Two Birthdays to Celebrate

Today I have two birthdays to celebrate. The first being my mom (Sooze). As a birthday gift, my dad is flying her up to NY this weekend to play about the city with me. We have plans to shop in the West Village, eat lots of tasty meals, spend time with Bailey and go see Wicked (though I know every word to every song, I have never seen this musical and can't wait!). The second birthday to celebrate today is my blog. Southern in the City is officially one year old. Though I didn't plan to start a blog on Sooze's birthday, it's particularly appropriate given the fact that my mom is one of the most talented writers I know and always encouraged me to start a blog. Well, I took her advice and did just that. It's been a fun hobby over the past year - sharing my life of being a southern girl in the city - (better some days than others). I think my favorite part of having a blog has been the e-mails I've received from people I know, and many I don't, who have said they enjoy reading about my time as a Yankee. I truly appreciate it and love to hear from all of you.

Happy Birthday to Sooze - a great writer and mom. And a Happy birthday to Southern in the City - a fun project that I hope to keep going for as long as you keep reading.

Tasty Tuesdays: The Breslin Bar and Dining Room

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In fact, it's my favorite so I was very excited when The Husband suggested we find one breakfast place in the city to try each week. For the next few months, we will be searching for the perfect place around town to start off our Tuesday mornings. Hey, it's cheaper than going out to dinner (which we like to do too). We may not find the Denny's Grandslam, but I bet we find something equally delicious with a few less calories.

Our first Tasty Tuesday - The Breslin Bar and Dining Room @ the Ace Hotel on West 29th and Broadway. They don't take reservations so we arrived around 8 a.m. giving us enough time to eat before work. The Breslin is casual and cozy but dark and quiet so no loud babies or early-morning talkers.

We may have gone a little overboard with our order but we wanted to try a little bit of everything. To start, we ordered the selection of pastries (muffins, croissants and hot cross buns - yes, hot cross buns really do exist - I thought they were just part of a nursery song). Let me just say that the blueberry muffin was the best muffin I have ever had - ever. It was light but sweet with plenty of butter and fresh blueberries throughout. If I could have one everyday I would.

Next, we ordered the chilled grapefruit with ginger sugar and mint. Yes, ginger sugar and mint. Yum. After eating all those carbs, the fresh fruit was a great segue into our next order (I told you we went a little overboard)....the oven baked three cheese sandwich with house smoked ham and egg. Our stomachs barely let us finish this tasty sandwich but we both took a few bites. We agreed this would be perfect to eat on a cold winter day because it was so filling.

We definitely recommend The Breslin for breakfast - just go hungry (and maybe don't order as much as we did!)

Stay tuned for other Tasty Tuesday breakfast recommendations.

Photos from Breslin.com.

Faces of Fashion - Fall 2010

I'm still hanging on tight to my rainbows, tees and shorts but it's inevitable, fall is coming. The fall fashion magazines are on stands now and by golly they are heavy! In fact, the most recent issue of New York Magazine is dedicated in full to fashion. One section I enjoyed the most in New York Magazine this week was the "Faces of Fashion." The photography is great and captures designers, models, bloggers and fashionistas alike, so simply and so real. Sometimes the fashion trends are a bit daunting, but the faces behind the clothes tell a different story. Here's a few I especially liked: Fore more faces of fashion in New York Magazine, click here.

Avon

Our last part of the vacation ended in Avon, just an hour and a half south of Southern Shores. I've only visited this area once when I was little, so I was excited to return and spend some time here, especially since I have heard such good things from The Husband's Aunt Liz. Like our time in Southern Shores, we ate and ate and ate some more. One of the best things about vacationing at the beach is the enormous amount of food (specifically seafood) and drink that is always at your fingertips. I wish we ate like that at home, but my cooking skills are note quite like the other chefs in my family (both sides). I'm working on it...sort of.

We spent time relaxing by the pool, playing pool and catching up with everyone. I even had some time to sit down with my father-in-law (the artist) to learn about taking a good picture.

Though I'm never good at goodbyes, saying goodbye to the beach is always especially hard for me. We are back now, to the real world, getting used to our regular routine. Thanks to both families for an amazing vacation. Fun things coming up for Southern in the City. It's almost been one year since I started this blog and I'm working on a few surprises to celebrate. Stay tuned!

Marshes Light

After a great trip to Southern Shores, my brother, The Husband and Bailey set out for Manteo, NC. Let me first say that Bailey had a great vacation too. She stay in three different kennels (yes, three) and loved them all. She is definitely a beach girl like her mamma. Though I did worry about how she would do being away from us overnight, she was just fine and I swear has been sniffing for sand ever since we got back to the city.

Driving to the Outerbanks as a child, I remember Manteo as being the last town we went through before getting to the beach. I also can't forget our visit(s) to see The Lost Colony play. If you've ever been to the OBX, then you've probably seen The Lost Colony at least once. Other than that, I hadn't spent much time in the town until just about two weeks ago.

For those that don't know, Roanoke Island (where Manteo is located) is the birthplace of Virginia Dare, America's first born English child. That's my only history lesson for now. Today, Manteo is a small town lined with picturesque houses with picket fences and sailboats.

We were lucky enough to stay at Marshes Light, a waterfront community with townhomes and condos right on the boardwalk in Manteo. Marshes Light is within walking distance of the downtown where you can find shops and restaurants as well as the replica of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse (pictured above). The Husband and I have grown accustomed to being able to walk to eat and drink in NYC, so it was so nice to be able to do the same thing here. We ate at the Full Moon Cafe (twice) and had drinks at 1587.

The condo at Marshes Light was so comfortable and perfect and as the three of us sat on the back porch watching the boats, my brother and The Husband tried to come up with ways to be able to call it our own. Check out Marshes Light's blog, Beach Road to Manteo, here. I definitely recommend visiting Manteo if you get down to NC - and special thanks to Lee at Marshes Light for a great visit!

Southern Shores

I've finally had the chance to sit down, relax and download pictures from my recent trip to NC's OBX. In my best attempt to not inundate you with too many beach and family photos (which, I'm likely to do anyway), I'll start with the first part of our trip at Southern Shores. My family has spent many years visiting this beautiful beach, which feels like home to me - Nags Headers anyone? We spent time relaxing with mom, dad, brother and my grandparents B and Pop B, as we call them (remember sock and shoe?). The Husband made his famous shrimp scampi and we enjoyed salmon cakes from mom. We ate and ate and ate some more, including a delicious dinner in Duck. Sometimes there is nothing better than relaxing on the beach, eating seafood and napping after a day in the sun.
I was even lucky enough to take a bit of Southern Shores back with me to NYC; check out the cute table that now lives in our hall way. If you are in the Southern Shores area, you should definitely check out the art gallery, Art Space where we found this great little piece of furniture.

Up next, our time at Marshes Light in Manteo and the Worsham family trip to Avon.

I'm baaccck!

Hey ya'll - I'm back! Southern in the City took a much needed vacation over the past week and half and had an amazing time in the Outer Banks of North Carolina (my favorite place). The Husband and I were lucky enough to be able to see both sides of our families at two different beaches + one charming small town in OBX.

I have quite a lot of stories to tell and things to share with you all - especially pictures from my new camera below (the one I was craving)! I will post pictures as soon as I have the chance to upload. Right now, I'm getting back into the swing of things and trying to adjust to non-island life. Check back soon for more tales and pictures in the coming days. Happy Friday!