January Outings

My first full weekend in the City was pretty low-key. Coming back, I knew a few people who I met over the summer, but not many. 

Because of that, I am so thankful that one of my good friends from camp introduced me to some of her school friends staying in the City. Lisa and Evie have been so great and have invited me to many of the events and outings that they had planned. 


My first night out with the girls started with a dinner to celebrate Lisa's recent landing of an interview to work for one of the top companies on her lists of desirables. We went to a place called the Hi-Life on the Upper East Side. In two words, the best way to describe this somewhat eclectic restaurant is sushi and burgers - Asian food with American staples thrown in (why not, right?). Although their menu was interesting, to say the least, I decided to play it safe and go for a cocktail. It was a hard choice...

I narrowed down my selection to the 4 champagne cocktails and finally decided on the Champagne Continental. Such a good decision. Honestly wish I could have tried them all, but that would have gotten a bit pricey. After a good time at the Hi-Life, we walked down the street to the "Stumble Inn". We stayed at the sports bar for about half an hour, chatted with two guys - one trying to get into the NFL draft (uh huh) and the other the NBA (of course) - then headed out and split ways. 


For our next outing, we decided to start at the Soho Grand Hotel [see post: Touchdown in NYC], and later made our way to a Brooklyn apartment birthday party. It was a lot of fun meeting some of Lisa's friends, and it was really interesting for me to see what Brooklyn is like, since that was the first time I've ever been there.

Delicious cocktail at the Soho Grand: $16. Typical.

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Side note: One thing I absolutely love about NYC is the infinite opportunities available to do something spontaneous. You never know where you'll end up, or what you'll end up doing. It's both an amazing and scary feeling to me. 

What I would call my next "outing" was definitely spontaneous: an after work field trip to the Soho Apple store to meet the one and only (drop dead gorgeous) Matt Bomer, an actor in one of my favorite TV shows, White Collar.

Meet my future husband, Matt Bomer.

If you've never heard me obsess about Twitter, you'll be hearing a lot about it from now on. So what does Twitter have anything to do with this last adventure? Well, I follow many NYC Twitter accounts, ranging from those that specialize in posting pictures of the skyline, to free open bars/events, to news accounts, etc. It is because of Twitter that I found out that Matt Bomer was in town and would be speaking in Soho, a short subway ride away from my office. So after work, I jumped on the next train going downtown, and made it to the Apple store with 20 minutes to spare. So random, but such a great way to start my week.

My next notable evening out was Thursday, January 19th. Evie and Lisa had RSVP'd to an art gallery event and said they would put my name on the list as well. We had all gotten an e-mail from the coordinator saying we should dress colorful and fashionable. So I chose one of my favorite red dresses from Pitaya, and my favorite Steve Madden black wedges:

(Pardon the mess)

 

I thought this outfit would be appropriate. I mean, it's certainly colorful and at least somewhat fashionable, right? Well...wrong. Very very wrong. As my cab pulled up to the venue, I couldn't help but notice that almost every single person in the gallery was dressed in typical New York garb: black on black on black. On black. Luckily both Evie and Lisa were brightly clothed as well, so we all stuck out in the monotonous crowed together. And you know what? Who cares. We might have been getting looks from girls who thought they were better than us - "oh my gaud why is she wearing that", blah blah blah - but we didn't care. We were there to have a good time and enjoy the event, and that's exactly what we did. The photographer seemed to realize this and found his way to whichever corner we were huddled in, snapping pictures as we pointed and pretended to be interested in the "art" that paid homage to pendulums (yes, you read that right). I could not have asked for a more entertaining way to spend a Thursday night.

Saturday of that same week I was sure I was going to spend a relaxing time at my apartment, catching up on TV shows and getting to bed early. Yeah... that didn't happen. Lisa, Evie and I went out to dinner at a seemingly hidden restaurant named Buddakan. Although I walked past it several times before finally realizing that the entrance was a glass door on a plain brick building, when we walked in we were in awe of the vast size yet intimate ambiance. The menu consisted of many artistic Asian-inspired foods and it was surprisingly reasonably priced. 

In the middle of dinner, Evie received a text from a friend, informing her that we had been invited to the Aspen Social Club, bottle service included. Within minutes, my plans for a restful night disintegrated, and I was in for a long night of dancing.

Mmm Champagne...

Cheers

I just want to note that the great thing about that particular night is not just that bottled service was involved (this was obviously a bonus, though), but the fact that it was not planned. It was exciting and spontaneous. I heart New York.

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Finally, the last night that I should mention was a dinner with the lovely Stacy and Katie at an adorable French restaurant named Tartinery in Nolita. Not only was it authentic French cuisine (Fois Gras, anyone?), but the people who worked there were authentically French, too! Quelle Surprise! And so much fun! Yet another restaurant I'll have to revisit, if only to make sure that the many years of French I've taken don't go to waste. Practice makes perfect anyways, right? And I don't know about you, but I think perfection goes hand-in-hand with a nice glass of white wine.


So, that was my January in a nutshell - awesome restaurants, art gallerias, bottled service, and friends. Such a great first month in the City. I could not be more excited to see what February has to offer!


xo