new york

Old City; New Travel Buddies

/ Cate Tracey / 1 Comment

For those of you who have been reading along for a while, y’all know how much I love New York City. It’s a place where *healthy* family memories were shared with *healthy* family members of mine. My favorite cousin used to live there as her family was located in Tarrytown, but I haven’t visited since Katy moved away in 2023. Last weekend, Alex and I *finally* flew together for the first time to visit our friends, Amy and Danny. It was wonderful to make new memories in the city, although I did miss Katy’s quality time very much.

Amy and Alex have always had a brother/sister-type friendship. It’s been lovely getting to know her and her husband even though we’ve been ships passing in the night (I moved to Atlanta in September of 2023, while Danny and Amy moved to NYC two months later). Alex and I have wanted to visit for a while now, and all our schedules finally aligned.

While Linley was living it up at our aunt’s and uncle’s house with his pup cousins, Alex and I arrived at the airport early on Friday morning. We were tired but excited, and quickly woke up when we felt the energy of the city (for example, the traffic controller in the rideshare lane was yelling and insulting all the drivers, which we personally loved)! We stayed in Chinatown and ate on the border of Little Italy for lunch, where I enjoyed gluten free mozzarella sticks and cacio de pepe. Alex and I also enjoyed some delicious mezcal cocktails, which was an excellent way to kick off the weekend!

After our amazing lunch, we strolled through Dumbo and walked the Brooklyn Bridge. We also ended up at an outdoor bar called Jury Duty, which was ironic because not only did we see a few brides and grooms walk by from the courthouse, but it was also the day of Luigi’s “not-guilty” plea. Talk about a wild coincidence haha!

We strolled back to our hotel and met up with Amy and Danny for family-style Thai seafood dinner. We laughed and caught up while I tried a fish eye for the first time. It was so nice to try new places and celebrate Danny’s new job, Amy’s birthday, our recent marriage and my official last name change. So much to celebrate! The kindest thing that Amy said was, “You’ve meant so much to me because of how happy you make Alex.” That meant the world to me, and it’s been great to grow our friendship, too!

After dinner, we kept the conversation going at a really cool speakeasy bar. It was fun to people watch and talk about travel, how we all met and just overall continuing to catch up. Even though we don’t see each other as often, it always feels like no time has passed—a good sign of a great friendship!

Saturday morning was fun and full of exploring Chinatown more. I’d only been once but it was fun to revisit with someone who is actually Chinese! Alex was in heaven. With hotel coffee in hand, we strolled to a congee place called Big Wong where Alex enjoyed some pork dish that could’ve been a dinner, and I tried shrimp congee for the first – but not last – time. Good thing we had an hour wait for brunch with Amy and Danny, because we definitely over ate!

Once Alex grabbed some food from a bakery and another market, we made our way back to the hotel, and finally brunch with Amy and Danny. We had an hour-long wait, which was okay because the people watching outside was prime, and we had time to grab coffee from a nearby spot. I loved all our conversations and seriously miss Amy and Danny already! For lunch, I had a whitefish sandwich and banana bread, all gluten free. We also had fun navigating the subways after as we ventured to Central Park. The flowers were so beautiful and it was Alex’s first time walking within the park itself. We all majorly needed a nap before heading back out for dinner and our nighttime comedy show!

Our dinner was lovely as we enjoyed more pasta, and Alex and I enjoyed mezcal espresso martinis! After dinner, we had the best time at our Gotham City comedy show. I’ve always wanted to go there and I’m so glad we finally did! The host and all five comedians were absolutely hilarious and the jokes and laughs kept flowing. We stayed up wayyy past our bedtime but it was so worth it!

I hope y’all enjoyed this break from the honeymoon posts (which will resume tomorrow…) but in case you missed him as much as we did, here’s what Lin was up to while we were away:

Media taken Friday, April 25 – Sunday, April 27.

Upstate New York pt. II

/ Cate Tracey / Leave a comment

I’m full of giddiness today as it’s been one whole year ago since meeting Alex in person! I remember getting on that plane in Detroit and flying down to Atlanta — feeling excited and impatient and at peace with my decision. As soon as I got off the escalator and saw Alex’s beaming smile… I knew he was the one. 💛

More to come on that later! ☺️ Today I wanted to share more about my time in upstate New York with Alex and his family. We had such a wonderful time hanging out at their rental home along the river, exploring Alex Bay and other areas nearby. When first meeting Aunt Jean and Uncle Pat, I felt immediately welcomed. We talked about art and teaching and their sons… it was a big warm hug of a conversation. Later I met Aunt Mary Ann, Uncle Jim, Kayla, Randall and their girls, too — and it was so much fun hanging out by the water and playing cards in the evenings.

As much as I’ve enjoyed getting to know Alex’s parents here in Georgia, I loved talking with Bill and Cecilia in New York, playing games with them and getting to know their long-time friends, too! I can’t wait for more memories with them soon.

Until next summer, New York!

Media taken July 12-14, 2024

Upstate New York

/ Cate Tracey / 4 Comments

I struggled to write about my time in New York with Alex and his family because this was the first family trip I’ve taken in over 13 years. I remember feeling excited when talking with Alex about this trip last year – which was before we were even officially dating – and although it’s painful I don’t have these experiences with the family I was born into, it’s wonderful to have them with the family I now belong to.

