Welcome to Our Next Date!

Welcome to OurNextDate!

OurNextDate ...because it's never to Early to Start Planning

OurNextDate is a blog written for couples, by couples. Read about what's going on in and around the city, the best places to take your date, restaurant recommendations, free event listings around town, and join us for some activities that we’re planning for the group.

OurNextDate, was created by my husband Keith, and I. As a native New Yorker, I constantly fill our calendar with unique things to do around the city. From Sushi Making Classes, Street Festivals and Korean BBQ Restaurants to Comedy Nights and Off-Broadway Shows, I'm always looking to do something different to do. I also love giving people advice on where to take their dates and sharing my favorite haunts.

Keith, a Boston implant moved here leaving everything he knew behind. He slowly has begun to explore Manhattan and has found some of his own favorite spots. The best beer bars, best places to watch sports, and anywhere he could find to play games like Chelsea Piers and Dave & Busters, are his specialty. Together we will write about our New York, our whereabouts and keep everyone up to date on what not to miss.

In addition to blogging, we invite everyone to check us out on Facebook (Our Next Date Group Page) and http://www.meetup.com/ournextdate and join us at one of our upcoming events. We host 2-4 events a month where Couples can meet other Couples. Events so far have included Happy Hour, Board Games & Beer Night, Chelsea Market Lunch & The Highline and most recently Movie Night on the Intrepid Aircraft and a Beer Festival.

We look forward to meeting lots of new Couples in and around NYC so please check out our event calendar and email us if you have any tips about upcoming events that we should share with the group.

Broadway on Broadway & MTV Awards

Sometimes the best things to do in NYC are Free. Broadway on Broadway every September, brings the best of broadway out to the streets of Times Square. Each show performs 1 song and a lot of the new shows are introduced. This year we got to see Fella!, Bye Bye Birdie and Memphis, along with a Rent sing-a-long. Imagine being in the middle of Time Square with 10,000 + people all signing together, was very cool. We saw John Stamos, he definitely has aged well! And Rock of Ages closed the show with Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and just as they were done, confetti came pouring down onto the streets. It was pretty incredible.

Then walked over to Radio City Music Hall where they were setting up for the MTV Music Awards. There's no were else in the world quite like New York City. On days like this I can't believe I live here.

OurNextDate is back!

We're finally back! We know we slacked off with writing all summer long but did a ton of traveling so didn't have too many "Things to do in NYC" posts to write about. We can't complain though, we spent a great weekend in the Poconos with friends, a family weekend in Long Beach Island and celebrated our 1st Anniversary in Aruba, where we honeymooned. Now we're back and plan to get back into the swing of things and have lots to report on in the city this fall!

Cupcake Decorating Class

Spent a delicious night decorating cupcakes at Tribeca Treats a really cute bakery in Tribeca. The night was organized by Urban Girl Squard, a social organization that hosts great, unique events for women. They arranged for the owner of Tribeca Treats to talk to us about the store, and her baked goods then they brought out a tray of cupcakes and a million toppings - frosting, sprinkles, candy, everything you could ever want on a cupcake! Everyone got a couple to decorate and take home, my favorite was my vanilla cupcake with peanut butter frosting- yum! Then they had a wine company do a wine tasting and had some good rose!

John Legend at MSG

We'd been waiting for months for this concert. We saw John Legend in the winter at Radio City Music Hall, before I knew all of this songs and LOVED it, so spent the last few months learning everyone one of his songs and finally got a chance to see him again! He was incredible. We were lucky enough to see him at Madison Square Garden where he invited everyone that performed with him on the album to come out and sing on their song with him -including Buju Banton, Estelle and a special guest- Kanye! Soo good

Gossip Girl Tour

It was a girls day out…..on the Gossip Girl tour that is! Yes, I’m admitting it and proud, I too have been sucked into the frenzy of Gossip Girl. We loaded the bus in front of the Palace Hotel where dozens of scenes have been filmed and made up way through the Upper East Side stopping along the way at the Museum of the City of New York, St Pauls Church, Vera Wang, Blair’s pseudo apartment building (we learned that they used the exterior shot but all of the actual filming AND all of the filming in the Humphrey’s apartment takes place in a studio in Queens), then head over to Henri Bendel’s, New York City’s Legendary 5^th Avenue shop that had a whole section dedicated to Blair hair accessories, Dylan’s Candy Store (yum!) and down to the lower east side for some shopping at Tory Burch-her shoes have taken over the city!, Frosting Shots at Babycakes and the last stop, a Butter sighting. In between our tour guide did a great job of keeping us busy with Gossip Girl Trivia, showed clips from the show and gave us plenty of gossip about the cast. xoxo

Our Next Date Takes Boston!

