Fun-Filled December

Now that all the holidays have passed and the Blizzard of 2016 has wrapped up, we wanted to post about the exciting December we had here in New York before we headed home for Christmas.  The weather was amazing (for December) with most days being sunny and moderate which meant we needed to take advantage!

Our first event is always a fun evening: dinner with the Hudaceks! We enjoyed dinner in Tribeca at White Street.  Would definitely recommend it if you are in the area, although they do close pretty early (10:30pm). So when the check did come, we weren't quite ready to end our visit, so we walked back to their apartment for some drinks and games.  They showed us the new underground train terminal at Ground Zero.  As you can see from the pic below, it's a breathtaking design.

The following week we saw a couple more friendly faces! We were so excited to have Rob and Jenna stop in NY on their way back to CA.  They had just taken a trip to South America and decided to do a long layover in NYC on their way home.  Lucky us!  We enjoyed some morning mimosas while we caught up at our apartment and took them to one of our favorite spots, Hunter's, before their flight back that afternoon.

With another visit from Sean and Gail on the calendar for the end of the month, Meg was trying to get 4 tickets to the filming of the Tonight Show but they unfortunately don't film the last two weeks of December (Holidays with family, DUH!).  During her research though, she did manage to get 2 tickets to a random Monday taping in mid-December.  Fortunately, it worked with Gregg's schedule and we were able to go! The guests that afternoon were Tina Fey (one of our favorites), Dane Dehaan, and Kenny Rogers with a surprise guest appearance by CHANNING TATUM!

Strict 'No Cameras' policy so they take the pictures for you

We got great seats! There we are in the middle of the frame.  Gregg apparently has an excellent sense of what camera angles will be used... he is the only one looking DIRECTLY at the camera.. lol

Later that week, we went to another show but this time, a musical! Gregg's parents had given us an amazing anniversary gift in the summer to go to a Broadway show and we decided on "Fun Home", this year's Tony Award winner for Best Musical.  The show was at Circle in the Square Theatre which has seating all around the stage in the middle of the theatre!  The entire show was an amazing production, very funny and very profound.  We had a great time!

On the way back to Brooklyn, we soaked in some of the Christmas Spirit that had splashed across Midtown in the 2 weeks prior.  The streets were packed from curb to curb with tourists and looky-lous during this time of year but the atmosphere is tons of fun.  We were getting amped for the holidays!

With plans to head back to California on the 23rd, it was a bonus to hear from Bryan and Marcia that they would be visiting the City before we left! They had a packed itinerary but had enough time to come out to Brooklyn for dinner. We went to another favorite spot of our's, Alma, and enjoyed a nice view of Downtown Manhattan while we caught up.  It was great to see them!

Friendsgiving 2015!

Thanksgiving in NYC

After a wonderful early-Thanksgiving and Meg's birthday celebration in the East Bay on November 20th, we put together a "Friendsgiving" party for the actual holiday with our fellow California transplants living in NYC.  In all, there were 9 of us hailing from the Golden State "stuffed" (literally and figuratively) into a cozy Lower East Side apartment for an afternoon of turkey, football, and hyper-competitive Head's Up.

Uber-ing across the Manhattan Bridge on a clear, warm November afternoon

This is how you make things happen with limited space: the table is a closet door taken off its hinges laid across the TV stand (the coffee table is holding the TV at the moment) and one of the hostesses got fabric and made the pillows for us to sit on.  Getting it done!

Mint and cranberry spritzers to start

Perfect!

The wonderful hostesses

Quite the spread!

Meg's famous butternut squash soup starter with Greek yogurt, rosemary, and pomegranate seeds!  And with that the food is all ready so....

Always plenty of room for dessert though :)

We can't thank our hostesses enough for letting all us California kids get together for the holiday.  We thoroughly enjoyed the celebration!  We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and we're looking forward to Christmas!

Boston

October came with the added perk of a weekend off from Surgery rotation so we decided to take advantage and visit some friends in Boston.  We left New York on Friday evening and battled 6+ hours of traffic to get to Beantown.  

'Sometimes you gotta live mas'

Dinner in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Meghan's roommate from her semester abroad in London, Amanda, had not only graciously invited us to stay with her and her boyfriend, but also decided she would give us a locals' tour of the city! Our day started at their apartment in the North End, an historically Italian neighborhood. We toured Paul Revere's house and the old Copp's Hill cemetery before heading downtown.

Paul's front door

The Old North Church.  It's the real-life 'Christmas Village'!

Walking around the neighborhood when Amanda nonchalantly says, "Ben Affleck robbed that laundromat in 'The Town'"

Truth is he robbed an armored truck out front

Get it, Ben!

From the North End we headed Downtown, where there was plenty going on on a Saturday morning. Here we are inside the Boston Public Market, eating the best donuts we've ever had!

And then there were all the pretty veggies and flowers!

And some impressive seafood...

Blue-finned tuna tails

For lunch we ventured across the street from the Market to the renowned Union Oyster House

All smiles after lunch at America's oldest restaurant

A walk through Boston Common and the Public Gardens were next on the agenda.

Boston founded A.D. 1630

Huge George Washington monument. We heard there's a sense of pride in Boston as one of the only cities where the man himself actually set foot on the street named in his honor. 

Master Duck Riders cruisin' into the Gardens

During our tour we suddenly realized we were in the setting of one of our favorite movie scenes!

Amanda and John, picture perfect!

Fall fun

From the Gardens we pushed East along Newbury Street to the Prudential Tower to take in the view!

Boston Common from the Skywalk Observatory

Note the artwork on the side of the tallest building in Boston. It apparently caused quite the stir when it went up in September.

After enjoying some cocktails above the city, we had one more destination to see before calling it a day... Fenway!

There's a bar underneath the bleacher seats that has an open view to the field! Unfortunately, it was the last weekend of the season and the last-place Sox were out of town.

We started noticing that spelling in the area mimics that famous accent

Never miss a second of the action!

After Meg's camera flash went off for this picture, Gregg's neighbor said, "I feel famous, someone's taking pictures of me peeing." 

At this point, we were understandably exhausted and opted for a cab to get back to North End.  We looked up our route on Google Maps and were pretty impressed with how well we covered the city!

We stopped off at Amanda's sister's apartment before heading out to our dinner reservation and enjoyed the view of Downtown to the Zakim Bridge (far right)

Sunday we headed down to South Boston to see the up-and-coming neighborhood with it's food truck gatherings, flea markets, and artisan donuts.  We weren't disappointed!

Like Off The Grid but with a New England twist

Thought we wandered back in to our own Cobble Hill at one point!

Waiting in anticipation outside of Blackbird Doughnuts! Which would prevail: the Apple Cider donuts from Boston Public Market or the artisan fare at Blackbird??

Mmmm... the official verdict is a tie! There are no losers when it comes to donuts :)

Fully satisfied from our pastries, we wandered back to the North End and got some authentic Italian salami for the road and called it a weekend.  We had an amazing weekend and absolutely fell in love with the city. Thank you so much to our wonderful hosts!