NYC --> Boston --> KC

Monday morning.  Another early morning.  The alarm went off at 5:30 and we were on the road by 6am.  

I tried to get a picture of how bad the traffic already was, but clearly failed:

Even an hour later, the traffic heading in to the city was still bad!

We didn't stop once and made it back to Angie's house in Boston at 10am.

I just sat down on the couch to "rest my eyes for a minute."  Yeah, an hour and a half later I woke up...

I had wanted to go down to Luke's NorthFace store and shop some, but we were way too short on time by that point.  Sleep always wins in my book.

We still hopped in the car and drove down to Boylston Street.  I got a mini-tour of Boston along the way.

Shortly after sleep, food wins.  So we scratched shopping and ate lunch at Sweetgreen.  It was kind of like a salad version of Chipotle, which I loved.

They had a Harvest salad that was so similar to the one I get at TLoft here in KC -- my favorite!

We only had time for one fun photo on the Boston Marathon Finish Line before heading to the airport.

My flight was a little delayed, but not too bad.

Apparently there was bad weather we had to go around, so the flight took FOR.EVER.

Also, all I wanted to do was sleep, and I even had my onesie to use as a soft pillow.  Small problem:  the woman in front of me wouldn't shut her window shade and the sun was directly in my eyes.

 

So annoying.

So I listened to music for almost 4 hours and watched the sun go down.

Back in KC, the airport was the business I'd ever seen it.  And Southwest couldn't decide which carousel they were going to unload luggage on.  I stood there for almost 40 minutes waiting on my bag!  

(Oh, and I had to check a bag because of my peanut butter I bought at the market..)

It was much colder in KC than it had been in NYC...so the onesie went on!  It was so funny to see everyones reactions and I had a handful of people ask me about where it was from.  

Should have grabbed some business cards from the Pook booth I guess!

We stopped at a few stores on the way home and I wore it in.  Seriously.  It's too funny to watch people look at you.  And I don't even care.  That thing is so warm and cozy, I might not take it off until Spring! 

Brooklyn BUST Holiday Craftacular: Day 2

Sunday morning started off with a bang:  an Uber to my first SoulCycle spin class!

We got to sleep in past 7 -- which was amazing -- and then got a great workout in.  Two of my favorite things!

The people at SoulCycle Williamsburg were so nice and walked us around the studio...and helped me with my clip in shoes.  (Not a fan!)

They even gave us free tank tops for our first visit!

I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous for this, but it was oh-so-fun.  Like, maybe my new favorite.

 

The instructor was AWESOME.  It was like dancing on a bike at a nightclub.  Kind of.  I don't even know how to describe it but awesome.

I so wish KC had a SoulCycle!!

#hotmess

Ang and I brought our stuff for the day with us, so we just showered and got ready there at SoulCycle, and then walked back to the Brooklyn Expo Center.

We walked by the spot where Angie left her bag the day before, so I made her re-enact it, haha!  (So lucky it was still there.)

Before the market opened, we ran over to the Ugly Sweater photo booth.  After a few outtakes, we got a good one. :)

The market wasn't quite as busy as yesterdays, so I decided to try another arm knitted scarf for Angie.  

Success!

That afternoon, I was getting a little bored.  I don't sit well.  So I decided to hop on the subway and head to Manhattan to the Union Square pop up shops to check them out...and buy some more Pook gear!

I was a little nervous about the subway by myself.  I'm a pretty good traveler, but I've never paid attention to the subways in NYC because I'm always with Angie.  I just follow her around.  Lucky for me, the Union Square station was a straight shot from the Bedford station in Brooklyn.  Three stops, and get off.  Too easy.

And when I came up from the subway, the shops were right there.

While the Brooklyn market we were working wasn't exactly hopping...Union Square sure was!  It was so packed you could barely move!

But I found the other Pook booth and got a onesie.  I really went to get a couple more hats, but they were sold out.  Bummer.

(The guys were still hilarious at this booth, but not quite as funny as the guy from Columbus Circle.)

I didn't stay long -- too many people for me!  Hopped on the subway back to Williamsburg and walked back to the Expo Center as the sun started to go down.

I didn't miss much at the Craftacular, but still felt bad for leaving Angie for a couple of hours...

And right at 7pm, we started tearing down the booth.  We were both ready to get out of there -- Angie probably a little more so than me.  That's a lot of work for one weekend!

We loaded up the car -- which was still in the parking lot from yesterday morning -- and drove to Speedy Romeo pizza in Brooklyn.

We lucked out with a parking spot right on the street, and walked about half a block to the non-descript building.

Angie is friends with the owner, Zach Bazdarich, and he also just so happens to be from KC!  I suppose that's why there is a KC Royale pizza on the menu.

We got the Royal (no pun intended) treatment.  The place was packed and they still squeezed us in to a little nook to ourselves.  They brought us a free appetizer ...

...AND dessert!  This was the best (and biggest) smores I've ever seen!  We didn't even come close to finishing it.

It was a pretty short drive back to the apartment, and the onesie immediately went on.  That thing is amazing.

If you know me, you know I'm always cold.  Seriously.  Not taking it off all winter.

It was a pretty successful weekend for Luke an Angie.  Sales were pretty good and we had fun!

Heading back to Boston (and then back to KC) tomorrow morning...

