209 in USA

The last time I saw my college roommates all at the same time was during my wedding in 2013. The last time we all went on a trip together was in 2009, when we visited Hong Kong. So it was with great excitement that I reunited with my girls this year! Mutya and Rachel came to visit me in New York for a couple of days first, and then a week later, I joined them in visiting Bianca in LA. 

It's been a whirlwind of a trip, but it was totally worth all the time and money and craziness! We finally got a chance to hang out, just us, and catch up on each other's lives, good and bad and everything in between. We were able to create more memories to add to our already pretty awesome collection of them from the years past. But most of all, it was just wonderful to be together, the four of us complete again, a situation that will always feel like home in its own way.

Rachel was the first to arrive in New York City, and we had Chipotle the first night she was here. When the weekend hit, we also ended up having lunch with her friend Chloe and her boyfriend, followed up by delicious dessert at Martha's Country Bakery. After visiting Strawberry Fields and a pit stop at Levain Bakery, Rachel & I made our way to the Lincoln Center to catch my first ever New York City Ballet, La Sylphide (which was beautiful).  

Mutya arrived the next day. She and Rachel caught a Broadway show that afternoon, but after, I took Mutya to Rockefeller Center and Grand Central Station before we met up with Macky to grab dinner at Sweet Basil. Their last day in town, we went to grab Shake Shack for dinner, Magnolia Bakery for dessert and Serendipity to finish their touristy experience.  Finally, we visited Times Square at night, which is always infinitely more fun than during the day!

Last Wednesday, I flew out to LA to reunite with the girls! I arrived just before lunch, and we acted out the entire drama of reuniting after years in the airport. (There's a video somewhere...) We dropped all our stuff off at Bianca's place, before we went to grab brunch at Bon Vivant and to visit the Glendale Galleria. We freshened up a bit before dinner at Crab Boil Ave. with our friend Jay and her sister Hazel, and our friend April, her husband Santi and her baby boy Tino. The food was phenomenal, but the company was even better. We dropped by House of Pies afterward for some homemade pie slices for dessert, and followed that up with a quick tour of Hollywood via car.

The next day, we were up and at 'em early to make the drive to Santa Monica Pier. The day was a little gloomy, but we had a lot of fun hanging around the boardwalk and even tried a few of the games. We went to have lunch at a Thai place, and followed that up with gelato and a short walk down Third Street Promenade. We hopped in the car and drove to downtown LA to visit The Last Bookstore, which is beautiful and a bookworm's dream. We finished off the night with Korean BBQ, Sprinkles cupcakes and a mini-birthday party at Bianca's place for Mutya's birthday.

On our last day, Rachel went to visit with family, so Mutya, Bianca and I wound up heading to Foxy's Diner with my Tita Aileen for brunch. (It was delicious!) We ran errands at Glendale Galleria + Target, before heading back so that Mutya and Rachel could pack. We had our last dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (yum!) with our friends, before grabbing drinks at The Piano Bar, a great place with live music.

It was such a great couple of days with my girls! I loved our silliness, our long chats, our new memories and I look forward to many, many more in our future. I love you ladies!