The Big Apple With The Boys

At Catch with the guys

About three weeks ago I hit the friendly skies once again and headed for a weekend in NYC to celebrate my friend Ben’s birthday!  I absolutely crash the guys weekend and loved every second of it.  We flew on Thurs and stayed until Sunday and didn’t sit still the whole time.

It never fails that as soon as I arrive in the city I get a boost of energy that stays with me until I fly out.  There is just something that is simply magical about the city.  Don’t get me wrong I could never live there, my ADD would allow me to get nothing productive done, but that is the best part about visiting…. that you always enjoy it as a treat!

This trip was a bit different than usual.  I almost always go up to stay with a best girl friend that lives there and we do our shopping and bouncing around.  One of the guys hadn’t ever been to NYC before and the three of us that have all do different things while we are in the city so it was really fun to blend it all.  We stayed in Midtown and start out night one at Minus 5, the ice bar attached to our hotel.  I have been to a lot of cool places in the city but this is one I probably won’t go back to.  It was $20 just to “rent” your parka and gloves then you get in to a tiny bar and the drink were redic price wise.  It was cool {no pun intended} to see a bar and glasses and everything in there made out of ice but was it worth the price… nahhh. We went a few other places then back to the hotel for round 2 the next day.

Me and Phil being goofy in Minus 5

 Day 2:  Probably my favorite day… One of the “must stop” places every time I go is always Eataly!! Oh. My.  Gosh! There is literally no other place in NYC that makes me smile from the second I walk through the door until I leave {and I LOVE shopping so this is saying a lot}.  It is a mart, a deli… a little orgasm for all of your senses to put it bluntly! We started with a double Americano then I took Phil and Max to venture around the place.  There is a little area right in the middle with the tables that are the perfect height and they have those hooks perfectly located so I could safely hang my purse {surprisingly this is rare so I get a little excited when I find them}.  We bunkered up and I got to introduce the guys to my FAVORITE thing!! A cheese plate, a glass of wine with a heavy pour and the guys got the meats as well {I don’t eat meat so I ate the heavenly bread and cheeses}.

Heaven on earth.. Eataly!

Later that night I made a reservation for Ben’s birthday dinner at Catch in the West Village, another NYC favorite.  The food is divine and it’s the perfect setting for a group or a date night.  There is a certain sex appeal as soon as you walk in the door.  A place where you can take that sexy black dress or that little dress you wear for a special occasion and you fit right in.  Sure it can be assumed as pretentious because celebs go there but that is far from how you are treated and that is very rare in a lot of che che places I’ve been. You are seated, served fresh bread and then start ordering off of the menu which has entrees as well as tapas items.  Our food was placed on the wrought iron lazy Susan and as we drank wine we laughed and caught up on the last year.  I always do a silly game called “Best, Worst and Funniest” with friends or boyfriends either on your birthday or after a weekend.  Positive, negative, positive… it is a perfect reminder of the three main things that are important and a fun little recap.  It was fun for us all to do together.

Day 3 was filled with eating at The Cleveland {amaaaazing yet a random suggestion from a drunk man on the street, hey what can I say, he knew his food} then running all around Soho, hitting up Canale St to look around, shopping at Ben Sherman then we nestled in to the cutest most ROCKIN place for a drink, Antique Garage…. HOLY MOLY! If you have not stumbled upon this little gem, GO FIND IT!!  We walked in to, literally, a garage turned restaurant.  It had antiques all around {I know, shocking from the name}, mismatched tables and decor and sultry music playing.  I am a sucker for Frank Sinatra so I was in heaven!  We sat and drank fresh berry lemonade {spiked of course}, listened to amazing music and people watched.  It was pure perfection!  This is where fate also threw us for a loop… as if our weekend couldn’t have gotten any better we met the BEST group of women that where equally as vivacious as we were and they had the cutest southern accents.  To cliff note this for you: We made friends with the other lively group who happen to be a group of 17 women in town from Beaufort, SC to celebrate of of their 40th birthdays! They were the only part we didn’t even know we were missing from the weekend.  We drank bottle after bottle of wine with our new friends and  we were all so loud and filled the whole place with laughter that we cleared out most of the tiny restaurant.  It was time to venture on…. all together of course.  We all went back to our own places to shower up then met the ladies at the  Hotel Gansevoort for drinks and an unforgettable evening.

Just a few of the ladies from Beaufort, SC at the Antique Garage

After a long evening it was time to leave.  One of my favorite things about travel is not just to take in everything about which ever location you travel to, from the sights, the culture, the sounds, the cuisine but more importantly the people you meet along the way.   We have all kept in touch with our southern belles and we are planning a reunion trip in the near future.

Another FABULOUS trips for the books.  Off to Charleston, SC the following weekend…..

Amy