quinn's place

NEW YAWWWK CIIITAAAYYY?!?!

i've been blabbing about wanting to go back here for ages. specifically, during the fall.

i went once when i was about 13 years old with my parents, which was a completely different experience. my mom is a huge fan of seeing every fancy hotel in every city that we go to...so, i saw a lot of hotel lobbies and bathrooms the first time i went to nyc. i do remember really enjoying the city when i was younger and pretty much coming to a lofty/kooky understanding that that is where all young ladies like myself would grow up and move to in their twenties.

yes, solely based on the many, many movies set in new york city that i've watched in my life, i thought that we'd all grow up and move to a big city like this and live in a gorgeous brownstone and speed walk to our high-power jobs in our big coats, carrying our to-go coffee cups, briefcases, and a stack of very important documents.

anyhoo, i've been obsessively watching movies that take place in new york city for the past few years (good thing i've got a ton of options to choose from, because i would shamelessly watch you've got mail, sleepless in seattle, the devil wears prada, and sex and the city on repeat if you let me. for serious and for real.

[sidenote: sleepless in seattle is my go-to rainy day flick (which i noticed recently got removed from the netflix romance section.....whyyy, whyyyy, netflix!?!?!). it takes place not only in my very own fantastic city of seattle, but also the beloved city of my day dreams, new york.]

also, i have a very specific concept of "new york music" in my head. this is like, a song that probably plays during a movie that partially takes place in nyc, or liiike ella fitzgerald/louis armstrong/frank sinatra style music, or liiiike the elf soundtrack, i suppose. i've been in moods in the last few years where i want to only listen to "new york music," a genre that i made up in my head, but i know it when i hear it. however, i think that people would understand what i mean when i refer to "new york music." anything that you can prance or mosey down a bustling city sidewalk to year-round, really.

[i classify alicia keys and jay z's empire state of mind in this category, too. along with billy joel. its an eclectic genre, indeed.]

i finally packed up my suitcase and my good friend whitney and we jetted off to the big apple a couple of weeks ago! we had a jam-packed, fun, and food-filled three days. somehow we really managed to do most of the things we went there to do, so that was awesome. there is never enough time during a trip, though. i could have easily spent three more days wandering the streets, checking stuff out, and eating more delicious food.

i took way too many photos, of everything. its just what i do. please enjoy.
[click the "read more" button below]

let me start out with a full list of places where we ate and drank:

[from what my iphone trail of breadcrumbs tells me]

dahlia's mexican restaurant

rosie's

lafayette

bouchon bakery

central park hot dog stand

ray's pizza

parm

weird dive bar we don't know the name of

dominique ansel bakery

katz's delicatessen

eataly

bleecker kitchen & co.

the marlton hotel

margaux

le pain quotidien

big gay ice cream

yum yum yum times 16.

whit was determined to get our photo taken with new york firefighters. this is the closest we came.

this is lafayette, the cutest restaurant we've eva seen! we ate breakfast outside there, and it was sooooo delicious. its located in the east village/noho area.

i had the most delicious croque madame in all the land. whitney had this really good oatmeal with cherries soaked in bourbon, which is something i would normally want to gag and spit at, but it was sooo good!! great coffee and good people watching as well. everyone seated around us was either french or british, so we felt extra fancy about our lives.

and looky, my breakfast comes with french fries. i'm liking this town already.

we almost made the grave mistake of NOT going inside!!?!?! we had to go to the bathroom after our meal, and we are soo glad we did. our jaws hit the floor when we realized how freaking cute and charming the inside of the restaurant was. it was all festive with fall decor, too (something that i'd come to observe that ALL of new york city does extremely well at).

the photos just don't do it justice. we went back another night for a drink. we loved it so much!!! go here if you're ever in the lower east side/noho area.

so much quaint outdoor seating at so many sweet little cafes and restaurants.

our first night there, we walked by the cutest place with a white picket fence called "a place to eat!" it looked like an adorable italian restaurant or something and we expected to see a nice old granny waiting for us when we got inside. we opened the door, and it was straight BUMPING extremely LOUD clubb bangerz. we were like, "eh, this is not the place for us to eat."

hey, we got really good at riding the subway. we like, totally know how to get around this place now. we felt cool. still got on and off at incorrect stops and didn't know what was going on around us most of the time, but still felt like we had a bit of a clue.

