In New Yorrrrrrk, concrete jungle where dreams are made of

Mags and I flew to NYC to visit Brie and have our annual weekend of fun this weekend. It was so great to see these girls and we had a blast! We got in Friday evening and headed downtown to meet up with our friend Jess from college who happened to be in New York for work (yes, the same Jess that lives 3 miles from me in Chicago)! We went to Arturo's, this amazing, crowded, family-run Italian restaurant known for their coal-oven pizza.

Saturday we spent the day roaming all over the city. We started by grabbing brunch at Rue 57, a charming restaurant near Central Park. Everything was delicious and the Bloody Marys were as spicy as they were strong! We walked past Radio City but we didn't see any NFL prospects.

Time Square was bustling, as usual, complete with entirely too many people and Elmo. We thought about catching a show, but there wasn't anything playing that we were too excited about, so we just kept moving.

We checked out the green market in Union Square, where Mags contemplated buying some Ostrich eggs (not really). It was such a beautiful day! 

We made our way to the meat packing district and walked along the High Line, an old abandoned railroad track that was turned into a beautiful garden walkway, a nice "escape" in the middle of the concrete jungle.

From there we headed to SoHo, walked past trendy hot spots including Dash and Baked by Melissa (both places are a ripoff IMO and we had no desire to check them out), saw the hostess from Top Chef (I, of course, had no idea who she was but Maggie recognized her by her voice), and finally ended up in the Broome Street Bar taking a break from the crowds.

We walked around a little more (and narrowly escaped getting run over by a bus full of rowdy Rangers fans at Madison Square Garden) before heading back to Queens to relax with manis/pedis in Brie's favorite nail salon. And this is where Mags provided entertainment for the ENTIRE salon when she admitted she hadn't had a pedicure since my wedding (almost SIX years ago)!! I LOVE the color I picked out for my nails. I never paint my fingernails because I am constantly washing my hands at work and I feel like it never lasts, but I couldn't resist.  Also I love that the name of the color was "Chicago Champagne Toast."

Since the entire population of Astoria (where Brie lives) is Greek, we opted for Greek food for dinner at this delicious restaurant named Ovelia. The fried feta was amazing (as was the Sangria) so we got a little carried away devouring it before we thought to take a picture of the last piece! 

Sunday we grabbed some bagels (with the most cream cheese options I've ever seen) and coffee from Brooklyn Coffee & Bagel Co before heading to the airport. We had an amazing weekend catching up, reminiscing, supporting each other, and bonding over the fact that we are old and refer to ourselves often as Grandmas :)  My how things have changed from our college days 10 years ago!!  I can't wait until our next reunion!