Tag Archives: Manhattan

Look of the Day: Top of the Rock

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Finally I get a chance to tell you about day 2 in NY, which we spend doing a few things I had been dying to do but didn’t have time for in any of my past trips.
First on our itinerary for the day was a tour of the NBC studios located inside the Rockefeller Center. I attempted to take this tour on my trip last year, but failed miserably as I didn’t book tickets in advance and they happened to be sold out the only day I had time for it. Luckily this time, we didn’t have that issue. We got to do the 1.5 hr tour, and they showed us around the studios where they record The Dr. Oz Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Saturday Night Live, as well as some other interesting things around. Of course you get a lot of fun facts and trivia questions as well as a little bit of history about the network, so it’s quite a fun and interesting experience.
After the tour, we went to the Top of the Rock. I obviously had been to the Rockefeller Center before, in fact my first trip to NY was in December 2002, so I got to see the wonderful Christmas tree and ice skating ring that are a tradition in the Rockefeller Plaza. However, I never made it to the top until now. It is a breathtaking sight up there! You get the most amazing 360˚view of the city, but of course my favorite side is the one where you can see Central Park, and really begin to grasp its grandness and what a true haven in the middle of the Manhattan chaos it truly is. I even recommend this view over the Empire State building one, which sure it’s good, but you don’t get the view of Central Park, plus the top is all caged in so it’s just not the same feeling of openess and certainly not great for pictures like the Top of the Rock is.
Then, we moved on to another place I couldn’t wait to visit and was so bummed I missed on my last trip, Chelsea Market. As you know I’m a self proclaimed foodie, and this place is foodies’ heaven! It is basically a building housing several little restaurants and a few market shops, and they all look so good it’s easy to end up running around in circles like a headless chicken not knowing where to start. We went up and down the hall a few times before deciding to have lunch at The Green Table, a restaurant with a farm to table concept. Due to some health issues, I’ve been needing to stick to a pretty restrictive healthy diet and they had plenty of options there for me. My stepson had their gourmet mac & cheese, my husband decided on the sausage & lentils, and I ordered their vegetarian mushroom pot pie since it was made with a honey wheat crust. Because of my condition I’m required to stay away from white flour and I didn’t think I would ever be able to have a pot pie again, so it was quite a treat to find this on their menu. All 3 choices were delicious (in my family we always share!), but my favorite was the sausage & lentils… such a simple meal, elevated to a whole other level, and I just love it when a recipe can do that. For dessert, we decided to try another location there, so we ended up at Sarabeth’s bakery. Though I should avoid desserts (my condition also requires me to stay away from sugar and processed food as much as possible), this is one point where I can’t obliged 100%. You see, I have the sweetest tooth ever, and my life just wouldn’t be complete nor happy without the occasional sweet tooth indulgence. So, I ordered a piece of plain good ol’ New York cheesecake to share, and it was creamy perfection.
Next on our itinerary, we decided to go downtown and try to visit the 9/11 Memorial site. It’s just a coincidence I’m writing about this on this date, the eleventh anniversary of the tragedy, I really didn’t plan it this way, but what better way to remember those who were lost in the horror, the heroes that saved so many lives that day, and the grief of this beloved nation. We ended up not going into the Memorial, we didn’t know we would need tickets, the line was long and we were tired, but just standing there knowing that it is the place where it all happened can overwhelm anyone with emotion. To think of the horror of that day is still shocking and sickening to me, but I choose to focus on the fact that sometimes the worst in the world can bring out the best in us, as so many brave New Yorkers showed us on that tragic day. A prayer thinking of all of them goes out with love today and always.
After hanging out downtown I was just exhausted and went back to the hotel to take a much needed break, while the boys decided to go back to Times Square for a bit. It had been another hot day, and I was ready for a low-key evening, so I just ended up going out to a late dinner with my sweetheart. Of course we stayed within walking distance from our hotel and our cell phones within reach at all times, since my stepson stayed back in the room (as a teen, he now gets the privilege and responsibility of staying by himself occasionally for short periods of time).
So there you have it, another hectic yet lovely day in the big apple. Here are the pictures of my outfit for the day, what I wore to dinner, and some others. Hope you are all having a marvelous week.

Told ya I wasn't done with the neon/gray color combo
Top of the Rock
Vintage camera at NBC Studios
Neon necklace
Rockefeller Center
Self-explanatory
Rockefeller façade
My favorite view from the top of the Rock
View of the Empire State Building
At Chelsea Market
Ready to enjoy a dinner date

What I wore
Polka dot dress worn as a skirt: Merona for Target
Gray t-shirt: Nordstrom Rack
Studded belt: from Marshall's
Neon necklace: H&M
Yellow bag: H&M
Black top: from Marshall's
Straight leg jeans: GAP
Sequined belt: H&M
Gold necklace: Francesca's
Taupe clutch: H&M
Black flats: Crocs

Look of the Day: Turn Off the Dark

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Continuing with my New York tour, and like I mentioned on the previous post, we were able to get a great deal for a Broadway show at the TKTS booth on South Street Seaport. So that’s what we did our first night in the city. The show we decided to watch, since it seemed like a good one for a 13 year old’s first experience with a musical, was Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. We got wonderful, right in the middle, orchestra seats for $100/ea. When we’re seating there waiting for the show to start, we overheard someone behind us saying he paid $300 for his ticket, so not too shabby.

