New York, New York

Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE NEW YORK CITY!? It's tied with Charleston for my very favorite city, and I just can't help but be happy when I'm there. My mom and I left Atlanta the day after Christmas for 3 days in the Big Apple, and every minute of our trip was just perfect. This was my 4th trip and her 2nd, so we had already seen all of the touristy things and were able to have a more laid back schedule this time. We basically ate our way through the city, with some shopping and a few shows thrown in, too. 

We started at Ellen's Stardust Diner, probably our favorite place to go. All of the servers are aspiring broadway singers, and they perform songs while they're working. SO fun! Between 2006 and now, I've probably eaten there at least 10 times, but this trip was the first time that there was a line around the block to get in. I guess everyone has discovered this wonderful little place!

We saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular for the first time and LOVED it. It was so beautiful! 

We tried Magnolia Bakery for the first time as well. It was pretty good, but Crumbs still holds the #1 spot in my heart.

Rockefeller Center

My mom was prepared for the snowy weather! Ha!

We walked along Fifth Avenue for some shopping (but the only place we purchased anything was H&M :) and Saks had the most beautiful decor I've ever seen in a store. My pictures don't do it justice!

And of course, I made a friend in Saks. This is Sooey, and after he kissed me all over my face, I was about ready to stuff him in my purse and take him home with me. Doug would probably be a little upset, but Maisy and I would love it! :)

I fell in love with these Chloe shoes, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to spend $450 on shoes!

We walked through St. Patrick's Cathedral and lit candles for my Mamaw and Pawpaw :)

And then we had my favorite thing to eat in NYC- Carnegie Deli cheesecake. Oh my word, if you like cheesecake at all, you HAVE to try this. It truly is the best in the world, and I'm missing it already. We may have gone here more than once during our 3 day trip :)

I told you we ate our way through the city- on the way back to our hotel, we grabbed a Crumbs cupcake to eat after our show that night...but we filled up on pizza and ate the cupcake for breakfast instead :)

My favorite pizza in the world- Famous Amadeus off of 51st and 8th. We may have gotten this more than once as well :)

We saw the Lion King and loved it! 

On the last day, we were all ready to go to China Town but discovered this instead- the German Christmas Market. It's basically just like China Town, but a lot closer to Times Square and not quite as hectic or sketchy! 

It really was the perfect trip, and we've decided to make it a mother-daughter tradition! Every 3 years, we'll be eating that delicious Carnegie Deli cheesecake :) 

PS- While writing this post, I realized that I really overuse smiley faces and I thought about going back and deleting a lot of them. But then I decided that's just me and how I talk, so I hope y'all don't find it too annoying :) 

Happy Weekend

We had such a great weekend. Well, I did...poor Doug had to write a ridiculously long paper. Only a few more months left of grad school! Woo hoo!

Friday night, we did our usual pizza but no movie since Doug had to write. Have y'all had Fellini's before? I think it's an Atlanta restaurant, but it is my favorite pizza ever. We have 4 of them within 5 miles of our apartment, too...this may or may not have been planned...

When they brought our food to our table, the guy asked "where's everyone else?" We might have ordered enough food to feed a family of 8. We weren't sure if we should be embarassed or proud. Of course, we only ate half of it and had plenty of leftovers :-)

Saturday, I woke up bright and early to be a personal shopper at Share the Dress. It was such a rewarding experience. I seriously had the sweetest girls and it just made me so happy to see them so happy. Here is one girl wearing one of my old prom dresses! I admit, it was hard to let go of these dresses but it was definitely worth it! I want to do a full post on this once I can get the pictures from the photographer.

On Sunday, I had a "blate" (blog date...I think Megan coined this brilliant term :) with Jessica from Miss Southern Vol. We found each other last week, realized how much we had in common and that she lives in my hometown, and decided we must meet! We had lunch at Bahama Breeze (I'm obsessed with their coconut shrimp) and had such a great time! I felt like I had known her forever! Now a double date Braves game is in the works...

Please excuse the pasty whiteness that is me.

That's all for now! I (might) have some exciting news to share soon....we'll see how it goes!



Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!! Doug is 24 years old today! (Which he thinks is really old, but his co-workers got him a Toy Story cake because they think he is a baby! HA!)

I have been very excited to give Doug his presents for a while. We started the celebration last night when we met my parents in Atlanta at Baby Tommy's Taste of New York (the best NY style pizza in Atlanta!) Little did Doug know, the pizza party was just getting started! In my family, we don't do birthdays, we do birthweeks.

For Doug's birthday event/celebration, I have been planning a "Tour de Pizza," a week of Atlanta's best pizza. If you have ever met Doug, you know that pizza is one of his greatest loves. He eats it many, many, many times a week. So I figured, what would he love more than eating pizza for a week STRAIGHT!

I am pretty proud of my pizza-bike creation.

In the next week, we will be visiting 7 pizza restaurants, which have been reviewed as having the best pizza in Atlanta. They include Italian, New York, and Chicago-style pizza. Luckily for me, I chose a few places that serve things other than pizza, because while I do love pizza, it doesn't compare to Doug's love for it!

For Doug's present, I was so excited to finally get him an ipod! Obviously, he was pretty excited, too :)

This is the pizza from Baby Tommy's. Doug said it may be the best pizza he has ever had here. His other favorite in Atlanta (so far) is Zucca's, and we are going there tonight! I guess we'll see who wins!

Pepper hasn't given him his gift yet, but Pep got Doug a UGA leather wallet, which I know he will love! Tonight will be full of pizza, football, and chocolate chip cookies :)