As I said in my previous post Part One, I have a special place in my heart for NYC. Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to live in this great city and I got the chance when I graduated from college. As soon as I graduated, I headed straight to the city and lived in a shotgun apartment with a friend of the family while I attended the Fashion Institute of Technology. FIT was one of my dreams also, but my parents squashed that after high school by telling me that I needed to get a four year degree in order to secure my future. Boo.

If you don’t know what a shotgun apartment is, it’s an apartment that’s basically a long hallway with a bedroom/living room on one end and a kitchen on the other. Down the hallway, there was a niche on one side and that’s where I had my futon. It seemed like I was camping out, but I didn’t care. I was in New York City.

Obviously, one of the greatest things about New York is the food. And it doesn’t need to be expensive either. At the time, you could get a hot dog on the street for $1 and many other kinds of foods were really inexpensive then. Even convenience stores had salad bars and if you were careful with what you got, you could have a great meal.

Nowadays, I can afford to spend money on many of the restaurants and bars.  New York is very social and people are always going out for cocktails and appetizers, i.e. Happy Hour.

This was one of my favorite restaurants in New York that’s unfortunately closed, Yerba Buena. It had Latin American cuisine and did a killer brunch.

Buddakan is definitely in the top 3 on my list of restaurants in the city. From Duck Fried Rice, to Edamame dumplings, you can’t go wrong with this asian eatery. There’s also an extensive dim sum menu.

The location in New York looks like an old cathedral with dramatic ceiling heights and a dark moody feeling, but there’s also a location in Philadelphia if that’s more convenient for you. If you ever get a chance to eat at Buddakan, please do not miss it.

And now for one of my favorites. Ah, Laduree . The queen of macarons. People make fun of me for loving this place so much, but there’s something about picking out my macarons and seeing them placed in the beautiful box that makes me feel very Parisian. Hopefully one day I’ll get to the flagship store in Paris.

It seems like every bakery in the country does macarons but not like these. They are so delicate, with a crunch on the outside and a chewiness on the inside. I love them so much and it’s in Soho which makes for a great overall shopping experience.

If you go to NYC, you can’t miss a  Yankee Game. Even if you’re not a Yankees fan, you can still appreciate that this stadium is epic. Nowadays, you have to have fantastic food, not just hot dogs and peanuts and the restaurants here do not disappoint. There’s even a full service steakhouse if you can believe that.

Since I lived there as a broke student, I really appreciated the fact that you can walk wherever you want to go and if it was really too far, the subway was inexpensive. Blocks are short and it isn’t a big deal to walk fifty or more blocks. It’s a great way to experience all of the little neighborhoods along the way. Each one has its own flavor.

In a city filled with so much culture, entertainment, nightlife, historical landmarks, food and shopping, you will never run out of things to do and see. It’s a melting pot of different cultures so its residents have a unique and diverse outlook on life.

I moved back to Atlanta for a job opportunity, but I have nothing but good things to say about living in the City. Even though the cost of living is high and the square footage is low, the fact that you don’t need a car, so no car note, insurance or gas, makes it a little more palatable.

You can always go to one of the outer boroughs to find more cost effective living accommodations. Brooklyn has become one of the hippest places to live lately so their prices have been going up, but depending on your requirements, you can try Queens, Bronxville, Long Island or New Jersey. That goes for visiting also. You can always fly into New Jersey, stay at one of the hotels on the water and take the ferry to Manhattan each day.

If you’re like me and you love New York City, please sound off in the comment section.