pheGNOMEnal vacation: day two

The day started early in the morning with Nick bringing over a cake to our hotel and wishing John a happy birthday. OOPS! Totally forgot it was Johnny's birthday! Nick wished him a happy birthday before I did... Horrible wife...

Chocolate mousse cake for breakfast. YUMMERS!

Then off to church we go!

Redeemer! John (and I) was blessed... even WITHOUT hearing Tim Keller speak (gasp!)

After church, of course we have to eat lunch!

The best pizza I have ever had in my life. EVER. John, who doesn't even like pizza, could not stop talking about how yummy it was! So GOOD!

Our new friends Natalie (Nick's gf) and her friend Liz.

Everyone loves Gnomie!

Then off for some rice pudding!

This is our kind of store!

Whoa. He's hot.

After trying a few flavors, we thought it'd be too heavy of a snack so we just walked out. Yes. We're those people.

Just walking around and shopping in Soho. I found a Brandy & Melville store! I hate trying on clothes at the store and always just buy it, bring it home, try it on and most often not, return it. This store, majority of the clothing is one size fits all. SO AWESOME! ... but I digress.

We were off to see the Statue of Liberty! We met up my friend Tang again, and we caught the free Staten Island Ferry to do a "drive by" of the statue.

My mantourage.

We met in 8th grade and we've been friends ever since. :)

Then some more walking....

I spy Gnomie...

Then some more walking to see Grand Central Terminal. This picture is so poorly taken, but it captures John and Nick so perfectly. Weirdos, I tell you.

Did you know about the "whispering station" in Grand Central Terminal? It is so cool! You whisper into the wall and the person, clear on the other side, can hear you!

Then off to our next stop! Hot dogs!

"When you're hungry, broke, or just in a hurry!"

They serve up each hot dog with sauerkraut and onion sauce. Nothing fancy, super simple. All washed down with fresh papaya juice. I die. So. Good.

A little more walking, and a quick stop at Lavain for their massive cookies!

It looks huge, like a scone, but it was delish cookie all the way through. YUM! A oatmeal cookie for John, a chocolate chip cookie for me.

Then off to dinner! My dear cousin, Jennifer, moved out to NYC to attend Parsons. I'm so proud of her! She's all grown up now! I remember her being so tiny, with a cute little bowl cut, following me around. I used to carry her around like she was a doll! And now, she looks older than me!

Sarah, one of John's youth group students, also moved out to NYC to attend Parsons. When I heard they were both going to Parsons, I thought "Hmmm. How cool would it be if they knew each other." Not only did they meet by randomly being roomies but they are like long lost bff's! So glad they are friends!

The sweet girls brought us some Insomnia Cookies! This place delivers cookies til the wee hours of the night for all those college students pulling all nighters. Or in the case of my cousin and Sarah, for those college students who have an insatiable appetite.

For dinner, we had Recipe, a small restaurant that Nick likes. The restaurant was so cute! It was decorated like Ruby's house! Vintagey and cozey. Just perfect. I wanted to walk out with the table; it'd be perfect in my imaginary cottage house that I'm dreaming up.

My pork chop.

John's veal.

After dinner, we walked about a block or so for some tea.

Have you see You've Got Mail? Does this place look familiar?

After a long day out and about, we finally got back to our room to get some sleep!

Our amazing view! Thanks to John pulling the "it's our anniversary" card, we got an amazing room upgrade!

I wasn't joking when I said Day 2's eating was out of control! It doesn't stop there... Day 3 was just as insane!

P.S. Happy birthday to my amazing husband and bestest friend, Johnny! Oh, how I heart him so!