weddings | Running and Riley

As promised, I’m going to begin my NYC recap! Sorry for being such a lazy bum and not getting to this sooner. My bad.

First off, I don’t think I mentioned this in any of the posts leading up to my trip, but the reason I went up to NYC was for my cousin’s wedding. She lives in Manhattan, so naturally, it made sense to have the wedding where she lives, where her and her fiancé (now husband!) met, and in a city that she loves so dearly. I, personally, am very happy she had it there because it gave me an excuse to go up there! Winking smile Thanks, Jen! Love you!

Our flight was at 8:20 a.m. on Friday morning, so we had to get up pretty early to get to the airport. Needless to say, I was a little tired. I really don’t like flying. It’s not that I mind actually flying, it’s the whole waiting aspect that inevitably goes along with it…what a hassle. However, I would take sitting in an airport for a couple of hours and getting to my destination faster than sitting in a car for 18 hours. No thank you.

We flew into LaGuardia which is in Queens and waited for our shuttle to pick us up to take us to our hotel.

**Side note: If you ever go to NYC and get in any kind of vehicle, be prepared to be scared. Very, very scared. I thought I was going to die multiple times. Just saying. But for as crowded and congested as the roads are there, and as much as people don’t follow traffic laws, traffic moves remarkably well. No one really obeys any laws (FORGET about people using their blinker!), but everyone just kind of “exists” together and somehow, it works.**

We stayed in Midtown at Hotel Pennsylvania. It was an excellent location, but the hotel itself was just “meh”. It actually kinda freaked me out. The night before I left I read an article about a crazy bed bug epidemic that is sweeping the nation. Yeah, BED BUGS! Oh HELL no! I don’t do bugs…and ESPECIALLY bugs that bite. No, no, no. So of course, as soon as we checked into our room, I immediately made Ryan put our luggage in the bathroom while I proceeded to check the headboard, base boards, the mattress, the sheets, and all the other furniture. I’m one of those people who will clean their hotel bathroom and spray things with Lysol before I even take my shoes off and walk around. *NERD ALERT!* (Or maybe a germaphobe?) Anyway…long story short, no bed bugs. Thank you sweet baby Jesus!

We arrived in NYC around lunch time, so we all decided to step out and find somewhere to eat. We ended up eating at The Local, which was only a block from our hotel. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures from much of the first day. Sorry again. *Blogger fail* The food was okay but the services was dreadful. It really gave us a bad impression and we were all hoping that the rest of our stay wouldn’t be so cumbersome. Luckily, that was the only bad thing that happened while we were there! Everywhere and everyone else we met were delightful! 😀 Success!

After we ate, we decided to walk around for a bit. Our hotel was at 7th and 34th, which is right across the street from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. It is also only about 10 (guesstimate) blocks away from Times Square so we decided we should definitely venture that way and check out everything!

From left to right: my younger brother Jake, Ryan, and my daddy-o.

This was on the way. I have no idea who this is supposed to be. All I know is that we were in the Fashion District, so it makes sense that the man is sewing something. 😀

We kept walking and ended up smack dab in the middle of Times Square! Times Square is an awesome place. Soooooooo crowded though!!! If you’re not a “people person”, or get anxious in large crowds, you might want to forego it. Also, just a little side note, no one that you see in Times Square is actually from New York – it is saturated with tourists. So if you’re thinking you’re going to see a New Yorker in their natural habitat, you most likely won’t. Winking smile

After walking around all afternoon, we were pretty hungry for dinner. We decided to eat at a little Irish pub called Langdan’s. I had a steak sandwich and a side salad. It was the BEST sandwich EVER!!!!!!!!! I also had a delicious micro beer. It was a light beer and had a hint of sweetness…I think it was apricot? Either way, it was awesome.

We all sat and chatted over dinner and before we knew it, it was 11:00 p.m. We were all exhausted from a day of traveling and walking around. My feet were HURTING! We walked back to our hotel and called it a night. I was so excited for what was in store for the other three days! See you tomorrow with NYC: Day Two recap!

Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you all had a glorious day filled with family, friends, and love! I soaked up the day with my little man. We had quite a lot of things planned: brunch with my family, late lunch with Ryan’s family, and dinner with friends (who we consider our third family).

Riley had a great time and was surrounded by so many people that love him! Smile We were running around all day and by the end of it, the poor little guy was tuckered out.

Here is a pic of Riley from the wedding he was in yesterday. Isn’t he just the cutest? I can’t get over it. Open-mouthed smile

As you know, Ryan and I also went to a wedding yesterday. And as promised, I’m ready to put up some pics from the reception.

We left the pub and headed to the reception around six. It was really cute, a country theme. Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied with finding our table and meeting and greeting people, that I completely forgot to snap some pics of the decorations. But take my word for it, it was darling.

The wedding party made a grand entrance. Every couple came out to a different song and were all dressed up in different costumes. Some of them were pretty darn funny!

After the wedding party were all present and dinner served, the dancing began! My favorite part! I’ll let the pictures tell the story of how the night went. Enjoy! Winking smile