Oh New York...

You tempestuous little bitch. Some days, I'm not quite sure why I'm here; those lovely, dirty, crowded days where it all seems to go wrong. And then... Then you have days like Sunday where the torrid love/hate affair is reignited with full out passion. Sunday was just one of those days, full of new discoveries, old loves, new acquaintances, and a goodbye notwithstanding, a swoonfully fantastic day.


Sunday came to be from the goodbye to a new friend and family member that I semi-sort-of knew I had. Nadine grew up in Florida, but is more direct family with Basil and Mano. The Agapions are my Greek family-that's-not-family (who I adore and are talented fuckers). In the winter, Basil came to visit and we all went out - which was when I met Nadine. We went out a second time when Basil and the crew came up this summer. She's leaving New York, hopefully on to bigger and better things, so she had a last fling Sunday brunch (I know, how cliche NYC, haha).

Brunch in the West Village with a bunch of her girl friends - always fun to meet new people - at Garage Restaurant. Overpriced, slightly generic brunch, but most places are as such... From there, some of the big group walked up to Chelsea Market - Nadine had never been before. While it's not like "OMG the greatest thing in the world", it's one of those places you should go to at least once while living in New York. The walk there was nice - lazily walking through the West Village, gorgeous weather, and we met up with two of her guy friends. We walked through the Market, some of us got some Ronnybrook Dairy ice cream, and then decided to make our way to the Highline. One of those new places that I've been wanting to visit since it opened, it's a pretty kickass, above ground (old railroad line) park that's super green.

Side note: the water fountain(s) are one of the best designs I've seen. The runoff goes down into a drain and waters all the plants they have up there.

I'm sorry, but how cool is that?

So, after walking the full distance of the Highline, Alex, our tour guide for the day (the guy knew everything and everyone in NYC!), took us to a place called the Frying Pan. It's basically a kickass restaurant and bar on a barge (and the boat named Frying Pan, as well). Not only did we enjoy amazing views of the water (after struggling to find a table - the place was packed), but at the end of it, Alex basically took us on a probably-not-allowed tour of the boat. It was so crazy to be in this specimen of an old boat, with living spaces, nooks and crannies, just completely fascinating. Not something I would do on my own, but having Alex to basically show us took out some of the old, creepy fears I have.

Before I knew it, it was 8:30 - brunch started at 1pm! It was quite a great day, a really nice goodbye for Nadine and it was so much fun to just explore and interact with new places and people. Oh, and the day ended with Mad Men. Quite a memorable day, indeed.