Thursday Date Night

Last night Eric and I had a very nice little evening out on the town, which is rare for us on a weeknight. And frankly, after literally dozing off at my desk at work three times yesterday afternoon, I wasn't super excited to be going out that evening. But it was fun! And I stayed awake! Wow!

The reason for our outing was a performance by a high school friend of Eric's, Danielle DeCosmo, at The Bitter End in the Village. I know Danielle has been singing for some time (I remember her singing at their high school graduation), and apparently since college she has been doing musical therapy at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, singing for patients. How cool is that? Then, just within the past year, she decided she wanted to really sing - like, go out into the world and make it happen. So, she went to L.A. for a while and now is in New York doing a few different shows at different venues in the area. Isn't that cool? Way to go, Danielle!

Anyway, the show didn't start until 8:00, but Eric and I met up after work at 6:00. We took the subway down to W. 4th St. and grabbed a slice of yummy pizza at Joe's for dinner. We still had a lot of time to kill, so we basically just wandered around the Village. We stopped for a bit in Washington Square Park to admire the scenery.

(Note: All photos/video in this post were taken with my beloved new iPhone.)

Washington Square Park

We then decided we needed dessert, so we went off in search of cupcakes. We ended up at Molly's Cupcakes, which was the most charming little cupcake place ever. Apparently it was a winner on the season finale of Cupcake Wars or some such thing, but I don't watch that show, so I can't verify. However, the shop was super cute, with plenty of tables at which to sit and enjoy your sweets, a little bar with swings instead of stools (Swings! How fun is that?!), a nice little station to add sprinkles of all varieties to your cupcakes, etc. The cupcake flavors themselves were fabulous, but even if you didn't see something you liked in the case, they gave you the option to create your own cupcake by choosing the cake, filling, frosting and toppings. Seriously, it was like Coldstone Creamery but for cupcakes instead of ice cream. Genius!

Eric and I did select some pre-designed cupcakes: I had the Ron Bennington (chocolate cake, peanut butter filling, chocolate ganache and crushed butterscotch topping) and Eric had the Chocolate Mousse (chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling, and chocolate ganache). Oh man, were these cupcakes good. I mean, GOOD. Some of the best we've had in NYC, I dare say. I can't turn my back on my dear Crumbs yet, but Molly's was amazing.

After our delicious cupcakes, we did a little more roaming around then made our way to The Bitter End for showtime. We got to chat with Danielle before she sang, and found a seat and ordered drinks.

Eric enjoying a beer while we wait for the show to start (don't worry, I left the Crown out of my ginger ale this time around!)

Danielle performed for just under an hour, and we really enjoyed it! She sang mostly original songs with just a few covers thrown in, and she did a great job. Way to go, Danielle! We loved the show!

Danielle on stage, with her boyfriend accompanying her

VIDEO: A little snippet of one of the covers

After the show, we said farewell to Danielle then made our way to the PATH train. On our way, we came across a chess store (two chess stores, actually - it must be the chess district!), and Eric was quite excited. He's kind of a dork, though, so this should not surprise you. I will admit that they did have a pretty awesome Civil War chess set, however. Abe Lincoln was looking pretty good there on his chess board.

A blurry picture of Eric being excited about a chess store

And then, it was just time to wait for the train and head home. We really had a great evening out, and although I was tired, it was nice to have a little date night with Eric. I realize nights like this will become a precious commodity here in the near future, so I want to spend the next five months or so taking full advantage of time with my awesome husband!