12/17/13

Top 10 Tuesday!

Well ladies and gentleman, its official, mr. wedding girl is the best! In all of holiday excitment I didn't clue in why he was asking me a ton of questions about New York recently. What would I do around Christmas time? Where would I want to? To see? To eat? I honestly thought it was just a fun game, as we do talk about travelling and our favorite things about each place a lot, especially NYC! It just holds such a special place in our hearts. So when it finally came out that he was surprising me with a trip there for the weekend to see all of the christmas-y things NYC has to offer (including the Radio City ROCKETTES!!!!) I was floored. What a thoughtful and wonderful thing to surprise someone with, he is defiantely a keeper, as if I didn't already know that!

So what were my favorite things from this most recent trip, you ask? Let me share that with you and if you're ever in NYC at Christmas time, which I highly suggest you should be, these are some must do's!

1. The Christmas markets - can you think of anything cuter??? I walked through 3, although I am sure there are more. I saw them at Central Park, Bryant Park and Grand Central Terminal. They all sold similar things, jewlery, crafts, scarves, kitchy christmas goodies and food (there was the most adorable grilled cheese and soup stand at the Bryant Park location!). Its was just so well done, they had christmas music playing and beautiful lights strung up between the stalls, so pretty! Most of them we're open all day until 11pm, a highlight for sure!

2. The shop windows - New York does this right. The store windows are amazing, so well done! My favorites were Macy's, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales and Bergdorf Goodman's - they had a very interesting set up, they focused on other holiday's! So there was a valentine's day window, an easter window, a fourth of July window etc. Very cool!


Lord and Taylor- their windows were all vintage.
3. Decorated buildings. I mean, it was like looking in a snow globe. Walking up Fifth Ave. is perfection, the shops are all decorated and lit up, the salvation army folks are singing and dancing, how could you not be super cheery??


Cartier on Fifth Ave.

Macy's on 34th St.



ROCKEFELLER!

Tiffany's on Fifth Ave.

4. The food! Everytime I go to New York, a few things are a MUST. I love pizza and this is the city that does it right, I've never been disappointed. My favorite pizza place is John's Pizzeria, close to Times Square, we didn't make it there this year, as we opted to order in thanks to the blustery conditions. I also always absolutely have to get a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. I usually do this within the first few hours of landing, so delicious!! I think our favorite meals this year we're brunch both days. The first day we ate at Sarabeth's which was delightful! There crossiants are out of this world and its right across the street from Central Park, so the views are amazing! The second day we ate at Philip Marie, this was based on a recommendation from a fellow blogger, Karly Kim. She lives in NYC and provided a ton of helpful hints, plus her blog is hilairious, so you should probably check it out! Philip Marie was such a lovely little place, it was on a quiter back street, all decorated for christmas, the snow was falling, the music was playing, it was perfection. 

Enjoying brunch at Philip Marie!
5. The Radio City Rockettes! So good, the costumes, the music, the dancing, it was amazing. Santa was even there! If you're ever planning on heading to NYC at Christmas time, make sure this is on your to do list! Apparently, if you buy tickets the day of you can get them at a discounted rate, its very popular though, so make sure you plan a back up night!
6. Exploring! This is really our main focus when we head to NYC. We are literally walking all day long, this can absolutely get tiring, but there is so much to see! This time we did some of the Upper West Side, Times Square, Rockefeller Centre, a chunk of Fifth Ave., Soho, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, NYU and Bryant Park. Suffice to say my legs are still sore after that whirlwind 48 hours!



7. Shopping! Obviously if you go to New York you have to sneak a little shopping in! I got some great deals, I do love a deep discount! I pay full price for nothing I tell you! I love shopping, espeically when they've got the Christmas music blasting!

8. FAO Schwartz. The kid in you will be delighted. This place is so cool, seriously, amazing. It was a zoo, but still worth checking out! Macy's also has an amazing Christmas set up on the 8th floor, the line up to get in was insane, but we definately walked around and checked things out! I love that there whole theme is around believing, so magical! Plus, the soilder will totally take a picture and pose if you ask nicely (or get your husband to ask for you)  ;)


9. The holiday lights tour. I touched on this when I talked about seeing all of the holiday lights and store window displays. I would highly recommend this, first of all its warm and dry, which is huge! Secondly, the point out tons of beautiful displays and give you the history behind it. Its very cool! Another added bonus, they give you candy canes and the tour guide wears themed hats! Perfection!

10. This one is obvious, I saved the best for last- the tree at Rockefeller Plaza. Breathtaking! I know that specific place is very, very special to me, but seriously, people go banana's for this tree, its hard to get close to it. Pictures won't even do it justice! Loved it, by far my favorite moment. 

New York has such an energy about it, there's so much to do and see, its probably my favorite travel destination, however, next time we go, I'm thinking spring or summer would be nice haha. As amazing as it was to go away, it was really lovely to come home and get right into all of the holiday goodness!

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