Weekend in the City

I had an eye appointment downtown on Friday afternoon (yay for finally getting some glasses with the right prescription since high school!) After that, I high tailed it to Bryant Park to meet up with mis padres! Woo Hoo!! They came for the weekend to see their most favorite daughter.

Hooray for new wannabe hipster glasses (ignore the writing the Dr. had on the lenses...I'll be picking up my pretties this week!)

Christmas in the city is truly magical, and I was so glad I got to spend the weekend with them! Poor little Joe was stuck in White Plains studying for finals, but he was able to meet us in Little Italy at our favorite restaurant Novella for some delicious dinner on Saturday night!

My mom and I continued our hunt for the best cupcake in the city, and we stopped in Crumbs Bakery to do a little taste test on our walk to Macy's. She didn't care for her Vanilla cake/chocolate icing, but my vanilla/vanilla (my go to flavor...boring, I know) was out of this world. Definitely my favorite so far! Do y'all have a favorite NYC cupcake? (Please don't say Magnolia's...gag.)

We also stumbled upon the most amazing holiday shops in Columbus Circle and we only wished we had more time to peruse. They definitely beat the shops in Grand Central, Bryant Park, and Union Square by far! 

I am so lucky to have such wonderful parents that I love to hang out with - we have so much fun together!

Times Square is such a madhouse during December, you can barely walk without getting pushed around. I always complain when having to go back there when people are visiting, but I secretly like it :) 

It was an extremely dreary day, and the Empire State Building was hiding from us behind some clouds 

We had to visit Macy's at Herald Square - it was also a madhouse, but we were determined to see pretty Christmas windows! Thank God we were there because my sweetie pie nurse Mama helped an elderly man who was hurt and confused after falling onto his hip off of the curb. Poor guy!

One of my most favorite places - the New York Public Library. Last time I was here, the marble facade was covered in scaffolding and was being cleaned, so I was glad to see she was looking sparkly and new!

Ohh, the Plaza. Can I please just move in here? Lucky Eloise! We actually just stopped in here for a potty break before a carriage tour of Central Park and the Christmas decor was just breathtaking. Note to self: come here for high tea SOON! 

Chandelier in the lobby of the Plaza...gorgeous, huh?!

Their stay just wasn't long enough, it never is. So excited to see them again this weekend! We are headed down to South Carolina for Christmas/New Years and I am so.stinkin.excited.

Christmas in New York

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in our humble abode! The one thing I was most excited about in this apartment was the mantel and fireplace and I couldn't wait to decorate it all for Christmas! The fireplace wall is giant and very white, so I knew I needed some height and some drama to make it stand out! I used some tall vases that were used as centerpieces at our wedding reception, some white sticks I bought from the market downstairs for $4.99, and six bags of green split peas from the grocery store...super cheap way to create some height on the mantel! I also bought some live cedar garland from the grocery store and ran it across the mantel with some garland that I found at Home Goods. I love love love how it turned out! The cedar smells SO good that I wish it was acceptable to have it up year round! I kept the tree super simple this year and only put up our special ornaments with a few filler ornaments so it didn't look too bare. 

Don't you love Charlie's $2 stocking? Maybe next year we'll upgrade :)

The buffet in the entryway was so much fun to decorate!  I knew I wanted to stick with the color palette of whites/creams, green, and silver so I found two trees at Home Goods and the smaller silver one is a gift from my sweet Mema and is from Pottery Barn. The feather wreath is also from Home Goods (seeing a theme here? love that place!), the nativity scene belonged to Joe's late Grandmother and is so special to us. It is so cheery walking in to the entryway after a long day at work!

As if I didn't already love this apartment enough...it's taken on a whole new light in this beautiful Christmas season!