NY Trip | Week 1

Hello everyone!

I am currently spending the most incredible two weeks in New York (if you didn't already know haha) I have learned a lot, laughed a lot, ate A LOT, and walked A LOT (37.61 miles so far!) and I am so excited to see how the next week will pan out. However, I do have to admit that it is not fun smelling like a subway and not being able to breathe without the fear of getting secondhand smoke (seriously! there are so many smokers in NYC!) This trip has been incredible so far and I am so grateful for the opportunity thanks to Westcoast Connection and Seventeen Magazine!

To document this trip, I have created two posts: one for week one (which is this one) and then one for week two (which I will have up in the next week) so let's get started :-)

This was mainly a traveling day...with waking up at 3:30am (CA time), I am really surprised I did not fall asleep at dinner! The flight going was filled with blogging, sleeping, and continuously trying to take an aesthetically pleasing sky picture, which was really hard because my seat was right on top of the wing! But I thought that these two weren't "horrible" haha

I got in to New York around 4pm (NY time) since my flight got delayed (which sucks btw) Once I found my group, we headed to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the girls. The drive there took FOREVER because of traffic, at least an hour. Since I had spent the majority of the plane ride sleeping, I wasn't too tired so it was nice getting to see all of the different areas of New York we passed on our way to the hotel.

 We had dinner in Times Square at Dos Caminos (it wasn't SoCal Mexican food, but it wasn't awful either) and then we went on a bus tour called "The Ride," which was so much fun! If you are not familiar with "The Ride," it is a NYC bus tour that takes you around Times Square and surrounding areas and there are street performers that you run into along the way that do a "surprise" performance with the hosts that are on the bus. It was very exciting and a lot of fun, especially since there was a little boy that kept following our bus and dabbing the entire time. Night one was a success and I couldn't wait for what was in store for the upcoming days!

With it being the first "official" day of activities, I could not wait to walk to Hearst Tower and enter the building I had been dreaming about for so many years. Hearst Tower was about a 20-minute walk from our hotel and before I knew it, there it was...THE Hearst Tower! We started the day off with a tour of the building and touring the Good Housekeeping floor, which I am pretty sure my mom would have died in because it was filled with so many cleaning products and other appliances because that is where they test products that are aiming to receive the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval." Also, can we please talk about the view of Central Park from this building!? IT'S AMAZING!

We then went into their theatre where we were treated with a video from Michelle Tan, welcoming us as well as answering some of our questions that we had sent in prior to the trip. Unfortunately she could not meet us in person since she is on maternity leave, but it was still really cool of her to create the video in the first place because I'm sure she has a pretty busy schedule. We then had the pleasure of sitting in on a panel of editors that work for Seventeen and Cosmopolitan. The panel consisted of Executive Editor, Joey Bartolomeo; Creative Director, Nicole Mazur; Executive Fashion Director, Aya Kanai; Executive Beauty Director, Leah Wyar; and Executive Photography Director, Alix Campbell. They gave such inspiring and helpful advice and I was in awe with the fact that I could be in the same room with people who have my dream careers! 

Once the panel was over, we had the pleasure to get career advice from THE Donna Kalajian Lagani. She is the Publishing Director and Chief Revenue Officer for Cosmopolitan Magazine and one of the first women to achieve an executive position so it was an honor to hear from her. Everything she said was so inspiring and motivating, but a couple quotes that have stuck with me are: "When you're trying to convince someone, make sure the person opposite you thinks that they came up with it because they'll be more willing to go along with it" & "[Writing is] the art of listening to exactly what someone is saying and taking some of that language and replaying it back in your own story"

After the panel it was finally time for lunch, which we were all excited for (because who doesn't like food!?) During the tour, the guide said that the Hearst Cafe had the second best cafe (the first was Google) and she wasn't wrong, the food options were endless and everything was at a reasonable price, so it was a win-win situation! During lunch, we got the opportunity to explore the art gallery they have, which was pretty cool too.

After lunch, we headed to The Highline, which had been on my bucket list for awhile so I was really excited to knock something off of it while on my trip. The Highline was absolutely gorgeous and it is so refreshing to have something like that in such a busy and urban environment. Also, they had the best watermelon paletas, I was in love!

We then visited Chelsea Market, which was basically New York's version of the Anaheim Packing District in my opinion, just bigger and on one story. Also, I thought it was pretty impressive how you could go to an Anthropologie and next door would be a bar or a cookie shop, it was definitely an interesting place to explore. This trip has turned me into a self-declared foodie and I have to admit that Doughnuttery is pretty incredible. I tried two of their flavors: "Cinnamon Sugar" and "Paris Time" which was pistachio, vanilla, and lavender AND THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS! I could have had 100 of those mini donuts with no complaints.

Even though we already had a pretty busy day, there was still more! Our last stop was at a bowling alley at the Chelsea Piers where we had a fun night of bowling and arcade games to finish the already eventful day. It was only the second day and we met our first celebrity! THE Colton Haynes! He is even more attractive in person and seriously one of the sweetest people I have ever met. It was a great way to end the second day of our trip.

We started off Day 3 with a trip to DKC Public Relations where they informed us of all of the ins and outs of the PR Business. It was interesting to see how diligent and hardworking the people who talked to us are because they have such big clients like JcPenney and Keds. We then got the opportunity to design one of our own pair of Keds! Since this was a trip to NY, I thought it would be fitting to draw the Manhattan skyline on the ankles of my shoe and I absolutely love the way they turned out! 