[i'm totally writing this with mixed present and past tenses, because i'm reflecting on our time there while pretending i'm still there. bear with me.]

the subway was: convenient, simple, affordable, full of beautiful details, full of disgusting details, smelly, crowded, and sometimes scary. we liked it!

i'd like to mention that new yorkers are super helpful. the night we first got in to the east village via airport train and subway, it was getting dark and whitney and i were standing like doofuses on the street with our roly poly suitcases staring at our phones trying to figure out directions to our airbnb.

this guy walks past us in his brisk new york city pace, stops and asks, "whatareyoulookingfor?" real fast. like that. i could tell he was in a hurry but still wanted to help us so i shouted out the name of the bar that i knew was across from our airbnb. as if we were going to go kick it in a bar with our rolling suitcases and huge bags. HA! anyhoo, he helped us to find the bar, which in turn led us to our place.

thanks mister busy man on the street!

hey there, jimbo.

top of rockerfeller center!

sooo much packed into this little space.

next up on my new york city bucket list is to visit in december! being here at rockerfeller center where folks were ice skating, you could sense the holiday cheer in the air. honestly, it was like you could feel all the classic new york city holiday vibes were just around the corner.

this city truly does have an energy to it and you can feel the vibes. everybody talks about the energy of new york, and it really is tangible when you're there.

bathroom pit stop at the st. regis hotel. shout out to my ma for this family tradition of scoping out fancy hotels by only using the bathroom.

by the way, it was COOOLD while we were there.

we had to stop at h&m for whit to get a scarf. it was chillllayyyy.

the plaza hotel.

new york's most exciting hotel experience!

[once we got to the plaza and into central park, i was mentally flooded with home alone references.]

hey, its me, qp at the plaza.

central park!

whit gettin' her new york city hot dog onnnn.

carnegie deli was closed. boo hoo. this man looks sad about it, too.

ray's pizza. what i thought was a staple nyc pizza joint...thanks, elf.

there's much more legit pizza places in this town. we enjoyed a mediocre slice o cheese here in honor of kevin mccallister.

back to the east village.

oh hi, lafayette..we love you! even with your ugly scaffolding. we'll be back!

we found a seahawks only bar for the game. it was so fun! until we lost, like a bunch of dummies.

rubirosa. we should have gone here for pizza. pete went here the weekend before with his friends and raved about it.

whit and i enjoyed a romantiq dinner together in little italy at parm...

...where we had the MOST delicious meatballs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you cannot get a glass of wine for less than $15 in this town. so just be ready for that.

top of the mornin,' east village!!!!! we're off to fetch our cronuts!

we slept in later than planned, and hopped in an uber to get to dominique ansel bakery.

and its a GOOD THING WE DID.

because whitney and i were the proud, lucky, and victorious owners of the last two cronuts for the day!

the guy working there seriously went into circus ringmaster mode and was completely STOKED [/powertripping] to announce to the line of people that THEY HAD OFFICIALLY SOLD OUT OF CRONUTS FOR THE DAY, PEOPLE! COME ONE, COME ALL! see our empty trays of cronuts.

that probably means his shift is nearly over by that time of day.

so, this cronut.

croissant + donut. it was horchata and caramel flavored. and so mighty fine. i would compare it to a crispier elephant ear with horchata frosting, which was amazing. we didn't even have to wait in a line like you see on the internets (the website says to get there by 7am to get in line...whit and i rolled up around 9am or so, walked right in, demanded our cronuts, sat in the corner and cackled maniacally at the incoming hopeful cronut customers whilst sugar and layers of croissant flaked wildly off our faces.

just kidding. but that is honestly the visual scene that was taking place in my head.
so very triumphant about this feat.

then we wandered over to the highline!

chelsea market. its like a classier, nicer, indoor version of pike place market with fancy ass office spaces in the building above it, like youtube and google and stuff.

