A New York Frame of Mind

This weekend Sto, Pippa, and I had a rare chance to go out of town. So we packed up and headed to NYC to see my cousins. Emily and Jamie have a new house a little north of the city so we went there first. We spent the afternoon admiring their adorable abode and walking down to the nearby lake. Pippa got to ride in a toddler swing (because, as Laura informed me, she is now considered a toddler...but I don't think I'm ready for that!) with a huge grin on her face the whole time. She loves the swing.

Then we headed to Jersey City to put the Pippster to bed at my

in-laws condo and set off to dinner with Emily and Jamie at Craft. Craft is Tom Colicchio's, of Top Chef fame, restaurant. And, as I've already mentioned, I'm a huge Top Chef fan. This time, however, I was not disappointed with my dinner. It was awesome! Not to sound like a complete food dork, but all the flavored were really complex and everything was perfectly cooked. Well, Sto will say that the porterhouse was a bit undercooked but I don't eat cows so who cares. After dinner we stopped in a bar caller Rye for a couple drinks and the conversation led us to hop in a cab to the East Village to a place called Banjo Jim's for some live bluegrass music. It was awesome! We were way overdressed for that type of place and got a few looks, but soon the music started up and everyone was having a good time. At the end of the night I was asking myself why we didn't do this sort of thing more often when we lived in the city? No matter. We still live close enough to have a great night out with great people like Jamie and Emily whenever we want.

The next morning, after a little Starbucks, we took the Path into Manhattan again, this time with Pippa in tow.

We met our other cousin, Lindsay, in Greenwich for brunch. Over Huveos Rancheros we realized we must be close to the High Line Park and decided to wander around until we found it. The High Line is a walking park built on old, elevated train tracks. Its beautiful! We walked up and down it while Pippa napped in her stroller.

What a great way to spend a day in Manhattan!

We packed a lot into a short amount of time and we all crashed when we got home. But it was a great weekend and I'm looking forward to the next one just like it!