summer fridays and tourism

ever heard of the term summer fridays?

well it is just about the greatest idea ever. so many companies in new york have summer fridays, in which companies shut down early. hell. yes.

to continue with amazing news, one of my good friends that i met whilst studying abroad last fall in london starts an internship with the company i am working for on monday! its such a small world and i am so stoked to have another friend in the city!

and speaking of small worlds, in the two weeks i have been in the city i have met FOUR people from san luis obispo/5 cities area. wth right?!

anyways, this weekend was spent being a complete tourist. why?! well my mama came to nyc and is visiting with my cousin till wednesday! it was great to see a familiar face, to spend quality time with family, and to actually eat full meals ;)

saturday morning we walked around the upper east side a bit. another great thing about this city? on saturdays in august they shut down park avenue to cars and its only for bikers and pedestrians to ride/walk/run up and down. it was such a beautiful day for that as well.

after breakfast we really wanted to show my cousin around as much as possible because it was her first time to the city! we went to tiffanys and drooled over the diamonds. oh em gee were they beautiful.

a beautiful mosaic in the subway.

we walked around 5th avenue for awhile before heading down to soho to do some more affordable shopping. lunch of course had to come from chinatown! i googled a dim sum place and hoped for the best. the door was hidden by some barricaded building and looked a little sketchy, but we proceeded inside. Once inside, we took a long escalator up and were taken back to find this amazing space waiting for us! quite impressive! it was huge and very good, though we couldn't really understand what anything was...which makes sense why my stomach rejected the dim sum a few hours later :/ but ill spare any details on that.

little italy

after lunch we went back to lay down for a bit and rest our feet. mine are still not acclimated to the new york style of life. we then met up with a family friend to walk around the FiDi (financial district) and see the freedom tower. quite impressive! we walked around a bit more before i returned to my room to rest as the dim sum was not diggin my stomach.

sunset over jersey

sunday morning we had a delicious breakfast on the upper west side near my apartment.

 breakfast was followed by a lovely walk around central park. i still have yet to see the entire park.

this was just followed by more exploring before going to see a movie. movies here cost $14.00 a person!!!! ridiculous. however, the theatre was the most ridiculously amazing theatre ever! the seats were like first class plane seats, maybe better. so wide. so comfy. and...they reclined. so much leg room. it was insane. i probably could have fallen asleep. so amazing

the line to get INTO trader joes :/

 after the movie we went to ellens diner in times square. its a regular diner, except all the waiters and waitresses are trying to get on broadway, so in between serving tables, they take turns singing songs. quite entertaining.

well tomorrow starts week 2 of work and my last day filling in as a junior account executive. kinda glad for this. friday was actually so busy. i came to work with tons of emails to answer and so many things to do ASAP. but thats the best way to learn.

throw me to the sharks, baby!