Blue and Orange and Red, Oh my!

We passed these lovely colorful appliances when we were out walking in NY last weekend. Aren' they lovely? Oh how I would adore having a colorful kitchen (just none of that avocado green, ok?). Do you see that pink refrigerator in the back? Too much? The red is pretty amazing too...

That's all.

A Happy Addition to the Donahue Family

I had visions of finding the perfect summer sandal in NYC. Lately I have been perhaps a little obsessed with red sandals. Well, red shoes in general. I had accepted defeat after failing to find the above mentioned shoe until at last I spotted a promising looking shoe store across the street from Starbucks in the West Village. And bingo. I hit the jackpot.

Not only did I find my red sandals, I found the perfect burgundy wedged oxford. Oh my heart was so happy. I had to shove them into the crevices of Tim's luggage to get them home, but how I could live without them! At long last we were united.

Maybe they will work like Dorothy's except instead of sending me home, when I click my heels they will carry me back to New York to spend some more time frolicking around the city streets with my husband.

Click-click!

NYC: The Final Chapter

I might have gone a little overboard on documenting every little thing we did in New York, so I will wrap up the tale of our journey. We made our obligatory pilgrimage to Times Square and made a visit to the discount tickets booth for a Broadway show. We ended up seeing a small off-Broadway musical, The Fantasticks, and I was reminded of my days spent at my musical theater focused performing arts high school in LA. It's always fun to catch a live show.

On one of our many subway adventures I was greeted by a big fat rat while reloading my Metrocard. I hear this is a true NYC experience and even a sign of good luck (???). I squealed like the girl that I am and I am fairly certain that it was Tim's most cherished memory from our trip. 

We also indulged in a little retail therapy in SoHo. New York is one of the lucky few cities here in the US that is home to Sabon- one of my favorite stores in the world. Not only does NYC have Sabon, they have multiple locations. I loaded up on all of my favorite goodies including a honey peach scented mineral powder for bath time, and some of their amazing sea salt scrubs. I also visited Madewell and TopShop for the first time and loved both! 

We had a fantastic dinner at Cafe Cluny in the West Village, and I fell in love with the tree lined neighborhood streets and adorable homes. Food was a big theme for us and we took advantage of all New York had to offer. We indulged in pasta and gelato in Little Italy, macaroons at La Maison du Macaron, and the amazing deserts at the Magnolia bakery. 

Here's some more photos of our Big Apple adventures:

We can't wait to go back and explore more of the city that never sleeps! 

Coming soon: The Rome Guide continues!

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Brooklyn

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the highlights of our trip and something we had been looking forward to for quite some time. We started our Brooklyn experience off with some out-of-this-word-oh-so-delicious pizza at Grimaldi's. There was a long line but it was worth the wait! After stuffing our bellies full of the mouthwatering pies, we burned off the calories with a walk across the historic bridge. 

I think I might be drooling a little...

A sunset stroll across the bridge would make for a lovely date night! Or perhaps a picnic at the park nearby on a sunny afternoon. Oh the possibilities! 

xo!

30 Rock

The view of Central Park from the top of the Rockefeller building is my favorite view of NYC. I love the contrast of nature and the city, and this really shows just how huge Central Park is! We decided on a whim to take the elevator ride up to "the top of the rock" and I made sure to get my money's worth in photos! Tim starting second guessing our decision to venture up top once he stepped outside and saw just how high up above the city we were. But he was a good sport and calmly waited as I snapped away!

30 Rock is one of our favorite shows and we had a lot of fun roaming around the underground halls at Rockefeller Plaza imagining a quirky Liz Lemon running by with a hot dog in hand. We decided the appropriate thing to do would be to get ourselves our very own NY hot dog from the stand outside. I don't know if we were just really hungry, but that was a delicious hot dog. Mustard, ketchup, relish, and just right. 

This seems like a nice alternative to going up to the top of the Empire State building. Great views and it wasn't very crowded. Of course we were there on a Monday so that might have something to do with it! It's not something we would ordinarily choose to do but I am glad we did. It was a fun and spontaneous adventure!

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MoMA

Friday afternoon Tim and I took off on our own little adventure to eat at Shake Shack and visit the Museum of Modern Art for their free Friday nights (score!). I have never seen so many people packed into a museum to look at modern and contemporary art. It was really refreshing! 

It was one of the biggest and best collections I have seen. There was an excellent Cindy Sherman exhibition on the top level and it was such a treat to see the entire span of her work over the years. I also enjoyed Monet's water lily pieces including the one photographed above. Impressionist works are reproduced so often that they start to lose their beauty. Seeing this work in person was an entirely different experience- it was breathtaking. The brushstrokes are fabulously abstract and the colors seem to glow on the canvas. The large scale also allows you to get lost in the work and just enjoy the beauty of the painting. 

