Last time on Spring Break 2016, we drove away from Las Vegas after indulging in gluttony and finally headed to Los Angeles for my first-ever visit to the City of Angels. We settled into our AirBnB studio in the scary-by-night Arts District and tried to catch up on rest knowing that we wouldn’t get many opportunities for rest over the rest of our trip.
This was also one of the few days that Megan and Don were rid of us. Maybe next time they’ll think twice before inviting us to the bachelor/ette parties right before the wedding AND to dine with them during their honeymoon at Disneyland right after the wedding. It was a lot of face time with us, possibly more than the cumulative time we’ve spent together during the rest of our friendship…
It rained all day on our first day in LA. This was pretty disappointing as I shook a fist at Adam Levine for teasing me with hot southern California days. From what I understand from my friends who live in the area, LA doesn’t handle rain very well. The wifi at our AirBnB studio wasn’t working, and when I contacted our really lovely host, she found out that all of downtown LA’s wifi had been knocked out by the rain. Welp, sorry data plan, I needed a lot of directions.
Mmmm pie!
Earl Grey pie
Shepherd’s Pie
With our horchata latte
I love pie a lot
That also explained why I couldn’t check in on Belly at Pie Hole (review) the nearby pie shop that I was dying to visit as soon as I saw that it was near our studio. We gobbled down a little Shepherd’s Pie and a slice of Earl Grey pie, washed it down with a horchata latte, and braced ourselves for a taste of LA’s infamous freeway traffic as we prepared to head to…
Ben and I weren’t really sure about what the must-see attractions in LA were, but The Getty Center came up time and time again, so we decided to visit on our first day. It took us 40 minutes to get off an exit ramp that was 1.5 miles away from our destination, but that’s fine, it wasn’t as bad as I thought the traffic would be getting there.
(I also may have had my only celebrity sighting trying to get off this exit ramp, as I maaaaaaay have seen Benny Fine driving past us? But, honestly, it could’ve just been a guy with dark curly hair and glasses…)
The Getty Center is one of the two buildings that comprise the J. Paul Getty Museum and it houses 19th- and 20th-century works of art across several multi-level buildings.
You take a tram up to the museum so that you don’t have to drive up to the ridge, so that there isn’t an ugly parking structure, and for fun!Despite the rain, the drought wasn’t really helped
One of the most famous pieces at the Getty Center is Van Gogh’s Irises, which became the 10th most expensive painting in the world (account for inflation) when it was acquired by the Getty Center.
My big head blocking your view of Irises
I had a lot of fun getting in the museum mood with Ben and hiding from the rain that just would not let up…Read More »
Last time on Spring Break 2016, the bachelorette party crew enjoyed a lot of good food, some poolside chillin’, and an amazing concert at the new T-Mobile Arena by The Killers, with Wayne Newton, Shamir, and special appearances by the Blue Man Group and Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons. After all that excitement, it was time to get ready to leave Las Vegas…
Thursday was our last day in Vegas, and I woke up with the sun yet again despite how dead-tired I was the day before. But it was going to be our last time seeing the desert and the craziness that is Las Vegas, so we just enjoyed it while packing our things. At this point, Kristine had already flown to LA (which I momentarily forgot when I woke up and thought I had kicked her off the bed whoops) so Megan, Jennifer, and I just chilled and finished the champagne and orange juice we had while waiting for the boys to pick us up in the rental cars and watching HGTV. (I think I understand why people get so into HGTV now; we watched two full episodes of Flip or Flop because we just felt too invested.)
I was so willing to wait through anything, though, because the bachelor and bachelorette party crews were finally uniting over a magical thing: gluttony at Wicked Spoon. I am a big fan of buffets and was pretty excited to try out the caliber of buffet that Vegas offered, seeing so many trips by so many friends that checked off this Deadly Sin off their list.
Welcome to Wicked Spoon
Considering that we had been waiting in our hotel for this epic food-stuffing for over an hour, we were completely famished. Walking in was a little bit overwhelming for me, because I knew that I wanted to pace myself but also that I wanted to eat a lot of food and fast. These, as you can imagine, are conflicting goals. So, I took a stroll around the buffet to get an idea of what I definitely wanted to eat and what could be passed over in case I got too full.
A view of a portion of the buffet (the salad part, because goodness knows I needed this section)
Wicked Spoon is nice in that they do small, individual portions of food instead of having you scoop out too much of every dish and realizing that you got too excited too soon. (This happens to you too, right? … right??) So they call it “small plates”-style but it’s perfect because you just get a little dish of food and you don’t have to share anything muahahahah! This also aids in pacing because you can only fit so many little dishes onto your plate.
Let’s just share some photos of my food now, shall we?Read More »
This past weekend, I took a little weekend getaway with my boyfriend back to my native metropolis of New York. I was born and raised in New Jersey, and I will always love the city. My boyfriend really wanted me to share my love for the city with him, so off we went on Thursday.
OKAY I need to say something about BoltBus. Now I have heard a lot of good things about them, but it was my first time riding with Bolt to go up to New York. It was good and very timely but DANG, the air conditioning was blasting onto me the entire trip and I was fuh-reeeeezing. Seriously, they need to fix that. Way too cold. The entire wall of the bus was cold, so I had to lean away from the side of the bus and cover the vent with my jacket, because wearing my jacket didn’t really keep me warm when there was air blasting at me. 😦
OKAY SO. (Links to my reviews included.) We stayed at the adorably Irish Fitzpatrick Grand Central. (Seriously. So Irish. So adorable.) Very comfortable stay, and the location was great. We were only a few blocks away from the Halal Guys cart at 53rd and 6th, so we were pretty much golden.
