If you’re on the edge of your seat after reading about our first day in New York, you’re in luck! If you forgot that we were ever in New York since it was almost a month ago now, you’re in luck too! Here’s Part Two. We decided to spend our first full day of the trip in Brooklyn, since that was where we were staying and would be heading back into the city for dinner with one of my closest friends.

 

 

The next day, we woke up to snow. Not just sprinkles, not just flakes, but a full on complete snow storm. All of my New York at Christmastime dreams had come true and I was elated! So elated, in fact, that I chose to A. Curl my hair. (What?) B. Wear a very fancy hat. (What??) C. Skip the scarf and opt for the thin gloves. (WHAT???) I made awful snow day choices, friends. Especially since we decided to tackle Soho all day long which meant lots of walking, lots of snowfall, and lots of time regretting the mornings’ choices. You live and you learn, right?

By the time we made the quick walk from our hotel to the Subway, I was so cold and my hair was straight up raggety. The heat of the subway mixed with the moisture of my hair created a nice little Diana Ross situation which was in full effect by the time we walked from the Subway station to lunch at By Chloe. Thankfully, lunch was fantastic enough to make me completely forget what I looked like and want to relive the meal over and over again for all eternity.

We both got a quinoa kale salad which was so good we ended up having it delivered to our hotel for dinner later in the afternoon. It was incredible- and I’m not a “salad is life” kid of girl so that means something. I also got the banana pancakes and I don’t even LIKE bananas so that really means something. By Chloe is fully vegan and has such refreshing, delicious options that the majority of their customers aren’t even vegan-the food is just that delicious. We lingered longer than we needed to, gathered up all our warm thoughts and headed back into the snow armed with a very strategic list of all the shops and cafes I’d settled on seeing that day.

Just a tip- if you’re traveling and walking around multiple places in the same area, dropping pins on Google Maps helps to show the best plan of attack. I do this every time we’re in a new city and I’ve researched a few places in walking distance and it’s a game changer.

We visited my favorites like Ulla Johnson, Space N.K, Sezane, Maman and Creatures of Comfort while managing to stop in to random new boutiques that I’d never heard of. The one place we knew we must try out was Dominique Ansel Bakery and man, the line and cramped/smooshed standing room was more than worth the wait. I had a cookie that tasted like angels hand crafted it just for me and it took all of my strength to stop at just one. We spent over an hour strolling through a bookstore that caught my eye and I would easily go back to Soho just to visit that place again. We found some journals for my dad and brother, a new prayer journal for me that perfectly matches my blush leather bible with gold lined pages and some cute ornaments and books for the babes.

We left our cool New Yorker dreams behind and ditched the subway on the way home in favor of an Uber instead. O is a boxing fanatic and his current favorite, Lomachenko, had a boxing match that night in Madison Square garden. We’ve been to fights in Vegas before but never in New York so while I can’t stand watching people punch each other in the face, it felt special to be there with him for that one. We had only a couple hours before we’d need to be ready for fight night but that rest time was wonderful. The By Chloe salad came just in time and served as the perfect early dinner since I planned on ordering more pizza when we got back that night.

Lomachenko won, the pizza was downright dreamy and my chest was more sore than ever (why must you always fail me, pumps?) and leftover doughnuts served as the absolute perfect end to a day so lovely it might just be one of the days I remember forever.