Brett and I are always thrilled when we have the opportunity to travel.  We have both visited New York City, but this past weekend was our first time to visit the Big Apple together!  My good friend Jessica moved out there years ago, and I had yet to have the opportunity to make it out there to see her.  Since moving there, she has met her husband, Tony (you may remember their wedding), and over the weekend they celebrated their 2 year anniversary together!

Jessica was so great at planning out loads of places to go, things to do, and great things to EAT.  As soon as we arrived we all went out for a nice walk and saw a beautiful sunset.  “Walk” became a familiar word on this trip, and by the end I was ok if the word was removed from my vocabulary.  ;)

The next morning we had the most beautiful skies, the air was cool and crisp, and I silently gloated that we had chosen the most beautiful weekend to visit. ;)

If you have seen our posts from Los Angeles in the past, then you know that FOOD is our favorite thing to explore while visiting places, and we often photograph where and what we eat.  For some reason in New York, the restaurants were very unwelcoming of cameras (unlike LA), so we were not able to take photos of the great restaurants. BUT MAN, were they GOOD.  So here we are outside of one, which will remain nameless, because they were not nice to my baby camera.

Now these guys didn’t care about photos.  This is one of the oldest (or Tony, is it the oldest?) bars in the city.  They have the chair inside where Abe Lincoln sat, and they have a firm policy of “drink or get kicked out.” They only began allowing women in the establishment in the 1970’s.

The original dust from over the years….I kid you not (followed by their excellent home brewed beer, the only kind for sale there,  and original table with original carvings).

That night we had two of our other friends who live in New York come over and hang with us on Jess and Tony’s amazing rooftop.

The next morning we went over to Governor’s Island, and we had such an amazing view of the city.  We were also very impressed by some of the city’s architecture (see Flat Iron below).  Brett got such GREAT shots, and I am just thrilled at the thought of making one a canvas someday.

We split up with Jessica and Tony to give them some alone time on their anniversary.  First we did a scheduled shoot (coming soon!) and then went to a great dinner.

That night we were a little blown away from this view from our floor to ceiling windows from the 17th floor of our hotel room.  If you follow Brett on his twitter, then you know all about it!  He was SO (overly) good at explaining everything we did all weekend.  :)

This is Indy, Jess and Tony’s doggie.  I’m not a big dog person, but I adore this little guy.  He was so worth the Claritin I had to take.  ;)  As I was packing, this is what he came over and did….

Special thanks to Brett who did the majority of shooting.  I found that I just wanted to soak things in through my eyes, in the moment, but he was so good about whipping out the camera, and I am so thankful he did. Also, BIG BIG thanks to Jess and Tony!  We had an incredible time, and they were positively the best hosts, in one of the most amazing cities.  It is so easy to see how this city wins over so many hearts.

More from NYC next week.  :)

Dear sweet blog,

I never meant to neglect you so badly this week.  We went to visit friends in New York over the holiday weekend, and then NYC so kindly gave me a gift to bring home, in the form of a nasty cold.  I have felt downright miserable until today, nearly hacking up a lung up at the drop of a hat.  Wait, wasn’t I just here a couple weeks ago!? Man-o-man, I hope this just means we’re getting this out of the way now, before winter arrives (fingers crossed).

Tomorrow, dear sweet blog, you will have a full post all about our NYC trip. Loads and loads of goodies coming to make up for lost time.

Here’s one for now….