hello mister man excited about my oreo sandwich photo!

i'd like this artwork displayed in my home.

exploring chelsea!

i'm movin' in!

welp, its been a couple hours since we last ate a giant ball of sugar! off to katz's delicatessen before we switched from our airbnb in the east village to our hotel in the west village.

here's eli, the fine new yorker who made our sammich.

he liked us.

he did not like the people in line behind us. he also liked to throw dirty dishes and plates of pickles.

yummmmmmmm.

a new york city classic!

washington square, near the hotel we stayed at for our last night.

fish's eddy! i'm so glad we made it here. its an adorable kitchen wonderland!

flatiron district.

eataly!!!

and then i stumbled into this nutella world and i was furrrrrrreaaaking out.

i was not hungry, but had to get a nutella crepe while we were here.

[this was pretty much the main theme during this trip. never hungry, but constantly wanting to eat something new.]

we couldn't figure this mirror thing out, clearly.

thank you, mister crepe-making man!

jay z & bey, are you in there??? we're comin for ya.

and now we're at our oh so cuuuuute little hotel, the marlton!

it was small, but so detailed and charming. it was just what we needed for a one night stay.

the restaurant, margaux.

our teeny tiny, but oh so lovely hotel room.

see? there's me standing on one side of the bed...and then theres the other wall right on the other side of the bed. haha.

busted out those slippers REAL quick.

our feetzies were hurting after so much walking all over town!

cute blanket. cute key. cute cute cute.

just kickin my feet up while whit takes a snoozeroo.

we don't like this pic. we don't know where to look. hallway too small.

we went out for dinner and each got a salad because we needed a single nutrient in our bodies, but then went back to lafayette and got the best old fashioned ever. super legit cocktails.

back in our hotel lobby, we wanted to stay on the old fashioned train. this one was muchhhh stronger (but far less legit) and we had to order bread from the restaurant before we got too shnockered while playing our card games, ha.

goodbye, marlton. you were so nice.

exploring greenwich village, our last morning in the city.

then, i dragged whitney on the subway to the upper west side to go stoop hunting with me.

i was determined to find some festive stoops. we were semi-successful, but it also seemed like we were walking in circles, haha.

SpOooOooOoOoOoOkY!

i was also secretly in search of this family. i'm reeeal creepy like that. i love naomi's blog so, so, so, SO much and i don't care who knows it. i love having a view into their colorful little life in new york city. i'm not a mom or even married, and i just can't get enough of her blog and they inspire me every day. i probably actually would have spazzed out if i did run into them and been so totally weird and frighten the children. thankfully they were in peru. haha. lucky for you, davis family!

don't think i didn't notice your tiny pumpkins, upper west siders! because i did!

extra sPooOoooOooooOoOoOKy.

times square. woof.

never going back.

we didn't make it ten minutes before we wanted to go back to the cuteness of greenwich village.

aaah, much more our pace.

i want a bold colored door now. like this cobalt or the crayola green one from chelsea.

our last lunch. i had a really good croque monsieur and a salad at this place by our hotel, which was near nyu. i dunno how or why i had a lot of french food on this trip, it just happened.

being a student at nyu would be pretty rad, too. there are so many great cafes and restaurants to study and eat at since its not a legit college campus that you're physically stuck on; it's more spread out through the west and east village with random nyu buildings here and there.

last stop, big gay ice cream!

i've been following these guys on instagram for a while now, and they are hiiiii-larious. they have an affinity for the golden girls and ice cream, so naturally i wanted to find them.

the rocky roadhouse.

[although i was jealous of whit's colored sprinkles.]

an excellent last food stop before our looong subway, train, tram, airplane, and car excursion back to the emerald city!

waking up in seattle the next morning made me feel like i moved to some quiet little country town. it is SOO much quieter than new york city. nyc is truly the city that never sleeps...there's constantly horns honking, sirens, subways rumbling, and people chattering on the streets. seattle is just a sleepy little fishing village in comparison. when i woke up and opened our window, i heard nothing but birds and foghorns on the sound. how cool and crazy is that to think about??