Hello my friends! I’m back in DC after a fun girl’s weekend in New York City!
It had been YEARS since my whole UNC grad school crew got together – smaller groups of us have met up for trips more recently but we were always missing a couple of the girls. So glad we finally made it work for a full reunion! My heart was happy seeing all these ladies again. I really miss getting to see them every day in class! <3
I arrived in the big apple on Friday afternoon and we all had cocktails at our friend Stephanie’s place in Chelsea before heading out for a late dinner. Saturday morning, we were up and out for a fun adventure: a group run! With the exception of our friend Libby, all the girls in the group are runners – it’s actually how we first became friends in grad school! So of course we had to make time to fit in a little Central Park run date while in NYC. 🙂
Traveling with friends who are runners is the best because it meant getting in a long run for my Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Half Marathon training was no big deal! I needed to do 12 miles – my longest run before dialing it back next weekend and then the race is the following weekend!
My friend Lauren was thankfully up for doing all 12 miles with me – you rock, Lauren! We headed out on our own to get in 5 miles before meeting the rest of the gang.
It was so nice out – not as cold as we thought it would be!
After 5 miles, we looped back to Columbus Circle area to meet up with the rest of the girls! Two were looking to do 7 miles total, so we planned to run the rest of the way with them, and the other two were up for about 3 miles. Fun to have so much company along the way! 🙂
My legs were definitely feeling tired by the end of our run, but the company and chatter made it go by quickly. 🙂 So many beautiful sights, too!
After our run, we all headed to our friend Libby’s place in Brooklyn, where she was waiting with a brunch feast (I know, she’s awesome!)! It was also a surprise mini-bridal shower for our friend Steph. 🙂 She was successfully surprised!
Libby is in culinary school right now and loves cooking so she whipped us up a delicious feast: an egg casserole with lots of sautéed veggies and some adorable fruit and yogurt parfaits with homemade granola and cashew cream. Also, bacon!
Aren’t these parfaits cute? Thanks again for the feast, Libby – I wish you were around to feed me every day! 😉
On Saturday night, we all went out to a wonderful spot for dinner – the restaurant in the NoMad Hotel. The photos aren’t great because the lighting was so dim but we had the BEST meal – seriously one of the best restaurants I’ve ever been to. Highly recommend! In addition to the beet salad and lobster dish pictured below, we also enjoyed some delicious bread, butter-dipped turnips (genius – they were amazing), and some really good sparkling wine. Plus dessert, of course! We shared a couple amongst us.
As for Sunday, it was all about the walking! It was a GORGEOUS day and we knew we had to take advantage. We took the subway down to Battery Park and wandered north, seeing the sights and doing a little shopping and noshing. My phone app tells me I covered 9 miles total on foot on Sunday – whoa!
One of our stops was Magnolia Bakery! They are known for their cupcakes and cake. I’m not a huge cupcake/cake person (give me pie, donuts, cookies, ice cream, or pastries over cupcakes any day) but I spotted a little cinnamon sugar donut-like baked good that had my name all over it. AMAZING.
Another stop was a place in the West Village called Jonty Jacobs for biltong! Have you guys heard of biltong? It’s a variety of dried, cured meat that originated in South Africa – a lot like jerky but dried instead of smoked. The spices are really unique and delicious and they don’t use any preservatives or weird additives. I bought some of their grass fed variety for snacking later!
I was so sad to say goodbye to the girls on Sunday afternoon, but I had one more fun adventure to look forward to: meeting up with my future sister-in-law (she’s marrying Matt’s younger brother) for dinner!
We took a nice stroll through Central Park and ended on the upper west side for an early dinner at Candle Café West. 🙂 It’s a cozy vegan restaurant that I discovered on my last NYC visit – love it! And yes, I realize I just went from talking about jerky to going to a vegan restaurant. #balance
I started with a fresh juice – carrot, celery, beet, mixed greens, and ginger. Yum! I loved the raw beet garnish. 🙂
We also shared the avocado tartare, which was avocado, cucumber, jicama, nori-wild mushroom ceviche, jalapeño dressing, and brown rice-spinach crackers. LOVED this.
As for my entrée, I was tempted by their awesome sounding salads but decided to go for something that was more different from what I’d normally make myself at home: the saffron mushroom crusted tofu. It came with wild mushrooms, butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and mushroom gravy. Yum – very comforting and wintery!
It was great to catch up with Morgana over such delicious eats! Perfect end to a fun weekend. The only thing that wasn’t so fun was the late train ride home. I was so sleepy by the time we pulled in to Union Station at 11:30!
I’m missing my UNC ladies already, but excited that I’ll see them again in a few months for our friend Steph’s wedding! Until then, my friends – thanks for the fun! 🙂
Have you ever been to NYC? What was your favorite part of the city? I love Central Park, Greenwich Village, and anywhere there are views of the water!
