a blast.

I had so much fun with my family this weekend while my brother and niece were visiting from Alabama. (Much) more to come later! Too bad they couldn't visit for an entire week instead...

a night at the ballet

[in front of Lincoln Center]

On Friday night, my friend Kyo invited me to go to a New York City Ballet performance with her for the world premiere of Year of the Rabbit. It's a new ballet choreographed by Justin Peck with music by Sufjan Stevens, and it.was.wonderful. I've been to only one other ballet since I've lived in New York, which resulted in Kyo having to explain a lot to me. (sorry, Kyo!)

There were two other pieces in the show that night, one that was choreographed by Benjamin Millepied (who happens to be Natalie Portman's husband!, and choreographed most of the movie Black Swan) and one piece choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. And, to top off the wonderful culture-filled evening, I had a perfect view from where I was sitting of my friend Harrison, who was on my Cape Town mission team and plays the bassoon for the ballet with the orchestra.

citywide worship, tonight

If you're looking for something to do tonight, this is it: Citywide Worship at Mason Hall. I went to this event back in January, and it was beautiful. It's always a very powerful thing to see churches from across the city come together for worship and one common mission. Too bad I have to miss tonight. If you go, will you let me know how it is? I hope they take another photo like this.

she's on her way!

[ waiting on a delayed connecting flight in Chicago last night ]

My 11-yr old niece is going to be in the Big Apple this weekend! She and her dad have already made their way to New Jersey as of last night. I can't wait for all of the fun things we have planned, which may or may not include a trip to the Crayola factory in Pennsylvania...

a happy birthday to a special lady:

MY MOM!!!

I won't tell you how old she is, but I do know she's older than 26. This is a picture of her on her birthday in 2010, celebrating New York-New Jersey style (that's why she looks so excited)! I wish we could do it again, but there's always next year. Happy birthday, Mom!

hello, october

It's October again. And New York City sure is beautiful this time of year. Somehow I seem to forget that every year, but I've quickly remembered.  Oh my, it's wonderful. Fall is here at last!

[photo taken at the Bodega on 73rd and Columbus.]

it's the sparkle

...that gets me every time. How can you see these lights shine and not be dazzled!? Earlier this week my roommates and I ventured to Times Square to see a movie, and I took this photo as I was walking into the movie theater. However, as much as I'm in awe of these flashing, sparkling lights, I'm reminded that everything that glitters isn't always gold. Or, at least not pure gold...

#roommates #birthdays

Birthdays are always fun to celebrate, but there's something extra special about celebrating a roommate's birthday. Last weekend my roommates and I got to celebrate together for Bethany's birthday. It was on a beautiful rooftop on the Upper East Side with a black & white theme. Everyone, except the guests of honor, wore black and white. And we got our first roommate picture! Still so excited and thankful to live with these girls. I hope someone has another birthday soon...

philharmonic in the park

I'm up way past my bedtime for this post, but for very good reason. Every summer, the NYC Philharmonic does a free (yes, completely free) concert in Great Lawn of Central Park. And to make things even better, at the end of the concert they shoot off the most amazing fireworks. I'm here to tell you: it is one of the best things New York City has to offer. Believe me.

gotta see this.

Tom Fruin's WATERTOWER

by day.

by night.

LA, thanks for alerting me to this beautiful obstruction. When can we go?!

& saying goodbye

A few more pictures of my little visitors last month. This is always the hard part - saying goodbye - especially with a short visit. But Krispy Kreme in Penn Station helped a bit, I suppose.

twinkies (without planning it, they said.)

impromptu doughnut monocle.

little girls in the big city

I can't believe it's been a month since I had these little surprise visitors visit me in New York. We had a fun (short) day, and I hope that they weren't too worn out or scarred to come visit again soon. As I was reminiscing about them being here, I wanted to share some adorable pictures that were too cute to miss. Thanks for braving the city with these two, Mom! I loved having all 3 of you visit.

McKay's I [heart] NY shirt: so perfect.

We found Minnie & Mickey in Times Square!

cute sisters.

All the M&M's they could imagine...

Of course I took them to Shake Shack.

...and, the American Girl store.

Dinner at Carmines.

another amazing wedding video.

A friend of a friend proposed to his girlfriend a few weeks ago...in Bryant Park...with a marching band...and a flash mob. It doesn't get much better than this! The story even made it on ABC News.

Just check this out,



Thanks Pamela for sharing this!

big apple bbq festival

As I mentioned, this past weekend was the Big Apple BBQ Festival. It happens every year around the second weekend in June, and I look forward to it all year long. That's mostly because my favorite BBQ from growing up and visiting my grandparents, Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, Alabama, comes to the event every year with loads of pulled pork and their famous white BBQ sauce. And every year, it's the only BBQ I'll eat at the festival. (One year, I got my picture taken with the owner!) This year - as is the case every year - Bob Gibson's had the longest line, and Brendan and I stood in the line for over 45 minutes for a couple of pulled pork sandwiches. There's nothing else quite like it! It was worth every minute we waited. Until 2013, Big Bob...

[I took the picture of me eating Big Bob's just for GG and Anna Curl!]

scenes from the weekend

This weekend was a fun one! It was very busy with lots of fun things going on, and now I'm having to take a deep breath to take on this Monday. Sometimes the weekends wear me out more than the work week. But with summer here and lots of fun things to celebrate, I think I can handle that!

On Friday afternoon, I spent some time at the Great Lawn in Central Park before heading to my fave italian spot, Carmines, for dinner with some friends, which turned into a spontaneous birthday celebration for Nichole. Saturday, Brendan and I went down to the Big Apple BBQ Festival (another post on that) and then to Brooklyn Heights for a friend's graduation party. Sunday we went to a wedding shower for some friends (Brendan's first, which he loved) and then ended with dinner at my UWS neighb-fave Jacob's Pickles. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of summer weekends. Ah, my favorite time of year is finally here.