New York City Girls Weekend

Today is my little sister's birthday (happy birthday G if you happen to be reading). Last year, it was her big 3-0, and to celebrate my mom, sister-in-law, and I joined her for a weekend in the Big Apple. Because it was a year ago, I'm not sure I remember enough details to give you a full blow-by-blow, but I can certainly give you a run down on the highlights:

*sangria and totally delish apps at Haven Rooftop to start the trip off right

very artful, no?!?

*seeing "The Book of Mormon" on Broadway...it was my first Broadway show and honestly I was kind of eh about going, but seriously the funniest show I've ever seen in my life (and that includes movies)...I literally cried from laughing so hard!
*early morning visit to the "Today" show...it was the weekend crew, but still fun to see!

*getting a bagel from EssaBagel...a NYC must, right?!?
*a visit to the 9-11 Memorial Museum...definitely a somber few hours of our trip, but something we all really wanted to see. Such a well done museum. Just make sure to make your reservations for the right date!

*stroll through Central Park and drinks at the boathouse

*doing a bit of shopping and taking in sights like Times Square, 5th Avenue, etc

*dessert at Max Brenner's

*a visit to Top of the Rock

*brunch at Norma's in the Le Parker Meridien. I tried to freak Josh out by texting him a picture of the menu and telling him I ordered the lobster frittata. But really I couldn't resist the chocolate peanut butter waffle, even after Max Brenner's the night before!

We stayed at the Omni Berkshire which I would highly recommend. On my last trip to New York 10ish years ago, I stayed in a very trendy hotel in the Meatpacking district. It was really cool especially because it's frequently in the celeb sightings, but we were relatively far away from a lot of the sights you think of when you think New York and only saw them when we went on one of the bus tours. This time around, though, we were close enough to walk just about everywhere which made it super easy to get it all in at least sight wise. Restaurant-wise, though, I already have a few I'm mentally adding to my list for my next trip!