Globe Trotting

New York State of Mind

After a fabulous weekend in the city that never sleeps, I’m experiencing a bit of withdrawal as I sit at my desk and attempt to work. Oddly enough, 48 hours in one of the most crowded cities was somehow relaxing and decompressing. I think it was the fact that we were able to roam around all day and night with no definitive destination, just the goal of taking it all in.

I tried to refrain from snapping pictures everywhere I went to save my husband some embarrassment. However, I was able to catch a few cliche shots on my phone.

photo(2) — A yummy treat from a Bakery in Long Island.

photo(3) — It is officially the holiday season! The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

I also got to peruse the Macy’s Shoe Department, which is now the largest shoe department in the world with more than 300,000 shoes on display. I was like a kid in a candy store, particularly when I hit the clearance racks. I snagged 3 pairs of shoes, each pair originally over $100 for $150. Merry Christmas to me! Unfortunately, they will be going under the tree so I won’t see them for a few weeks!

I also had what I would venture to say was one of the best meals of my life at Stanton Social. The restaurant offers a small plates sharing menu and each item wasn’t more than a bite or two. Somehow, I still managed to leave incredibly full and more than satisfied. Each dish was even better than the next. My favorites were the french onion soup dumplings, potato and goat cheese perogies, old school meatballs and the shrimp and grits. And…I’m officially hungry.

There is nothing quite like New York during the holidays. The only downside to the trip was the weather. It rained almost the entire time we were there which of course left me searching for some rain boots. I got all excited to try on some Hunter rain boots since I’ve been wanting a pair as long as I can remember, only to discover that they are too narrow for me. As you can imagine, this left me a bit disheartened and debating what kind of role marathon-running will have in my future. However, I refuse to be discouraged and am putting together a comprehensive guide to rainboots this week because I know I can’t be the only one out there with this problem! So be on the lookout if you’re in the market!

This was the first time I’d taken a trip to NYC and managed to get myself to some new, non-touristy neighborhoods. I love that one city can offer such a vast array of unique experiences. I’ll always be a DC girl at heart, but I can’t wait to get back to New York the next chance I get!

San Fran Snapshots

Since it’s Friday and most of our brains are fried, I thought I’d share some pictures form my recent trip to San Francisco. I had such a fantastic time! The trip was the best of all worlds – I was able to work during the week, enjoy the city at night with local friends and family and spent the weekend living like a local in North Beach, courtesy of Airbnb.

On Thursday, I walked along the Embarcadero for a few miles taking in the gorgeous views of the water! I took a million shots of this little tugboat, but thought it best to share just one. 🙂

I went on a run Saturday morning and came across this personable pup, which I affectionately named Rasta-dog.

I continued my run on a trail that lined the waterfront, up a staggering hill through Fort Mason which had some stunning views! Here is one of Alcatraz.

After our run, we went over to the Mission, chowed down on some Mexican food and yummy margaritas, strolled over to Dolores Park and hit up a beer garden, Zeitgeist. All very fun, very local experiences!

On Saturday afternoon, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, a small waterfront town just on the other side of the Bay from San Francisco. The picturesque community was bustling with people dining at restaurants, perusing shops and art galleries and enjoying the breathtaking views. Sausalito was one of my favorite parts of the trip despite the fact that we were only there for an hour or two. I would have loved to have stayed longer!

A view looking out on to Angel Island, an undeveloped National Park in between Marin and San Francisco. You can take a Ferry from San Francisco or Tiburon and spend the day hiking the island. This was in the plans originally, but we decided to spend the day around San Francisco instead.

Some pretty flowers at the waters edge…

And I couldn’t talk about San Francisco without a picture of a trolley car! I took this at Union Square earlier in the week. I didn’t get too much time at Union Square but goodness, would I have liked to have spent an entire day there. Union Square has enough shopping options that even the most hard-to-please shopper would be laden with bags within the hour. Nordstrom, Anthropologie, Zara, Gap, J.Crew, BCBG, H&M (2 stores within a 4 block radius!), Lous Vuitton, Bloomingdale’s, Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Barneys, Sephora, Tiffany & Co. – oh the list is endless! I was heaven, but due to my hour time constraint, my bank account was relatively safe.

All in all, it was an awesome trip and I think I’ll be heading back regularly! I did so much more than I captured here. We bounced around so many different parts of the city that I couldn’t possibly name them all.

Some Gettysburg Love!

Alright kids, this is gonna be a quick post! My darling hubby decided to surprise me with a weekend jaunt to Annapolis to celebrate Valentine’s Day since he’ll be out of town next week. We’re getting ready to explore this adorable little town, so I have to make it a quick post. I promise I’ll take lots of pictures to share, but for now, I figured I’d stay in the historical vein and share some pictures from a recent trip to Gettysburg.

Gettysburg isn’t even a hop, skip and a jump away from DC. It’s more of just a hop and maybe a half a skip. In about two hours travel time from DC, you’ll find yourself smack dab in the middle of historical battlefields, storefronts advertising Civil War memorabilia and, of course, just your average Civil War reenactor. I know Gettysburg isn’t exactly the top destination to pop on a DCer’s radar; we ended up there for a friend’s wedding. However, it was a very cost effective, easy escape from reality.

We stayed at the Historic Gettysburg Hotel,a Best Western property, smack dab in the middle of quaint downtown Gettysburg. For $100 a night, our room was decent enough. The hotel is very old, so don’t expect any bells and whistles, but the staff was nice (and in historic costume) and the rooms were clean. We were within a few blocks of cute restaurants, shops and a coffee shop with tons of character.

We wanted to leave Gettysburg with an improved knowledge of American history, so on Saturday, we ventured out to the Gettysburg battlefield. Upon arrival, we realized we didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted to, so we set out on a walking tour of the battlefield site nearby. Here are some highlights:

A view from the walkway of the battlefield.

A fellow battlefield admirer contemplating what went wrong...

All in all, we had a fantastic time. I recommend the Lincoln Diner, around the corner from the hotel, for some stick to your ribs grub and the Ragged Edge for a caffeine buzz, quick bite and free refills. Crazy concept, right? FREE REFILLS. Needless to say, I was a happy, albeit jittery, customer. Go ahead, give Gettysburg a try! Convenient, cheap and chock-full of things to do, it is an easy alternative to a weekend of the same old DC thing!