Fun in the City: Cousin K's First NYC Visit!

I can't believe that I am just now getting around to writing this post, but my day has been that busy. In fact, right now I feel so tired...I may just crash!

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was packed with fun outings with my Aunt and Cousin who were here to celebrate my cousin's 15th birthday. They certainly hit many of the NYC hot spots while they were here so I can only imagine how they are feeling today!

They actually arrived on Thursday evening so we shared a delicious dinner together at the Shake Shack and then walked around the city for a little while before they headed back to their hotel.

Friday M. and I met up with the two (after a day full of shopping for them) at a local restaurant for a casual dinner (which included a delicious PINK martini for moi) which we followed up with a stroll through that neighborhood. I made reservations for later that evening (around 10pm) at a restaurant called Max Brenner (a teenagers dream...and well, I enjoyed it too!) which serves a HUGE menu of crazy-interesting chocolate focused desserts. When we arrived the restaurant was PACKED the the brim and we inched our way to the hostess who seated us after a few minutes of waiting. Once we sat down and carefully studied the menu our choices had been made...for M. and Kathryn it was going to be a S'Mores sundae with all of the fixings (marshmallow fluff, rich chocolate ice cream, graham crackers, peanut butter sauce, and whipped cream), my Aunt went with the Ice Cream bar dessert complete with a bowl of chocolate ganache, crispy chocolate candies and hazelnuts for dipping, finally I chose something called the S'mores Concoction which was an adorable dessert (displayed like a school project with it's "notebook paper" glass tray, beaker filled with caramel sauce, and tiny mason jar filled with the most yummy thing I have eaten in a while (I couldn't even tell you everything that was in there) as well as a mini s'more on the side and a tiny bowl of caramelized bananas. Needless to say, we ate well that evening and loved the fun atmosphere of Max Brenner's. We both grabbed cabs home after our dessert extravaganza since we obviously couldn't walk after all of the deliciousness! :)

Fast forward to Saturday. M. and I spent the morning at home playing with the pup, cleaning up the apartment and just plain hanging out. We decided to meet up with my Aunt and Cousin later that afternoon (they went to a matinee Broadway show) for a little more shopping and then an evening spent in Little Italy. I actually purchased a beautiful vase while at Anthropologie (I had a gift card burning a hole in my wallet)...my Aunt was the one who first spotted it and mentioned that it would go perfectly with the new painting I did a little while back. Turns out it IS perfect (excuse my faux peonies that I use as closet decoration) and I cannot wait to get some fresh flowers in that puppy! Looks like you can buy one HERE if you are interested.

After our little shopping trip, Kathryn stopped by Baked by Melissa for an itty-bitty cupcake (I love this picture of her...too cute!) and then we made our way towards Little Italy. The area was absolutely hopping due to the fact the weather was beautiful and not too hot. After wading through the many visitors, we decided it was time for a glass of wine and simply stopped at the first empty table we could find. Turns out the restaurant wasn't too shabby (since I've heard so many terrible reviews of Little Italy restaurants), I mean, how can you really mess up a pasta dish?!

We sipped on wine, noshed on the bread basket and enjoyed our Italian dishes. The girls all went with pasta dishes and M. decided on a seafood special that look pretty incredible...especially when they brought out the bib. M. is such a trooper and of course sported the seafood-fashion-staple for a little while until he knew there wasn't any chance for a spill. :) At the end of dinner I couldn't help but have the waiters come and sing to my cousin and bring her a fun dessert in honor of her birthday. Of course, she may not have been super thrilled, but I really enjoyed it! :)

Once dinner was over we popped by the Kate Spade store in that area (although not open since it was now close to 11pm) and marveled at the beautiful window displays before calling it a night.

I knew I wanted to have one last goodbye before my Aunt and Cousin flew home so M. and I met them for a little more shopping (she's CERTAINLY a teenager!!) on Sunday afternoon. They were actually strolling through a little street market when we met up, but quickly the admiring of $2 bracelets turned into admiring some bracelets a littttttle more expensive over at Tiffany's. I also loved that I had the chance to check out the Eloise section at The Plaza Hotel and enjoyed our quick stroll through Central Park too. We ended up parting ways when they were ready to enter the giant Hollister, but I was so glad to have had the chance to hang out a bit with two of my favorite extended family members!

Come back to NYC soon J&K! :)

Stay tuned for my post tomorrow when I show off the super FUN DIY project I completed this weekend!

Until then...