My best friend & I

Buddy and I had a photo-shoot while I was home.  Here he is giving me a hug.. Isn't he handsome? It was great being home and spending time with the family and with my pups!  From Buddy and I- a very Happy New Year!

Karyl & Katie take NYC 2011

The weekend before Christmas, Mom came down for the long weekend to experience Christmas in New York City.  There is nothing like Christmas in the city- just like everything New York, it's over the top and over-decorated, but thankfully, seeing as Christmas is my favorite time of the year, it really gets you in the mood.  We went a different route this year trying out new things and seeing New York in a non-touristy sense.  I mean you can only take crowds of people for so long- I think we actually only spent about 10 minutes total in Rockefeller Center, we just had bigger and better things to do!  Here is a recap in pictures of our weekend!

On Friday, Mom arrived early afternoon and we decided to get all of the really touristy things over that day seeing as it wasn't the weekend.  We started off at Columbus Circle and checked out the Christmas Market, trekked over to the Plaza Hotel and down 5th Avenue to get a glimpse of all the decorated stores.  After that we went to go see the tree and then headed down to Bryant Park and the NY Public Library.  From there we went through Times Square, got dinner in Hell's Kitchen at Southern Hospitality and then on a whim we ended up going to see Mamma Mia! It was an action packed and fun day!

The hanging stars in the Shops at Columbus Circle.  They are actually really big and change colors- at night they do a light show.  They are really pretty!

Tiffany's giant wreath on 5th Avenue!  This year the Tiffany windows had  a carousel theme to them! It was gorgeous!

Us with our giant shopping bags at Rockefeller Center!

In front of the Tree!

Gigantic Lights on 6th Ave

Us with the lights!!!

Hanging out at Bryant Park.  They have the Christmas shops here and the skating rink and the tree, but this year, there was an outdoor lounge with fireplace and heat lamps.  I pretended like I was far from the city in an exotic location like Aspen.  If you tried really hard you could almost not hear the sirens and the honking of horns!

Enjoying a brew at the lounge in Bryant Park!

Had to take a break from the walking and the shopping and sitting under the heat lamps gave us a chance to warm up! Cheers!

The tree in Bryant Park- in my opinion, this one is way prettier than the Rockefeller Center tree.  The blue lights are really pretty, in my opinion.

Time Square at night!

On Saturday, we woke up early and headed down to Union Square.  Before that we walked down 5th Ave and got some Christmas Shopping done.  We ate a quick lunch and then went to check out the Farmer's Market, Christmas shops outdoors and The Strand (a huge bookstore known for it's "miles and miles" of books!"  After that, we hopped on the L train, rode a few stops and "POOF," we were in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  We went to check out the Brooklyn Brewery- went on a quick tour of their new huge facility and had a beer!  After that we went back to Manhattan, trekked down to the West Village and I took Mom for dessert at Rocco's.  We had chocolate peppermint lattes- Mom had a fruit tart and I had a sfogliatella (a traditional Italian pastry stuffed with ricotta cheese.) On the way home we picked up a bottle of wine, ordered a pizza, changed into our pajamas and watched Christmas Movies all night!

Fresh Cranberries in Union Square

Brand New Mural outside of the new Brooklyn Brewery space

Enjoying my Winter Ale! Brooklyn Brewery is my absolute favorite!

Inside the Brewery

Outside of Rocco's Bakery!

Mom left on Sunday afternoon after we relaxed all morning and had lunch.  We had a great weekend- it's always a ton of fun when Mom comes to visit!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas from the Spencer Family!

The Ladies on Christmas Eve!

The Guys on Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve, we decided to do an ugly Christmas sweater theme!  As you can see, everyone participated! My cousin Matt ended up winning- his sweater had lights, sang Feliz Navidad and was decked out in ornaments and pictures.  Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with next year!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!! Happy New Year to everyone! 

A picture perfect weekend with my Dad

This weekend my Dad came to visit me! Let me just tell you that we had quite the adventure this weekend. On Friday night, we went to the International Center for Photography. ICP is a school, however, there were 3 exhibits on display. It was a free event and it was amazing- the photography was unreal. After we took a walk around Bryant Park, the NY Public Library and Times Square. We then went back up to Harlem to have dinner at Sylvia's. And yes, we had fried chicken! It was delicious and this restaurant was featured on the food network! If you're ever in Harlem for any particular reason, be sure to try some down home soul cookin' and stop in at Sylvia's!

Times Square

Sylvia's

On Saturday, my Dad and I went to the newly opened 9/11 Memorial. Words cannot even express how beautiful it was, so I'll let the pictures move you. It rendered me speechless and really touched me... truly a wonderful way to pay tribute to those we lost and the twin towers. I took some pictures and decided to post a few so you could see this beautiful memorial.

After the Memorial, my Dad and I literally trekked all over... literally. Our adventure took us downtown to the Financial District to first check out the Occupy Wall Street crowd; it's really beginning to smell down there. Anyway, we strolled downtown, checked out the Seaport by the Brooklyn Bridge and then walked over the bridge! It was a gorgeous day for it, and we had a ton of fun taking pictures!

Manhattan Seaport

Manhattan Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge Park

Skipping Rocks

The Bridge from the park

This is one of the horses from the brand new carousel that opened this September. It is right on the water overlooking both the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. The carousel was refurbished and then opened in Brooklyn!



I was really excited to take a ride on the Carousel! Felt nice to be a little kid again!

We got pizza at Grimaldi's!!! So yummy!

view from the Manhattan Bridge

Chinatown

Taking a ride over the Manhattan Bridge



Graffiti from the Manhattan Bridge


After walking over the Manhattan Bridge, we ended up in Chinatown.  We took a stroll through Chinatown and Little Italy.  There was lots going on down there; we got to witness Chinese Opera, intense games of chinese war and plenty of people out and about shopping.  We did not buy any knockoff handbags, although we must have been asked about a hundred times... gucci, gucci, louis, chanel?

Intense game of Chinese War

sharing the love in Greenwich Village... we walked up through Washington Square, through Greenwich Village and Soho, up past Union Square and ended up at the Flatiron Building.

Painted Cup Display in the Flatiron Building

We had such a long and eventful day- these pictures honestly don't even cover the half of it! After walking around all day, we came home, made pork chops and were in bed by 10pm!! We were pretty exhausted.

On Sunday, we woke up early and went to go pay a visit to Lady Liberty!

They looked like faces!

Lady Liberty!

a little lady liberty...

on the ferry ride over to Liberty Island!

Dad with Lady Liberty (he even matched)

Lady Liberty & Myself!

We had an absolutely amazing weekend- full of pictures, fun, and great memories! NYC and I can't wait until Dad comes back!