Oddly enough, we never took family photos. We were living in the moment, enjoying each other’s company along the St. Lawrence River in Clayton, New York. Alex, Linley and I stayed in an awesome home on a little island — where Linley ran free and had the time of his life. The quality time with Alex and Lin meant so much to me, as did the time getting to know Alex’s extended family throughout the week.

I miss having coffee with Alex in the sun room every morning. I miss being outside with Lin and having lazy mornings together. I miss the walks into town as a trio and the places we’d see along the river. I miss hearing the waves crash against the rocks and I miss the sun on my skin — when I felt totally relaxed and at ease. I miss how Alex and I would look at each other and say “I love you,” knowing we were about to have a great day together.

I wish I could go back to those moments and vacationing with Alex and Linley all over again… until next summer 💛 I look forward to sharing more about the trip in the coming days!

Media taken July, 2024

Cousinly Quality Time in NYC

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The last time I saw my cousin in New York was summer 2017—far too long ago. But all that changed last weekend as we finally spent time together in The Big Apple.

My flight got in late Friday evening, so we grabbed a nice dinner and a quick night cap. We went back to Katy’s place—which was super cute and exactly what you would expect from a New York City apartment—and got ready for bed. Being with her again meant the world to me!

We attempted to take a stroll that Saturday morning, but the weather told us otherwise. Katy found a cute little cafe where we mixed up our coffee orders (totally my fault!) and then made our way through Columbia’s campus—en route to brunch in Times Square.

At Friedman’s, Katy, her sister, dad and I had the best potato-filled brunch of my life. The gluten free chocolate chip pancakes and sweet potato fries were to die for, but the conversation and that feeling of picking up right where we left off were even better.

No matter how stuffed we felt, Katy and I were determined to make our way to her friend’s birthday celebration, which was full of crafting and watching Broad City. I’m incredibly lucky to have met Katy’s high school, college and now grad school friends—because we have always lived in different states and I’m a few years older than she is. Katy and her friends are always welcoming, which was really nice and led to a fun, lazy day of candle making and painting. I definitely made everyone laugh when my paint exploded all over the table, but at least I can say that I predicted the future 😉

Still full from brunch (no joke!), Katy and I grabbed dinner at an awesome vegan place called JaJaJa—where our bartender Mario called us twins and handed us each a free shot. One of many reasons why I love my cousin as much as I do is that we can go from the most profound conversation to laughing and joking around. Our meal was full of that, which is something I’d missed very much and very deeply. We ended our night out with another drink at a different bar, playing a game of “What’s Their Backstory?” and me guessing one of our bartender’s names on the first try.

As much as I love the city, my favorite moments with Katy are always the simplest ones. I cherished our night of listening to Leo P on the sax, hearing her tell me more about her partner Ben and drinking tea until we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore. And it’s truly all of those “in-between” moments (taking the subway, walking to a destination, etc.) that make me love and miss Katy as much as I always do ❤️

On Sunday, our last day together, we started at a gluten free bagel and sandwich shop, and a stroll through Central Park. It was cold—especially with my iced coffee—but it was so worth it! Seeing people out and about because of the weather and our semi-decent coronavirus situation was something that didn’t go unnoticed, and something we certainly didn’t take for granted. We braved the cold until we couldn’t anymore, so we relaxed at Katy’s apartment, enjoyed more tea and life/family-related conversation, then ventured off to find more delicious vegan tacos!

Our time together always flies by and feels too short. I wish Katy and I lived closer together because she’s truly a sister to me. I don’t know who or where I would be without her in my life.

July in the Big Apple

/ Cate Tracey / 1 Comment

Hello again, and Happy Halloween!

I frequent my introductions with “I haven’t posted in awhile…” or something along those lines.

I need to stop doing this.

Anyway…I have been living at home in a small town for a little over a year now, and it makes me crave the city.  Thankfully, I was able to visit my cousin, Katy who lives just outside of NYC.  Our times together are always well-spent!


We first visited a food festival in Brooklyn, where I tended to look nine months pregnant in every photo (it was the wind – I swear)!! I ended up getting freshly-squeezed peach lemonade and truffle fries with aioli for ‘brunch.’


Next, we visited the High Line in west Manhattan.  The last time I visited NYC, the High Line was still under construction; it was definitely worth the wait and the strong winds!  We once again took several photos, and I had more to eat (I think dark chocolate gelato this time?).



We decided that the wind was a tad overwhelming and headed to Queens.  Katy mentioned something about the “Museum of the Moving Image.” I was sold!


Katy and I then agreed that margaritas were suddenly necessities and ventured over to the Chipotle test kitchen.  They even had queso, so this was basically my heaven-on-earth…


The infamous Fearless Girl was on our way to the Staten Island Ferry, which led to us posing with her immediately!


Although the ferry might have been windier than the High Line, it was SO worth it!  We attempted to take several Titantic-posed photos, but nothing turned out as we hoped.


Unfortunately, we never met any of the Impractical Jokers either.  Bummer…

On my last day, Katy, my aunt Jenn, and I visited Brooklyn again; there was a market going on and we decided to check it out.  It was a beautiful day, thus making it even MORE difficult to say goodbye to the city and my family.


NYC? 10/10 would recommend.  I have visited the Big Apple three times now, and each time has been incredible (my rating would have been a 17/10 if I could’ve met Murr, Joe, Sal, or Q)!!