Taylor N. Lacey: NYC

I've been to New York City a ton of times and I have to say it is my favorite city unless it is snowy! Having been there a ton and knowing the lay of the land, I have a ton of advice on planning a trip there and where the cool spots are for tourists. I like to believe that you have to be a tourist in your own town to truly appreciate all it has to offer! All of these things I have done and loved so if you make a trip for a week - make sure to check out at least two of these things :]

Things to Do

I am really into two things: Museums for my love of art and Natural Outdoor Spaces when I travel because I spend too much time in an office or classroom for my liking!

Museums

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Make sure you go and check out what you saved on your pen!

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

Love it! Go to see Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Van Gogh's Starry Night

The Metropolitan Opera

Amazing - worth every penny bu try to get Rush Seats for $25 the day of!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Everything is worth it- give yourself a full day here or two!

The American Museum of Natural History

Seriously a gem - you have to give yourself a day here, too!

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

It's is so beautiful and weird - a little expensive but worth a couple of hours!

NYC Public Library

So much history and the building is so gorgeous- the ceilings and woodwork = swoon

Outdoors

Cupcake Tour(book on Groupon - $20 for two people)

Awesome time- try all the sweets but not get too stuffed or too fat

Central Park

Seriously gorgeous all year round and it blows my mind how big it is for a city park!

Food

Sarabeth's

Get the salmon cobb salad and some muffins for breakfast the next day!

The Smith

The Trout Schnitzel is to die for - a must have for any pescatarian who wants to have Schnitzel!

Maison Kayser

French food at it's finest - for the lunch crowd

Shake Shack

A cult favorite but so good!

Molly's Cupcakes

So good - get the birthday cake!

city guides

Taylor's NYC Guide

After a morning at the Guggenheim and the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, I had to go to Sarabeth's - the last of my instagram recommendations in the Upper East Side. It is most famous as a place that makes great muffins and jam. Sarabeth's jam is sold all over the country in specialty shops or even at Marshall's but it all started in NYC.

The branding of the restaurant is awesome! I love the combinations of fonts and color. I had a cup or the raspberry herbal tea to start my meal!

For lunch, I had the salmon cobb salad and it was awesome! I would recommend it to everyone because the fish is not that fishy so most people would love it. The dressing was really good, too!

I brought home muffins for my mom and dad. I had this lovely brioche and got these adorable mini jams to bring back to school. We all agree that they were really good - expensive but really good for breakfast! I recommend this place for more of the women who might read my blog - it is really cute and perfect for catching up with a friend or discussing what you just saw at a museum.

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Sarabeth's

This museum was not planned for me to go to on Thursday, I finished at the Guggenheim pretty quickly. I read that this museum was nearby and headed over to check it out! I was so excited because I have not even hit the DC museum circuit but this is a Smithsonian museum! I also take a lot of design classes in industrial engineering so I was interested to see how they used what I learned to make things in the museum. The museum is housed in an old mansion in NYC. It is literally gorgeous with all of the painted walls, glass and wood carvings. Look at the detail in this one room!

There was a ton of stuff that I loved learning about that day! I learned a ton about 3D printing in class so it was really cool that they had jewelry and an actual printer on site! These wooden models were really cool because they were used to design sweeping staircases and churches! This was used to model how something sent in space would be shaped and designed. Lastly, this artwork was so cool and used abandoned tools to be made!

During your visit, they give you this pen that can be used to save anything you thought was cool at your visit. You press the white plus on the top to a black plus on any of the descriptions and wait for a vibration to save. If you make an account on the website, you get access to all the things you saved.

Side note: Smart materials in museums and parks are hot new area. This pen and the new Disney Magic Bands are really good examples of this!

I really suggest this museum for anyone with kids in the 10-18 range. It was really cool and using the pen, design labs and wall paper room made it even more fun! I also think anyone science or design minded will have a blast at the museum! I know I did!

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The Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

This spring break, I wanted to accomplish something off of my 101 in 1001 list. It was really important to me to do something that would make me happy but also top off my experience in NYC for the week. I wanted to go to the Metropolitan Opera but I did not have money for the seats I wanted - front row orchestra seats. Somehow, with a little digging and the generosity of some nice people, my mom and I made it to the opera! It was awesome!

More on how to get tickets. On the Metropolitan Opera website, there is an area for rush tickets. You buy them at noon the day of the show you would like. Tip: Sign up the night before with an account! For $25, you can have orchestra seats towards the back at the same price as the tippy top level Family Circle paid to be there if you take the risk. We took the risk and ended up in row W. We had a great view of the stage. Then by chance, a wonderful woman and her husband had to leave after the first act and they gave us their tickets in row F! It was so nice and I hope that one day I can do the same favor to a young person enjoying the arts.

The inside of the Opera House is gorgeous - gilded in gold and sculpted to perfection. The chandeliers are even more gorgeous in person - they just sparkle. We went to see Les Contes D'Hoffman. It was a tale of three women in Hoffman's life and not to spoil the ending - you will have to see it. It was very funny, in French (there are translations on the back of the seats), and the talent was amazing. I could not believe that I had never been and I really hope to go back sometime soon!

