I was going to finish blogging about my recent California trip, but I took so many pictures that I couldn’t decide what to focus on. On Saturday, we went to San Francisco instead of Hearst Castle (we didn’t up going at all) and randomly were in town for the Chinese New Year parade. The parade is supposed to be one of the top 10 parades in the US, and it was definitely a wild show. There were a ton of people watching (lots of people pushing through the streets) and one guy even blew his noise maker in my freaking EAR while I was walking down the street! Rude. On Sunday, we drove to Monterey and did the 7-mile drive along the Pacific Ocean (the 7-mile drive ends at Pebble Beach). It was a really scenic drive and very beautiful. We also went to In-N-Out for burgers and fries, which made my trip complete. The weather in California was so beautiful - very warm, breezy, and just sunny enough so you weren’t hot. Coming back to New York was definitely a shocker - I was wearing my sweatpants, a sweater, and a light jacket and almost froze my butt off going from the airport to my apartment. I guess winter isn’t over in New York, yet!

One of the many things I’ve wanted to do since moving to New York is going to see a live taping of a show. Luckily, Chris was able to get us tickets to The Daily Show with John Stewart (I’d never seen the show before…seriously). We got to the show around 3:30 and weren’t allowed into the building until 5:30 (it was FREEEEZING, by the way). People were complaining and just started leaving because it was so cold!! We braved the cold weather and once we were let in the studio, forgot how our toes almost froze off. The taping was really funny - there was a segment about daylight savings time (since it happened earlier this year) and Flava Flav did a cameo appearance (not on the show, but there was a taping of his segment). The studio:

After the Daily Show, we headed to The Place, a restaurant in the west village, for dinner and then Magnolia’s for cupcakes. Friday was my last day at my client (for the time being).

On Saturday, we decided to go skiing in Tuxedo, NY, since there’s a deal going on (free skiing until the end of the season). It’s unseasonably warm right now (or maybe not) but anyway, here’s the obligatory picture of Chris driving (with my mink earmuffs this time):

The drive to Tuxedo wasn’t long (and actually, it’s the same route to get to the outlet mall that we went to a couple weekends ago!). When we first arrived at the ski lodge, there was a sign saying that they didn’t have any ski rentals due to the popularity of the promotion. WTF! Luckily it must’ve been an old sign because there were a ton of ski’s/boots inside. It was Chris’ first time skiing, but he was a quick learner (or maybe I’m an awesome teacher) and we really enjoyed ourselves. Surprisingly, there weren’t that many people (we got there around 6), but I thought it would be packed since it’s FREE. A picture of me and Chris:

When we got back into the city on Saturday night, we went out for pizza at John’s Pizzeria (on Bleeker) and it’s definitely one of the best pizza’s I’ve EVER had. It’s very similar to Patsy’s (thin crust), but the crust is very chewy. And SO delicious!

On Sunday, we headed to the City Bakery for brunch (they’re known for their caramelized french toast and hot chocolate). In my opinion, the french toast was really good and the hot chocolate was really thick (Chris compared it to drinking a melted chocolate bar). Afterwards, we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to buy a shopping cart for me and then Pinkberry for fro-yo (they have mochi in the Chelsea location!). We went back to Chris’ so he could put together my new shopping cart:

After setting up my shopping cart, I headed to Ikea with Leo and picked up a new desk/drawers, a mosquito net (impulse buy, I know), and a new lamp. I also picked up a rug for Chris, which I carried back all by myself:

Okay, so I’ve never purchased anything from Ikea before, but seriously, there is SO much to put together! When I was walking through the “showroom,” I was so excited because everything was put together and looked so nice…but when I got the packages back, I was like, uhh, everything is just in freaking pieces! Thankfully, Leo helped me put everything together since he already had the desk. Leo’s awesome - even though he had work the next morning, he stayed until 1AM to help me put everything together and move it to the right place

In two weeks, I’m going to Chicago and staying the weekend to hang out with all of my UIUC friends. I’m SO incredibly excited - and the best part is - Chris is coming, too! I’ll be sure to take millions of pictures (no exaggeration) and post them here/flickr. Let me know if you want to get dinner on Saturday night - I’m making reservations next week!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 3:01 pm and is filed under Brunch, Desserts, Things to do in NYC, Travels, West Village. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.