Summer Fun in NYC!

Okay, so major post-computer-malfunction catch-up blog is in order! The week before I left for Chicago was glorious. There are so many fun things going on in the summer and I’m trying to take full advantage! Let’s see what I did:

Dinner at Sala (yummy Spanish tapas) with Shera. Shera is my Baylor friend who just moved to the city a few weeks ago. We weren’t super close at Baylor, but shared a mutual friend, my roommate, Nicole. Shera went with Nicole and I on spring break Sophomore year. I always laugh that we chose to go to the Mall of America for spring break that year…not really your typical college spring break trip. We road-tripped up I-35 all the way from Waco to Minneapolis – crazy! Shera transferred to OU our junior year and I hadn’t seen her since. It’s been fun to reconnect and introduce her to my friends here.

Cocktails in the Garden at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. I’ve been wanting to go to this museum for a long time and when I heard we could go AND have cocktails in their garden (the largest private garden in Manhattan), I knew I had to go. I gathered up some girls to go with me and we had a great time! The Museum is actually located in a mansion that used to belong to the Carnegie family, so it was cool just to see that. The big exhibit they have right now is a felt exhibit – all clothes and furniture made from felt. It was kind of strange. Oh, and Barbara Bush (the twin) used to work there! The garden was beautiful and there were lots of people there and a jazz band. So fun!

Cooper Hewitt Museum View of the crowd from the patio

The band on the patio

Lucy & I in the Garden Christina & I

Lucy had the bright idea to go see a French film they were playing in Washington Square Park after the garden party. We went with Kim, Nicole, and Christina and picked up sushi for dinner along the way to take with us. When we arrived at the park there was no movie to be found!! We picnicked anyway, and sat near a jazz band that was putting on an impromptu concert in the park. It's not really the greatest park to be in at 9:00pm...lots of rowdy homeless men, so we didn't stay too long. Afterwards we went to a super cute bar in the area and enjoyed a drink and fun conversation.

Random band in Washington Square Park

That Saturday, I did Kids Club in the morning and then headed out to meet some friends and go to the Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens. I've been hearing about this place forever and on such a warm, sunny afternoon it was the perfect spot to be. Four of my friends were there and a couple of Sarah's co-workers and their friends so we had a large crowd. It was fun getting to know some new people and after we were there a couple of hours Sarah pulled out the UNO cards and we played a couple fun games. After heading back into the city, four of us went to get Tapas for dinner. We were going to go to a new place but the wait was super long, so we ended up back at Sala which was just down the street. It was even better this night than two nights before. We ordered really well that night!

With Kim & Shera at the Beer Garden

Sarah & Robyn

That Sunday, I babysat the kids during the Parent's CG...we spent the whole time on the playground and it was SO hot! We only had 4 kiddos that day (summer vacay for many families). They have hopscotch painted on the ground and next to it is another game with boxes that have the alphabet letters in them....anyone have a clue how to play that?? One little girl, Savannah, and I made up our own game because no one knew, but I'm sure it must have some purpose! Let me know if you've ever seen it before! I'd love to teach the kids a new game out there.

After babysitting, I skipped the service to head to Brooklyn and meet Rocio at the Brooklyn Tabernacle for church. She goes every week to their service and then to our service, too! Crazy! Since I'd only been to BT for their Christmas program, I'd been wanting to try their regular Sunday service. Rocio is moving this week so I knew it was my last chance to go with her. I was surprised that I really disliked it. You always hear such great things about the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir - they're basically famous! And I'd heard some good things about their pastor's sermons. I thought it would be amazing. Rocio obviously loves it, but I guess it just wasn't my style. I found the music to be cheesy and I thought the sermon was too long, repetitive and dumbed-down. Sadly, I was not impressed.

That Tuesday was Philharmonic in Central Park. This is one of the best nights in the city and all of Manhattan seems to come out for it. The crowd is massive. I got really frustrated this year because I couldn't find my friends where we had planned to be. Because there are thousands of people there trying to find their friends, cell phone service is overloaded so calling and texting doesn't work. After about 45 minutes, I decided to call each of my friends one more time and then give up. Amazingly, Erin picked up! Yeah! She was able to explain exactly where they were and I found them easily at that point. I was actually one of the first people to find them, but eventually everyone found us...Erin's archaic cell phone (it's so old it has an antennae) was the magic trick for all of us! It was a fun night from then on. Great weather, wine, cheese, music, friends!

This is a picture of about half the crowd @
Philharmonic in the Park...the rest of the
people were behind me

It was restaurant week again! Since Christina and I had planned to go see a movie in the Meatpacking area that week, we decided to take advantage of RW and go eat at Spice Market before the movie. Kim and Shera joined us. I've been to Spice Market twice before and thought they'd have a really good menu for RW. They actually had 4-course menu, which is unusual...most are 3-course. The first two courses were appetizers and were amazing, but the entree and dessert left something to be desired. Not really that great at all. Afterwards, we headed over to the pier where they were showing Vicky Cristina Barcelona...I've been wanting to see that movie and was excited to see it for free and out on the pier! But, we got there and it was crazy crowded and there was no way to get close enough to see or hear the movie, so we left. Super disappointing.

Since the movie didn't work out, we decided to go check out the Highline. This is a new park that is elevated and goes from the Meatpacking District to Chelsea. We had all been talking about checking it out, so this was the perfect time to go since it was just across the street. It was really cool...beautiful, creative and affords amazing views of the river and city. It was fun to finally see our new park in the sky!