After our morning with DKC Public Relations, we had a quick lunch at Turnstile which is a bunch of restaurants at the 59th street subway station, which was pretty cool. We then headed to Hearst for a session with the Social Media & Digital team, which is where I got to meet my favorite Seventeen writer, Noelle Devoe! It was so cool...as soon as I saw her sitting on the chair, I kind of had a fangirl moment because I read her articles and love her story as to how she got to Seventeen so I was pretty excited to hear from her!

After our time at Hearst, we headed to Rockefeller Center to spend the evening there. I am not sure if it's just me, but I assumed that the flags that surround the ice skating rink were up all year long!? I was very disappointed to find that all of the flags had been taken down :( However, our time at "The Top of the Rock" did make up for the lack of flags. I have discovered that the top of the rock at golden hour is now my new favorite experience. Not only because it was golden hour (which is my favorite time of day) but the view of the city was incredible, I was in awe! It was a great way to end Day 3!

Four days in and my feet were beginning to feel the pain from walking everyday already! Note to self: sometimes fashion over function isn't always the way to go...Anyways, we started the day off with a visit to the JcPenney design studio where we got an inside look at upcoming trends as well as how they pick fabrics/colors/designs for their new lines. It was an interesting aspect of the fashion industry that I had never seen before so I was very excited about that!

We then had a session at Kahn Lucas, which is a marketing company and they showed us 17's new fashion line, The Edit, as well as asked for our opinion/thoughts on websites, mood boards, clothing trends, etc. which was very interesting!

We then spent the afternoon in Central Park, which is my favorite place in the city. We got to relax on the grass after visiting the "Strawberry Fields," which is something I have never done while in Central Park so I was very happy about that. Since we had been going and going and going for the past couple of days, it was nice to take some time to relax and enjoy our time together.

For dinner, we spent the evening in Times Square, which was filled with laughter and fun because we got rained on (which was not so fun) BUT we got to see celebrity #2! This time it was Jesse Tyler Ferguson and unfortunately we could not take a picture with him, since we didn't have tickets to his show, but it was still exciting to see another celebrity, especially since I was the one to spot him :) Overall, Day 4 was another fun adventure, despite the fact that blisters were beginning to take over :-)

Day five began with a not so interesting (in my opinion) presentation from the Fashion Tech Lab. They featured five different start-up companies ran by women. It wasn't my favorite of the sessions most likely because I am not really interested in fashion technology, but I do have to give props to the women who have started these companies. We were able to hear from the women of Elemoon, Smart Siren Technology, Closet Collective, Nineteenth Amendment, and Thursday's Finest.

We then headed to the Plaza Food Hall for lunch and let me just tell you, there is this bakery there called "Lady M" and I am pretty sure it was where the term "foodgasm" came from. All of the pastries looked amazing and my friend group and I stood and stared at the guy cutting the chocolate ganache cake because he did it with such precision, we were in awe (it also helped that he was really attractive hehe) but it was only some of the best cake I have ever had!

After lunch, we went to Cotton Inc. where they gave us a presentation on their company and what they stood for as well as introduced us to trend forecasting where we came up with our own prediction of the trends as well, which was very fun. Plus, they gave us some goodies which is always nice :)

After Cotton Inc. we got to spend some time on 5th Ave, where I got to see my favorite building in the city, St. Patrick's Cathedral and we had dinner at Urbanspace Vanderbilt, which is where my FAVORITE pizza is from ever since I went there with my friend Ashley last November! I was so happy to be reunited with my "Bee Sting" pizza hehe so it was a wonderful end to a great (but HOT) day!

We started day six off with a trip to the Chinese Laundry showroom, which I was in awe of because there were SO MANY shoes! It was a beautiful sight to see. We then made another vision board inspired by a shoe that they gave us, which I thought was a lot of fun to create!

Afterwards, we went to visit the One World Trade Center, which is something I had never seen before and I am in awe of the photos I got of the Freedom Tower! I am so glad that it was cloudy because the reflection was absolutely incredible. Although I was alive when 9/11 happened, I was too young to understand what was going on, but visiting the museum made my heart break and it is so sad how 9/11 happened almost 15 years ago and yet the same problems are still occurring throughout our world :( If you ever visit New York, I encourage you to visit the World Trade Center because it is so eye-opening and incredible.

After an emotional visit to the museum, we headed to Brookfield Place for dinner where I was reunited with my favorite Umami Burger and then we went to the movies where I saw Ghostbusters! It was so funny and if you haven't seen it yet, go do it!! Despite it being an incredibly hot day, Day 6 turned out to be a nice one :)

I am pretty sure that Day 7 has been my favorite day thus far and it is all thanks to the Brooklyn Smorgasborg! I don't think I have ever been to a place with so many delicious food options, I just wanted one of everything! The star of the day has to be the shaved ice from Wooly's! It was heaven in my mouth (it was seriously that good) Great food and a great view of the Manhattan skyline, what more could you ask for!?

Across the street was the Brooklyn Flea Market, where we got to walk around and see all of the different items that people were selling. I got two owl prints from EveDevore, the Frida and the Moonlight that I thought were so cute, one is going in my dorm room and the other is for my godmother!

Once we were done with the flea market, we decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, but it came with a little surprise! RAIN! Honestly, I have experienced more rain in these days so far then I have in an entire SoCal winter! I have to admit though that walking on the Brooklyn Bridge while it's drizzling is actually a fun experience and one that I will always remember :) Day 7 ended my first week on a wet note, but I couldn't wait to see what the next week had in store!

Overall, Week One was a SUCCESS! I couldn't have asked for better girls to be with or a better opportunity like this one! If you want to check out my adventures from Week 2, I will have them up soon!

Until next time,