The City So Nice They Named It Twice

The Boyfriend is from New York City and whenever we visit he likes to burst out with “New York, New York, the city so nice they named it twice!” while we’re walking down the street.  Lately he has also taken to doing a rendition of Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s “Empire State of Mind.”  It’s a serious public display of affection.  New York is a pretty righteous town, I will give you that.

The two of us spent about a week with his family between Christmas and New Years.  On Monday we planned a date day in Manhattan which commenced with a very necessary trip to Rockefeller Center so I could pretend to be Liz Lemon.

30 Rock is my absolute favorite show. I have been telling people since season 1 to watch and, thank goodness, they are starting to listen to my good advice.

The tree was pretty cool, I guess.  The Boyfriend finally dragged me away from the 30 Rock sign for a festive couples shot in front of the tree.

Next we scooted over to MOMA.  Did you know that if you are (or, cough, were) a SUNY student, you can get into MOMA and other NYC museums for free?? Just show your student ID card at information.  It’s pretty sweet.

We wanted to see the Tim Burton exhibit there, but it was sold out for the day.  Boo! So instead we strolled the floors.  And then made some art of our own using my camera, a MOMA window, and city lights:

We had plans to see Avatar in 3-D after the MOMA trip.  Before the movie we stopped for dinner at an Italian restaurant near Union Square.

We were hungry so we started with garlic bread and salads.

I ordered the arugula salad as I have been craving arugula since Mom’s Christmas dinner.  The thing is, I sort of expected there might be more to the “Arugula Salad” than just lettuce.  I was wrong in my assumptions.  The salad was okay, but that was it.  I did eat it all, though, because I do love me some leafy greens.

While we waited for dinner I played with the settings on my camera and had a photoshoot with my wine glass.

I’m such a little kid.  I need something to keep my wandering mind busy when I’m sitting still.

Dinner arrived on huge platters and there was much rejoicing.  The Boyfriend got chicken parmesan and it was amazing.

I had one of the specials which was chicken with mushrooms, artichokes, red peppers, and olives with a marsala wine sauce.

Plus a side of pasta.  This is my favorite part about Italian restaurants.

Two clean plates and one stop at a bar for martinis later, we headed over to the theater for Avatar. The animation in that movie was insane! Your brain gets tricked into forgetting that you’re not watching live action for most of the movie. Plus you get these sweet 3-D glasses.

New fashion trend for 2010? I think so.