A lovely part of teaching is the breaks and schedule. Spring break before was flying to Florida, or spending crazy late nights out. This year however, I spent it with a rainy day in New York. Family, friends, and really great food; the perfect trip!

The Lead Up

A pretty impressive piece of my 3 day NY trip was managing to pack everything into a purse. A big part of that came with packing a ‘capsule wardrobe’ ; 1 pair of jeans and leggings, 2 sweaters, a white t shirt and my pink jacket! This was the first time I successfully did it, and it was oddly satisfying and efficient.

The days before were spent with family on Long Island celebrating a first birthday, eating awesome seafood, and watching college basketball. Spending time with my Aunt, Uncle and baby cousin was perfect. I hadn’t seen them since the summer, leaving a lot to catch up on. We got to have 2 slow days and spent all of the time together, laughing, talking, and enjoying each other’s company!

The Rainy Day

The day started with a homemade latte, gluten free bagel and egg salad. My family had left for their days at work, so I had the house to myself to get ready and have a slow start to the rainy day. The egg salad was actually so good that I decided to make my own version of it for breakfast the following week (stay tuned).

After, I got ready, got dressed, and walked to the train station for a 10am train into the city! I went complete main character, because why not, and spent my 45 minute train ride listening to the Abbey Road Beatles album, staring out the window as rain dripped down the glass, and reading my book. This was truly so relaxing and kind of fun to embrace the moment as it was.

Once I got into Penn station, I went straight to target and bought an umbrella to combat the rain, then walked down to Bryant Park! I was first meeting a college roommate I hadn’t seen since our post graduation trip. It’s crazy to think it was that long, but our date felt like no time had passed. We got a table at Maman, drank a matcha, and talked, talked, talked.

After about an hour and a half, my friend headed back to work (only after getting a big hug) and I walked over to grand central station to meet my other friend!

Chelsea

This was my first ever time in Grand Central Station and it was honestly pretty cool! Everyone knows the iconic scenes from here; 2 actors on the different sets of stairs, eye lock, and they run toward each other and embrace. Oddly enough, my friend from home and I kind of did that! Sure ours wasn’t as scripted, but when I put my phone down after taking my a picture, I heard my name, turned, and saw her running toward me, which ended in a squeal and a tight tight hug!

This second main character moment lead to us to being brave, taking the subway, and venturing to Chelsea for an afternoon exploring. We started with a tour of the Whitney, and it was beautiful. Each floor was a different exhibit. We decided to start at the top floor and work our way down.

The top floor was the art of sound and communication, for both hearing and deaf individuals. The following floors were year round exhibits from various artists and themes. I am not art enthusiast, but I did really enjoy discovering a new museum.

After, we wandered over to Chelsea’s Market and walked through the flea market area at the rear of the building. Funny enough, my friend and I had spent spring break together three years before in NY and did this same experience. We joked that now every time we are in NY we have to come back 🙂

My friend got a new ring and we both spent a lot of time admiring the cool pieces made by the artists. We had a late lunch afterward at Friedman’s inside of the market and shared stories from our past 9 months apart. I had actually wanted to try this restaurant and the various locations. Each one has a different menu and a lot of gluten free options, something to try next time I’m there. After we were successfully filled, we finished our time together walking back to Penn Station so I could catch my train to Maryland. I was oddly really nervous about getting onto my train, but it all worked out perfectly (Thanks Lucy)!

I started this off by mentioning the differences in my pervious spring breaks, and its true; life a year ago looked drastically different. However, this trip was everything and more to me. I was able to spend intentional time and explore a city that is home to some very important people in my life. Beyond grateful for this trip, memories, and people that made it what it was <3