That’s right, 4! My awesome Dad paid for Stan and I to spend another night in New York. Explanation to follow!

Day 2, Monday, we slept in a bit and hunted for more vintage clothing and cupcakes. I didn’t really find any great pieces of clothing that really stood out to me, but that was probably because I was lamenting my lack of money. I had hoped I would have my tax return money before the trip, but, because I gave the IRS the wrong routing number, that didn’t happen. :( Of course, when I stumbled upon a tokidoki store, I didn’t think twice before buying a $100 messenger bag. I justify this with the fact that I didn’t buy anything else {other than food and Metro Cards} and my dad gave me $100 for the trip. {He isn’t usually this generous, but he just got his bonus! Yay for everyone!} Haha, thanks for sponsoring our trip, Dad. We also found more cupcakes to munch on. I bought this scrumptious and enormous raspberry swirl cupcake from Crumbs Bake Shop on Broadway. It was so huge I had to split it with Stan {and I’m not usually so generous, either}. We also had a late lunch/early dinner at Goodburger, home of the Goodburger! {If you don’t get the reference, I’m old}.

Day 3, Tuesday, began horribly. We checked out of our hotel, went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), then realized they were closed. Nice one, Sami. They’re closed every Tuesday. I felt like this entire montage of Arrested Development Charlie Brown-esque sad moments. Seeing the Tim Burton exhibit was my sole purpose for going to the Big Apple! :( :( I called my dad, who was staying in New Jersey, to ask if we could camp out with him for a night, but we realized it would have cost more money in taxi fees just to get there and back than it would have cost to go home and come back another day. We hung up, grabbed our luggage from the hotel, and began our walk back to the train station. My dad called me a few minutes later and offered to pay for us to stay another night. Yesss! We had to check into another hotel, but we were very, very happy.

We acquired more cupcakes, this time from Magnolia Bakery, which has been in Sex & the City. I bought two: caramel, which was very sweet, and red velvet, which made my teeth look vampiric, munching on my latest victim. We shopped around a bit more and ate at Five Guys because Stan is addicted to their burgers. On our way back to the hotel, I spotted Radiance Tea House & Books. I’d never been to a tea house before, so we went in and ordered a pot of Spring in Kyoto, a flavorful mix of Japanese green tea, sunflower, and peony blossoms. I couldn’t resist ordering edamame, which I have become addicted to. Radiance describes themselves as “an oasis in the city,” and wow are they right. I didn’t ever want to leave that place, I was so relaxed. But, we did. Stan and I went back to our hotel, watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on my MacBook, then went to sleep.

Day 4, Wednesday, we woke up, checked out of our hotel, and went straight to the Tim Burton exhibit at the MoMA. It was wonderful. If you’re a big Tim Burton fan, or even a little one, it would be a shame to miss it. The exhibit runs until April 26th, and you can check out a lot of it online here. There is so much of Burton’s work that went undeveloped and unpublished, and that alone is worth seeing, but it was amazing to see his preliminary drawings of characters that would appear in his movies, or costumes that were worn by Johnny Depp or Christopher Walken. It was very crowded, but still totally worth it. After the exhibit, we hopped on the train and headed home, exhausted.

…It was wonderful :)