A Sunny Sunday in NYC

I'm finally catching up on my NY adventures!
That Sunday, Sarah and I went downtown to see the World Trade Centers 9/11 Memorial. I think it was a beautiful design idea and it was touching to see it in person. They made square fountains in the outlines of where each of the twin towers used to stand and the water cascaded down into two levels. They put the names of each of the victims on the rims of the fountains, including the victims in PA and the Pentagon and the attack in 1993. This visit only validated the fact that New Yorkers are tough and resilient and therefore are a good representation of America. #GodblessAmerica

Freedom Tower/World Trade Center 1

Shout out to Sarah for being such a trooper and walking around NYC with me in a boot. 

 I've had a few friends secretly take pictures of my hands because I touch things when I talk. Sarah and I were talking about 9/11 and the whole time I was absent-mindedly tracing this name while we talked. Sarah secretly took a few pictures while I did that and I've gotta say, that right hand is great pianist form ;)

c/o Sarah Motley

Sarah and I walked over to the nearby Trinity Church to see what it is about and found Alexander Hamilton and John Fulton's graves. 

oooldd graves. always reminds me of my stay in England.

They were having a service, so we stepped inside and listened to the impressive organ playing that filled up the vaulted ceilings.
We walked over to St. Paul's, the church where firefighters, policemen, and volunteers rested and slept during the clean-up post 9/11 (it's right across the street). It became famous for this and the fact that it was hardly touched from debris. It now houses the banners and supportive gifts from around America and the world for those who helped.

gift from the people and Mayor of London on the year anniversary of 9/11

c/o Sarah

We attended our own services in the prettiest LDS chapel I've ever seen on the UES.
Then we had dinner along the outskirts of Chinatown with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

We headed over to Washington Square Park where we people watched and enjoyed street performers. We walked a little bit through NYU's campus, too. I had always wanted to go to school there. And seeing the Greenwich Village surrounding it, I now wish I had! Sarah and I walked around the Village and I decided that if I ever get the chance to live in NYC, it would be in this area. Totes adorbs.

I didn't take any pictures of the Village because I was too busy loving it in person.
But wait, there's more!

What I Did in NYC Besides Eat Cupcakes

What I love about the East coast is the fact that you can hop on a bus or train and be in another awesome city in 6 hours or less. I hopped on a bus and hung out in NYC for the weekend with my good friend Sarah. Let me preface this post with a reason why I wanted to visit NYC (besides to see Sarah, of course). I have Romantic notions of places. We're not necessarily talking romantic like kissy kissy, but like capital R Romantic like everything is lovely and beautiful and amazing and ideal. NYC I think has gotten the worst of this silly habit of mine. In my mind, NYC is magical.

Guys, I love NYC.

DAY ONE -- SATURDAY
I hopped off the bus in SW Manhattan and Sarah lives in UES so I had to make my way across town, which was cool since I was able to see Madison Square Garden and the Empire State building.

Manhattan from the bus before we went into the Tunnel

ESB

I met up with Sarah and we went to linner (dunch?) at Shake Shack because I have an obsession, apparently. Then we had cupcakes at Little Red Hen Bakery.

I headed off to a solo tour of the Guggenheim even though I'm not a huge modern art fan because I've always wanted to see the rotunda design of the building. Ironically, they were putting in an installation in the rotunda and it was closed. So no rotunda.

Sarah entered us in the lottery for "Newsies" tickets, but we didn't get them so we tried to go see "The Great Gatsby," but they were sold out. So we got Magnolia Cupcakes and those AWESOME cookies from Levain and went back to her friends' sterotypically NYC adorable apartment and ate NYC pizza and watched "Midnight in Paris."

Before that, we walked around by the Lincoln Center/Met Opera House/Ballet and the LDS Manhattan Temple. That's a beautiful building nestled in a big city!

More to come! I love NYC! Have I mentioned how I love this city? I just love this city.

