long weekend fun!

We we're thrilled to pass this Gap, whose window carried our summer mantra "The city clears and its all yours."

This weekend was super fun and busy. We always say that we get more done in a morning than most people get done all day!

Our long weekend started on Thursday, when we took 2 subways and a bus over to Ikea to start up our routine of fixing up the apartment this weekend. Havi wasn't thrilled that she couldn't come or even help put the coffee table together! We then headed out to Long Island for Law Student' littlest brother's Awards Ceremony where he won the PRIDE Award, for embodying the values of the school. At Penn Station they have a new restaurant, Chickpea, which is all over the city and serves baked falafel!

Friday morning we woke up to the handymen knocking on the door to replace our floor that mysteriously buckled. Apparently the parquet floor was laid down in 1985 when the building was built and the humidity this week has really affected it. When Dental Student came back from a few classes and errands, the fun began! The threepeasinapod packed up our bags and headed into Midtown. We cut through the ever-camera-ready Grand Central Station.

Havi was thrilled to lay on the cold marble floor.

For each other's birthdays we always like to do something experiential. So last year, for Dental Student's birthday we took an Urban Oyster Food Cart Tour. New York City has food carts everywhere, some sell pretzels and hot dogs. But others sell cuisine by pretty famous chefs. Food carts and permits are not cheap to come by, but the food they sell is. Food Trucks are becoming increasingly famous around here as well. Midtown, which is where the large majority of the city works, has the highest concentration of food carts.

We attended my favorite, the Biryani Cart (who won the 2008 and 2009 People's Choice Award at the Vendy Awards) for Buradi and King Koti Kati Rolls. The kati rolls are spicy!!

Then we headed over to El Rey del Sabor, for a delicious quesadilla.

While looking for somewhere to sit, we found this outdoor eating area, which worked out pretty well!

Besides the fact that these fun food carts have superb food, its cheap too! For our Kati Rolls, quesadilla, and 3 waters it was only $16.

We passed Gramercy Park, a beautiful private park where Havi needed to take a break. She insists on wearing black, what can I say?

Next, we headed uptown to Home Depot. We bought all the supplies to paint the apartment, and Havi rode her first escalator which everyone seemed to love!

We passed some pretty "only in New York City" things, like this giant yellow bear on Park Avenue, even Havi laughed!

Saturday we spent the day fixing up the house, putting the coffee table together, fixing the lights, painting and planting.

We took a break during painting to head over to the Union Square Greenmarket. It was really hot out at this point of the day and Havi's paws hurt on the concrete, so she took every opportunity to plop and pant. Last week, we asked for suggestions of what to do this weekend and Reilly/Bree over at CowSpotDog recommended a farmer's market. This worked out well, because we needed some fun stuff. We bought compost soil, petunias, lillies, and a fresh baguette for our MDW BBQ.

We saw this man playing an interesting instrument,

Havi stopped frequently for a water break on the hot concrete,

then modeled the bread and jam stands.

Sunday we woke up early to receive our Fresh Direct BBQ order, then headed over to Hummus Kitchen a fun, outdoor, pup-friendly mediterranean restaurant. There, a woman told Havi she could sit near her and gave her water then started debating about the dangers of owning a pit bull, despite Havi sitting quietly tucked under our table! Her concluding line was "if you stick a pencil in Havi's ear, she'll bite you." Sometimes, it's not worth arguing...

After cleaning up the apartment, we said goodbye to Havi and went to Hoboken for a BBQ and met Baxter, an American Bull Dog (or so they say).

Monday we woke up and were VERY excited for our first party in our apartment - a BBQ with our parents.

Lastly, we saw a late night showing on Friday of Hangover 2 with our tickets from a Fandago.com LivingSocial deal. It was VERY funny, and not overdone. Although, a little graphic so leave the pups and kiddies at home. I also finished up Running With Scissors by Augusten Burrows. It was very well-written and I am glad I read it, but it was a little "too much" crazy for me, and therfore only gave it a 2 out of 5 on GoodReads. You guys gave me some great reading suggestions, so I have tons of fun stuff to read this summer!

After movies, books, painting and fixing, errands, food carts, Chickpea, outdoor brunch, farmer's markets, bbqs, and parades we remembered why we love living in NYC, just two grad students and a pittie in the city that never sleeps!

What new thing did you do this weekend? What should we do next weekend?!