NYC: What I saw

If you read my post yesterday, you know that I spent the majority of the week last week tromping around New York City. I've only ever been for work, and 2-3 times at that. While I did get to see the Rockefeller tree lit during the holidays a couple of years ago, I really haven't been able to see anything outside of the job sites. We were touring the market on foot, so I was able to catch a few places that I've been wanting to visit! Here's a photo recap of the goodies!

Views from the High Line

The first day, our time was consumed at the job site and the light fair, so we really didn't get to walk too much of the city. Well, I take that back - we ended up walking the entire High Line, which was pretty awesome. I didn't even know it existed! There were so many great vignettes of the city along the way.

View from the Gansevoort Hotel rooftop bar

For Happy Hour, one of our vendors ended up taking us to the Gansevoort Hotel rooftop bar for some wine. And ok, ok, I was going to save this for the end, but I can't not talk about it. This was where I MET TYSON BECKFORD.

GIRL. (Or boy, if you're reading this.) I just can't even. 

I was sitting at a stool height counter enjoying the view of the city, and when I turned around, I saw him standing there with a couple of other dudes. I recognized him immediately, but couldn't understand why he wasn't getting flocked with people. It made me second guess that it was really him. And then I totally blanked on his name-- I kept thinking of Tyrese or Taye Diggs, both of which I knew were incorrect. So I sent a few text messages out polling my pop culture junkie friends and family, and in less than one minute, Gina not only texted me back with "Tyson Beckford!!!" but she also sent me a photo from Instagram proving that he was in NYC at that moment. I'm LOLing right now at her sleuthing skills.

I'm typically not *that* girl who has the guts to go up to a celeb to ask for a picture. Not that I'm EVER around anyone famous, but still. But, there were a couple of other guys (yes, guys) that were taking selfies with him, and after downing my glass of wine, I mustered up the courage to just do it. Screw it. I will never in a million years run into him again, so I may as well take a proper photo with him vs. a creepy stalker pic of him from afar! So the convo went like this:

Me: I'm really sorry, I know you get this a lot, but can I get a picture?

Him: Yes, yes, I do get this a lot. But yes! I'm going to have to do this on my conference call. Hold on… (to the person on the phone) Can you hold on one second?

Then we snap some photos and I walk away all tingly. Haha. This whole situation has made me second guess what I pack for work trips now! Especially work trips to NYC! My top knot is even sad! And I'm wearing like zero makeup and flat booties. How much unsexier could I have looked next to a SUPERMODEL. Geez!

I had to share this meme my brother sent me after I texted him and my sister my photos.

Needless to say, that was the highlight of my whole trip. I was super smiley the rest of the night, and I'm not sure if dinner was really as good as I remember it, or if I was still a bit star struck. We ended up eating at Tao for dinner, and I easily ate my weight in food. And then had dessert, too!!!

Dessert from Tao

I was struggling a bit the next morning. I was just a wee bit dehydrated and sleep deprived. But, we managed to make it around the city on foot. I'm not sure why it seems like a must see, but I was excited to walk on Wall Street and see the New York Stock Exchange.

New York Stock Exchange

Trinity Church on Wall Street

9/11 Memorial

I never actually got to see the World Trade Center when it was still around. Nor did I ever see it when it was ground zero. But I've been really wanting to see the memorial, and I just can't put into words all of the different emotions I felt as I stood here.

The single photos really don't do it justice, so I took a few photos and stitched them together to make this. The mass and scale of the memorial is unreal, as is having such a big void (literally and figuratively) in the middle of a very dense city. I just can't even imagine what it was like during those days. Shivering thinking of it.

Dominique Ansel Bakery

Have you guys heard of the cronut? I have never had one, but I hear that if a croissant and a donut were to have a baby, it would be a cronut. As we were walking to our meeting on Thursday morning, we were looking for some place to grab some coffee. We saw this little bakery and decided to go in. What was weird was that there was a liquor store at the corner of the building the bakery was in, and there was a line of about 20 people waiting. I had no idea why people would be waiting for a liquor store to open. But, anyhoo, we walked into the bakery for our coffee. That's when we realized it wasn't just *any* bakery. It was the bakery that invented the cronut, which is also what the people outside were waiting for. Next time I'm in NYC, I'm having one of these cronuts, dangit!

And last but not least, I just wanted to share my NYC flooring collection. The top two photos are from inside my hotel -- we stayed at SIXTY SoHo. Bottom left is a plaque just outside the doors to Trinity Church on Wall Street. And bottom right are the floors in the Anthropoligie store at Chelsea Market. No, I didn't get to shop, I just ran inside as we were walking through the market for the photo op. ;)

Thanks for sticking with me on this photo heavy post. It's kind of nice to document all the places I've been though! I'm hoping a beach will be involved in wherever I go next!

Wait, did I mention that I MET TYSON BECKFORD!!!!!!!?

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