Girls Weekend in New York

Man this week has been a whirlwind! I feel like New York went by WAY too fast, and I've been running at full speed ever since I got home. I had such an amazing time in New York with Joe's Mom, Lisa, and his sisters, Kaley and Tessa. We took a girls' weekend to celebrate Tessa's birthday. They treat me like one of the family, and I cannot even begin to tell you how much that means to me. It is truly a pleasure and honor to get to spend time with them and it makes my heart so happy. 

So if you follow me on Instagram, you already know this, but I almost missed my train on Sunday. My train was scheduled to leave at 7:30am, and I set my alarm for 5:45 so I could finish packing, shower and be ther ein plenty of time. Well, my alarm never went off, and I didn't wake up until 7:45 and totally freaked out. Luckily, the train was 30 minutes late, and we live about 5 minutes from the station. So I packed anything I could get my hands on, hopped in the car and made it just in time to catch the train. Boy was I lucky!

After a very productive train ride on Sunday, I finally arrived at the hotel. Sunday we went shopping, saw the off-broadway production Newsical the Musical (really funny), and spent late night at a rotating bar for dessert and drinks, then on to Dave and Busters to play Jurassic Park Video Games.

Day Two was almost monumental for me. We started the morning out at the MoMA, which was phenomenal. Can you believe I had never been there before?! I haven't been to New York since High School, so well over 10 years, and I don't really remember much of it. Being around some of that incredible artwork was so inspiring to me.

Here I'm with one of Monet's waterlily paintings. As you can see, it is HUGE. And absolutely beautiful.

But my favorite moment of all was seeing Starry Night by van Gogh for the first time. This is my all-time favorite painting. I've done countless projects and papers on this (accompanied by the Starry Night Over the Rhone and Cafe Terrace at Night) and the meaning behind it and how they relate. Van Gogh is definitely my number 1 artist and I have books upon books to prove it. Seeing this painting in person was so inspiring; the textures, the rhythm, the color. It was everything I had ever wanted it to be, and more. 

So funny enough, this first photo is of me standing 'too close' to the painting and getting yelled at by the guard. Oops!. But it's a pretty funny face. 

We also got to take in some Andy Warhol's which was also a highlight. I'm not always a huge modern or contemporary art fun, but I am a fan of Warhol's. 

After spending some great time at the MoMA, we took a stroll through Central Park for lunch. 

Here's Tessa and Lisa in Central Park!

And top a fantastic Monday off, we went to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was absolutely incredible. I was just in awe the entire time, I can't even explain, it was that good.

Fortunately for us, Tessa has connections and got us BACKSTAGE! So we got to take a tour of the stage, the costume room, the wig room and underneath the stage. It was such a cool experience to get to see the behind the scenes. 

If you ever don't know what show to see when in New York, GO SEE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Just do it.

The Phantom's Mask

View from the stage; check out that amazing chandelier!

We packed a lot into the 2 days that we were there, and it was so much fun. I wish I had gotten to stay longer! It was so fun having a girls weekend, I feel so blessed and fortunate to have been included in this experience. Thank you, Lisa, Tessa & Kaley and Happy Birthday, Tessa! I love ya'll!

xoxo, Johnna