The Great Trip: Final Days

Saturday morning we headed out early for breakfast. We decided on trying out French Roast, in Chelsea. I had eggs benedict and the world’s cutest coffee.

Menu.

After breakfast we took a taxi to Times Square where we did our very first super touristy thing – we bought a tour bus ticket. 

The tour was called The Ride. 

It was interesting, but I don’t think I will ever do it again. 

My favorite thing about it was I got to sit down, but the bad thing was that it was super warm so I almost fell asleep – and actually my mom did fall asleep… It was an hour tour, and it was fun, but I didn’t feel like I learned anything super memorable. I really wanted to learn all about the gang wars, the mafia, and the celebrities…

After the tour we stopped for cheesecake at Junior’s (a MUST if you are in NYC) and then we walked a few blocks to get to our main destination for the day – a Broadway show!

We (I) decided to see Chicago! Ricky was dreading it, but I was forcing him anyway. As we glanced at the program, we noticed that Brandi (YES BRANDI) would be playing the role of Roxie.

SHE WAS FANTASTIC FOR THAT ROLE! 

She was hilarious, her voice was amazing, and her dancing was spot on. After the show, even Ricky said he enjoyed the performance and he wouldn’t mind on seeing another show! 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Later that night we met up with the newlyweds at a burlesque show. Since we were all new to burlesque, we weren’t quite sure what to expect but we were excited!

The show was in a slightly scary area, but it meant a $$cheaper$$/raunchier show. It was only $20 to get in, and we were allowed to stay as long, and for as many shows, as we wanted. The show was fantastic! I was quite impressed with the dances, and some, though raunchy, were quite hilarious. Krystal and I drank French Martinis, while Dana and Ricky sipped on beers. This show was definitely something I won’t ever forget!

After the show, we walked until we ran into food. Food in the form of Katz’s and it was ooooo sooooo good. It was here that I had the best Ruebin of my LIFE. “I’ll have what she’s having”

Spotted this gem on the way home.

The next morning we headed out for brunch and shopping. 

We ate at a restaurant called Penelope’s and it was my favorite meal of the trip!

After brunch we set out for some shopping (YES I FINALLY FOUND SHOPPING) on the upper east side before we headed to the MET. 

I tried my hardest not to be rude and take pictures,
 so this is the only one I got!
I just love the yellow couch!

The MET was awesome, but I wished that we had seen it on a regular week day. It was crazyyyy. The tourists were insane, and the annoying thing was that people were allowed to take pictures… This meant there was a line to see EVERYTHING.

After spending a few hours at the MET, we headed to see the Rangers play!

Seeing the Rangers play Tampa was, in the beginning, amazing. I have never seen fans like Ranger fans, I have never seen so many jerseys and so much pride.

But that all was killed by the fact that Tampa won against NYC 2-0. 

It was a longgggg treck back to the car. I was not looking forward to riding all the way back to Orlando with Ricky (the saddest ranger fan) in the car next to me.

Thankfully he quickly got over his sadness, which was good because it took us a day and a half to finallyyyy get home!

Friday Night Festivities

Friday was one of my best friend's 25th birthday!!!

We have been planning the quarter of a century

festivities for months now!

The onlyyyyy thing I didn't have planned for the night was my outfit.

A shower and five outfit changes later, I was ready for dinner.

We decided that dinner at Hillstone was a MUST.

The food is fabulous, the drinks are to die for, 

and the scenery is magical.

(Menu)

After pictures on the lake 

(which were a little hard to take because of the beautiful sunset)

we sat down for dinner and drinks. Sorry, I was too busy being wined

and dined to take pics!

After dinner we went back to Steph's house for 

champagne and cake! 

After birthday wishes and drinks we called for an Uber and set out on the town.

I would be lying if I said that the night didn't get a littttttle crazy.

After a night of fun and dancing we all headed back to our 

little boxes for a night's rest.

ONLY TO WAKE UP TO CAKE CAKE CAKE!

Relentless: Book 1 by Karen Lynch

Relentless: Book 1(FREE ON AMAZON FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG!!!??)

Book description: Sara Grey’s world shattered ten years ago when her father was brutally murdered. Now at seventeen, she is still haunted by memories of that day and driven by the need to understand why it happened. She lives a life full of secrets and her family and friends have no idea of the supernatural world she is immersed in or of Sara’s own very powerful gift. 

In her quest for answers about her father’s death, Sara takes risks that expose her and her friends to danger and puts herself into the sights of a sadistic vampire. On the same fateful night she meets Nikolas, a warrior who turns Sara’s world upside down and is determined to protect her even if it’s the last thing she wants. 

Sara’s life starts to spin out of control as she is hunted by an obsessed vampire, learns that her friends have secrets of their own and reels from the truth about her own ancestry. Sara has always been fiercely independent but in order to survive now she must open herself to others, to reveal her deepest secrets. And she must learn to trust the one person capable of breaking down the walls around her.

Stars: 5

I loved this book. Before I downloaded this book I checked it out on Goodreads. It had an average rating of 4.33 stars, which is a lot for a book you can get for free on amazon! So I "bought" it (it was free for digital download) on amazon yesterday and could not put it down. I truly loved this book. What did I like about the book without giving it all away?

1. The main character, Sara, was an extremely likable heroine. She was fearless, kind, loving, and such a bad ass. She seemed to be looking for trouble for all the right reasons! Every bad situation she found herself in was because she was trying to help someone else.

2. They did not beat us over the head with a love story. I LOVE love stories, but if the girl gets the guy in the first book, I am much less likely to read the second book in the series. 

3. SHE HAD FRIENDS! I hate books that portray the character as the lone wolf. I loved that she had a rag tag group of friends that would do anything and everything for her. They loved her just as much as she loved them and they stood by her until the end.

4. She loves and helps animals. A regular fauna of the forest! Animals were drawn to her, she would befriend anything and everything :). She regularly found wounded animals and healed them with her healing powers (no matter how scary they were). In the end, her selfless acts came back to help her out!

I can't wait to read the next book in this series, Refuge. Karen, you did a fabulous job with this book and I can't wait to see what else you write! Please don't stop!