There was also an excellent Mark Bradford work on display. I find his ideas regarding abstraction and craft intriguing- particularly his view of the map as an abstract grid. He takes collage to a higher level and inspires me to do the same with my own works. Let's "zoom" in to the piece:

It's madness. I love it. 

A few more:

Let's also talk about the wonder that is the Shake Shack. It had been such a long time since I indulged in a cheeseburger and it was worth the wait. It was just the right size and super tasty, and to top it all off I also ordered a peanut butter shake. Yum.

I am going to go dream of delicious burgers and fries now. Mmm....

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Central Park and the UWS

Good job, New York. You really got it right with Central Park. As you can see we had lovely weather over the weekend (although it was a bit too windy) and people were out and about enjoying their gorgeous city. We only saw a tiny portion of the grounds, but it's already one of my favorite places. The photo above is of the Sheep Meadow, which was bustling with happy families and adorable puppies. We also walked up to Strawberry Fields so that I could see the John Lennon Imagine memorial. It was an incredibly moving experience. People were gathered around and singing along to his songs as a fan played the tunes on his guitar.

Tim was happy to see so many runners and next time we'll take our own jog through the park. There was no way our tired legs would have let us enjoy that during this trip. So we took a leisurely stroll instead. 

After the park we visited the Dakota and explored the Upper West Side. There were some great shops and beautiful walk up brick homes. We also stopped by Magnolia bakery and indulged in a pumpkin cheesecake with a ginger walnut crust. It was A-MAZ-ING. 

More to come!

EATALY NY

Yes, I am dedicating an entire post to a marketplace dedicated to the finest ingredients and Italian foods. Why? Because I love food, I love Italy, and I fell in love with this market! I could easily spend an entire day roaming around this lively marketplace, filling up my shopping cart with the finest salami, mozzarella, fresh produce, chocolates, fresh pastas, and delicious wines. And since shopping is such an exhausting endeavor I would simply have to stop at one of the many eateries inside the market to replenish my weary body. I would also need to refuel with a creamy latte and perhaps a scoop of gelato while I am at it.

Let's take a moment to enjoy the beauty of this fine establishment:

Eataly offers surprisingly affordable cooking classes as well as a walking tour of the market. I would love to take this class or perhaps The Art of Risotto. The walking tour would be a blast too since you could easily miss out on some of the treasures hiding out in this huge maze of a market- check out this map if you don't believe me!

Let's drool some more:

Thank you Eataly! I hope to visit you again soon!! 

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We're back!

Mr. Butter and I are back home after a fantastic long weekend in New York City. It was lovely to get away for a few days and explore a new city. We also got to spend some much needed time with my mother and step father who we had not seen in far too long! I'm going to need to break up this trip into multiple posts- there was just so much to see and do and fall in love with!

We both took an extra day off of work to recover, and oh boy was it necessary. My feet were so swollen by the time we left the city that I could barely squeeze the little pudgy things into my sneakers! So with this extra gift of time I will document our NYC getaway.

Also coming soon: Where To Shop When In Rome!

Have a great weekend!

We are off to NYC for the weekend! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. Tomorrow's visit here is going to make me a very happy girl! Also, this made me giggle. 

Have a great weekend! I can't wait to share all of our adventures when we return next week!!

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NYC

Later this week Mr. Butter and I will be jetting of to NYC for a few days and boy-oh-boy are we excited!!! I have been itching for a NY trip for quite some time now and will probably need many return visits to do and see everything on my list.

Some things we are looking forward to:
-Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and grabbing some pizza at Grimaldi's.
-Walking through Central Park and perhaps a picnic too!
-Visiting the Museum of Modern Art (FREE on Friday nights!!)
-Macaroons! Which is better- La Maison du Macaron or Laduree?
-A little shopping in SoHo and perhaps a good Flea Market (I hear the good ones are in Hell's Kitchen and Brooklyn).
-Shake Shack!
-Visiting some art schools (I am preparing to apply for a MFA program!)
-Perhaps taking in a show (music or broadway- Death of a Salesman with Phillip Seymour Hoffman looks pretty amazing!)
-Ground Zero Memorial
-Flatiron Building/District
-Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the Guggenheim (I told you I might need a few trips...)
-Poking around Eataly- it looks kind of amazing!

Any suggestions on what to see or do? We'd love to hear them!

We are staying in Greenwich Village and scored some great deals on direct flights with Jet Blue. We're taking a red eye flight so we'll have to sleep fast and be ready to hit the ground running when we get there!

Bonus: My mom and step dad are meeting us for a weekend in the city so we also get to spend time with family!! My mom lives in the far away land of Florida so we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. I can't wait!

Central Park Skyline photo via here.