Hello there, & welcome ◡̈

I’ve wanted my own little corner of the internet for a long time, somewhere to set down the things I notice and the things I’m learning. Moving to New York made that desire harder to ignore. This city doesn’t let you look away. The light on the brownstones, the smell of croissants from a corner bakery, the sudden wind off the Hudson River: you’re living out in the elements here, and the inspiration has built to a point of needing to process it back out.

This isn’t actually my first beginning. A few years ago, I started an Instagram and filled it with pictures and small stories. Then life grew full, and I set it down for a while. If you wander back through the archives, you’ll notice a gap in the writing. What fills that gap is the living: itineraries from weekends I spent exploring the city with friends, family, and my husband, Foley, all of them real, and all of them written down so you can borrow them. Now I’m returning to writing the way you return to an old habit that was good for you. All to say, I want to share itineraries for you, but this website is really for me too ◡̈

We’ve lived in Manhattan for almost four years. Lately, friends, and friends of friends, have been reaching out with questions about the city. They’re young singles and couples, new moms and moms with a whole crew, all wondering what to do and where to go. I love answering those messages for the people I know and love. Somewhere along the way, I began to wonder whether those answers might be a gift to someone I haven’t met yet. So I’m opening the door a little wider to see where it leads.

A little about me: after a decade in corporate America, I’m home with our daughter now. This website is part creative outlet and part learning (like learning how to build a website!). It’s a reason to take pictures and be present to my surroundings, to keep stretching my mind and creativity, and to build a digital footprint I’ll hopefully be proud to look back on.

I suppose that makes me one more “mommy blogger”, and I think I’m okay with that. I’ll keep the writing here locked in on a couple of things: what we’re doing in the city, and how we’re finding our way, living in Manhattan these days.

What you’ll find here

• Itineraries, gathered by season, one real weekend at a time: where we ate, how we spent the hours, and what I’d do differently. Each one is a weekend I actually lived, with photographs from that day.
• Stories about the moments that made me fall for New York, including the ones that humbled me.
• Sidewalk Notes, small reflections from ordinary days in the city.

Maybe you’re planning a visit, dreaming about a move, or you already live here and want to see it with fresh eyes. Whatever brings you here, I hope this feels like sitting across from a friend who’s excited to help you plan. More than anything, I hope you come to love this city the way I do.

The site may look a little unfinished at first. It’s homegrown, built slowly, one naptime at a time. Thank you for being here for this beginning.

Hope to talk soon!

— Caroline