The Fourth of July

I know this is a week after the fact but, I thought I'd share with you how my Fourth of July was. 

I took the bus down on Thursday to visit my sister, Amanda, in Washington D.C. We spent our time on Thursday catching up and eating at Barcelona, a Tapas restaurant and one of my favorite places to eat in D.C.

Location: Barcelona Dishes: Chicken and Jamon Croquettas + Spiced Beef Empanadas + Jamon Serrano

Location: Barcelona Dish: Hanger Steak (Not Pictured: Rockfish a la Plancha + Asparagus a la Plancha)

We spent Friday shopping for the Fourth of July and then went out to eat at one of the highest rated restaurants in D.C., The Red Hen, which is coincidentally near to my sisters and a place we love to frequent. 

Location: The Red Hen Dish: Grilled Octopus with Spring Pea Hummus (Not Pictured: Salt Cod Brandade + Whipped Ricotta Crostini)

 Location: The Red Hen Dish: Caramelized Scallops with English Peas, Bacon, Charred Scallion, Spring Greens & Soft Polenta (Not Pictured: Spinach Zucca with Grilled Summer Squash, English Pea Crema, Lemon, Basil & Pistachios + Whole Wheat Cavatelli with Sweet Corn, Wild Mushrooms, Smoked Bacon & Pecorino Tartufo)

 Location: The Red Hen Dish: Summer Berry Trifle with Citrus Sponge Cake, Mascarpone & Lemon Crumble

On Saturday, which was the actual Fourth of July, we spent the morning preparing dishes for my sister's barbecue. She made so many delicious things and one of my favorites were the super festive chocolate covered strawberries pictured below! We also had some fun and cute jello shots! (Plus lots of actual food)

Location: Washington D.C. Dress: Urban Outfitters (On sale now!)

It was such a wonderful weekend and I'm so thankful to my sister for hosting me and hosting such a wonderful party!

xo Emily

A Saturday at Bryant Park / In Pictures

I hope everyones had a fun weekend! Mine was especially wonderful as my best friend was visiting from Massachusetts. She's been to New York many many times so it's always fun when she comes because we have fun exploring the city together and going to our favorite places. One of those favorite places is Bryant Park, especially during the holiday season. The ice rink is put up and they have a wonderful Christmas village spread across the whole park, with little shops and food places. It's such a wonderful and beautiful place to just walk around with a coffee. We even saw a couple do their 'first look' - which is when the bride and groom see each other and see the dress before the wedding - it was so beautiful!

I thought I'd share with you some pictures of our day in the park. Hope you all enjoy and hope you had fun enjoying the changing of the seasons this weekend. 

A Weekend Away

Hello!! Happy new week. I've got a busy week coming up, but it'll all be worth it because Halloween is this Friday.

I'm sad to start this new week if only because I had such an awesome weekend visiting my sister. We spent some quality time together (plus the kitties) and ate delicious food and watched movies and T.V. I love having a weekend away! I thought I'd share some of the fun we had.

Bubble Tea and Cupcakes!

Yesterday, 2 of my roommates and I headed on a little Bubble Tea and Cupcake date to two of my favorite places! I'm positively obsessed with bubble tea and thankfully, we're not too far from Chinatown, where the absolute best of the best bubble tea lives!

(Do y'all like the dramatic liner? It's Stila's Liquid Liner! I'm obsessed!)

We stopped at Kung-Fu Tea off Canal Street in Chinatown and I got Taro Tea with bubbles and my roomies opted for Black Milk Tea with bubbles. They were so delicious!

We perused Chinatown for awhile then made our way to the Soho Brandy Melville, on Prince Street, and browsed around in there. It was such a fun walk from Chinatown over to Soho because there was just so much New York we got to experience and take in. We even passed the FRIENDS Central Perk pop-up shop; the line was ridiculous! 

Eventually we made our way over to one of my favorite Cupcake/Brunch/Lunch shops, Sweet Revenge, in the West Village. My sister used to work about a block away from the store so we would sometimes come in and get ourselves some cupcakes and chit-chat.

Today, I got the 'Crimson and Cream' Cupcake, which is one of my favorites. It's Raspberry Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and it's INSANE. I also got a Arnold Palmer (Half Iced Tea/Half Lemonade). My roomies opted for the 'Dirty' Cupcake, which is Valrhona Chocoalte Cake with Dark Chocoalte Truffle. It's amazing as well!

It was such a fun day and I was glad to share some of my favorite places with my roommates! It was also gorgeous outside and fun to just meander along the streets of New York and take everything in!

♡

Do you have a favorite cupcake shop in New York or in your hometown? I would love to know!

xo Emily