This weekend we headed to Boston on a quest to see if the years long statement made by Keith was true. That Boston has better food then NYC. I beg to differ….but he still stands strong. First Stop: Chacuraro….what is it you ask? Chilean Bread (it’s all about the bread) with your choice of Chicken or Beef (or both for all of those risk takers) , string beans (yes in the sandwich), tomatoes, avocado spread and special sauce… Keith has been talking about these for nearly 8 years. I went into it expecting to have the Best Sandwich of My Life….it was good but nothing I can ever see myself craving again. He’s still shaking his head in disgust. For all of you who have never been to Boston word to the wise- don’t wear flip flops or you’ll find yourself like me, in the middle of Downtown Crossing looking for a store that sells sneakers. But new sneakers don’t actually mean comfort…so the new sneakers ending up causing me more blisters then my old flip flops! The best thing about Boston is there’s so much to see but you can definitely cover it in just a couple of days. The city is pretty small and no matter what area you decide to explore, chances are you will end up right back there later on in the day. I think we saw the Commons about 16 times. Everything is one big circle. We checked in at the Intercontinental Hotel, an amazing 5 star hotel that we scored on Hotwire for so cheap, then headed to Old Granary Burying Ground to see John Hancock’s, Paul Revere’s and Benjamin Franklin’s Tombs. The rest of the afternoon we spent walking through the Boston Commons, Newbury Street, and Faneuil Hall where we had delicious Italian food and watched some great street performers, an Acapella Group, a Tap Group and the cutest little boys doing a jazz routine. We caught the 8pm Ghosts & Gravestones Trolley, a Trolley tour that takes you all through the city at night while the tour guide tells you the real stories that happened in Boston…we went to two grave yards at night…in the dark VERY freaky! Yesterday was the day Keith was waiting for – a trip to Fenway, unfortunately we didn’t get to go to a game but had a chance to see the Stadium, go in all of the Red Sox stores around the area, take some pictures and topped it off with Blueberry Beer at Boston Beer Works. Boston’s a great weekend trip!

Beer Festival at The Village Pourhouse

Thank you everyone for coming out yesterday to the Village Pourhouse’s First Annual BrewFest. So many beers to choose from and didn’t really know where to start – so we went down the line and tried a little of everything. We had a good time tasting some new beers- favorites were Sam Adam’s Blackberry Witbier and their 10% ABV Imperial White along with Magic Hat Wacko and how could we forget the Mother’s Milk Ale?! We tried over 30 beers, ate Guinness Cheese Burgers and Abita Strawberry Lager Beer Popsicles. Nice to meet our new couples!

 

Spice Market

The Meatpacking District is such a scene. I don’t know where we fit in (okay, so I know we don’t…AT ALL ….but we still go there!). Between the Europeans spending a thousand dollars on a bottle at Brunch to the Fashionistas spending a thousand dollars on a white ts-hirt at Diane von Furstenberg, the only place I feel comfortable in is the Apple Store.

We went to Spice Market for Mom’s Birthday and experienced, what I have to say was the best dining experience I’ve ever had. (*Great Date Restaurant!*)

Let’s start with the table-we were seated at one of those tables you have to call months in advance for. My Dad knew the manager, and he sure hooked us up. We sat right by the window overlooking the scene at W. 13^th Street and the Gansevoort Hotel.  Then there was the staff….the guy that put down our placemats, chopsticks, water glasses and wine glasses. Followed by the guy that took away our wine glasses when we ordered Mojitos instead…followed by about 6 of his friends that were there to serve us during the 3 hour meal with every piece of cutlery and serving trays from the “Beyond” section of Bed, Bath & Beyond. We ordered the Chef’s Tasting Menu that came with 5 delicious courses from Seared Tuna to Steamed Red Snapper and Avocado Salad. We were surprised by a couple of extra courses compliments of the chef that forced us to open the top button of our pants to breath a bit- Salt & Pepper Shrimp and Lobster Rolls (my favorites) topped off with a ridiculous chocolate cake.  Definitely a place to check out. We enjoyed everything we tasted, but decided at the end, after we literally critiqued each morsel served, that there was nothing in particular we would have been happy with if we ordered it ala carte. 

Friday Night at the Movies

Friday Night we attempted to go see Jaws on the Intrepid Aircraft. Keyword “attempted”. Any free in NYC usually means you need to get there hours in advance, and that still doesn’t guarantee you anything! 

We arrived at the Intrepid around 7pm to find a huge line already formed down the pier. After nearly an hour wait we finally made our way up to the top deck of the ship. It was very cool, there were helicopters and fighter jets. They had a huge projection movie screen but it was centered in the middle of the ship which didn’t leave much room for people to see. 

Just as we started to get comfortable, laid out our picnic blankets and loads of food it started to thunder…followed by lighting. I don’t know about you, but lighting in the sky while we’re sitting on a huge piece of metal….in the Hudson River , not sure it makes a great combination. Just a few scenes into the movie, it started to downpour and we ran! 

Thanks Yee-Lynn, Robert, Sarah and Adam for hanging in there and making the trip alllll the way uptown with us to visit The Village Pourhouse Upperwest location. I know 108^th & Amsterdam is like going to another country went you live on the East Side. But we had some drinks and dinner and kept dry for a few hours. 

The Highline Park

Chelsea Market & The Highline Park

The Highline has finally opened! After hearing about it FOREVER (my father is a NYC Tour guide, his specialty- The Meatpacking District and has been awaiting the arrival for this for months!).

The group spent the first half of the afternoon eating our way through Chelsea Market. We tasted amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies from Eleni’s Bakery- where they had the cookies displayed in a heating unit to serve them nice and hot! Brownies from Fat Witch Bakery, Coffee Milk at Ronnybrook Dairy (delicious!) followed by an Italian lunch from Buon Italia. After all of those stopped, we were stuffed so made a quick stop at Chelsea Market Baskets where they have everything from Cookbooks to dozens of sizes and styles of homemade….you guessed it—baskets.

 After about a twenty minute wait, we finally made it up to the Highline Park, the first Elevated park. It was beautiful. Very modern, with lots of cool seating areas and a view from both sides that overlook the Meatpacking District and the Hudson River. Right now it runs to about 20^th street but they will eventually be continuing further uptown.