Chelsea Market // Highline Date Night

 cool plants on top of apartments! 

 Chelsea Market - Such a fun, unique place full of interesting shops and yummy food! 

 We ate one of my favorite sandwiches, from Ronnybrook Dairy, fresh mozzarella and avocado on pumpernickel. Delicious! I get it every time I'm at Chelsea Market.

 I also always get a Fat Witch caramel brownie - and this time we also got a salted caramel ice cream sandwich. Then...we got a People's Pop (fruit Popsicle), blueberry Peach flavored, to refresh us after the delicious chocolate overload.

 The Highline! Love this place. Basically it is the old railroad converted into a trail of flowers over-looking the concrete city. It is such a perfect relaxing place. 

 So many unique buildings all on one block.

 We ended the night with a lovely sunset.

The highline from street level.

Such a perfect date night. I use to DREAM of these dates actually happening, back when I lived here while Taylor was on his mission. It is so fun that they are becoming a reality. That we are here together in our favorite city. We are so blessed. 

Life is good.

date night via instagram

Zupas @ Home: Pina Colada Chicken Salad

If you know me you know that this is my favorite salad and I've been having withdrawals. I haven't had it since my wedding night at the reception (yes, Zupas catered - best decision EVER)... I had this salad recipe I was planning on making for dinner last night but then got the brilliant idea to look up pina colada salad dressing recipes - I was craving it big time! I picked this one because it was so simple to make. It turned out SUPER delicious and really hit the spot!

We ate this salad for dinner with our chicken warm - right out of the oven (yummy).

And had our chicken cold for lunch the next day (yummy).

Either works.

Oh, how I love pinterest! - Check out my "yummy" board with all the amazing food I would love to make someday. I'm actually amazed at how much I enjoy finding recipes and making meals. Lucky Tay Tay.

Coconut Chicken:

6 chicken tenderloins

6 tbsp shredded coconut

1/4 cup panko crumbs

2 tbsp crushed cornflake crumbs

1/3 cup egg substitute or egg whites

pinch salt

olive oil spray

Pina Colada Salad Dressing:

1 6-ounce container Vanilla Yogurt

2 tablespoons piña colada mix

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Salad:

Romaine

Canned Pineapple

Mandarin Oranges

Coconut

Macadamia Nuts (my favorite ingredient)

My mom sent us these AMAZING Tupperware containers! Perfect for salads! (I also used it for a burrito the other day- tortilla and beans/rice in bottom so it could be microwaved, toppings on top with sour cream in the center.) Martha Stewart is amazing! Found at Macy's.

Taylor's lunch! Pina Colada Chicken Salad with some carrots and "Hint of Salt" Wheat Thins.

And for breakfast..

Detox water, smoothie, steel cut oats with bananas/blueberries/pecans/agave.

Detox Water (via Pinterest):

1 Liter Water (about 32 ounces)

1 Medium Cucumber

1 Lemon

10 Mint Leaves

I also made hard boiled eggs in the oven (via Pinterest) while cooking my chicken.
Haven't tried one yet but I will let you know if they didn't work.

3 dinner recipes + snacks

Friday's Lunch: Leftover Burrito

"Dessert": Sliced apples with Sunflower Butter (Taylor is allergic to all nuts) and Agave ((I needed something sweet and I really didn't want to eat another brownie....well I wanted to but working out is not happening much around here so.. I knew I shouldn't and we had a half of a sliced apple in the fridge from yesterday's lunch... so this is what I came up with.)) It was delicious!

Taylor's new favorite snack is sunflower butter (since he's allergic to nuts this is the alternative he can have). He'd be a good peanut butter lover, he eats it right out of the jar. My new favorite snack is pecans and mini marshmallows. Seriously it is amazing. Perfect mix of salty and sweet.

snack time: pecans with mini marshmallows, dried cranberries, mango liquorice.

Recipes that have WORKED and been YUMMY!

Spicy Bean and Rice Burrito (pictured above) - rather than buying all the spices I simply used reduced sodium taco seasoning, and I added avocado.

