New Year in New York!

Last week we headed out to New York to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah - Happy NewYear to all of you! 

It was actually fantastic timing - although we had had this trip booked for months, it was especially fortuitous that it took place just two weeks after our engagement... we got to see my extended family in person, show them the ring, tell them the story of how it happened, show them the video, and celebrate all together. It was so nice! We arrived in New York a week ago exactly and were there through the weekend. Here are some highlights....

Took some cheesy engagement-esque photos before the first night of RH... don't worry everyone, I'm sure our REAL engagement photos will be much cuter than these :)

Our family surprised us with an engagement cake! Cheesecake... my favorite. Mmmm.

Temple and family time was really all we did for the first few days, but over the weekend we headed into the city for a couple days of fun! We ate dinner at Mission Chinese Food with my friends Daniel and Brette - I'd been wanting to go for more than a year and am glad we finally made it there. I wish I had a pic, but alas, the food was SO SPICY I spent the entire meal wiping tears out of my eyes. #toohottohandleit 

We did, however, go to one of our favorite places in the world - Eataly! We met some of R's college pals for a lovely brunch. It's so nice catching up with them whenever we head back east :)

We accompanied my sister to the Union Square Greenmarket, conveniently located two blocks away from her apartment! R bought me fresh apple cider, I bought Bay flowers for her living room, and a random stranger told me my engagement ring was the most beautiful one she had ever seen. So, win for everyone! Please disgregard Bay's silly face :)

R had to leave early to get back in time for work, so my last night there was solo. I had dinner with my mom, sis, and little cousin at Flex Mussels - if you like mussels, you need to go stat. So delicious!

And finally, the thing everyone is dying to hear about... we went wedding dress shopping! Yes, Bailey made me an appointment at Kleinfeld's and off we went to the famous salon!

I am sorry to inform everyone that I did NOT say yes to the dress, but I DID have a very nice time trying on some beautiful dresses. I was uncharacteristically well-behaved, quiet, and low-key - I think I was REALLY nervous about trying on dresses for some reason? In any event, I think my dress is still out there... but it was extremely fun as a casual watcher of the show (not a die hard fan... I'm looking at you Gerrick) to be in the dressing rooms with the consultants (mine was Allison) and traipsing out into the main room to show off each dress to my family. Several other girls in the room DID find "the one" and said yes to the dress and when they did, everyone in the whole place cheered! It was a very cool experience and I'm glad I did it... but god knows there is more wedding gown shopping in my future!

All in all, a very fun trip to New York. Happy New Year to everyone!