I saw my old friend from elementary school, Connie, for dinner that evening. It was really nice catching up with her, and I was really relieved seeing her. I remember the last time I saw her having nothing to say… so it was nice to feel like we didn’t have enough time to say everything we needed to say. We ate at Baohaus because Max Brenner is closed for renovation. 😦 Then we headed literally around the corner to try Momofuku Milk Bar, since I’ve heard soooo much about David Chang and his Momofuku restaurants and the cereal milk and the crack pie. (Verdict: Okay, not worth the hype though.) Then we just chilled in Union Square for a little bit before she headed off to go back home.
Connie and I have been friends for nearly 16 years, how is that possible??
We walked to the High Line, which is one of my favorite places in the city. I think it’s just so nice to be above all the craziness, plus I love the urban design of the park, which used to be part of a railroad line. There’s a bunch of plants and sculptures and great views up there. It was nice to visit with my boyfriend this time, because it is definitely a very romantic place? And almost exclusively visited by couples. The last time (and first time) I visited, it was with some of my bros. Hahahaha awkward.
Then we decided we’d just walk back to midtown, taking a little detour through Times Square so that Ben could see what was what. I spent a very long time in the Disney Store because I’m a pretty big Disney geek. It was a wee bit frustrating for me, mostly because Ben’s childhood is suspiciously devoid of Disney. He asked me such absurd-to-me questions as: – Is Goofy Disney? – That looks like Mary Poppins, but she’s not Disney, right? – What’s this from, Hunchback of Notre Dame? (Pointing at BELLE in the Beauty and the Beast section of the store.) (He reasoned that both stories were the same thing. Ugly guy, pretty girl. WOW SO MUCH WRONG.) Basically, if you imagine me staring at him slack-jawed and then slamming my palm into my face, you’d be right.
We then went off for chicken & rice at the Halal Guys’ famous cart at 53rd & 6th and walked back to our hotel, where Ben was blown away by how yummy the food was. Duh, I would never lead you astray.
The next day, we slept in. This is a big deal for me because I’m the kind of person who tries to squeeze as much fun into a vacation as possible. But Ben is the kind of person who likes to sleep in and laze around. It was pretty relaxing to try it out this way, not gonna lie, and I go to the city so often that I have no need to rush around. We went off to go eat lunch at Ippudo Westside (amazing service, seriously). Then, we headed off toward Central Park, making a stop at Columbus Circle and wander around the Shops in the Time Warner Center. We walked about and enjoyed the truuuuuly nice weather we were having.
I got a bit silly while Ben was working out dinner detail on the phone.
We were going to meet Ben’s old roommate and his girlfriend for dinner, so we started down 5th Ave to do some casual shopping and for me to point out some key spots. Stopped by Uniqlo but I get super overwhelmed by stores on that scale. (e.g. the Forever21 in Times Square, the H&M on 5th Ave…) But I had fun shopping around, looking at things, before we headed down to St. Mark’s for dinner.
I had eaten the Korean fried chicken (aka KFC) at Boka before, and I was trying to not let it bug the bejeezus out of me that Ben’s roommate didn’t want to make reservations for us on a Friday night… I figured it he wanted drinks, I’d just take us to this Korean bar for wings and watermelon soju. (They serve it in a watermelon!) We ate, I grabbed some bubble tea, and we sat around in Washington Square Park for a bit before heading our separate ways.
Ben and I went back through Times Square, where I went back to the Disney Store and ultimately bought 2 things:
I got this T-shirt because a) it was one of the FEW things on sale due to the fact that b) it is a limited edition Artist’s Series Snow White T-shirt. They only had it in large and 2XL… but I bought the large because I did like it and it is a limited edition. I don’t know any fancy tricks to make it fit my body better, so I’ve only worn it underneath blazers and cardigans so far.
I figured since this is the Manhattan Disney Store, I should get something that shows my love of my favorite city and of the Mouse himself, so I grabbed this tumbler. I don’t know when is best to use it, but I liked the design a lot. I would’ve gotten a T-shirt if the ones I liked came in smaller sizes. (Why were all the shirts either an L or a 2XL??) (Or ugly?)
Grabbed some more chicken & rice on our way back to our hotel and got some sleep in preparation for our final day in the city.
We headed BACK down to the East Village again (again) to eat brunch with some of my friends I knew in high school. We ate at Yuca, this trendy tapas place with a pretty yummy brunch menu, and chatted about some random stuff. I’m glad my friend Albert was able to make it because he helped add a little more energy to our otherwise sleepy Saturday morning. Then we rounded the corner to hit up the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop, which I’ve heard a lot of hype about, too. Good ice cream, good drag queen.
Albert, myself, and Willis
Ben and I then headed for Chinatown, where we walked around a bit and got a quick bite to eat at XO Kitchen (recommend!). I was able to walk along the Brooklyn Bridge after, which I’ve never actually been able to do before! That was pretty fun, although it was a much longer walk than I anticipated, just trying to get halfway across the bridge. Ultimately, we had to turn back so that could catch our bus back to DC.
I had a great time, and even though I was being really difficult about the planning, I am super glad that I was able to relax and attempt going with the flow with Ben. I saw some old friends, I got some Disney swag, I ate delicious food, I got to spend time in my favorite city. It was a great trip.
2013 Yelp 100 Challenge I am a fairly avid Yelper, so here are all of the reviews I’ve posted to Yelp for the year 2013. It’s primarily restaurants, with a few other things thrown in there. I don’t think I’ll reach 100 by 31 December (I’m only at a little over 30 and we’re almost […]
One of the most famous pieces at the Getty Center is Van Gogh’s Irises, which became the 10th most expensive painting in the world (account for inflation) when it was acquired by the Getty Center.
Sip of Starrshine 