Crispy Chipotle Lime Tilapia with Cool Avocado Sauce - made it Sunday night, super delicious (and I'm not a fish lover, I only really eat Tilapia). Loved the avocado sauce.

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino (pictured above) - made it last night. Not a ton of flavor but the chili flakes add a nice kick. I LOVED it. I love just plain spaghetti though so I enjoyed the mild flavor. I used whole wheat spaghetti. 

All 3 were pretty simple! Enjoy.

And a recipe from Utah that I never posted: Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes with pineapple, pineapple juice, agave and coconut added to the batter, and also on top - sprinkled with powdered sugar. 

weekend: Battery Park // Church

instagram @breelena 

Pizza on Stone Street, mango liquorice from heaven, and the beautiful Hudson River with my sweetheart. 

 Stone Street

 new vs. old in the Financial District

 The new twin towers.

 aBree Fashion 

 I've missed this heavenly goodness. I've seen the brand a few places in Utah but never this flavor EXCEPT for at the airport, on my way to NYC... so I just waited until I got here to get it from the cute little store where Katie and I got it every weekend at FIT. Even located in the exact same place within the cute little store. Soft as ever... So happy!

 One of my favorite places in the city. So quiet, peaceful and beautiful.

On Sunday we went to church as a married couple for the first time (well we went last week but it was to a Manhattan ward - not our Queens ward). So we were introduced as Mr. & Mrs. Wilkins. Everyone was SUPER friendly and nice. We met a lot of fun couples who work in Manhattan. We are super excited to be in the Astoria ward for the entire summer because we extended our sub-lease and are now able to stay in this Sunnyside apartment until the end of August when we come home!! We are so blessed. 

Here is our church building, it is about 15-20 minutes away (3 mins. walking to the Subway, 4 stops on the Subway, then about 5 mins. walking to the building). Not bad. Easily doable in heels. It's a cute little building that is a labyrinth of halls underground. We got so lost down there - luckily we had many members who helped us out! A sweet lady and her husband helped me get a job interview for this Wednesday and we were invited to game night! Really sweet ward. Our first family ward. I love it!

instagram @breelena

Honeymoon week 2 - Disneyworld

We made our way to Orlando on Sunday. It is about an hour and a half drive from Treasure Island to Orlando which means we arrived about 4 hours before our room was "ready." Check out at 10, check in at 4. So we ate at Olive Garden and drove around Disney for a while. When we got to the room we settled in and waited for  the call from Sy - it was Mother's Day! When he called my family we joined in through speaker phone. After we went to Downtown Disney to eat at Bongo's, a Cuban restaurant. The food was very similar to what Taylor used to eat on his mission so he enjoyed it!

view from our balcony

This man was dancing around to a live band in this AMAZING red outfit, short shorts and all. He only knew one move and it was hilarious, this point wiggle hip thrust thing then he would turn a quarter and repeat.. and it went on for many many songs. Very entertaining!!

Taylor is a seasoned pro at Disneyworld - His family always vacations there, me on the other hand...I've been to Disneyland! And apparently I went to Disneyworld as a youngster but I remember nothing about it. So this was all a fun new experience for me! I just remember every year growing up Taylor's family would go to Florida and he'd call me from Disneyworld.. now we're here together!

Monday: EPCOT

On Monday we went to our first theme park in Disneyworld - Epcot. It was my favorite because I loved all the food and the culture there. The World Showcase featured different countries and it was so fun to "travel the world" in a day.

 It was "Festival Blooms" apparently - there were amazing flowers ALL OVER! It was so beautiful.

 Complete floral Disney characters!! 

And on to France for some French food for lunch!

 Best food EVER! Taylor got a chicken mushroom crepe and chocolate mousse, I got quiche and creme brulee - everything was amazing! Reminded me of Le Grainne Cafe.

Chinese acrobat - this guy was CRAZY!! rolling back and forth on these cylinders.

Disney is LEGIT

We went on all the rides, Spaceship Earth even took pictures of us on the ride and then used them later on to show what life would be like in the future for us. Haha, it was so fun to see our silly pictures - we had no idea they'd be used later on.

