Just over a week ago Lauren and I headed to NYC for a girls weekend! We wanted to see the Harry Potter “A Cursed Child” plays (2 parts over 2 nights), so bought tickets and booked flights back at Christmas. The rest of our trip kinda came together as the time got closer.

We coordinated our flights to get in around the same time and met at the hotel, The Lucerne, in the Upper West Side. After dropping our bags, we ate delicious, homemade pasta across the street at Coppola’s. This is like “melt in your mouth” type legit pasta that was the best way to be welcomed back to the city.

After filling our stomachs, we headed a block over to Central Park to wander around. We saw there was a castle in the park near us, so thought we’d check it out and it happened to be reopening that day after a 15 month renovation.

We continued the Central Park theme with an early dinner at Tavern on the Green before heading to midtown for Part 1 of the play.

The next morning we started with some bagels then headed down to One World Observatory. Last time I was here there was literally 0 visibility, so I was looking forward to seeing out of the windows this time! And what a view it was..

Since the USA women’s national team was playing France that day in the quarterfinals, I was rocking my USA vs Everybody shirt (designed by Kelley, Alex Morgan & Allie Long). I also got Eddie the Eagle from the gift shop for baby Will to remember his first trip out of SC – thanks Rollene!

We walked over to Chinatown to meet my good friend Alex for lunch at Deluxe Green Bo, his favorite Chinese spot in Manhattan that’s walkable from his office. The 3 of us had a very authentic lunch with an assortment of dishes: dumplings, scallion pancake, sesame chicken and lo mein.

He had to go back to work, but we found the bakery around the corner that served the jiggly cake my sister wanted to try. Unfortunately, you had to buy a whole cake (not just a slice) and after our feast, we opted for a smaller dessert instead that we ate in the park before walking around a bit more and heading back up to the Upper West Side and the sports bar across the street, Blondie’s, for the game.

This time we just grabbed a slice of pizza on our way to the play for a quick bite to eat. Since this was only my first (and second) show on Broadway, I’m no expert, but I highly recommend The Cursed Child! They managed to bring the magical world alive in some impressive special effects, plus I just love a good Harry Potter story.

After 2 days of walking 7+ miles a day, we were pretty beat when the show ended and grabbed some gelato by the hotel before calling it a night.

Saturday morning we slept in before grabbing more breakfast sandwiches and going down to 14th street to check out the High Line.

Alex was right that it would be packed with tourists (and probably more with the Pride event hosted at a part of the High Line), but we still walked down it a bit and enjoyed the views and greenery.

To escape the heat, we explored the Whitney Museum of American Art. The views from their terraces were wonderful, the art was interesting and that triple chocolate chip cookie (thanks to Taylor) was delicious!

After lunch at Chelsea Market, we grabbed our bags and headed our separate ways to different airports and states. While having my flight delayed and getting out of JFK was a mess, it was nice to have all day Sunday to relax before it was back to work on Monday.

I’m so lucky to be able to have fun getaways with my family and hope this is the first of many sister weekends in the future!

New York, you were great to me as always, and I can’t wait to get back..