New York, New York --- Day Two.

After a pretty packed Saturday in Manhattan, we decided to make our second day in the city a little more relaxed, so a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a yummy lunch were all we needed before taking the train back home.

Boy, there's nothing quite as stale and stuffy as a subway stop in the summer!

Always a fan of the Egyptian displays---and you know what else I'm a fan of? FREE admission to the Met for military and their dependents too (sure, the admission price is a recommended donation, but they give you the stink eye if you don't pay the full amount)! So we saved $100 in admission over our weekend in NYC!

Selfie in thousands of years old Egyptian mirrors!

Temple of Dendur

We were lucky to be at the Met during a special exhibit of The Boxer. Absolutely amazing.

That sweet husband of mine, he took turns with me carrying my purse---and the camera in it---so my shoulders could have a break. And he was rockin' it.

Preemptive blister wrapping. But I think I survived! And before you say "why don't you just wear tennis shoes or something?"--no. I will not. my feet get too dang hot, and I just won't do it!

For lunch we decided to go to the increasingly popular Shake Shack---ya know, we read all these reviews about how average it was and its just a hot spot for tourists and real New Yorkers wouldn't actually eat there. But hey, there's nothing wrong with being a tourist! Sure, we may not go to Times Square or Rockefeller Center or Tiffany's every time we visit NYC, but there's nothing wrong with wanting to see those things once in your life. So we walked in to Shake Shack, heads held high and camera in hand, and we enjoyed every last bite of our Shack Burger and peanut butter milkshake.

Holy Moly, just looking at this makes me want another one all over again---and lucky for me, there's a Shake Shack 50 minutes away from us in New Haven! The menu is simple, but they know what they're doing at Shake Shack.

After a busy weekend and another train ride back to Groton, we were more than happy to crawl into bed, share an iconic Black & White Cookie with a cold glass of milk, and sleep like there's no tomorrow! 

Our next adventure: Fourth of July in Boston!

You Guys, I Miss My Dog.

Can we talk about how much I miss this gorgeous girl? As much as Joey and are loving our time in Connecticut, its just not the same without our fur babies. And yes, I do love Marley so, so much, but there's a reason dogs are man's best friend. Remy has been so good for me as I've gone through doctors appointments and tests and needles and heartbreak. She's always been there to snuggle with me and I think she really does know when I'm sad and need a little puppy kiss. She really is part of the family. And this pup has one heck of a personality. She has so many little quirks that make us laugh or make our hearts melt and I just can't imagine our little family without her. I mean just look at that face---how sweet and spirited is she! While I never want to leave New England I like it so much, I'll be beyond excited to be reunited with my puppy in August.

Annnnnd, I've mentioned to some friends that Remy has this one particular quirk. You see, when she is tired or cuddled up or perhaps just plain bored, she....sucks on her paw. Yes, just like a child sucking on it's thumb, Remy sucks her paw, and I finally got it on camera. My favorite part of this video is, after she's finished she looks away bashfully then back at me as if to say "what? I'm not doing anything weird". That silly pup!

New York, New York --- Day One.

Well I made it about 2.5 weeks until I got my customary "new environment sickness". Happens every time I go somewhere new for an extended amount of time--sometimes its a cold, sometimes bronchitis. This go around its a major sore throat--Yay me! But hey, its the perfect reason to stay in bed and edit far too many photos from our weekend in the big apple!

 Getting to NYC is a breeze from here. We drive about 50 minutes to New Haven, then take the train in to Grand Central Station. The train ride is about 1.5 hours, but it goes pretty fast, especially when you're with your best friend (yeah I'm a cheese-ball). Plus, most of the conductors let military ride for free, so we only had to pay for one ticket for me instead of two for the both of us.

 Who cares if it was only 9:30 in the morning--We had been up since 4:30, so it was plenty late enough in the day to indulge in chocolate chip cookies and lemon squares from Magnolias--wouldn't you agree?

 I was quite upset when we turned the corner to see the facade of St. Patrick' s completely covered in tarps and scaffolding, and only more of it inside. Apparently they're doing some serious cleaning and renovation over the next couple years. I was sad Joey didn't get to see it the way it normally looks. We still managed to get some gorgeous glimpses of the beautiful church though.

 A neat special exhibit outside Rockefeller Center

 You know what I'm smiling about? FREE tickets to the Museum of Modern Art for Active Duty Military and their dependents---that means we already saved 50 bucks on our weekend! Boo-yah!

 It was Joey's first time at the MoMA and he loved it. He couldn't believe how different Starry Night looks in person compared to all of the reproductions we're bombarded with on a regular basis.

 The Kate Spade flagship store!

 That sweet husband of mine treated me to some grown up jewelry from Kate Spade--I love my new gold bangles!

LOVE him.

 All of the performers in Central Park are too fun. I tried to get Joey to whip out that yo-yo but he wouldn't go for it.

 This handsome guy was showing off for everyone at the zoo--these may be the only photos I took with the telephoto lens, but it was totally worth lugging that heavy lens around all day!

 Talk about a dangerous situation.

 Beautiful pony, Mallory!

 Hooray for iPhones and being able to get directions for spur of the moment decisions!

 I haven't been to Times square in 2.5 years. And let me tell ya what---I think I've had my fill for at least another 2.5 years! Its cool and all, but its not really our thing. Though, I think Joey did like that he was able to go to the Fossil store in Times Square and shop for a new automatic watch at 11:30 at night.

 Last time I was in NYC I had some of the best penne vodka near Times Square, so we decided to go there for dinner---boy do I love some good penne vodka! And of course we had to get calamari. We also got cheesecake at Juniors, but I decided not to share those photos because its beyond obvious that were are at least three hours past our bedtime. We're totally going to be those people that eat dinner at 4:30pm when we're old. 

After a very packed day we went home to our hotel, nursed our sore feet, and geared up for day two in Mighty Manhattan!