I have best friends sprinkled throughout the country, which is sad because we don't get to see each other very often, but on the other hand, it is fun because you get to visit them and make a vacation out of it.

My best friend since 7th grade, who happened to be my first friend after transferring to a new school, moved to New York City almost 2 years ago.  Since then I have been to visit twice, the last time was over a year ago, and that is just too long to go without visiting her or NYC.

This was my Christmas present from my sweet husband and it was just what I needed!  I know needed sounds a little dramatic, but really girl time with a bestie is a necessity in life.  And New York at Christmas time is just the icing on the cake!

We visited all of Sarah and her husband's favorite eating spots (don't worry there will be a part 2 of the blog devoted to just the food...you aren't surprised are you?), did some shopping, and a little city exploring!

Day one started off a little rough with my flight being delayed over 3 hours due to weather, but ended pretty great with surprise tickets to Wicked on Broadway.  I cannot tell you how much I loved this musical!  It was funny, romantic, and the singing was brilliant! 

I mean look at that set...

I lived in New York during my last semester of college for my internship, so I have seen all of the tourist hot spots, now what I enjoy about visiting is the food, culture, and beauty of the city.  One of my favorite things about New York at Christmas time, is that in every neighborhood there are Christmas tree pop-up shops that line the streets.  We passed through this one on our way to Central Park.  Aren't they charming?

It rained for the first day while I was there, so Saturday when the sun came out we headed to Central Park and spent the afternoon walking the dogs and enjoying the scenery.  It was so beautiful and is one of my favorite places in the city.

Meet Sarah...the BFF.

After an afternoon of walking around the park, we hit some shopping spots on the way home before getting ready for dinner and drinks that night.  Oh and did I mention the view from Sarah's apartment is amazing?

We started off the night with some cocktails from a great bar called Reunion...very fitting for our own little reunion.  It's a surf bar which sounds cheesy for New York, but it is actually pretty great and had some very tasty hand crafted cocktails!  We ended the night with a fabulous Italian dinner, which I will tell you more about during part 2.

For my last day we headed to brunch and then to Bryant Park to see the ice skating rink and all of the Christmas shops around the rink.  This was probably my favorite day.  We sat and drank hot toddy's, watch families ice skate, and caught up on life.

There is a pop-up bar called Celsius where you can order fun drinks and sit under a heater...how great is that?  Not to mention very festive.  We sat here for a couple hours sipping on warm spiced wine and spiked hot chocolate.

After a couple of toddies we headed to browse the Christmas market.  Can you see us?

Our last stop of the day was Rockefeller Center, because even though it is one of the main tourist stops there are two reasons you have to go at Christmas time.  One is the tree and two is to see the Rock Center Anthropologie's windows! 

Hey Anthropologie..kudos...hands down my favorite window...maybe ever!

As we were about to head home from one of my favorite days, the snow started to fall adding to the magic of the day and the trip.  Why is it that no matter how great the trip is, there are never enough days? 

With that said I will say, see ya soon New York...it was grand.

P.S.  Part two of the New York trip will be all about everything delicious I tasted!  You won't want to miss it!