTAN

They showed me how to do the whole MetroCard thing and then we waited for the train and all of it was blowing my mind. People do this everyday like it's no big deal. I am well aware of that. But I felt like a newborn (lol). And loved it! I didn't even care to ask where we were going because I knew whatever they had planned would be amazing, and OMG we were going to Manhattan. I mean really.

FIRST TRAIN RIDE!

(yep, I'm THAT annoying tourist girl)

ME & SARA

We traveled past these amazing neighborhoods that were exactly like everything I had ever seen about NYC on TV/movies. It did not disappoint. Another reason why I had no answer for "what was your favorite part" because literally THIS was even awesome to me. And, I grew up in a city of over a million people so I'm not some country bumpkin. NYC is just that amazing.

GORGEOUS

AND NOW WE GO UNDERGROUND...

Lindsay had no problem making sure I was well aware of just how far underground the subway went. I would never have even thought about otherwise to be honest. Thanks Lindsay :p Kinda scary! Just glad there was no Seinfeld moment where the lights went out and the train stopped. Oh my Lord...

I was so overwhelmed by little things like child performers, switching lines, and all the million and one sights that I had never seen before in the biome that is the NYC subway (lol) that the one thing I didn't pay attention to was where we were. I was so "out of it" that I literally saw this sign, thought "Wow, that's cool! I'll take a pic" and STILL it didn't register to me what I was about to see.

PROOF THAT I WAS LOSING MY MIND BC OF OVERLOAD

And thanks to Sara and Kay, I am able to show you the pure amazement on my face when we emerged onto the intersection of Broadway and 42nd, aka TIMES-freaking-SQUARE. And I wish I could say I was faking the total dorkiness that you see here, but........yeah, that's all me...feeling 16 years old again.

DORK IN THE CITY :)

Where do I even start with this? 

TIMES SQUARE

 THE LOOK ON SARA'S FACE...LOL

It was crazy and I am so glad I had my friends there to tell me what NOT to do because it is pure sensory overload. We took a break to stop at a row of food trucks for which I had no appetite yet. Then we walked around and headed towards Bryant Park which was a couple of blocks east of Times Square.

JOSEPHINE SHAW LOWELL MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN

BRYANT PARK

And the reason we were at Bryant Park, was to make it to the other side of the road to the NY Public Library. It was ridiculously beautiful.

KAY TOLD ME TO LOOK EXCITED

(smh)

After that, we headed down 5th Avenue towards the Flatiron District. Oh, and we passed a little place called The Empire State Building. People say it's pretty cool ;) We didn't go in because of time constraints but I got a kick out of this.

OUTSIDE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

We finally made it to our destination to find a dress shop for Kerry for the play we were seeing the next night. But that intersection was so cool I had to take lots of photos ;)

FLATIRON BUILDING

SIDENOTE: While Kerry shopped, we stopped at The City Bakery on W 18th & 5th. OMG if my phone hadn't been dead I would've taken a photo of the most amazing brownie I've ever had in my life. It was half cheesecake (on top layer) and brownie on the bottom. SO GOOD.

Then we headed back to Brooklyn to continue our night beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.....(to be continued in Part III).