On Sunday I woke up at 5am to bang out a workout before hopping on the train to New York City so I could partake in some of the weekend-long festivities for my friend Christina’s 30th birthday. (You may remember that Christina was my San Francisco, wine country, half marathon buddy). Unfortunately due to my earlier holiday weekend plans (here & here), I couldn’t join until the last two days of the long weekend celebration. It was a pretty quick trip as I was leaving on Monday evening, but so worth it!
Here are some highlights:
The first thing on the agenda once I arrived was brunch at STK Rooftop. My friend Tiffany (who I was staying with) and I got there a little early so we decided to order a drink while we waited for the rest of the ladies to arrive.
Trying to stay healthy-ish on this trip I (well, actually the entire table!) ordered the watermelon, tomato, and goat cheese salad for my entree. And a few minutes later we decided to also order a side of their mac ‘n’ cheese. Best decision of the morning. 🙂
After brunch we decided to stroll along the High Line and then popped into several stores in the fashionable and trendy Meatpacking District. I coveted several DVF wrap dresses…
After walking and shopping for a couple of hours we all headed back to relax and get primped and ready for our big night out later!
Four of the six of us from earlier in the day started the night off with dinner at Spice Market back in the Meatpacking District. I was the only one in our group who hadn’t eaten here before and was told I was in for a treat.
That was an understatement. Everything at this restaurant was fabulous – the drinks and wine, the food, the service, the complimentary treats we got (an appetizer, a dessert, and dessert wine). We definitely got wined and dined! Happy birthday, Christina!

My drink at Spice Market. Can’t remember the name or the ingredients in the cocktail, but I remember it being delicious!
After dinner we headed out to a couple of different bars where we danced, sang, and drank until 3am the next day. 🙂
On Monday morning (Christina’s actual birthday), we all decided to sleep in however long our bodies needed to after our late-night out. At around 10:30am we had all convened at a super cute place for brunch in Tiffany’s neighborhood, Gia La Fornarina. The main color theme of the restaurant was pink so I immediately knew we’d love it!
After brunch three of us (Christina, Tiffany and I), were supposed to go on a boat tour by the seaport, but unfortunately the trip was canceled due to an impending thunderstorm. Le sigh…next time I guess!
So the three of us decided to make the most of our situation and do what we did best – eat and drink (again!)
We cabbed over to the Flat Iron District and decided to try the John Dory Oyster Bar. We were also looking for a way to get out of the rain.

I was able to try something I had never eaten before, kedgeree. Kedegree is an Indian dish consisting of cooked, flaked fish boiled rice, parsley, hard-boiled eggs, curry powder, butter or cream and occasionally sultanas. I thought the dish was good, but had a tad too much salt in it.
Pretty soon it was time to say my farewells to everyone. I was so glad to be able to share and participate in another friend’s milestone birthday. Cheers Christina!
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