Celebrating at Serendipty!

It’s SUPPPPER busy at the office today with everyone wrapping up projects and tasks before tomorrow (we have a “half day”). I am in the same boat as everyone else – busy, busy, busy. But of course, I need to make a little bit of time to update this here blog! :)

So as I mentioned in my post yesterday, we spent Sunday walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I’ve always read that it’s something that you “need to do” if you’re in New York, so I figured there was no time like the present, especially with my husband and younger sister here! It looked as though it would be a chilly morning so we bundled up – coats, scarves, gloves – and made our way to the subway. We stopped at Starbucks first to pick up something warm to drink (a reallllly healthy breakfast!) M. went with a traditional hot chocolate, C. a vanilla chai latte (no “whip” she proclaimed!) and I chose the Peppermint Hot Chocolate (with LOTS of “whip”) – YUM! We stopped for a quick photo op in front of the “Brooklyn Bridge” sign and then we were off and boy was it busy! When I read about walking the bridge they made it very clear to stay out of the bike lane and they were certainly right about that! I didn’t venture over into that “lane,” but noticed that the bikers were zipping by with little concern as to who they may run over.

It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day with a slight breeze and actually it warmed up quite a bit! M. had to take off his coat and I was about ready to go without that scarf and the gloves I thought would be so necessary. We reached the center of the bridge and of course we took many fun photos along the way. It was really neat being on the bridge although some of the construction took away from the overall experience. I was amazed that there were people attempting to run along the bridge…there were just FAR TOO MANY people walking to even get a good run in. It definitely reminded us of the people who try to take their runs through the shopping area of Georgetown…the people who attempt to run through all of the shoppers and tourists and then sigh REALLY loudly or just complain REALLY loudly about “how busy” it is…yeah…it’s pretty much always busy in Georgetown….go run by the monuments is what I have to say! :)

After we made our way over the bridge we walked to the area right near the water, took a few more pictures and soaked in the beautiful city skyline and of course the statue of liberty in the distance. We checked out the “famous” pizza place called Grimaldi’s and by checked out what I mean is looked on at the enormous line that was forming at only 11:30am. We decided to head back to the apartment for lunch instead (frozen pizza to the rescue!), relaxed for a little while and then decided to head off shopping! We opted for Bloomingdales as the evening before M. and I had ventured into Macy’s. Bloomie’s looked fabulous with all of its beautiful holiday decorations, but the crowds were not all that exciting – it was ABSOLUTELY PACKED! We looked around at all of the pretty party dresses (I was absolutely drooling over EVERY.SINGLE.THING in the Milly section), shoes, winter accessories and makeup and then decided to meet up with M. who had found his way to the giant Brooks Brothers on Madison Avenue. A short walk later we met up and walked back to the apartment. By then it had gotten a bit chilly and our feet were starting to hurt so when we arrived home we crashed on the couch and soon after headed off to bed!

Yesterday I had to work, but M. and C. found some fun things to do! I actually had to go pick up something from Chelsea Market for a client so I met them over there for a few minutes before jetting back to the office. They spent their day exploring Greenwich Village and the Chelsea area and ended up meeting me for lunch! It was great to have a moment of down time and a chance to hear what they had been up to all morning. After lunch I had a LONG meeting regarding some changes going on in my department and I don’t know if it was the turkey in my sandwich, but I literally could not keep my eyes open! It was CRAZY. I haven’t been that tired in a long, long time and I had even gone to bed early the night before! Good thing I somehow still took notes…seriously, I can’t believe I was that tired.

After I got home from work yesterday it was time to relax before our dinner reservation in honor of C.’s 21st birthday! I decided to keep it a surprise where we were going so that it would add to the “special-ness” of it all. Our reservation was at 9pm (I know…late, but it was the best I could get!) and when we arrived C. hadn’t actually heard of the restaurant I picked – Serendipity! Another one of those “at least go there once” places in New York. Even though C. hadn’t heard of the place before, I quickly gave her the rundown on what it was and why it was so “famous.” We were seated right at nine, picked out what we wanted to dine on and enjoyed the seriously cute holiday decorations that filled the room. C. chose the turkey and brie sandwich, I went with the chicken BLT, and M. chose the shrimp pasta…and of course I had to have an order of French fries too (don’t worry we split them!). The food was good – not out of this world amazing, but a good sandwich – plus it was just fun to be somewhere new and different and it was all special because we were celebrating C.!

Just as EVERYONE does at Serendipity, we ordered dessert – actually, two desserts for all of us to split – one frrrozen hot chocolate and one chocolate cake sundae. I’ll admit, I probably wouldn’t have minded just ordering a bunch of desserts for our dinner, but in order to not have to wait for an hour and a half for a table, I had to make a reservation for dinner. The desserts were DELICIOUS and while the frrrozen hot chocolate was pretty good, the sundae really won us over. Hot fudge everywhere, moist chocolate cake and a tower of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream – yes and yes. We had some great laughs taking the obligatory frrrozen hot chocolate photos, but I think that M.’s final photo for the evening (once we had completely devoured both of the desserts) was the all time winner. It was hilarious – C. and I could not stop laughing.

We finally made it home around 11pm and headed off to bed pretty soon after. I’m still waiting for C.’s birthday present to arrive by mail, hopefully it will get here this afternoon! C. is going to be spending the evening with one of her closest friends from school which means that we’re on our own this evening. It will be really nice to spend a little quality time with the husband! :) I’m also officially gearing up for the big day – Thanksgiving that is – and all of the cooking that I’ll be doing. Hopefully I’ll be on a roll and make some DELICIOUS things for us to enjoy! I can’t wait to share with you what will be on our menu!

I’m off to our weekly meeting, have a fabulous Tuesday!