Happy Mondaaaaay! You guys, there are only six days left til Christmas! This year, I’d really wanted to be PRESENT during the holiday season. What inevitably happens year after year is that I’ll pack my schedule full in December, thinking I have more time than I actually do, and I’ll find myself on December 23rd feeling uber frustrated because I haven’t managed to slow down and enjoy the season because of how accidentally busy I became.

But I was DETERMINED that this year would be different! So we baked Christmas cookies with my niece, and we listen to Christmas music, bought wassail (which we haven’t consumed yet), and trimmed our tree. I told Matt a few weeks ago “I really want to be in New York at Christmas time!” So this past weekend, my best friend Sarah & I trekked up to Manhattan to experience the MOST wonderful time of the year in the city that never sleeps!

I hope this weekend is the sort of thing we tell our kids about. Like “hey kids, let me tell you about the time your auntie Sarah & I went to a French tapas bar in the East Village, and upon leaving around midnight, decided it was the perfect hour to visit Times Square, and upon arriving, encountered a man dressed as a shirtless, overly-sexualized Santa Claus. We rolled into bed around 1:30 am. It was awesome!”

Also, Rockefeller Center is magical.

As always, lessons learned/events that transpired over the past week:

• You know you married the right man when you post a photo of the Empire State Building on Insta with the caption “welcome to New York!” and your husband replies “…it’s been waiting for you!” aka the lyrics to my favorite TSwift song.
• UGG boots are not appropriate winter shoes, especially in the city. See, when I first woke up on Saturday morning, there was SNOW falling! The streets of the Upper East Side were coated white, and it was adorable. But by the time we headed out for brunch around 10:30, it had changed to rain… and rain + snow = slush.
• So, now I know that UGGs are most certainly not for any condition but DRY. Cold? Sure! Wet? NO.
• We visited a TJ Maxx in Chelsea so I could grab a quick pair of rain boots, and to my everlasting luck, we found some! Problem solved.
• Only…when I was going to show Matt my new boots this morning, I realized they’re two different sizes. COME ON, TJ MAXX. Get it together!
• No one should ever let me navigate the subway. Sarah was only too happy to take an uber, but I was like “aw come on! We can figure it out!”
• Not only did we get on a train going north when we needed to be going east, I also managed to give WRONG directions to another woman on the train. Guys, I have no business giving directions to anyone in DC, much less on the New York subway system. She was looking for Columbus Circle and I told her she was on the wrong train… and then two stops later, we arrived at Columbus Circle. Whoops!

Ahh, so thankful for strangers who are willing to take crooked photos for us. Thanks, random tourist in Times Square!