The Mattsons come to NYC

 

One of the best parts about living in NYC is that it's a destination for many, which means we get to see a lot of our friends all year long without having to make the trip ourselves!

My best friend, Meghan, and her hubby, Matt Mattson, were visiting her home state of New Jersey for Christmas. They were nice enough to visit us for 21.5 hours (yes, every minute counts when I only get to see them maybe once a year).

Originally, I wasn't going to be able to take the day off of work while they were here, but I finagled myself another vacation day, and I am so glad I did because it was a blast to be able to chill with my favorite  people in the whole wide world for a day.

The adventure started after work on Wednesday, when Pat and I met Meghan and Matt, at Red Bamboo, a well reviewed vegan restaurant in Greenwich Village. Meghan has been vegan for a few years now, but I am still totally oblivious to the whole lifestyle and food selection. So, when I was searching for a good place for us to eat, of course I went to yelp and was able to find this very well liked restaurant. However, when I was looking over the menu I was totally confused because almost all the entrees had meat in the title. For example, some of the entrees are: "BBQ Ribs", "Curry Chicken", "Sesame Beef", and "Fish and Chips." To make sure that there was a vegan option for Meghan, I called the restaurant and asked if they had any vegan entrees. The person the phone was a little confused and said everything they served was either vegetarian or vegan. Those of you, who are familiar with these types of restaurants, are probably thinking I am a total idiot, but I had no idea that all these options were simply fake meat. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyways, the food was actually really good and tasted SOOO much like real meat. I got the Buffalo Wings and they even put a little wooded stick in the middle of the meat to act like a bone! HA!

After dinner we went to Rockefeller Center and then walked and saw the Christmas window displays on 5th Avenue. While walking on 5th Avenue we had an unexpected adventure that I will post about later on, because it deserves a post all of its own, but I definitely think it was the highlight of our 21.5 hours together.

The next day was a casual day where we ate had Ovest Pizza again and just strolled around Chelsea until they left us. :(

We randomly saw a high school friend, David Martin, while walking on the High Line.
I am always blown away when stuff like this happens in such a big city.
The world really is a small place.

The sign of true friends is when you don't do anything but still have the best time.