Mid-Winter Vacation

Yeah. Last week was a little busy haha. Getting back into the groove at work took a little more energy than I had predicted, and I forgot to mention that we were headed to New York City for the weekend. Since we didn't get to see my parents for Christmas they thought it would be lots of fun to all meet up in the city and have our own celebration even though it wasn't on the actual holiday. We left Nashville before the sun came up on Friday morning and started off our jam packed weekend from there. It was such a great trip! We had such a good time seeing friends and family, and even though it was absolutely freezing all weekend, we didn't let it stop us from doing everything we wanted to do. 

Friday when we arrived we immediately headed to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and then went uptown to meet my brother Jake at the Museum of Modern Art. After the boys waited forever in the coat check line we had some awesome lunch at the museums cafe and then checked out one of my favorite special exhibitions. After we started to fade we went back to the hotel for a little pre-dinner nap and then walked ourselves over to Blue Smoke for a seriously amazing dinner. Keith and I are old married people so going out afterwards never even crossed our minds... but our NYC friends who never sleep were disappointed they didn't get to see us. Meaningggggg, we needed to buck up on Saturday night haha.

Saturday Dad grabbed us some morning bagels and then we hopped over to Penn Station so we could get out to Long Island to visit family. My aunt and cousin picked us up and we started our drive out to my grandmothers nursing home. I was SO happy that we got to go out to see her because Keith hadn't gotten a chance to meet her yet or my aunt Pam and my cousin Eric. We spent the afternoon with Gram catching up and just enjoying being together. We ate a whole lot of food and had quite a few funny moments. After we left there we went over to see my cousin Thomas, and then shared a couple drinks at my aunt Nancy's house. We all piled into a car again so that we could head to dinner at City Cellar where we had a table of 10. After some great food and conversations mom, dad, Keith, Jake and I got back on the train and returned to the city. Like I said before, since we skipped out on the late night party on Friday we sucked down a Red Bull and went back out on the town. We found a little jazz bar called Arthurs and enjoyed some music and drinks. Once my parents had given up and retreated to bed Jake, Keith and I met up with Amanda, her friend Spencer and our favorite person Peter Grillo to listen to some more jazz over at Fat Cat, which was one of the coolest places I've been in New York. By about 2:30 my eyes were definitely starting to close so we trekked through the snow back up to our hotel and called it a night (err.. morning?). 

Sunday was pretty low key, we had a bagel early and then packed up all our things so we could head out of the hotel for the day. We checked our bags at the front desk and then hopped on the subway to get to brunch at a restaurant called The Smith. My dads best childhood friend Peter and his family came to join us for the meal and we had such a blast. Growing up our families always hung out and vacationed together, and there are ALWAYS great stories told around the table when we all get together. After we ate our weight in food we walked across the street and had a couple beers before mom, dad, Keith and I had to get to the airport. We all said our goodbyes and grabbed our bags at the hotel before we headed out of the city for good. We had a couple of long flights but thankfully the snowy Nashville weather decided to hold off until we had landed safely :)

I couldn't be more thankful for the time we got to spend with my parents this weekend. It's always so great to see them and when great food and drinks are added to the mix, it's an unbeatable combination.

Here is a photo diary of our adventure:

Our view from the hotel... notice the snow coming down on Friday afternoon

Lunch at MoMA

My dad and I LOVE Mark Rothko :)

Monet

Mom and Dad at Blue Smoke

On the train to Long Island

My Grandmother and I

The boys: Keith, cousin Bryan, Jake, Dad, cousin Eric

The Girls: Aunt Pam, Mom, me, Gram, and Aunt Nancy

There was a little accident where my mom and Pam broke a bag of garbage... we were all in hysterics (had to be there haha)

Mom and Nancy at City Cellar

Family friends Peter and Nancy with my Dad

Jake, Bryan and his girlfriend Lindsay at dinner Saturday

Family photo while waiting for the train

Foosball tournament at Fat Cat

Friends Ali, Jackie, and her boyfriend Tom at brunch Sunday

I think I still have some photos left to share, so hopefully I'll get my act together tomorrow. Hope you all had a great weekend too!