Brooklyn BUST Holiday Craftacular: Day 1

It was way too short of a night when the 5:30am alarm went off on Saturday.  But we rallied.  Packed up (again), and made it out the door with all my luggage at 6am.

At least we found the way closer subway stop (2 blocks instead of a mile is way better).

And the best news of the morning:  Angie's car was exactly where we left it.  No ticket and no broken windows.  

Angie wanted to be AT the Brooklyn Expo Center right at 7am so she could get a free parking spot in the lot.  

Well, we got there at 7:02...and no one else was there.  The building was locked and so was the parking lot.  Neither of us were happy about that.  We could have still been sleeping!

Eventually, someone showed up and let us in.  There weren't tables or anything set up yet, so we found the general area for her table number and unloaded the car.

Angie has this down to an art  She got everything on one little cart (that she brought).  All I had to do was carry the Christmas tree!

Not quite the set-up we wanted to see.  A table would have been nice...

With nothing else to do, and four hours until show time, we decided to walk to The Bagel Store for some rainbow tie-dye bagel Angie saw.  She kept saying, "It's just like 5 more blocks."

We stumbled upon this little trailer selling Christmas trees.  So cute to see in the city!

 

I can't walk by one of these without sticking my head in. :)

Angie's "just like 5 more blocks" turned in to almost two miles... but we made it to The Bagel Store.  And they hadn't sold out of the rainbow bagel yet!

It was a long, cold walk, so we were pumped when we saw a subway stop directly across the street.  That would have been nice to know. ;)

I wasn't feeling like a bagel, so we stopped at Starbucks for breakfast #2.  Oatmeal and a muffin and a smoothie.

Then there was another bakery, Bakeri, that Angie wanted to stop at.  Breakfast #3.

We wanted to get a cute picture with that rainbow bagel, so we went down to the waterfront.

It was so cold and so windy.  I mean so cold I couldn't even think straight.  

And look how the photos turned out!  HA!

 

 

 

 

FAIL.

We race-walked the rest of the way back to the Brooklyn Expo Center, half frozen.

The place was slowly getting set up, and at least there was a table for Angie to get her stuff organized on.

 

Again, down to an art.  Took her no time to have her booth up and running!

 

It was still early, and we had way too much time to kill before the 11am opening...so we left again.

But not before suiting up in my new Pook gear.  I was freezing before and didn't want to walk around without some more layers.

 

THIS is the Pook hat!  Too funny, right?  And oh-so-warm...

Breakfast stop #4 was for $16 scrambled eggs at some fancy hotel.  I don't even remember the name, but Angie loved every bite of them, and that's all that matters. ;)

Back at the Expo Center, for the third time before 11am...  It was finally set up and people were lined up out the door waiting for it to open!

It was so fun and exciting to see the people come by and stop at Angie's booth.  The prints are witty and funny and everyone loved them!

I walked around some, bought a few things... and spotted the arm knitting table!  A woman from "Stich 'N Bitch" was teaching people how to arm knit a scarf -- for free!  Sign me up...

 

Now, I am about as UN-crafty as they come.  I've never knitted or sewn or anything even remotely related to something like that.  So I was pretty pumped when I just got this much done!

 

So when THIS started happening, I couldn't believe my own eyes.

 

I MADE A SCARF -- and it's actually pretty cute!

 

The craft fair went until 7pm.  That's a long day.  Angie was such a trooper and literally stood almost the entire day.  She hardly ate, didn't drink, and only went to the bathroom once!

Meanwhile, I hung around the booth some...and shopped some.

This peanut butter was SO good, and even though I don't wear jewelry, I couldn't pass up these rings:

 

At 7pm on the dot, we threw a sheet over the booth, and started walking to the subway.  Buuuuut it was just too cold and we were just too hungry.  So we stopped on a street corner, set our stuff down, and waited for an Uber.

A few minutes later, the driver showed up, we hopped in, and started driving to Queens to meet Zumei and some friends for dinner.   

About 15 minutes in to the drive, in awful traffic, Angie realized she left her bag on the street corner. No joke!  

So back we went...poking along, weaving in and out of traffic.  Then BACK to Queens.  

When it was all said and done, we had been in the Uber for an hour.  That was not a cheap ride.

We met Zumei (who was also a bridesmaid with me in Angies wedding last year),  her brother Kenny, and his girlfriend Ellen.  Two Chinese, two Koreans, and one white girl.

The Asian restaurant we went to didn't look like anything special, but the food sure was.  Kenny ordered for all of us, and so much food came there literally wasn't even room for our plates on the table!

At some point in the night, Zumei asked what the "candy canes" on the bak of my hat were.  So I turned it around and pulled my thigh highs up...and I though they were going to fall off their chairs from laughing so hard.  Ellen wants the hat.  I may have to go back to the other craft fair tomorrow to get another one...

Angie and I ubered it from Queens back to her friends apartment in Brooklyn, much later than we wanted.  We were so tired an it was going to be another early rise and full day tomorrow for day 2 at the fair.  But we absolutely could NOT sleep in that apartment with no heat.  They had unplugged all the heaters in the house and it was about 40 degrees in there, I swear.  We plugged them all back in and I just sat ON the heater until I warmed up enough to get in bed and crash...