Brooklyn, Brooklyn, take me in

Well, after a whirlwind weekend in New York City, we're home and thankful.
I love living close enough to the city that we can drive down and make a weekend of it, even when it's six hours of driving and a tiring weekend. It's totally worth it.

To be honest, I took way less pictures than I was planning on taking. Turns out when you're traveling with a bunch of guys, you're too busy laughing and eating and drinking beer to take out your phone and snap a bunch of pics. And even when I tried, the boys usually complained, so I just stopped trying. But here are a few I managed to get in between our time at the bar[s].

I got a new purse at Target just for the trip, but Ben made fun of me. Boys don't understand. 

 This was obviously on the car ride there, as car rides home usually don't make for such happy faces. 

One of the boys, Luke, lives in Poughkeepsie, so we crashed at his house Friday night before taking the train into the city the next morning. Ben and I got the married people bed. 

 Typical Luke face, typical Bart face.

 I told the boys to get together for a picture and this is what they gave me. 

[and for future reference, from left to right, it's Luke, Bart, Ben & Chris. best friendz].

 Chris found us an cheap hotel in Brooklyn, but it only had one double bed. He was smart and called dibs on the pillow and blanket, crashing on the floor, but the other four of us got real cozy in that bed. Real cozy, indeed.

The first real thing we did in the city on Saturday after getting settled in our hotel and eating delicious hipster pizza in Williamsburg, was go to Brooklyn Brewery. We tried some new beers and went on the free tour, dreaming about having one of these giant beer vats in our house someday.

Excited friends excited for beer.

 Beer tokens were like gold in that place and I had two of them!

 This is what the weekend looked like: beer, laughing friends, and hugs all around. I liked it.

After the brewery, we hiked uptown to Central Park so Benny and I could go back to the place where he proposed. I was hoping that the trees were a little more autumn-y, but it was still pretty.

This was on the bridge where the magic happened. I was hoping maybe we'd find the glove that I lost in the midst of my celebratory dancing, but apparently some homeless guy scooped it up in the nine months we've been gone. How dare he.

 pretty New York.

 I just love this fountain right by our bridge.

 These are the stairs in Friends With Benefits! I love how universal everything in New York is, but that everyone has their own story about it. There's so much history here and I'm such a nerd and I love itttt.

On Sunday, we woke up in a haze and made our way deeper into Brooklyn to hang out at Bart's brother's apartment. He made the best bacon and eggs I've ever had, we watched the Giants game, and we checked out the view on his kick ass rooftop.

Then, after a quick 30-some hours in the city, we started the long trek back home. It involved lots of walking, train riding, driving, coffee, and unlike the rest of the weekend, no beer. 

No matter what I do, New York continues to be one of my favorite places in the world. We're dreaming of making the move down here, but even if that never happens, little trips like this will always be my most loved weekend getaway. I can't get enough of this city.