Guide to Great New York Visits

My mom came to visit for a long weekend and it was a fabulous trip. Since I've lived here, she's only been in the company of my dad or my grandma so it was fun for her to fly solo.

Because she's been here so many times (and lived here when she was my age), I wanted to give her an experience rather than just another trip. Apparently having your mother experience life in the East Village where you might have minimal graffiti on your door can be a cause for parental concern.

But she survived.

Another goal for the weekend was to cross off a few activities on my "I Won't Get Around To This Unless Someone Is Visiting" List.

And it was perfect on both accounts.

Since this blog is also my only form of journal, bear with me while I remember all the fun we had:

Eating

Duh, of course this is what I think about first. Not only because I love to eat but because I like to eat good food. And since I've moved into a neighborhood with amazing food options - both well-recognized/expensive and quick/cheap - I've been making mental notes of great places to take guests. Friday night after my mom arrived, The BFF and I took her to one of our semi-regular places Tree, which was featured on Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate.

Saturday afternoon we had an extraordinarily delicious brunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar, and that night we ate our Longhorn football feelings at Hill Country BBQ. Sunday morning I took advantage of an opportunity to use up produce in my fridge and whipped us up a mushroom tomato frittata and apple cinnamon pancakes for brunch, and later on I introduced my mom to the pizza most likely to give you a heart attack at Artichoke. After all this great food, I was a little surprised that she considered our lunch by my office (Dishes!) to be the culinary highlight. In her defense, it is amazing.

To wash it all down, over the course of the weekend we had approximately 400 cups of Dunkin' Donuts pumpkin coffee. It's just so good when it hits your lips. If you are in proximity to a DD, I highly recommend try it. (For you Southerners, there is a weird Dunkin' Donuts infatuation here which was one of the hardest cultural differences to overcome. I can now say I'm a convert.)

Daytime activities
When the weather is nice, there's really nothing I love more than walking and catching up so on Saturday mi madre and I took a long walk down the West Side Highway along the water, through SoHo where we spotted my reality celeb BFF Bethany Frankle (celebrites get deemed 'bff' when you see them more than once, according to my logic). Even though my mom has no clue who Bethany is, referring to her as Brittany multiple times later on, seeing someone who is being photgraphed by paparazzi always seems cool and "New York-y." Yes, I am a great tour guide.

After that we walked down a street fair and then on through the Union Square Greenmarket, which has become one of my favorite Saturday traditions. In all seasons it is just beautiful, but fall is to die for.

On Sunday after our stay-at-home brunch we met up with my science experiment neighbors to cheer on our lovely friend Nicki in the NYC marathon. I don't know what I've been doing the past two years, but I've somehow missed the entire production. I'm so glad we managed to see her at the 18 mile mark and again around mile 23. Spoiler alert: cheering is more fun than running, according to my knees.


Night activities

Casual nights catching up over board games and beers at Common Ground in the East Village is a great way to start a trip. (Although I might have had more fun if I actually won.)

Since my mom and I both have short attention spans I figured the hour long show Fuerza Bruta, a very interactive/interesting experience in Union Square, would be a fun Saturday night. FYI, if you're visiting NYC or in the city and want to go, I highly suggest getting "rush" tickets two hours before the performance. For $25 it's totally worth it. $75? Not so much.

On my aforementioned list of things I've wanted to do, Sunday night we went to see the long-running improv show ASSSCAT 3000 at UCB Theater. It was hosted by two semi famous comedians and featured two regulars on 30 Rock. If you're keeping track, I've now seen and/or met five people from the show. (Any day now, Tina and Alec, any day.)

Monday night I had bought us tickets for a launch part for Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook through Gilt City (an off-shoot of Gilt Group which I would recommend signing up for if you live in NYC). Jessica, wife of Jerry, sneaks veggies into tons o' recipes and, because I'm a weirdo who thinks I need to know how to cook for children even though I have nothing in my life, I was super excited. Plus I was hoping and praying that You Know Who might show up. To say I'm a Seinfeld enthusiast is an understatement.

And - drum roll please - he did! And I screamed "OMG MY LIFE IS COMPLETE!!!" loud enough for strangers to hear me. Awk-ward. And yet perfectly amazing.



All in all, it was the perfect trip! Here's a few photos:



"Little Girl, Big Apple" is the title of this shot,
according to the photographer.



Elle, former (not really, just on hiatus) blogger for Do You Fancy Us, stopped by

so my mom could "put a face to the blog"



Just two cool gals hanging out at an exclusive party with celebreties, per usual.



Who can resist such a good photo op?



Part of my neighborhood photoshoot. Yes,

these are the activities I think are fun. Please note

my vintage mink coat. I am very fancy.

Fuerza Bruta. They let you take pictures which is half the fun.



And they should probably put me in the show.