nyc weekend adventures

Well, this weekend was another one for the books!

Starting from the beginning, Friday evening was much more relaxed than a normal Friday night.

Bryan and I stayed in and caught up on our shows from earlier in the week and just hung out. By the way, is anyone else loving New Girl this season?!

Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day in the city!

We were invited to a birthday dinner in the West Village and decided to use the occasion as an excuse to have a full-scale city adventure.

Bryan, our friend Sam and I headed to the Museum of Natural History. And while a lot of the exhibits there could definitely use some updating, it's a staple of living in the New York area that always proves to be a great time. The three of us just ran around and had a fantastic time.

It was like we were children again and I loved every second.

After that, we made a trip down to Levain Bakery on the Upper West Side. If you've never been there, you owe it to yourself to check it out. These cookies are the size of muffins and are absolutely incredible. I personally recommend the oatmeal raisin!

We later went down to Chelsea Market just to kill some time before dinner. We ended up wandering around Anthropolgie and spent a lot of time becoming sad about overpriced dresses and just being silly.

We finally met up at the restaurant of choice, Benny's Burritos and after some hassle over the seating arrangements (sitting a party of 10 in a tiny NYC eatery is a headache in and of itself), we finally got settled and ordered margaritas and burritos all around.

If you head there, and you're feeling adventurous, try one of the Bulldog drinks! It's a margarita with a shot of something extra, mine had white sangria, and a Coronita shoved in.

My waitress was even kind enough to add some guava flavoring to mine - which was awesome!

After dinner we ran around to a couple of the area bars, Down the Hatch and Slaughtered Lamb in particular.

Both were pretty typical bars of the West Village, but very enjoyable!

All in all, it was a fun night!

Sunday was a family day, as we were celebrating my grandfather's 75th birthday!

We'll all be going out for the occasion in June when my sister comes home from college, but for now we just had a home-cooked family dinner.

I love every opportunity to spend some time with my family - especially if it includes watching the Mets pick up a win in the final moments of a game!

I hope everyone had as great of a weekend as I did.

And I also hope that you all enjoy the rest of your week!

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Linking up!

easter weekend

While my family does not celebrate Easter, this was a great weekend spending this fun holiday with my boyfriend and his family!

Friday, Bryan and I dyed Easter eggs, which I haven't done in years. We had a lot of fun, and made some really cute designs.

After that we met up with our friends at Effin' Gruven in Bellmore, NY.

If you've never been and live in the area, I strongly suggest checking it out. They have an extremely diverse beer selection and just a great overall vibe!

Then for Easter Sunday, I joined Bryan's family for a vast and wonderful family dinner. This included lamb, ham, lots of veggies, lasagna, and sangria.

Did I mention that it was lots of sangria?

While Easter is not a holiday I've celebrated more than a handful of times in my life, I'd have to say this time was certainly extra fun!

And how did YOU spend this Easter weekend?

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mint + mustaches

Sometimes, when the hectic daily grind can seem to be a lot, there's nothing like a relaxing weekend of not much that can make things feel just right. After a great night on Friday out with my friends Saturday and Sunday were much more low key. Saturday was spent relaxing in with my boyfriend and we (he) created the greatest little dinner time treat. We called them Buffalo Chicken Pockets.

There is something so simple and delicious about the combination of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, chicken, hot sause, and a fun array of cheese. It was really the perfect dinner for a Saturday night in.

Sunday was spent with my family as a celebration of my mother's birthday. Since I was just starting this blog, I wanted to show off my brand new Old Navy sweater. It's sporting polka dot and mint, both of which I'm very into right now. While hoping I would get the perfect "trendy" angle for a picture to feature my new frock, the best shot of the day is this:

Sometimes there's no better definition of "Sunday Funday" then an afternoon (into evening, my family likes to spend a lot of time together!) just spending some quality time with your loved ones. A number of things today have reminded me of how special and scared the bond of love is and while it may sound cheesy, John Lennon really did say it best.

All you need is love.