Going Back to NYC!

I have been given the opportunity to go to New York in a couple of weeks. AND I AM SO EXCITED. I am rolling into Grand Central on Thursday evening, and running wild until Sunday morning. Two of my best friends and roommates from college are actually the coolest and live there. They didn't just pack up and leave ISU to go to school in the city, they both got into the top fashion and art schools of the ENTIRE WERLD.

They have made a home and a life there, and I get to go back and see them for a quick tiny bit.

I took my first ever plane ride ever ever from Des Moines to Laguardia when I was a junior in college to visit them. 

See, I knew I was destined for Italy the fall of my senior year, and little old me had only done the road trip thing her whole life. I was a bit worried about my first flight being to Italy so I booked a trip to visit my friend for her birthday that year. It was a cold February weekend, and I honestly didn't fall in love with the city like I was sure I would.

BACK UP. In high school, I was SURE that I would go through the fashion program at ISU and then go on to live a Sex and the City life in Manhattan and work at a fashion magazine as some around the clock editor that worked late and then went out for expensive dinner every night :) 
Needless to say, I grew and changed a lot in college, and hey! Des Moines is chic too! It actually suites me far more. Zach likes to tell me there's still too much farm/country in me from my childhood to live in an entirely concrete metropolis. 

I also day dream a lot. So I assumed NYC was the city of my dreams. I will always learn how to right my expectations.

ALSO IT WAS WINTER. In a city where you walk everywhere and I had a silly thin red peacoat that I loved dearly at the time. 

Also, did I mention that I quickly learned that everyone in Manhattan wears head-to-toe black, and I more than stood out in a red coat? 

But, we went to dinner at this little restaurant that I seriously still paint a picture for people when Brooklyn comes up in conversation. I may never know where it was inside of Brooklyn. We were met by French waiters in very hip outfits and aprons. The restaurant was tiny and dimly lit. V romantic. Candles, kitchen clatter nearby. I think this may have been my first ever charcuterie platter? Of COURSE I talk about it fondly. Anyway, it started lightly snowing outside of the window and we were crowded around amazing food and wine with my best friends and I was so happy. THAT was the moment, I realized, I can never be Carrie in Manhattan with the blank faces and business looks. I needed people with bicycles and laughter and COLOR in their wardrobe :) The restaurant did it for me obviously.

Anyway, I am more than pumped to spend the weekend in the city. I am grown up now, and I feel as though I can certainly appreciate Manhattan and the other areas more than my first-flight-ever-young-in-her-exploration-days-Emily.

I do need suggestions though! My friends will be working on Friday and I want to either 1. lay in Central Park for the entire day or 2. food crawl and wander the streets by myself. 

TELL ME YOUR FAVORITE THINGS AND EATS!