NYC week 1

Post about Bridals, Honeymoon, Wedding day, etc. to come...

Our honeymoon flew by and soon we were back in Utah again, staying at the Zermatt Villas in Midway - we had so much to do before we moved (see family, open wedding gifts, pack, etc.) and soon enough it was Tuesday night and we were packing until 6:45 a.m. About an hour later we were off to the airport - 6 suitcases in hand, ready for our 3 month journey (don't worry only 2.5 were full of clothes for both of us - the rest was all bedding/towels/appliances/etc.)

Taylor's uncle picked us up from the airport and we staying at his house in Connecticut for a couple nights. It is BEAUTIFUL!!!! up there, winding beautiful roads of green trees all around. Yep, I am definitely an East Coast girl. I love it here. 

We found our little Sunnyside apartment the night before we flew into the city, it was furnished and available for the month of June and only 25 minutes from Midtown Manhattan. We moved in on Friday. We are conveniently close to the subway, grocery store, and laundry. 

Sunday

We went to the Union Square ward for church, I used to go to the singles ward in that building when I was at FIT and Taylor used to go there all the time on his mission.

Then we stopped by Taylor's office building where he'll be interning with CEA capital - an Investment Bank.

We snapped some aBree Fashion photos in the courtyard across from his building

And stopped to take a picture in front of this beautiful front 'yard' between Park and Madison Avenue that we passed on the way to my J.Crew job interview - loved seeing hydrangeas in the city!! And they matched my dress. Perfection.

We also saw George Stephanopoulos with his two dogs heading into J.Crew Men on Madison Avenue. Taylor spotting him out. Love seeing high profile people in the city. Oh, the Upper East Side. While I was stalking him online I found this article with pictures of his GORGEOUS home here in Manhattan. 

And for dinner I made Tilapia for the first time and it turned out perfect! I was impressed with  myself, thanks to my favorite easy recipe that my mom makes.

Monday

Taylor's first day of his internship! Looking so good! 

While he was at work I thought I would surprise him with fresh baked dessert when he got home! I searched pinterest for the perfect thing - Andes Mint Cookies (Andes mints are one of Taylor's favorite candy). Only a few ingredients so I thought it'd be easy (I don't have flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, etc. on hand since we are just in a tiny apartment for a short time). I thought that the CVS would have a wider selection of candy and usually they have boxed cake - at least in Orem they do. Nope. Nothing. So I went to the grocery store about 5 blocks the other direction. I searched and searched through all the aisles to find my 3 ingredients (oil, cake mix, mints) and found out there was no Andes Mints. Now what? Jr. Mints!! Nope..none of those either. Seriously?! So then I thought, maybe they have frozen pie - Taylor loves pumpkin and berry pie... no frozen pie. Apparently people here in Sunnyside don't eat dessert. I went to plan C - rolo cookies, same ingredients just with Rolos inside rather than Andes on top. No Rolos. So I put the cake mix back and grabbed a brownie mix. But that is so boring. I called my mom and she had a genius idea - put marshmallows on top (any food with marshmallows automatically becomes my favorite). So then I searched about 10 more minutes to find where they stock marshmallows - I finally found them under the candy hidden behind a display box. Since I was in the candy section I found a bar of chocolate filled with caramel and grabbed that as well. I realized while searching for the marshmallows - I don't have a mixing bowl or a baking dish at the apartment. We sublet it furnished but apparently those weren't included. I figured I could use the "pot" (which is more like a deep skillet) to stir my mix in and found the aluminum disposable dishes for 50 cents. One last problem the dishes were about a foot higher up than I could reach so I waited and waited by them until someone tall enough walked by. Finally two guys were decently close and I asked for help, they seemed rather confused that I was talking to them and hesitantly came over BUT to my rescue they graciously grabbed the pan for me. This happened while still searching for the marshmallows so I saw the guys at least 5 more times while wondering through aisles - awesome.

BUT in the end it was all worth it because they turned out INCREDIBLE! And Taylor loved them.

(fudge brownie mix (made "fudge like" rather than "cake like") topped with Cadbury Chocolate filled with Caramel and marshmallows) - served warm

Tuesday

June 4th, our ONE MONTH anniversary! It seems like we've been married FOREVER, so it seemed weird that it was only a month. I met up with Taylor after work and we went down to Chelsea. My FIT area. When I started planning what we were doing to celebrate I looked up Key Lime Pie (one of Taylor's favorites) and discovered Billy's Bakery had some. Which happens to be right across the street from my favorite restaurant in the city - Le Grainne Cafe (we call it The French Place). Emily, Katie, and I discovered it when we met up to go to Billy's Bakery and realized we were too hungry to start off with cupcakes and the little French restaurant across the street caught our eye. And thank heavens. I love it. And Taylor did too. I got my favorite Quiche Epinard and Taylor got the Chicken Ratatouille Crepe. At Billy's we obviously got the Key Lime Pie which was super strong and had a gingersnap crust - yummy! and a slice of Coconut Cream Pie - OH MY GOODNESS, it was amazing!! Then I showed Taylor around my neck of the woods - The Fashion Institute of Technology. A little has changed since 2009/2010 but mostly it's just the same.

and I finally hopped on the Instagram train.. We'll see how it goes. @breelena