My quick review about the show is that it’s not the best. At least, definitely not my favorite (side note, Wicked happens to be my favorite, looooved it with all my heart). The special effects are extraordinary, no doubt about that. Visually, they did a really good job of truly making it like if you were watching a comic book come to life, and the story is pretty similar to the 2002 movie version, but it’s still lacking something. Maybe it all comes down to the score. The music and lyrics were written by Bono and The Edge (in case you’ve been living under a rock, they are the lead singer and guitarist of U2) which created high expectations for me… and were unfortunately not met. The score is just flat, that’s the best way I can describe it; it didn’t touch me or move me or created a single emotion in me at all. Correction, it actually did create one emotion in me, disappointment! So sad to think the most expensive production in Broadway’s history ends up being a ‘just okay’ show. Despite deserving 5 stars in some categories, like special effects, overall, as a whole, I would give this show 2.5 stars, maybe 3 if I’m feeling generous.

After the show, we spent some time in Times Square, admiring the light show that it really is as well as some of the famous street performers. Then, we walked around for a bit, and I was surprised to notice 5th avenue is kind of dead at night; it makes sense when I think about it, since it’s mostly a shopping district and those stores are not open late, but being such a popular NY destination, I figured there would be something to keep it alive after-hours and there really isn’t. So we made our way to Avenue of the Americas, took my stepson over to see Radio City Music Hall, and ended up our evening with a delicious cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. In case you haven’t heard, Magnolia Bakery is a very famous dessert destination in NY; it’s been featured in TV shows and movies, like Sex and the City, Saturday Night Live, The Devil Wears Prada, among others. It’s also credited with starting the “cupcake craze”, and let me tell you, they are every bit as good as they say… great, now I have a craving for a moist, sweetly balanced, and perfectly iced chocolate Magnolia cupcake. Oh well, I’ll just have to wait until my next visit.

So here I leave you with a few pictures from that night, including of course the pictures of my outfit. I’m wearing my snake print heels in the pictures because that’s how I really like this outfit to be styled, but in reality, to walk around I wore it with my black flats. What can I say, sometimes you just gotta put comfort and practicality over fashion, but never over style. Even when being comfortable and practical, you can do it in style, and this outfit still look pretty cute with black flats (if I do say so myself).

 

 

What I wore
Top: H&M
Skirt: Old Navy
Shoes: Guess
Belt: H&M
Earrings: Nordstrom Rack
Cuff: Vintage

Look of the Day: Hot Child in the City

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And by hot, I mean literally hot. I arrived in Manhattan on Friday and the high temperature for the day was 94˚F, which doesn’t sound so bad when I live in a city that hits 115˚F often during the summer… except I rather have 115˚F of dry heat over 94˚F with humidity any day. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived most of my life in the desert, but I cannot stand humidity, not even a little bit. Besides being extremely uncomfortable, it makes my already hard to handle hair even more of a mess, so I wore it pulled back the whole trip, as you’ll notice in all the pictures. Also, excuse any excess shine on my face you might see, but between my combination skin and the sweat, my adored Hourglass primer and Laura Mercier powder could barely keep up, and I wasn’t as good at retouching my makeup as I should’ve been. On top of all that, and at the risk of sounding too whiny (which I usually am indeed anyway), due to other, ahem, circumstances, I was also very bloated the whole time I was there.  So, bottom line, I am not very happy with how I look in the pictures but since I don’t use Photoshop, both you, my beloved readers, and I are stuck looking at the reality of my travels.

Now, all that said and as whiny as I can be, I’m not complaining… no, really, I’m not, I promise. I mean, I was in New York… wonderful, fabulous, exciting, beautiful, eclectic, full of possibilities, New York!!! The one and only, and my time there was all of that and more. I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited the city several times already (this was actually my fourth trip there), but this time was even more special because we took my 13 year old stepson along and it was his first time there. So I was just as excited as he was to show him around the main sights and the several fun activities the city has to offer, which are so many, a lot of them were a first for me too, despite having been there before.

I won’t tell you all about the trip in a single post because you know I like to keep them short(er), for your sake and mine. So, I’ll start with my first day there, and tell you about the rest in subsequent posts.

Like I mentioned earlier, I arrived Friday early morning. I actually took a red eye flight from Phoenix Thursday night, and didn’t get much sleep on it, so I was pretty exhausted when I arrived. Luckily, my husband and my stepson had gotten in the day before and spend the night in New Jersey to be close to the airport (I flew into Newark), so I was able to take a little morning nap there since check in at our hotel in Manhattan wasn’t going to happen earlier than 3 P.M. Of course I didn’t want to waste much time sleeping, so I just took a 2 hour nap and was good to go.

Nevertheless, we decided to take it easy on Friday, and we just drove around the city for a bit, as an introductory tour for my stepson. Then went to the TKTS booth on South Street Seaport to try to find a good deal for a Broadway show, which we did, but more on that later. After, we had lunch at a little chain cafe, nothing fancy but even simple sandwiches at low key cafes are so yummy there. Next, it was time to check in at our hotel.

We stayed at The Roosevelt Hotel, which is gorgeous and has a great location in Midtown Manhattan, almost behind Grand Central Station (one of my favorite sights… but then again, you’ll hear/read me saying that about most places in New York!). So we got settled in, and after a quick change of clothes, off we went to visit Grand Central Station and look at the Chrysler building. And those are the pictures I share with you on this post: the first outfit I wore around Manhattan (technically), and some pictures I took of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler building. I had also planned to use some official pictures of the hotel from their website (since theirs are far better than any I could’ve taken) to share with you, but turns out they don’t allow that, so if you would like to check their photo gallery, you can do it here.

Dressed up in heels to explore the hotel
Wearing flats to explore the city
View of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building
Grand Central Station façade .
Grand Central Station Main Concourse
Grand Central Station ceiling

What I Wore
Top: H&M
Skirt: Vintage
Handbag: Deux Lux
Belt: H&M
Orange Shoes: Gianni Bini
Flats: Crocs
Sunnies: $5 pair from street vendor in Mexico City
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