We stopped in the UK to get Fish n' Chips (which were melt in  your mouth heavenly) but we were STARVING and rushing to get to the French pastry shop before the fireworks started so I didn't snap a picture. 

 Napoleon and Lemon Tart 

 Fireworks show! Everything was lit up and the fireworks latest FOREVER. It was so beautiful!

Way to go Disney. As a "first timer," I was impressed!

Tuesday: HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

 We had lunch at this fun 50's Diner  - chocolate milkshakes and fried chicken

 optical illusion of NYC

 The stunt show - showing how to film an action car movie 

 The fun rides - Rockin' Roller Coaster was my favorite since there was a couple loops

The big night show - Fantasmic

Wednesday

We were exhuasted from 2 full days at theme parks so we went to Downtown Disney. We ate at the House of Blues (such good food), stopped by the Ghiredelli store, and saw The Great Gatsby. Later that night we stopped at a place by our hotel for insanely deep dish pizza filled with cheese and all sorts of toppings - it was delicious (and kind of disgusting at the same time - ha)!

Banana Salted Caramel Milk Shake and Mint Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream. SOoo gooOOoood!

Loved the movie - LOVED loved loved the outfits!!!!!!! I was dying over all the glam/sparkle gowns.

Thursday: MAGIC KINGDOM

 Splash Mountain - front row = SOAKED! Taylor looking awesome on Space Mountain (we rode it a couple times so he posed for the camera). And us on Buzz Lighter video game ride - Taylor is enjoying himself...you can tell I don't play/enjoy video games.. haha. 

 Funnel Cake Heaven (we definitely had more than one of these...)

Friday

We took a break from the parks and did some things in the hotel room like buy our plane tickets to NYC and important things like that we'd been putting off, then went to Downtown Disney to watch Star Trek!!! LOVED IT!! I was in need of something nutritious/healthy (Disney food for a week straight does not always sit well...) so we went to Uno and I got the healthiest salad on the menu - it was wonderful! 

Saturday: ANIMAL KINGDOM

The landscape and scenery was INCREDIBLE! They do such a good job. I loved this park. 

 round 1: I was terrified, I for 1 don't like dinosaur's, and for 2 I kept thinking one was going to jump out at me and squirt water on me or something....I would never take a little daughter on this ride - she would be petrified! Like I was - as a 23 year old.. haha

 round 2 (Taylor loves this ride, we got a fast pass): I realized it wasn't a scary ride at all.. and Taylor was making a silly face at the camera. Too bad the pictures didn't turn out super well. 

 Mt. Everest - super fun new roller-coaster! The first ride that Taylor hadn't been on.

We got DRENCHED head to toe on Kali River Rapids - like literally the wettest in the boat. Naturally. Good thing it was the hottest day we'd had at Disney so it felt nice and dried super quick.

I'm not really a sucker for animals - at all, but I am a sucker for monkey's for some reason! I used to collect them - well stuffed animal monkeys. Like I literally had about 50 of them... haha

Jungle Safari Ride - they seriously made this African jungle in Florida - So sweet!!

We ended the night with the Festival of the Lion King show - which was AWESOME! So much dancing and singing. They did a really great job! 

All in all Disney was AMAZING and my husband is incredible for planning such a fun honeymoon!! I only found out about the extra week in Disney (we had originally just planned the beach house) a week before the wedding - so I could pack. We want to thank Uncle Don and Aunt Shannon for letting us use their time share in Orlando - it was perfect. And Bruce and Debbie for letting us use the Disney passes! We are so grateful for the time we spent together and for the memories we made! 

On Sunday we drove back to Tampa to catch our flight, once we landed we headed up to Zermatt for the week until we moved to NYC. 

So there you have it! Here are the posts that make up our amazing month of MAY!

Wedding Day (instagram style) and Grand America

Honeymoon Week 1 - Treasure Island

Honeymoon Week 2 - Disneyworld 

Zermatt and moving to NYC

All caught up!

(minus Bridals and Wedding Day Photos from Rebekah)