New York, I Love You!

New York, New York!

A couple weeks ago (omg, how that is even possible, it feels like yesterday!) I hopped on a plane for a quick 72 hours of meetings in NYC. It’s a well-known fact that New York is my favorite place and always has been. I can remember my first trip to the city like it was yesterday and how magical it all seemed. That same feeling really has never gone away. I’m sure if we lived there the dirt, the crowds, the small spaces would all get to me”¦ but since we don’t, I’ll always see NYC through rose-colored glasses, and this trip I quite literally did just that.  

During my trip, I stayed for the first time ever in Chelsea at the Hotel Hayden. I was excited to stay at the Hotel Hayden since I had heard such great things, but little did I know exactly what I was getting myself into. When I arrived on the first night, I checked in and all was lovely and wonderful. I ordered room service from the restaurant downstairs (which was AMAZING, if you go, get the salmon) and went right to sleep! But it wasn’t until I woke up at 5:30AM that I discovered exactly where I was, a magical floral wonderland.   

Location, location, location… I woke up to the busy sounds of NYC and peeked out my window to see delivery trucks up and down the entire street. Once the sun rose around 6:30, I got dressed and headed out in search of coffee and that’s when I saw it: We were staying in the very heart of the flower district. Literally in flower heaven. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to the flower district many times, but never in the early hours like this. As soon as the sun comes up the entire street comes to life. There are flowers EVERYWHERE. Daliahs, roses, hydrangeas, sunflowers everywhere you looked. I couldn’t contain my excitement and ran back upstairs and grabbed my camera!  

I quickly became a crazy girl in my Lululemons, armed with my camera each morning. I even got to know a few of the flower shop owners because I most definitely irritated the heck out of them…. So I figured if I killed them with kindness they may soften up to me. It worked!  By the third morning, I had the shop owners moving delivery trucks so I could get the perfect shot. Bless them. They made my trip and we hugged it out before I left.  By 8 am each morning the flowers were already picked over and off to their new homes.  It was such a fun thing to watch each morning with a matcha latte (details below) in hand. Next time you head to the city I’d highly recommend Hotel Hayden, especially for the location.  I promise you’ll love it!   

( ^^ Captured living my best life! I think I was honestly twirling…. I should have been a florist.)

Making the most of my (early!) mornings… Those early mornings were my favorite during this trip. Our days were full with back to back meetings so doing a little exploring first thing in the morning became the thing I most looked forward to.  While in search for coffee one morning I stumbled across this adorable little place called Cha Cha Matcha which became my go at the start of each day. I’d order a tumeric matcha latte and watched the commuters rush about. It was delicious and the people watching was perfection. 

The Grand Finale! This skyline view. We ate, drank, and sipped coffee at so many wonderful places. A lot of them were a blur… but on our last night in the city, we drove out to Brooklyn for rooftop drinks at the 1 Hotel. The sunset was unreal, the drinks were delicious, and it will forever be a night I’ll remember. It was a total Sex and the City fabulous moment.  If you’re heading to the city soon and want to enjoy some great atmosphere, cocktails, and epic skyline photo op, this is is one place I recommend! The photo below was taken on my iPhone at dusk.   

Even though the mornings were my favorite, our days were just as fun. During 12 cross-town meetings in 3 days, I met so many wonderful people and got to see the city at a pace I’d never seen it before! I loved feeling like I actually worked there. And there are those rose colored glasses again! Let’s be real we Ubered everywhere… so not quite real life, but a girl can dream can’t she?  Needless to say that I’m counting down the days until our next trip to NYC! 

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