New York Pt 2 - Manhattaning

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Traveling To New York

New York Pt 1 - Brooklyn

New York Pt 2 - Manhattan

New York Pt 3 - Manhattan Birthday

New York Pt 4 - The Final Day

Welcome to this year's edition of "True Life: I Ate Pizza for Breakfast."

After a pretty... uh... festive evening, we seriously needed something carby and greasy for breakfast. Because my fiance's sister lives above a pizza place, it seemed like a great way to do it. We were packing up to leave her Red Hook apartment and head toward our hotel in Midtown Manhattan, so it was our last chance for stuffing our faces at that pizza joint. 

Obviously, we did it.

After we got cleaned up and packed up, we walked to the subway to head into Manhattan. God bless my fiance, who lovingly carried two bags up and over the bridge. You're wonderful.

There were no seats on the subway, so I holed up in a corner and sat on my bag. It was a stiff 30 minute ride, and I tried not to lose my mind or any of my belongings. We emerged intact.

I love Manhattan. Everything is so alive. I suddenly felt so pumped about every little thing that, even on our walk from the subway to the hotel, I had to snap some dorky pictures.

We stayed at The Kimberly, which is a nice spot in Midtown, just off of Park Avenue, with some European flair. After we checked in, I freshened up a bit and then we were off.

We stopped for a mid-day pick-me-up. Double shot tall skinny latte for the win. 

Naturally, another dorky shot. In front of 30 Rock. I'm obsessed with the show, so it felt like the right thing to do.

We walked around for quite a while. Probably a few hours. After a lot of sight seeing and a few unsuccessful shopping adventures, we realized around 3pm that we were pretty starving for lunch. 

We loaded up on Carbs again (ugh, darn you, scotch drinking) and tea. Then, we headed back out into the wilderness (hah) and popped on over to Central Park.

I want to live in this park. I felt so happy just walking around and seeing all of the people and green space. Everything there felt so romantic. Like, take a picture on the bridge? Why not? There is nothing better.

Oh, right, and the freaking bulldog riding a skateboard. This was not just happenstance -- he was doing it for like 30 minutes, and the owner would just start it rolling and the dog would hop on. That's talent.

After spending an hour or so in Central Park, we headed over to Henri Bendel. My fiance's sister had suggested we make a stop there, and I cannot tell you how right she was. If you've never been, just think of it as Disneyland for girlie stuff. Makeup, jewelry, bags, sunglasses, scarves. You name it. I stocked up, and then we headed toward the hotel.

For dinner, we freshened up (read: dry shampoo) and headed to the rooftop lounge at our hotel. It's called Upstairs at The Kimberly and it is really a neat spot. The views are to die for and the lounge itself is quite swanky.

That said, $18 cocktails are somewhat painful, especially when they're not THAT good. I'm spoiled by The Violet Hour in Chicago, so maybe I'm hard to impress. Either way, I ended up switching to Champagne.

One of my good friends from High School lives in New York now, and she showed up to say hi. We had a few drinks at the lounge together, then walked over to Session House for a bit more.

And at midnight? IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY! The bartender made me a delicious cucumber and strawberry vodka drink, and we had a bit of celebrating before heading back to the hotel.

Reaganing - The Weekend I Juggled A Bunch Of Balls And Won At Life

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I was pretty much Reaganing this weekend. For those of you who don't watch 30 Rock, it means I knocked a bunch of stuff off my to-do list and was extremely productive without messing much of it up. In other words... I juggled many things, and no balls did fall.

On Friday, I went straight from work to a "Strength" class at The Mercury Method. I'm planning to do a review at the end of the week on the workouts themselves, but let's just say this place is hot. Like, workouts in 98.6 degrees hot. I had planned to start a 6 day deal on Wednesday, but was sick, so Friday kicked it off.

As you can see from this picture of my face, I was suh-weh-tee! Good, sweaty workout? Reaganing.

Afterward, I had a quick shower and then my fiance and I headed out to The Aberdeen Tap. I officially have a "favorite dish" there, now. Actually, make that two. First, they have a delicious chorizo chili. Like, this aint your regular chili, folks. It's fancy. Second, they have an "Iceberg Salad" that is so much more. It's actually romaine and it comes with a whole heart of romaine that's uncut, with bacon, goat cheese, eggs and tomatoes scattered all around. I order it with Balsamic dressing on the side and it is to.die.for. Ordering the perfect healthy meal and being insanely satisfied with it? Reaganing.

Side note: There is gator meat on the menu here. Oh, and rabbit too. Whatt? "I'll have the gator bangers, please?"

