NYC

Nate & I had the chance to get away for a few days to New York City earlier this month. We both had been but not together. I went on my senior trip in 2005, and Nate went about 10 years ago for work but had only one day to explore. The plan was to walk, eat, drink, & walk some more...the best way to explore, no? We went with little itinerary and lots of space to do whatever we wanted, when we wanted 😀 The weather could not have been more beautiful, most of the Christmas displays were up (The Rockefeller tree was being decorated, but was not lit yet), and I truly just loved my time with my favorite person! 

We left early on Sunday morning and were there by early afternoon! We checked in to our hotel & started walking around right away. 

The stores in NYC are just a step above. 

We had to stop in at Bergdorf Goodman to see the beautiful Christmas part set up, and to get ourselves an ornament :) 

strolling Central Park...

at our own pace...

...I loved it. 

I know lots of people ice skate at Rockefeller Center but we went to Bryant Park and it was magical. Ice skating, igloos for food, a huge bar area, and then they had a HUGE holiday market with shops & food from all over the world. We ate all kinds of different food from a paella burrito, a German bratwurst, Brazilian appetizers, and the list goes on!

We had reservations later that night at this cool speakeasy/piano bar. 

This might have been one of my favorite parts of our trip. The vibe was cozy, people were having a great time, and the pianist played everything from Coldplay to Justin Bieber and anything else people requested. 

I couldn't get over the beautiful Christmas displays everywhere. 

The next day we had tickets for the 9/11 museum. The last time I was here it was still Ground Zero and a huge construction site. The memorial is incredible. Moving. Sad. Lots of emotions, but it's a beautiful tribute to the people who lost their lives due to 9/11 events. 

We walked the Brooklyn bridge all the way into Brooklyn & explored more over there...

That skyline 💓

On our way back, the sun was setting & it was so beautiful. 

If you look close, you can see the Statue of Liberty in front of the sun. 

We hit up another speakeasy bar for drinks...

It's hard to get a good picture because it's super tiny, dark, & really chill. So I snapped a couple of quick ones but they don't really do the inside justice .

We quickly visited Times Square...

and then took the Subway over to Greenwich. I had a friend recommend this area and then I also realized it had the FRIENDS apartment, so we made sure to stop by. 

Obviously the show wasn't filmed there, but this is the apartment that they used for shots of their apartment building. 

On our last night, we hit up this rooftop bar (that has closed windows during the cold months). It was beautiful and we just happened to get in before a concert at Madison Square Garden. 

When I planned the trip, I had most of our itinerary planned but I decided on our last day, we'd do whatever Nate wanted. We did lots of exploring & eating, and then he decided we should see his favorite band, The 1975, at Madison Square Garden. While we've seen them together in Chicago (and he's seem them multiple times other than that), it was still so fun to be at MSG & see their full show. 

It was a great way to close out our trip! 

We headed back to the kids the next morning & got home in time to unpack & then grab the kids from school, and hit the ground running with our normal routine. Life is so beautiful with you, Nate. 

xox,

Naomi

Cincinnati Weekend

 A few weekends ago we headed out to Cincinnati for the Bengals vs. Bills Sunday night football game.

 We left Saturday morning & got there in the afternoon. We played at the park, walked around the city, and then headed to eat dinner at a Incline Public House which had beautiful views of the city.

Pretty view, right?

Sunday we did some more exploring including walking the Purple People Bridge...

and exploring their well known Findlay Market...

Then we headed to dinner before the game. They were all so cute in their jerseys 😍

Maddox is a big Bengals fan & Jacoby is a big Bills fan. How? Well, when your parents root for the Chicago Bears & they're pretty terrible, it's hard to root for them. Jacoby loves Stefon Diggs and Maddox started rooting for the Bengals years ago because he liked their tiger helmets :) 

It's not every day that your kids teams are good & playing against each other on a big stage like SNF! Kendry changes teams every week, and this week it was the Lions. He wanted to wear a jersey like his brothers and Jacoby offered him one, so apparently he was a Bills fan this night...but truthfully he was just there for the snacks :)

See? haha. 

He was having the time of his life :) 

The Bengals came out with the win -- and being the home team, it was super fun! The crowd was wild, the weather was perfect, and both kids got to see their favorite players play! Jacoby had a good attitude even though it wasn't the outcome he wanted. I think we need to take him to a home Bills game some day too. 

We had the BEST time. We left the stadium around 11:45pm with tired but happy kids. It's a memory with my very favorite people that I will hold forever 💓

xox,

Naomi