The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.  With our family trip to Mexico, Halloween, Sloan’s birthday and all that was between, we didn’t realize our trip to NYC for our anniversary was so close approaching.  I usually pack days ahead of time, but this trip I was not that prepared.

We weren’t originally going to go to New York.  First, it was Cuba – but with flights being difficult and this whole Zika situation, we decided to switch it up.  Then it was Portland but the timing didn’t work out for that either.  When Zach suggested New York, I went for it.  The last time we had been was when I was 30 weeks pregnant, and New York in the fall is my favorite.

My mom watched Sloan for us the entire time, and we couldn’t be more grateful to her.

We left Wednesday morning and arrived around 5:30 pm.  We took a taxi into the city and checked into our hotel before taking an Uber to MSG for our first Knicks game.  We both have been to MSG before, but never to watch the Knicks.  It was so fun, we had great seats, and even better – they won!  It’s always more enjoyable to leave with a victory.

The next morning we both slept in, I got to check out the hotel gym, and we showered up for our first full day.

We hit up all our favorite shops in Soho.  Then we made our way over to Dudley’s to meet some old high school friends.  I’ve known Curt since elementary school and Matt has been a close friend all throughout high school.  They both work in Manhattan and took time out of their busy schedules to meet us for a late lunch.  They both are just the same as always – a blast to be with and not short of laughs.

After our lunch we went for round two.  We shopped for hours – literally – until our dinner reservation at Hillstone.  Our food was delicious and we decided to cap off the night with some ice cream.  Ice and Vice was amazing – our favorite being the “Milk Money” flavor – and we made our way back to our hotel completely stuffed to the brim.

The next day we made our way over to Central Park.  I’ve never actually had the chance to experience it in full fledge fall mode.  A few years ago Zach and I came to the city to go to the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade.  By then, all the leaves in central park were dead and gone.  But this year, a tad earlier, the park still had a full array of beautiful colors.  It was even better than I could have hoped it to be.  I made Zach take dozens of pictures as we made our way through.

We ate lunch at Shake Shack and shopped some more before our dinner reservation.

We ate a Momofuku’s Noodle Bar.  We were lucky to get a place in line before it opened and got a seat right away.  The ramen and pho were amazing – enough to make us promise to go back again when we visit next.

We had to rush off to Barclay’s afterwards for the Islander’s game.  Zach got us tickets on Stubhub minutes before the game started, printed them off at a nearby hotel, and we were in!

I love Barclay’s Center. It is probably one of the most beautiful designed stadiums, in my opinion.  The fans are diehard, I’ll tell you.  Because the team isn’t that great.  Zach’s only desire to go is the fact that they were playing the Penguins, who’s shining star is Sidney Crosby (and the fact that they just won the Stanley Cup, of course).  The game actually ended up being way more entertaining than we anticipated – with the Penguins winning in over time.

We stopped at a local market to get some treats and crashed once we were back at the hotel.

The next morning I made Zach visit the new Nike Store in Soho.  It is amazing – complete with it’s own half basketball court on the top level.  We got some gear and shopped around some more.

We stopped and grabbed some pizza for lunch, shopped some more and then headed over to the holiday markets.  We started at Bryant Park – where we met up with a fellow Ogden native (and USU Interior Design Student, of course) Morgan.

We visited on the steps in front of the giant Christmas tree, got some hot chocolate, and then went over to the holiday shops at Union Square.

Then it was off to our dinner reservation at Lure, closer to our hotel.  It was the best fish dinner I’ve had in recent memory.  Even Zach’s lobster mac n’ cheese was OFF. THE. CHARTS.

We shopped around some more afterwards before stopping at Sprinkles for a couple of red velvet cupcakes.  We took an Uber back to our hotel and called it a night.

Sunday morning we packed our bags, left them with the bell man, and grabbed an early lunch at Black Seed Bagels.

Throughout our whole trip the weather had been incredible.  Mid to low 60’s, not a drop of rain or even cloudy skies.  Sunday morning was freezing at a whopping 39 degrees.  We stayed inside the warm bakery as long as we could before venturing back to our hotel to leave for the airport.

It was a great trip.  Short and sweet.  I know it sounds like all we did was went to sporting events, shopped, and ate…and that is exactly how we wanted it.  We missed Sloan like crazy – but having some solo time with Zach was worth the heartache.