#nycupcaketour

Yes I did do other things while I visited New York, but, let's be honest, a lot of my trip was centered around food. I believe that food is all part of the travel experience and NY is full of good eating opportunities.
I will get to the details of what else I did in NYC soon, but for now I will give you the deats on the sweets.
#1: Little Red Hen Bakery
Cupcakes: I got three minis that I think were: banana choco chip w/ chocolate/peanut butter cream cheese frosting, dark chocolate w/ chocolate frosting, and milk chocolate with a creamier frosting.
Verdict: I'm picky when it comes to frosting and it wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't the worst, either. The banana cake was my favorite.

cute store front

#2: Levain Bakery
Cookie: Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip
Verdict: HOLYCRAPTHEBESTCOOKIEIHAVEEVEREATEN
No picture because it was gone so fast. But I'm not kidding. It was THE BEST.

#3: Magnolia Bakery
Cupcake: Chocolate with their whipped frosting
Sarah got: Hummingbird Cupcake
Verdict: Not a fan of the frosting. Way too sugary for me. The cake was moist. The bakery was cute!

c/o Sarah...Aubie eyeing her Magnolia's

#4: Serendipity 3
I tried their frozen hot chocolate for the first time!
Verdict: It lives up to the hype! SO good! However, I don't understand the idea of "frozen hot chocolate." Why not say gourmet milkshake?

c/o Sarah Motley

#5: Baked By Melissa

Cupcakes: Chocolate Chip Pancake, Cookies 'n Creme, Chocolate
Sarah got: Cinnamon and I can't remember what else, but Cinnamon is all you should worry about.
Verdict: These won favorite in NYC! They were moist and so cute and mini. Chocolate and Sarah's Cinnamon were my favs. 

c/o Sarah

#6: Billy's Bakery
Cupcake: Banana Nutella
Verdict: Needed more Nutella, but yummy, nonetheless! Plus, I picked it up sopping wet at The Plaza, which is just about the most perfect situation in a place like NYC to get a cupcake, if you ask me.

Winner of all for all of the earth and the universe: Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies from Levain. They should be tested because I'm fairly sure that they put crack cocaine in my cookie. I don't remember the 3 or so hours post-consumption because I was in a chocolate/crack-induced stupor. Actually, it was longer than that because I couldn't eat it in one go. So it was a constant cycle of addiction-promoting ingestion and a involuntary sugar coma period until it was gone. Then I wanted more once the last cycle ended. Like a creepy sugary stalker looking for its muse, I couldn't stop talking about it. Chocolate nirvana smacked me in the face in the middle of NYC like a yellow cab. It was flippin' dang good.

a soiree and a morning at the white house

The African Soiree is the big closing event for the annual D.C. Francophonie Festival that The Smithsonian Associates is a contributor to. I got there early to help with set-up and got a taste of what it would be like to be a fabulous Parisian as I helped the interns from the French Embassy. Those kids have class. I also bumped into some of the tall African models. More class. The Soiree was a big party in the NMAA that had a cartoonist, food, henna, a performance by Kaissa, a fashion show of an African designer, and then dancing to music from DJ Pinstripes. Rhiannon was able to join me and we weaved our way through the crowds, got henna, and watched the fashion show. So fun!

Kaissa

interns wearing our African bead necklaces, ready to head home after a long event.

The next morning, my super cool WH intern friend hooked us up with White House Garden Tour tickets. I got SO CLOSE to the WH. #chillinwiththeObamas

Treasury

I think I asked a professional press person to take this picture for us

wut up WH?

great view from the WH lawn

West Wing/Oval Office

Michelle's garden

"...the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one through the year." -Thomas Jefferson

cute shot snagged from Vanessa ~ Vanessa, me, Taryn, Austin

D.C. has delivered on awesome weekends.

this is what it's like to live in a big city

This is what the romantic in me has always envisioned it would be like to live in a big city, summed up in one lovely spring day with Ashley.

Street art,

"If you lived here you'd be home now. But you still could not vote."

...tall buildings and roof top brunches,

...artsy neighborhoods with character,

...overpriced food,

...more street art,

...live, local music,

...festivals and tourists,

and monumental places.