Now I Know Why They Call It The City That Never Sleeps.

It's been a week since I have been home from my big weekend in the big apple, and I'm not lying when I tell you that it has taken me this long to recover from my trip. In short, I had an amazing time. There was a moment on Sunday night or early Monday morning, depending on how you look at it, when I turned to my friends (some old and some new) and said, "this is one of the best nights of my life." Looking back, it truly was. I left feeling like New York was a city that I should have lived in a decade ago. A time when staying out until 3 am was the norm, and there would be no screaming children the next day to care for. When I got home, I realized that back then there was no way I would have appreciated it the way that I do now, and honestly my broke grad school self never would have been able to see the city like I saw it last week. Expensive? Yes. Freaking fantastic? Absolutely! Was it worth it? Do you even have to ask..... hell yes!!!!

Here is my New York by the numbers breakdown:

• Years since I have been to NYC- 8
• Times visited prior to this trip- 2
• Total hours spent in New York- 46
• Total hours spent sleeping in New York- 6
• Neighborhoods visited- 6 (my favorite was the Meatpacking District, followed closely by the West Village.)
• Restaurants patronized 3 (Cafe Cluny, Pasits, and Alta)
• Bars toured- 7 (The Standard hotel became our home away from home.)
• Beers consumed- 12
• Bloody Marys- 2
• Margaritas- 4
• Hangovers- 2 (yes, that's one for every day)
• Cupcakes consumed - 2 (like every other tourist I waited in line at Magnolia for a taste of the good stuff.)
• Pizzas bought at 4 am- 1
• Dresses bought- 3 (more on this later.)
• New friends made- 2
• Miles walked- 100 (okay, probably not 100, but it felt like 100!)
• Landmarks seen- 0 (I know, I know, bad tourist.)
• Days needed to recover- 6 (and you know I'm not joking about this one.)

As you can see it was a short but fun packed trip. At the time I thought that sleeping three hours a night was not the best idea, but how else could we fit everything in. Now I truly know why they call it the city that never sleeps! After last weekend, I cannot for the life of me understand why it has taken me so long to visit. Given that it is a four hour bus or train trip, I can assure you that this mum will be making a lot more trips to the big apple.... that is after I can catch up on all those missed zzzzzzzs.

I have much more to share with you from the trip, including my review of SATC 2, which will I will be posting all this week.

* The photo above was taken from the bathroom at The Standard, yes even the city's bathrooms are to die for!