A Holiday Weekend in NYC

Even though I don’t live in NYC anymore, I’m just across the Hudson River in Hoboken, so getting into the city is as easy as could be. When I lived in Connecticut, I’d go in once or twice a week because it was an hour train ride, but now I go in pretty much every day.

I was so excited for Stacy, my sister, to come visit me here. Both of us had such packed summers that we couldn’t line up our calendar. The weekend before Thanksgiving, though, was perfect! She flew in on Friday and then we both flew down to Tampa for Thanksgiving early Monday morning. (We were on separate airlines but they were scheduled for the same time so we “raced” to Tampa…. I won 😜)

While Thanksgiving hadn’t quite happened yet, we decided to make it the official start of the holiday season!! I would say that my sister and I seem like total opposites and while we definitely do have a ton of differences (in appearance, in personality, etc.), we have a LOT of similarities as only sisters can. One of the big things is our love for Broadway musicals. I know most words to a lot of musicals, but Stacy knows EVERY word. She’s extremely musical and it wouldn’t surprise me that if you gave her an hour and a random instrument, she could figure out how to play any song.

Stacy and my friend Meghan met when we were all on Nantucket together this summer. After Meghan joined in on a Dear Evan Hansen singalong in the car, Stace and I completely agreed that Meghan is basically like our third sister. Meghan and I had purchased tickets to see the New York Pops “Best of Broadway” show months ago and when Stacy booked her trip, I bought her another ticket. We started the night with bowls of pasta at Quality Italian and then walked over to Carnegie Hall. It was already decked out in its best holiday decor.

my coat

It was so good. First of all, attending Carnegie Hall for any performance is a treat, but when it’s an orchestra playing Broadway classics, it’s even better! The conductor was really fun and it wasn’t stuffy whatsoever. My only complaint was that it wasn’t a singalong 😂 They played everything from Brigadoon to Oklahoma. It’s pretty hard to choose favorites, but I was really into the selections from West Side Story (I did it in high school) and Rent (I mean, “Seasons of Love” gets me every time). But the three of us were realllllllly looking forward to “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen. It did not disappoint.

So the concert ends and we are on Cloud 9 and just about to stand up to put our coats on when they strike up an encore. The dancers, the choir, and the orchestra all did “Do-Re-Mi” from Sound of Music. The entire audience was clapping and singing along and it was THE BEST.

They do the “Best of Broadway” every year and I can’t recommend getting tickets to next year’s enough! You will likely see me there.

I hope this picture doesn’t scare you off 😂I bought these eye masks because they seemed cool and I just love the way they feel. They definitely help “de-puff” under eyes and the masks feel nice and cold when they’re on your face.

We woke up relatively early the next morning and decided to go through the bags of beauty samples I have accumulated over the year. It’s great because my sister and I have totally different skin tones so what doesn’t work for me usually works for her. She took home a bunch for herself, her roommates, and her friends. My boyfriend’s sisters came over later and took home goodies too. (And I have a big bag for donations!)

We all headed over to Antique Bar & Bakery in Hoboken for brunch with my boyfriend’s fam; Stacy had only met a few of them so it was nice to have the whole gang together. If you haven’t been and you’re in the Hoboken area, you should definitely go! It’s a little assuming from the outside, but omg, it’s delicious. They have a super old 30-ton porcelain brick coal oven that they bake everything in, including that sticky bread.

Stacy hasn’t seen Lucy since she was a newborn. Was I jealous that Lucy (who never snuggles) was nuzzled on Stacy forever?? No, no….. not at all…….

Brunch spilled over into the early afternoon and then Stace headed into the city to meet up with a couple of her friends. We met up again in Times Square for dinner before a show. We both were craving Shake Shack so we braved the crowds (it’s insane in there) for burgers and fries. And then we devoured the fries so quickly that I got up and ordered another round.

We saw Mean Girls on Broadway. If you love the movie, put this at the top of your list. I thought because it was based on a movie that it was going to be kind of “meh” (I don’t know why), but it was incredible. I thought the entire cast was phenomenal and definitely rising stars in the theater world. There are parts of the show that are word-for-word the same as the movie, in the best way possible.

The next morning was lowkey with bagels and coffee and a long walk with the pups along the water. And a walk for Hamilton means getting carried because he hates to walk. 🙃

my coat and sweater are both old from j. crew & these are my corduroys.

Another highlight from the trip was ice skating in Central Park. This was my first time skating at this particular rink and it was a blast. It’s expensive, but for the experience, totally worth it. Just bring cash if you go because it’s cash only! We zipped around for quite a while and they were blasting eighties music– legit felt like we were in the I, Tonya movie. Then we went to the food haul at the Plaza for lobster rolls and clam chowder!

Before we knew it, we were ordering in pizza while we both packed up and setting 3:45am alarms for our flights!

Even though she was only here for three nights, I felt like we accomplished a lot and checked a few things off the holiday bucket list.