Who Ya Gonna Call?

This week I started searching for places to see, things to do, and popular restaurants in the NYC area. I’ve been saving everything on my google maps, so when we have free times, we can just pick a star on the map and go! I really want to see as much of the city while we can before it gets cold this winter.

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This weekend I thought it would be fun to see the home where the Huxtables from the Cosby Show were supposed to live. It was relatively close to the Ghostbusters headquarters, so we made a morning out of it and explored a new area of the city. I eat that stuff up! Celebrities, TV/movie sets, past film sites… I love it all!

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Look familiar? I’m sitting on Dr. Huxtable’s front steps!

Screen Shot 2013-08-18 at 7.50.39 PMWe got to the firehouse right as a tour group was leaving, so the place was open for a couple minutes for us to look around! We lucked out!

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Have any other places I should star on my map? Restaurants, bakeries, shops that are a must-see here in the NYC area?

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A Visit from Hannah (Tuesday)

On Tuesday, we had our day all mapped out. We were going to go to the Met, Central Park, and Serendipity 3 for their famous frozen hot chocolates. But we woke up to pouring rain and had to improvise. I wasn’t thrilled about bringing Eva into the city with all the rain, so Hannah took the subway to the temple and did a session there. She’s pretty much a champ and conquer anything now that she did the NYC subway without any problems. One of her trains was broken down, but she still made it to her session in time!

Afterwards, she explored a bit and saw an area where You’ve Got Mail was filmed and picked up a cookie from Levain Bakery.

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That night, I took Hannah to Chelsea Market for tacos and gelato. What a great ending to a wonderful trip!
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It was great to have you in town, Hannah, and to show you around a bit! I hope you had a great time and didn’t want to kill us after staying in our tiny apartment!

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Magnolia’s Banana Pudding Recipe

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I wasn’t joking when I said Magnolia’s Banana Pudding changed my life. Okay, maybe I was a bit dramatic. But really. It’s so good. I don’t even really like pudding. Especially banana pudding. But man. This is so good. And after making my own, I know why.

It is VERY fattening. But sometimes you have to make fattening desserts because cookies made with applesauce just get old.

So, here’s a copycat recipe I found online. I thought it tasted just as good as the real stuff. And it costs MUCH cheaper to make your own, considering a small at Magnolia’s is about five bucks.

Hope you enjoy it as much as me!

Ingredients

  • 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1½ cups ice cold water
  • 1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (Jell-O brand)
  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 1 (12-ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers
  • 4 cups sliced ripe bananas

Directions

  1. With an electric mixer, combine the can of sweetened condensed milk and the water in a medium sized bowl and mix together very well.
  2. Add the pudding mix to the bowl and continue mixing until well combined.
  3. Refrigerate for 2-4 hours until it is well set.
  4. Once the pudding is set, whip the 3 cups of heavy cream in a new bowl with an electric until stiff peaks appear.
  5. Next, take your bowl pudding and slowly add it to the heavy cream. Then mix everything together very well. It will taste delicious but it’s not ready yet are not ready yet… it’s still vanilla pudding!
  6. Chop up the bananas into thin slices.
  7. Get a large glass bowl (I had to use a ceramic bowl which is fine, you just don’t see the layers) and start layering. First put a layer of Nilla wafers, then bananas, and then pudding. Repeat until pudding is gone.
  8. Garnish the top with vanilla wafers and then stick it in the fridge for about 4-5 hours, or overnight. This part is the hardest because you will want to eat it immediately. But it’s best to wait so the bananas flavor the pudding and the wafers get nice and cake-like.

That’s it! It’s so easy and tastes like a dream! Enjoy!

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A Visit from Hannah (Sunday & Monday)

On Sunday, we went to church and had a relaxing evening at home. We went on a little walk around the neighborhood and had fun playing with Eva.

Monday, we headed over to Hoboken for a little morning exercise. The line at Carlo’s Bake Shop was long like usual (I can’t wait until the tourist season is over so I can walk in like I did early this summer without a wait), so Hannah just got a picture in front instead. With all the eating out and bakeries we went to while she was here, it was probably a good thing the line was so long!

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My favorite place in Hoboken are the piers that go out over the Hudson so you can overlook the city. Such incredible views and it’s always breezy from the river.

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We then mapped out a couple must-sees on Hannah’s list and spent Monday evening in the city. We started off at Mood, a huge fabric store in NYC where they do a lot of filming from Project Runway. I’ve only seen an episode or two, but it is one of Hannah’s favorite shows so she was in heaven. Scranton would be my Mood.

