I LOVE New York and do miss it.  So ever since we moved to Ridgewood, every year for my birthday Victor and I leave the girls in care of their very capable grand-parents and spend a weekend in the city.  I love these weekend get-aways – it is so nice to be a care-free couple again (even if it is only for a couple of days), explore different areas of the city, walk everywhere, check out our favorite restaurants and spots.

This year was no exception – even though we were ‘away’ for just a bit over 24 hours, it was awesome.  Since we lived downtown, every time we go back I prefer to stay there – my New York is south of 23 street:)  So this year we stayed in Soho at Soho Mondrian – which was such an awesome hotel – cool and modern with a funky white/blue decor, floor to ceiling windows with city views and true to the times – an iPad in every room!

We had lunch at a cute restaurant in Soho and walked exploring Greenwich Village (which is always near and dear to my heart as I went to NYU and our campus was right in the heart of the Village!), Bowery, ChinaTown and Soho.

We saw colorful characters:

 checked out a developing news story and saw lots of press:

photographed beautiful buildings:

and pretty things:

 and manuscripts:

 saw local artists selling their art:

Came across a very interesting exhibit at The Hole:

and pretty awesome wall murals:

We napped, talked about everything under the sun, ate more yummy food, slept in, had an outrageously expensive (but very good!) breakfast and headed back home.  Just 26 hours and about just as many miles away from Ridgewood and the girls – but it felt like an all together different world.  What a wonderful birthday weekend it was!