This morning started out nice and early.  Perhaps a little too early?  We were on the subway by 7:15am, en route to meet our running partners in Central Park!

This was my first time running in Central Park, and it was absolutely amazing.  SO MUCH snow, and it made for such a gorgeous backdrop.

Laura, Casey, and I met up with Theodora and Ashley for our run.  I met both girls back in Chicago in the fall, and this was such a fun way to catch up with them while enjoying a run.

There were SO many runners out in Central Park – it was amazing!  And holy hills, I was NOT expecting the loop to be so difficult.  We ended up just sticking with the six mile loop, and then walked the 2 miles back to our hotel to make it an even eight.  One of the best parts of blogging for me is that I truly feel like I have friends all over the country.  Many thanks to Ashley and Theodora for a fabulous run – and one I definitely wouldn’t have done if I didn’t have running buddies to get me out of bed.

After we showered and got ready, we went off in search of the perfect NYC bagels.  We found them at Ess-a-Bagel!

My friend Casey had told me they had tofu cream cheese, which sounded to good to be true.  Thankfully, she was correct!

I got a giant crusty pumpernickel raisin bagel with raisin walnut cream cheese.

Exactly what I hoped it would be.  I would like to eat about ten more of these.

After breakfast, we headed south on foot to explore…

We made our way to the Union Square Greenmarket – a farmer’s market I had heard was a good spot to check out.

The market was really great!  So many vendors for this time of year, and some selling some really interesting things.

You are beautiful.  :)

The weather may be a bit cold, but the snow just makes everything soooo much more beautiful.

I’m really glad we stopped by the market – very cool.  I can only imagine what it’s like in the summer!

Lunch was kind of a FAIL.  The place we were planning to go to (Dirt Candy) turned out to only be open for dinner – WHOOPS.  So we improvied and ended up at a new vegetarian spot called Purume.  The food was kind of meh.  It was all nice and fresh, but not enough salt or flavor.

Lots and lots of steamed veggies, and some scary seaweed that I didn’t end up eating – too fishy.

We made up for lunch by finishing out our afternoon at Tu-Lu’s Gluten Free Bakery.

Laura and I eat got a sampler of 3 mini cupcakes – they were so good!

And Laura let me snag a few bites of her mint chocolate roulade cake.  Hard to believe it was all gluten-free!

Mini cupcake of the day – chocolate with pistachio frosting.  Heaven.

There may or may not have been a to-go box involved…

The boots I brought with me for the trip gave me horrific blisters yesterday, so I bought a new emergency pair of rubber boots on today’s outing.  Definitely money well spent – there is slush and snow everywhere!!

I couldn’t put my blistering boots back on this morning, and sadly I think my ballet flats may have walked their last journey.  Looking a little sad from all the slush.

Now we are back at the hotel getting ready for our evening adventures.  Pure and Radio City tonight!

What a wonderful whirlwind of a day!  Our trip started out just like almost all of my travels seem to do – rushed and running late.  We factored in our normal amount of time to get to the Metro to make our train, not accounting for (or realizing that) the sidewalks were all a sheet of ice.  A lot of slipping and sliding and one painful spill later, we made it to the bus just in time.

This was our first ever trip on the Megabus – two round trip rides to NYC for $80 total, including free WI-FI and outlets for the computers. 

Not that I really needed the internet.  Casey worked diligently, while I slept for a solid 4 hours.  :)

Woke up just in time to see the New York City skyline in the distance!  So beautiful.

The ride there was clean, safe, and really nice – I would definitely ride the bus again.  Unfortunately, as soon as we got to the city we hit INSANE traffic.  We sat in the Lincoln tunnel for over 30 minutes, and ended up arriving about 90 minutes late – just trying to drive a few short blocks!  I was so happy to be off the bus when we finally unloaded.

We checked into our hotel and then set out on foot to do a little exploring.

And made our way over to Times Square to be tourists.

It feels like we have both been working non-stop recently, and it’s so nice to be on a much needed vacation with my favorite guy.  :)

We headed to the Times Square area because I had a meeting in the Conde Nast building with an editor from Self Magazine who I have been working with via email.  It was really nice to finally put a face with a name, and get to know each other better in person. 

After the meeting, I wandered the Times Square area a bit by myself on my way to meet Casey, who was working in Barnes & Noble.

We did so much WALKING today, and there is so much more planned for tomorrow.  Beautiful views in every direction…

My pictures don’t do this justice at all – the snow on the trees was completely breathtaking!

By the time we headed back to our hotel, I realized I’d had almost nothing to eat all day.  Between racing to make our bus, checking into our hotel, and then walking over to Times Square – I had only had a few snacks for the day.  I was STARVING!  We stopped into a cute little health food shop where I grabbed a giant vegan cookie, and a beet, apple, and pear juice – freshly squeezed!

Back at the hotel again, we met up with our friends Jordan and Laura, who are here from Cincinnati to explore with us.  They aren’t vegetarians, but they are adventurous eaters, and they were nice enough to let me pick our restaurant for the evening.  After many, many recommendations, we headed to Candle 79 – vegan fine dining at its best.

My friend Kacey from college joined us too – so fun to see her again and get to catch up!  Our meal started with an amuse bouche of crostinis with pinto bean spread and diced tomato.

Followed by the salad course.  I got the stuffed avocado salad, which was basically a peeled half of an avocado, overflowing with quinoa salad, pumpkin seeds, julienned radishes and apple, and so much more.  It was AMAZING!  Avocado heaven.

I don’t usually photograph other people’s food, but this meal was so good I felt I should capture it all.  Kacey and Laura got the special salad with tahini sauce…

And Casey got some sort of delicious seaweed salad.  Everything looked and tasted so FRESH!

For the entrée course, I got the special – marinated tempeh with amazing tomato sauce on top of grilled plantains, caramelized onions, dirty rice, and wilted spinach.  It was to die for.

Kacey’s chickpea cake with fruit chutney…

And Casey’s seitan over quinoa pilaf.  It looked like flank steak!  Thankfully it wasn’t.  :)

Despite the enormous amount of food I had already eaten, I decided to live it up and order dessert.  Vegan brownie with rich caramel sauce, vegan ice cream, and a grilled banana.  Everything a brownie sundae should be!

Laura’s adorable mini apple pie with vanilla ice cream…

And Kacey’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss – amazing!!

Definitely one of the best meals I’ve had to date, and such a fun way to kick off our New York City weekend!  It was so nice to catch up with Kacey – we haven’t seen each other since 2003!  Hard to believe.

And I am so happy Jordan and Laura are here to explore and spend the weekend with us.  I love taking vacations with friends.

Casey and I are a little blurry – perhaps because we just ate three courses of food?  :)

Getting up bright and early tomorrow to go for a chilly Central Park run with two of my favorite NYC girls – Ashley and Theodora!  Better get to bed and rest up for another long day.