NYC and Boston

Hey friends,

With Monday off and being sick on Tuesday (oh yeah, I didn’t mention that we all managed to get some level of cold during our travels?), this is becoming quite the short week, which is tough since there is a lot of work to do.  And believe-you-me, there is nothing I like better than to be busy at work!

Sadly it’s already been a week since we touched tough in the Big Apple and our visit was far too brief.  Sigh.  Same for Boston and bestie time.

Here is a quick general recap of what we did:

Thursday (NYC):

• Eataly – Mario Batali’s awesome indoor Italian market.  Loved.
• Empire State Building (but didn’t go to top because of crazy rain/fog)
• Rockefeller Plaza
• Dean & Deluca for a snack
• Times Square (and some shopping for colored jeans since my jeans were soaked)
• Attempt at dinner at Italian place in theater district (cut short by screaming baby)
• Dinner success at chain cheap-o pizzeria (Little Italy) where I had a phenomenal spinach pizza – so greasy, so good
• 10p bedtime for all 3 of us

Friday (NYC):

• Met up with old Stanford friends (that now live in NY) and their two wee ones in Central Park
• Central Park Zoo
• Lunch at a fabulous café (salads made to order, perfection)
• Challenging subway ride down to financial district
• Froyo (subpar IMO)
• Ground Zero / Freedom Tower
• French restaurant for apps and vino (aka the location where I was massively pooped on and had to throw away my sweater)
• Cab ride back up to Midtown
• Random shopping
• Magnolia bakery –> slice of coconut cake the size of my head for dinner, eaten in Rockefeller plaza
• Early night in hotel – by the way, we stayed at Cassa Hotel in Midtown and loved it.  The location was perfect and the staff was incredible! 

Saturday (NYC/Boston):

• Met up with my friend Kurt and his (expecting!!!) wife Jess who were also on vacay from Chicago
• Had a scrumptious breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien with Kurt, Jess, and two of their friends
• Strolled to Penn Station for our 1p train to Boston
• Made stop at DD and scored a free iced latte
• Arrived in Boston at South Station and headed to bestie’s (new) house!
• Met Tate – Andrea and Ilya’s perfect baby boy!!!
• Grilled out and chatted to our heart’s delight

Sunday (Boston):

• Bestie and I hit up Bikram (first time since finding out I was pregnant and felt oh so good)
• Another visit to Dunkin Donuts (don’t judge)
• Chipotle for lunch with the boys and babies
• ….and froyo for a desert at Yeh!  Hey it was right next door!
• Champy purchase pitstop
• Mini-dinner party with two additional friends that live in Boston

Monday (Boston / plane ride back to SFO):

• Pajama photo shoot
• Blueberry pancakes made by the bestie
• Long walk with the boys and babies
• Relaxing and watching SYTYCD (just like old times)
• Airport – a looooong time waiting for our flight…oye

I loved getting to experience my bestie as a mom.  Seeing her with her little tater tot made my heart soar.  I only wish we lived closer so we could have every weekend be like last. 

The trip was far too short, but was such fun and hopefully has prepped us for longer, bigger adventures with bean in the future.

Did you go anywhere for Memorial Day Weekend???  I should make this an annual thing

Philly and HLS Part 1

I’m baaaaack!

And it feels good to be home, seeing the hubby, the pets, and getting back in my routine.  I think this preggers girl is just about done with traveling.  One more trip to Denver in a week and then I think I’m not going to be on planes for until after Baby O is born (insert happy dance here).

Philly and the Healthy Living Summit was a whirlwind.  It was wonderful, enlightening, and exhausting all in one.  I’ll be breaking up the recap over 2 days just so not to overwhelm

Travel to Philly was pretty good minus the horrible shuttle driver I had from PHL to the downtown Marriott – somehow I landed at 10p and didn’t get to the hotel until 12a.  FAIL!

