A long weekend in NYC

John and I flew back to New York a few weeks ago to deal with the movers.  It was an emotional, yet fun weekend!

Friday night, Jenny and Brooke came over and hung out while we finished up organizing and getting ready for the movers.  It was so nice to see them!!

After having it sit in our apartment for years, John decided to open up the "recession red".  We bought this wine probably 3 or 4 years ago for $5.99.......I couldn't resist when I saw it at the check out counter. The bottle was too cute and the name was very appropriate for the time.  Let's just say the scent was so bad, it immediately went down the drain!!

On Saturday morning, the movers came bright and early.  They spent 7 hours packing up the apartment - they company was great, the guys friendly and very careful with our stuff!  I did feel bad for the one who drew the short straw and spent all 7 hours packing the kitchen!!!!  They took up the entire floor with boxes, etc.....thank goodness for understanding neighbors!

The view from down the hallway on moving day

Saturday night, we met Jenny, Jared, Meredith, Dave and Brooke at a restaurant called Lani Kai.  It was Hawaii meets NYC and was perfect for meeting friends.

Dave......such a sport posing for my pictures!

Jenny, Mer, Brooke

John, Dave, Jared

Sunday morning, John and I met Jenny and Jared for a belated birthday brunch for Jared at the Mesa Grill.  They really do have the best brunch!  It was nice spending the time too!!  After brunch, John and I ran some errands and wandered into a place called the Limelight marketplace.  The Limelight was (15 years ago) a very hip club in NYC inside an old church.  They have since closed down and opened up a marketplace in the same space....all sorts of shops and restaurants.  When we passed the gelato stand, we had to stop!!!!!  Sunday evening, we met Meredith and went to see the Kings Speech, which we all loved!  Then John and I headed to Casa Mono for dinner.  This place is definitely in my top 10 NYC favorites!  Its one of Mario Batali's and its tapas....delicious, creative, inventve tapas!  It was the perfect day!

Jenny, John and Jared outside of Mesa Grill....I swear there was a sign I was trying to get in this picture!

John and his gelato inside the limelight marketplace

Monday was back down to the shore to deal with more deliveries.  We are very lucky we have a wonderful sister and brother-in-law who let us use their car!  And a great baker in Meredith who made us delicious heart cookies, which we had for breakfast! It was another long day, but we managed to make it to dinner for Valentines Day, the first time we've been out on Valentines Day in ages.  Next year, we're back to staying home and cooking!

Mer's cookies!  YUM!!!

John left Tuesday morning and I ran more errands and met Pete for lunch.  Its so strange, when you spend everyday with someone at work for years and then don't anymore......so needless to say, it was really good to catch up!  That evening, I had dinner with Jenny and Conklin at a place called Flex Mussels.  The space was great, the mussels terrific and the company even better!

Mark and Jenny laughing at me because I thought I was taking a picture, but really, I was taking a video!

Wednesday morning I left our apartment for the last time in a while.  It was very bittersweet.  I've been in this apartment since August of 2006 and John and I have spent a lot of time making it home. I am sad I didn't take pictures of what it looked like fully furnished, but I did take some of the apartment  as I was leaving.  Its so strange to me to see it so bare!  And to most of you, it probably looks like a fully furnished apartment!  I now call it the 222 Hotel!

I can't believe I left all the pictures on the fridge!!

I think this space is screaming for a picture so the light has something to shine on!

I spent Wednesday during the day dealing with the movers in Allenhurst.  This job was much quicker and easier!  I had a visit from Alex - so nice to catch up - and then back up to Hoboken for dinner with Jenny.  We went to Bin 14 in Hoboken, had a lovely glass of wine and shared some bites.  It was the cutest little place!  Again, bad with the photos!  I spent the night at Jenny's (I love her apartment and am sad I didn't take pictures of that either!) and then off to the airport at 5am for the next adventure!