NYC

Back last night from a whirlwind weekend trip to NYC.  I took the train up to New York and met my girlfriends at our host's apartment, gussied up, and hit the town.  We went to Westville in the West Village for dinner - delicious.  Then we met up the guys, who got us a table at Wilfie and Nell's.  It was quite the pick-up zone.

Saturday we woke up early and took the Subway up to Midtown and got some authentic New York bagels from Ess-a-bagel.  Then we headed to the MoMA to check out the Matisse cut-outs exhibit.  It was definitely the highlight of my trip.  The colors! And, lucky for me, there was also a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit up that we browsed.

From there I headed out to Brooklyn to meet up with a DC friend who also happened to be in the city for the weekend.  We went to Croxley's Abbey, a great bar in Williamsburg, to watch some basketball.  It was great watching the Jayhawks with another KU fan!  Also, the bar was great - they had a ton of craft beer on tab and 10 cent wings!

Then I went over to Zach's for book club!  I had asked him if I could stay with him this weekend two weeks ago and he said he was hosting book club and that I could only come if I read the book.  Well, as you know, to read more is one of my New Year's Resolutions, so I took him up on it.  We read Some Luck by Jane Smiley.  I was a big fan - both of the book and the discussion it generated.  The book is part of a trilogy and I'm already adding the next two to my "To-Read" list.

Sunday Zach took me to brunch at Stone Park Cafe in Park Slope.  Another hit!  We also perused a farmers market and took a stroll.  Then it was time for me to head back to the real world.

Overall, a great weekend - had good girlfriend time, a good cultural aspect, and good partying time.  Lucky for me I have plans to head back up to NYC in just three weeks for V-Day weekend!  I'm working on convincing the book club to coordinate their next meeting with my visit.