But after a good night’s rest, I met up with one of my best college buds from Northwestern U –> Qamara!

(If we look a little worse for the wear it’s because we already trekked a few miles around in the humidity…next time remember, photo first!)

Our first stop was Reading Terminal, which reminded me a bit like Pike Place Market in Seattle full of delicious eats, homecrafted goods, and restaurants sprinkled throughout.  LOVE places like these!  It would also be the sight of our HLS cocktail party that evening!

Q chose for us to have breakfast at Down Home Dining.  And as much as I love my pancakes, I knew that oatmeal would be the most sustaining:

After breakfast we walked around Reading so I could drool some more:

I had to buy a cookie from 1st Street Bakery – I chose an oatmeal raisin and while tasty, it was a bit heavy on the buttah flavor, which isn’t really my thang.  Oh well.

Next up, we tried to see the Liberty Bell, but the line was annoyingly long so I just snapped a photo from afar along with some other Philly sites:

After some more walking, a stop at Dunkin Donuts for an iced latte () and a walk through Macy’s, it was time to meet my roomie Jillian from Sprinkle Massacre and quickly head to lunch with a some other HLSers.

The destination was Govinda’s Vegetarian – our group of nearly 30 (?) overwhelmed the tiny place, but to get a veggie Philly cheesesteak sandwich was worth it!

After trekking back, Jillian and I spent a couple hours resting and chatting before our cocktail party.

All gussied up

Cocktail party shots at Reading Terminal:

And some new friends!

Laury from The Fitness Dish (I stole her photo).  She’s so easy to talk to – I wanted more time!

Lisa from I’m an Oakie – this girl has an awesome infectious personality!

And from our photobooth fun, CJ, and Janeetha from Meals and Moves – this girl is beyond real.  Love when people are what they show on their blogs!

I met so many other awesome girls, but didn’t take a lot of photos.  I was too busy having fun

First day Philly & HLS impressions:

• Philly is a great city – love that you can walk so many places
• Reading Terminal would be my haven if I lived there
• It’s never too late (read: 10 yrs) to catch up with old college friends
• I lucked out with a  great roomie in Jillian
• It is hard work to coordinate 200+ bloggers for a cocktail party
• I’m glad I wasn’t super hungry Friday night because the apps were lacking a bit
• You don’t need alcohol to have fun, but a photobooth sure helps get ya silly!

Phew!  Long post! 

Any favorite moments from Day 1 of HLS?

Or best moment of your weekend whatever you did?

What city do you want to see HLS in next?  I say Denver or San Francisco!

 

 

WIAW–Boston style!

Hi friends –  Based on yesterday’s post, sounds like I’m not the only one that buys the same things as my friends  

I’ve been keeping up on all your blogs, but it’s hard to comment on vacation and on an iPhone, so just know that I’ve been thinkin’ about ya!

Alright, today’s What I Ate Wednesday, courtesy of the awesome Jenn at Peas and Crayons.

I didn’t take photos of everything (obviously) and some seriously good eats didn’t make it, but trust me when I said, I may have had the best scone of my life at the B&B we stayed at Saturday night in Cambridge.

Okay moving on…

Afternoon tea and cookies at Cambridge B&B Mary Prentiss

Dinner at John Harvard’s in Harvard Square (my Southwest pizza rocked, but left me feeling quite ill..oye.  Zach’s steak on the right)

Mexi coleslaw (so easy, so good, fun twist) and homemade blackbean burgers (YUM!)

My first ever DD iced latte and a blueberry cake donut (I can see why you’re addicted Courtney!)  I got two while I was there

Cranberry Lemon Chobani scones – these were so freakin’ tasty!  Just take this recipe and swap 1 cup fruit for 1 cup dried cranberries.  I made a Strawberry Chobani Ccone version here.

So yeah, you can see I didn’t go hungry!

Have you been to Boston?  What great eats did I miss? 

Are you a Dunkin Donuts fan?