USA – Page 3 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Personal November 4, 2013

Whirlwind Trip to NYC

I love, love, love New York City. It has so much energy. I adore walking around all day long, eating far too much (delicious) food, acting like a total tourist with my big Nikon DSLR, getting excited about things I’ve now seen numerous times, like Central Park and the Empire State Building. I spent a very brief 36-ish hours in NYC this weekend with a good friend of mine – play-by-play itinerary below. What are your favorite things to do in the city? We’re thinking about making this an annual trip, so I welcome suggestions!

Friday

Landed around 2:30 and took an Uber cab to the Ace Hotel
Walked to Eataly and roamed around, then went to nearby Mangia for a quick salad
Walked to the observatory level of the Empire State Building (totally worth doing once)
Returned to the hotel and drank at their very hipster bar
Walked to Almond for an early pre-show dinner (I highly recommend this Flatiron spot)
Cabbed to the Al Hirschfield Theater for Kinky Boots (a must see)
Walked through Times Square and then back to the hotel
Step count: 7.5 miles

Saturday

Breakfast at Pastis (we ran into one of my best friends and her boyfriend while walking, so they joined us!)
Sat awkwardly at Pastis while they filmed a movie right beside our table for 30 minutes
Popped into Kate Spade Saturday’s Pop Up Shop
Got a drink at Revel Garden Bar (gorgeous, gorgeous spot)
Strolled through Chelsea Market enjoying the aromas and sample sales!
Walked along the High Line
Left the Meat Packing district and walked to the Gramery Park Hotel bar
Walked to Barbounia for lunch – amazing hummus and falafel and the busiest restaurant I’ve ever been to
Returned to the hotel to freshen up and drop shopping bags, then cabbed it to Barneys (sigh)
Stolled through Central Park as the sun was setting
Went to Kate Spade Madison Avenue – I want it all
Walked to Bloomingdales and spent ages lusting at Equipment blouses
Took a taxi to Market Table, which is a perfect West Village restaurant (try the Brussels sprouts!)
Crossed the street for some froyo at 16 Handles
Walked back to the hotel for an early-ish bed (due to a 5am wakeup)
Step count: 12.5 miles

Kate Spade Madison Avenue changing rooms… I need this wallpaper!

Invitations October 29, 2013

Rustic NY Wedding & Invites

I’m heading to NYC this weekend with a girlfriend of mine, and when I stumbled upon these NY invitations on Oh So Beautiful Paper, I totally swooned. I love the save-the-date so much. The handpainting adds such a unique touch. The venue for this wedding is equally cool.

I decided to do more investigation into the venue via Style Me Pretty – it’s very rustic, and I love it.

City Guide October 25, 2013

Austin Travel Guide

View of downtown Austin

View from Mount Bonnell

Darrel K. Royal Stadium at The University of Texas at Austin

G’Raj Mahal on Rainey Street (delicious)

Amazing coffee (love the on “The Drag”)

My favorite independent book store

Hamilton Pool

Sixth Street

Austin City Limits

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I’m in Austin today for a UT Recruiting event, and as we have a little downtime (the first I’ve had ALL week), I thought I’d share some wonderful Austin guides:

Entouriste: A Local’s Guide to Austin
TripAdvisor: SoCo, Austin’s Strip of Wonderful
Design*Sponge: Austin Design Guide
Fodors: Austin Travel Guide

sources linked via image

Snapshots October 4, 2013

Save Prada Marfa

I love following Gray Malin on Instagram. His photos are incredible. A recent post brought to my awareness the fact that Prada Marfa is under threat of being demolished due to the Texas Department of Transportation. This modern art piece is a permanently installed sculpture by artists Elmgreen and Dragset, situated about 37 mi northwest of the city of Marfa. The installation was inaugurated on October 1, 2005. The artists called the work a “pop architectural land art project.” The sculpture was intended to never be repaired, so it might slowly degrade back into the natural landscape.*

Prada Marfa was made culturally popular by its regular appearance on Gossip Girl, and yes, I did order myself a Prada Marfa sign for our house (sorry, Sasha!).

The Texas Department of Transportation recently deemed the installation to be a form of advertising akin to a billboard. Given this categorization, Prada Marfa needs to be licensed by the state, but the area in which it stands isn’t eligible for this type of permit. Fans are rallying around this iconic art piece on Facebook. You can read more about the details of the initial ruling here.

Some of my favorite photos of Prada Marfa are those from Gray Malin’s Prada Marfa collection below.

*Prada Marfa description

Personal September 30, 2013

Minneapolis Snapshots

Sasha and I headed to Minnesota for the weekend to spend time with friends. They live in the wonderful city of Minneapolis – it’s also the city where my brother-in-law grew up, so we’ve been meaning to go for ages now. We certainly weren’t disappointed. Despite a rainy Saturday, we found Minneapolis to be a gorgeous, outdoorsy city, filled with delicious restaurants and unique things to see (i.e. the massive cherry below). We ate a light snack after we arrived at The Local in downtown, had dinner on Friday at Punch Neopolitan Pizza, ate breakfast at Edina Grill, and then had lunch at Gorkha Palace on Saturday. We dined at Loring Kitchen and Bar before we headed to Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna on Saturday evening, then finished the weekend off on a great note at Cafeteria in Uptown before heading to the airport. I seriously enjoyed every single bite of food we ate on the trip (as did Sasha!). It was so nice to spend time with Sasha’s friends and their adorable girls. Next up, NYC in one month!