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The Metropolitan Opera (84)

The MOMA is a classic. I have been there before but had to go and do all of the new things. They have a new exhibit on Bjork which was awesome. I saw her new song that the MOMA commissioned her to do. It was sick! It was called Black Lake and you have to check it out! I'm not sure when it goes online but when it does - I will post the link!

Art wise: my favorites are above - A new artist's take on Chinese fables and war, The Sydney Opera House = circular sections, a 3D printed dress, Andy Warhol, Van Gogh, and Jackson Pollock.

After a thrilling morning at the MOMA, I headed to The Smith Midtown for lunch. I had heard about it on Instagram (my usual place for restaurant recommendations) and headed over to have lunch there.

Started as an American brasserie, it has a play of classic food with new flavors. It was pretty chill people wise at 2 pm and absolutely gorgeous because it's mainly a bar with really good food. If you are looking for something fun and want somewhere great to eat - head here! I went for lunch and the menu is pretty much the same there during the day or night but changes for brunch. I will make it to brunch sometime!

I was kind of obsessed with the menu - the font is old school and the descriptions though breif, are really spot on. Sometimes with restaurants, I have no idea what I am getting but this time - it was pretty clear!

I started with the cucumber ginger ale. It was really good! I want to make something like this at home for the summer time because it was really refreshing! After ordering, I dug into my book! Expect a review soon but it was awesome!

I had the Trout Schnitzel for lunch. It was on a smush of cauliflower puree, with fingerling potatoes, and had picked veggies on top. It was the perfect combination between crunchy, salty, smooth and tart. I ended with a cappuccino because Mom and I were going to the opera and I needed energy!

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal! I heard really good things about the Brussel Sprouts and the portobello fries - so if you go, please let me know if you enjoy them.

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MOMA and The Smith

For lunch on Tuesday, I had to try a place I have seen on Instagram almost 1000x - Maison Kayser. It is originally a French artisan boulangerie that has several locations in New York City. One of the things that the boulangerie prides itself on is taking the time to make bread by hand from scratch exactly how they do in Paris. Every location should have a good authentic bread experience for the customers. They want the bread to be so good that the owner created a special machine to make sure his bread comes out perfect every time. As an industrial engineer - I can dig that to the highest level because repeatability is the sign of a great process. I love anything French so this was the perfect place to wet my palette of NYC cuisine.

I started with the vegetable soup. It was lentil soup! It was creamy, thick, and the croutons were to die for!

I had the Salmon Tartine for my main course. It was sourdough bread, smoked salmon, creme frache, onions, kapers and friend egg on top. It was so good that I have to learn how to make something similar at home. If I perfect it, I will for sure post to the blog!

I finished with the Citron Tart. It was really light and refreshing.

Overall, the meal was great, the service at 2 pm was awesome and the atmosphere was phenomenal.

A definite stop to eat for lunch or brunch if you stop in the city!

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Maison Kayser

Anyone who has watched Gossip Girl knows how they all hung out on the steps of the Met. In all my years of going to NYC, I had never made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since I had a free week for Spring Break, this was the first stop on my trip around the city. It's so classic and beautiful in the front - I cannot imagine how great it looks a sunny summer day! To read more on how to get there, the history, and how to visit - check out this link to the official website! It helped me a lot to get ready for my visit.

After paying Student Admission, I started by taking a selfie upstairs to send to my friends - they all went tropical gorgeous places but hey - this place is a gorgeous place, too!

Someone spotted me asking a selfie and asked me if I wanted a picture taken of myself. Of course, I said YES! I am wearing a J. Crew blouse, Abercrombie and Fitch Jeans, a new Old Navy reversible tote and some old Target Ballet Flats. It was the perfect outfit for running around the city. In my bag, I tucked my North Face jacket - it was supposed to rain and I wanted to stay dry!

I started out in the Asian Wing. Everything over there is GORGEOUS! From a dancing goddess with the coolest carvings, to a wooden ceiling anyone who loves the #ihaveathingwithcelings hashtag would die over, to asian painted screens and a cool iPad station about 100 demons fable, I loved exploring this area! I loved this deer in the modern Asian area. It was an actual taxidermic deer covered in glass!

After all that Asian awesomeness, I went into the Egypt area and saw all the cool mummies and they have an actual part of a tomb as a gift from Egypt installed inside. It was so giant and gave me a better perspective on how large the Pyramids could be if this was a small installment.

I headed over the the American Area - so much stuf! I loved seeing a Frank Lloyd Wright work, Tiffany glass and these great Thomas Hart Benton murals! They were so vibrant and were about America as whole. A must see if you get there anything soon!

I ended in the European area. I could not believe how intricate this gate was in the section. There were so many arch and twists in the metal. On the way out, I stopped at the Madame Cezanne exhibit. It was really interesting to see someone's muse through out the years and in so many different mediums.

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