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The dog above is in the show a lot, I hear. So, that was the celebrity Hannah saw while she was in NYC.

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So many buttons! One day I will own a sewing machine. And when I do, I will go back to this place and go crazy! Oh, one last thing about going to Mood. You have to take an elevator to get to the store and it’s from the olden days! There was an elevator man and everything, opening and closing the big metal doors. It made me so nervous feeling him stop the elevator manually. Yikes.

Next stop… Bryant Park. It’s no secret that this is one of my favorite places in the city. It’s just so charming. Eva and Hannah rode the carrousel together and then we read some books in their kid corner.

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Nice face, Eva.

Right next to Bryant Park is the NYC Public Library. One day I will have to go inside, but I don’t want to take Eva and worry about her making noise. I wish I could say I’d like to go in for all the books but let’s be honest. It’s really because I’m a huge Ghostbusters fan.

DSC01309DSC01311A couple blocks east of the library is Grand Station Terminal. Wow. Just wow. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to see this place. But what an amazing building. The architecture. The ceiling. Just it’s overall grandness. It’s beautiful and the hustle & bustle of the place is so exciting. We met T.J. for dinner there and had dessert at Magnolia’s. Their banana pudding changed my life.

At this point, T.J. took Eva home and Hannah and I walked through Times Square to end our night at the movies. We saw World War Z at a huge AMC right off of Times Square in a building that was once an opera house. I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to see a musical together, but it was too hard planning it out with Eva. So, seeing an awesome movie in such a neat building made up for it!

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A Visit from Hannah (Saturday)

As I mentioned earlier, Hannah-my roommate from college, came to town to visit and to see NYC. We saw a lot while she was here, so I’m going to divide it up into different posts.

First, Saturday. We took the Path to 9th street and had a picnic in Washington Square Park. See those red brick apartments in the back? Have you ever seen I Am Legend with Will Smith? If yes, then they should look awfully familiar!

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I had never been to this park before but I have added it to my “favs” list. There are street musicians and dancers, lots of interesting (crazy) people (we saw a man covered in pigeons and another man who had a pigeon as a pet), and it’s right next to NYU’s campus.

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We made our way through the stores in Soho, walked into one shop and realized I have no idea what fashion is anymore, and walked right out. There are so many stores filled with clothes that look like they’re from the 90s. TOO SOON! Am I right?

We briefly walked through Chinatown – just long enough for Hannah to see gross chickens hanging in a storefront. We then went over to Little Italy so we could devour some legit cannolis. “Best in the city,” they say, and I sure believe them! So good.

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At this point, Eva was in need of a nap. So, T.J. took her home (he was such a good sport during Hannah’s visit… he took Eva so much so we could go out and have fun!) and we took a train to the World Trade Center to see the memorial. We reserved our tickets right on our phone, so we didn’t have to wait in much of a line at all or wait to get in. So, word to the wise… if you visit NYC and want to see the WTC memorial, get your tickets online instead of waiting in line. And don’t bring much with you because you go through security. It was so nice not having to bring Eva and the stroller through security.

This was probably my favorite thing we did during Hannah’s visit because I hadn’t seen it yet. The memorial was beautiful and felt like a sacred place. It’s sometimes hard to think of what happened on 9/11 and to be in the exact place where it happened, it’s unbelievable.

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After the memorial, we had dinner at the Shake Shack, and then walked on the Hudson, through Greenwich Village (one of my most favorite areas of Manhattan… such beautiful tree-lined streets, cobblestone, and brownstones), and ended the night at the high-line.

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Our Weekend

We actually had quite a fun weekend and made the most of our time. On Friday, I met T.J. at Bryant Park and we split a Chipotle burrito. It was such a nice night out, so we just enjoyed the weather, and ran around the park with Eva. We even took her on the carousel-which she loved so much, she cried when it was over. To end the night, since we were close, we just walked through Times Square and got an ice-cream from Mr. Softee. It was crazy busy, but Eva loved the lights and all the creepy characters. One Spiderman TOUCHED HER FACE. I freaked out and about slapped his hand away. Those guys aren’t like the characters at Disneyland.

On Saturday, we went to our church’s BBQ at the Liberty State Park here in Jersey City. It was right on the river across from the Statue of Liberty. The views were incredible (I’ve never been that close to the statue) and we made some new friends.