Fact: My fiance has ordered the Gator Bangers here.

The next morning, my fiance had a hair cut over in Wicker Park, so I went back for... you guessed it... more Mercury Method. This time, I took a "Stamina" class and liked it more than "Strength" (gotta be careful not to spill too many beans before my review!). Getting an amazing workout in before noon on a Saturday? Reaganing.

Afterward, I cleaned THE ENTIRE APARTMENT. Wiped every counter. Did laundry, washed the sheets, made the bed. Spent like 60 minutes vacuuming (this is probably also a workout, technically). Like, I vacuumed the stove (it gets all the little pieces out) and everything. Cleaning your entire apartment in an hour? Reaganing.

Once I finished cleaning, I also made my fiance and I the biggest, most amazing salad. We had poached eggs for breakfast (my first time, and I rocked it - Reaganing!), so we were pretty famished. I made us the superman of salads: Spinach, pecans, sunflower, hard boiled egg, avocados, chicken, feta. Filling up on nutrients instead of junk? Reaganing.

We then proceeded to sit down and watch Zero Dark Thirty. My fiance had been asking if we could rent it for weeks, and I kept finding an excuse not to (I thought it was going to be a stressful movie and didn't feel like dealing with that), but after knocking out a workout and cleaning so early in the day, I felt like things were going well for me so I was willing to give the movie a try. Thumbs up, it rocked. Finally giving your fiance what he wants? Reaganing.

Afterward, my parents came over for wine and cheese. We went to dinner in Old Town at Trattoria Roma, where I had the Fennel Salad and the Tilapia with Honey Mustard sauce. It was surprising and delicious. I finished the plate!

My mom and I at Trattoria Roma

Then, we walked up the street to see a comedy show at Second City. My friend, Marlena Rodriguez, was in a comedy show there, so we decided to make a night of it.

My dad and I, waiting to get into the comedy show

My mom and my fiance, still waiting...

And, for once in my entire relationship, I grew like a foot and a half (there are 15 inches between us) and was TALLER THAN MY FIANCE. Let's file that one under Reaganing, too...

Sunday morning, I went back to The Mercury Method again. I loved it and walked out of there super sweaty. Reaganing again...

My fiance picked me up from my workout and we went straight to CostCo, where we stocked up on all things good. Our most important purchase? Buying that dog bed we've been needing for a while. The puppernickle was super excited and happy when we returned with a huge fluffy bed for her. Look at this grin... Reaganing.

After putting everything away from our CostCo trip, I didn't feel like making a lunch meal. My workout had me totally tuckered out, and I had a craving for a tostada from The Twisted Spoke. My fiance kindly obliged, and we ate at the bar while watching some March Madness.

By the time we returned, I was tired. Two vodka sodas at lunch time will do that to you, I guess... So, I cat napped while we finished two documentaries we'd been working on... one about the Eames couple, as well as Exit Through The Gift Shop (I'm still not sure why it's called that?). Relaxing while your documentary-obsessed fiance gets his fill? Reaganing.

Once my cat naps had rejuvenated me, I got down to business. It's ironic that we went to The Twisted Spoke because I didn't want to cook... because I ended up making A TON OF FOOD for the week on Sunday night.

I put on House Hunters in the living room, and then proceeded to make...

• 8 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces (for easy addition to salads, rice, lentil soup, etc), and seasoned with taco spices. For lunches and dinners this week.
• 5 pans of Egg Casserole, for breakfasts this week. 3 are spinach, bacon, and cheese. 2 are spinach, broccoli, bacon, and cheese.
• A double batch of Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip, for a "potluck" at our pre-marriage church class on Tuesday.
• 2 pans of cooked uncured bacon (for lunch, etc).
• 9 Lunch Salads (I have a lunch date today, so we will only need 9 between us for the week).

 So... can we just go ahead and say that making all that food in about an hour and a half was a major Reaganing move for me? Breakky, lunchie, and dinero for a week? Ummm. Yeah. I think so.

After food making, we relaxed and finished a movie we'd been working on for a few days. Sometimes, we start a movie before bed and only get through 20 minutes of it, so it takes us a while. finally finishing it? Reaganing.

GRATEFULNESS:
Dear 30 Rock,
Thank you for teaching me about the term Reaganing, so that I had a term to use when realizing my weekend was going so wonderfully. You've helped me appreciate my time even more!
Love,
Carly

QUESTIONS:

• What would a Reaganing weekend look like for you? What things would you have to accomplish or get done to feel like you could not fail?
• Do you pre-cook meals for the week? If so, what do you make?