This weekend has involved walking, more walking, and a bit of running.

The great thing about living right by the Empire State Building is always having it as a beacon to guide me home. However, it definitely makes me more ambitious with walking home from places than I would otherwise be as it always looks closer than it is! I imagine my opinion on doing this will change slightly once the temperature drops below zero but for now, it’s great!

After a couple of late nights during the week, I wasn’t feeling particularly energetic for Friday night so decided to have an evening in and treat myself to a ShakeShack burger. I have to admit I was actually very impressed by how good it was, never having had one before!

Seeking to undo the previous night’s indulgence on Saturday morning, I headed up to the Central Park reservoir to join the masses and go for a run. I’m so glad I did- I felt like a real New Yorker and the views are amazing which is a good incentive to do another lap! I’ll definitely head back in a couple of weeks when the leaves have really changed!

My friend Ruth was in town so we went to the Museum of Modern Art in the afternoon to go see the Matisse cut-outs exhibition – well worth a visit, even if it was my third time going! However, this was my favourite piece in the sculpture garden… it reminds me of the puppet scene in The Sound of Music! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vtq9t08ktU&spfreload=10%20Message%3A%20JSON%20Parse%20error%3A%20Unexpected%20EOF%20(url%3A%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9vtq9t08ktU) – Go on, you know you want to watch it…..

I stopped for a quick catch up with my favourite lions at the Public Library on the way back home and told them to keep up the good work scaring off troublemakers – I really hope they reopen the main reading room before I leave – it’s meant to be amazing!

In the evening, we went out to a restaurant called Blue Smoke on the recommendation of a colleague. It’s known for its barbecue food so of course I was keen to go and it did not disappoint. We went for a mixed meat platter of ribs, chicken, pulled pork and sausage, with mac’n’cheese and biscuits.

I know you want a close up of the food… Yum!

We managed to get in to the jazz club downstairs afterwards and saw an amazing performance accompanied by delicious cocktails. The venue had a great feel to it as well, and didn’t seem to be full of tourists so I’d definitely be keen to come back another night.

Today, I started off at church and managed to catch up with the people I met at brunch last week!

And then this afternoon, I decided it was time for an adventure, so I headed to where no person has dared to go before… the western edge of the island… It looks over the Hudson to New Jersey and has some pretty awesome views.

 There are loads of parks to wander through along the way as well as cycle paths. I hung out at the VIP helipad for a while, and then by the yachts, but there didn’t seem to be any handsome pilots or sailors around to offer me a ride sadly… Maybe another day….

I was starving by this point, having walked miles so stopped for some food at Chelsea market ,which was all decked out for Halloween. Faced with this choice, where do you think I chose?

Amy’s Bread of course! I must say, Amy’s bread was pretty good- must be something in the name…

I’m now ready for a hot bath to soak my tired feet to prepare me for the week ahead! Have a great week!