Sunday, we went to church and then had a few friends of mine from my hometown over for dinner. I hadn’t seen two of them since graduation, so it was so fun catching up and seeing what they’ve been up to. We ended the weekend (and started the week) by watching Shark Week to the wee hours of the night!

Great Weekend in our book! This upcoming weekend will be just as good because Hannah is coming to visit me! #btoml am I right?

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Yesterday…

… marked 2 months of living in the NYC area. It’s no secret that it’s been a hard move for me. But I can honestly say that things are finally falling into place and we are starting to really love our new home. What a difference a couple months can make.

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Gotta get down on Friday!

What a good week! Last week I was in a slump after my parents left, so I was determined to make this one much better! Every day we’ve done something fun and gotten out of the house. It’s made all the difference.

Sunday

T.J. and I walked on the river path for a while. It was such a pleasant night and fun to see all the families out together.

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Monday

I was going to head in the city, but as soon as I walked outside, the intense heat got to me, so Eva and I just walked around the mall and hit the sale section at H&M. It literally takes me 3 minutes to walk to H&M. Once I travelled to Vegas to get to H&M! For FHE, T.J. and packed up dinner and had a picnic in Hoboken and then explored.

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Tuesday

On Tuesday, I tried to meet up with a friend near the WTC for a play date but I was crazy late (I’m blaming it on the train schedule, ok!) and so it didn’t work out. But Eva and I still had fun on a date together. We played at a splash park and had lunch right on the river-on the other side of the Hudson than usual.

Wednesday

My new friend from the ward, who moved in the same time as we did, met me at Roosevelt Park which is just a couple blocks away. We watched Eva play in the splash park, looked through the farmer’s market (it was quite lame) but we enjoyed homemade lemonade and a hamburger.

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Thursday

I joined several other families in our ward and went swimming. That was probably the highlight of the week. It was almost 100 degrees yesterday, so the pool felt amazing. I also made no bake cookies and had to hide them so I wouldn’t eat all of them in one sitting.

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Friday

Our plans for today? Probably another splash pad because of this intense heat!

How was your week?

 

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My Parents + NYC

After Chincoteague, my parents stayed with us for about three days. I never wanted them to leave. Goodbyes are the worst. But that’s besides the point of this post. The point is… we had a great couple of days together!

Backing up a bit, before Chincoteague, my Dad and I spent an afternoon in the Financial District. Most of the area was new to me, so it was so fun to see some new sites.

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Eva had fun chasing pigeons in the park.

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We got to walk through St. Paul’s chapel-the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan.

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The NY Stock Exchange

A week later, on Saturday night-my parents and I went to the Chelsea Market and walked on the high line.

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On Sunday, we went to church together and then went to Central Park afterwards. We also got to drive through the city at night which was the highlight of the trip for me! It was so cool to see so much of the city when it wasn’t busy, and without walking! We even drove through Times Square which was fun since we hadn’t been there for over a month.

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Monday was our last full day together. We set out into the city around lunch time and walked all day long from the World Trade Center to Little Italy to the Empire State Building to Times Square. It was quite a day, but we saw a lot and had a great time together.

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Lunch in Little Italy and cannolis as dessert!

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Just a couple photos from our walk in the city, including two from the amazing Fishs Eddy shop. The dishes are very similar to what you’d see in Anthropologie but at a fraction of the cost. I came home with new silverware and my mom bought a bunch of those adorable nut bowls.

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All of us in Times Square!

You may not tell from that picture, but Eva only has one shoe on. Eva is really into taking her shoes off lately. Without us noticing, she took her shoe off and threw it out of the stroller without us noticing! It really upset me because they fit her well and were perfect for splash parks. A couple days later, I got a package in the mail from Target with a new pair of shoes! My dad is the best and he sure loves his daughter/granddaughter!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for coming to visit! It meant a lot and we loved having you guys!

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Mermaid Parade

On Saturday, we decided to head out to Coney Island (about an hour subway ride away) for the Mermaid Parade. We got on the subway in Manhattan and it was full of people dressed up as mermaids-so we knew we were heading in the right direction. There were some people that had amazing costumes-very creative and elaborate as you’ll see from the video I have below. But some other people’s costumes were so revealing (as in 99% topless) with just body paint (I did not include a video of that). We had to close our eyes a lot. We headed down to the beach and spent the afternoon playing in the sand. The water was ridiculously freezing, I couldn’t even dip my toes in but Eva had fun running back and forth at the edge of the water. On our way home, she fell asleep in the stroller which is a success in our book. So overall, it was a really fun Saturday!

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