NYC Day 1

As y'all probably knew if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, my mom and I traveled up to New York City this past weekend to celebrate my seventeenth birthday a bit early (it is actually April 14)! Ever since starting Gossip Girl for the first time my freshman year, I had been dying to head back to the city so my mom and I had such an amazing time cramming as much New York as possible into our weekend trip! I decided to do individual recaps for each day of our trip rather than including it in this week's My Chic Week as we did so much and I took so many pictures!

Our flight was scheduled for an 8 AM departure so we left for the airport around 6. My dad kindly drove my mom and I so after he dropped us off, we checked in and then when through security, which went fairly smoothly. I had Starbucks for breakfast while waiting at the gate and before we knew it we were on the plane!

Crazily enough, this was my first flight since the 6th grade so I was so excited to fly again! Due to it being a pretty windy day, our flight had a lot of turbulence, making for a very bumpy ride. After a flight that didn't seem all too long, we touched down at the airport and then grabbed a cab to take us into the city! Our first stop was to our hotel (the Marriott Courtyard Central Park) to drop off our bags before walking up to Central Park and to the Plaza Hotel for Tea at the Palm Court.

After arriving in the city, our first stop was to our hotel (the Marriott Courtyard Central Park) to drop off our bags and then we walked up to Central Park and to the Plaza Hotel for Tea at the Palm Court.

 The Empire Hotel is in the distance in the first picture...hello Chuck Bass!

Instead of having a regular lunch on Friday, we opted for tea at the Plaza Hotel, which was amazing! The Palm Court and the rest of the hotel is definitely a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city! The basement can best be described as a glamorous food court and had a bunch of cute stores- including the adorable Eloise gift shop! I was a gigantic Eloise fan as a child (especially at age 6- "my name is Eloise and I am age six") so it was fun to walk around as I have never been inside the Plaza before! Tea was so yummy and I absolutely loved everything I tried- all of the pastries were amazing and the tea, of course, was incredible. I also adored the decor of the Plaza!

After Tea, we walked through Central Park for a little bit before walking South towards Rockefeller Plaza. Right in front of the Plaza is a Longchamp store so my mom and I decided to pop in. Since I just bought a Longchamp bag in December after Christmas, I wasn't looking to buy another Longchamp bag but it was fun to see so many different Longchamps in person!

We then walked through Rockefeller Center, which was fun to see as the last time I was there it was decorated for Christmas with the gigantic tree! The ice skating rink was still open and there was a few ice skaters on the ice. We also walked by the Today Show Studio, another fun thing to see "in person" again as the Today Show is the go-to news show in my family!

The one request my siblings had for my mom and I was to stop in the Nintendo store for them. The store itself was an interesting experience as there were quite a few interesting people in there. After picking up what my siblings wanted, I was more than ready to head to the J. Crew around the corner, which is definitely much more my speed :)

I didn't have any J. Crew's on my lists of stores to stop at during our trip but I was so glad we stopped in! The store was so big and had so many cute pieces in stock- I finally picked up the adorable pom-pom striped t-shirt!

Right near Rockefeller Plaza is a gigantic Saks Fifth Avenue and I thought it would be fun to go inside and look around. Little did I know that Saks carries a lot more super high-end designers than the Nordstrom here in Charlotte does. We first looked around downstairs, including Louis Vuitton so I could show my mom the bag that I dub as my "dream bag", before heading up to the shoe department. We were both very overwhelmed as I was expecting shoes on a Tory Burch-level cost while Saks carries practically every famous designer, such as Chanel, Chloe, Burberry, Louboutin, Miu Miu, and Ferragamo to name a few! It was certainly fun to window shop and dream even if the prices are way steeper than anything I've ever seen in a department store (I joked to my mom that their shoes made Tory Burch look like Target prices)!

The glorious shoe department

Next on our agenda was going to the top of the Empire State Building. We walked all the way down from Saks in the 75 degree heat (which I was not ready for in my riding boots and 3/4 length oxford top) so it was a relief to stand in the AC while waiting in line to reach the top. The lines weren't too bad and we finally reached the top. The views made the wait totally worth it and it was so cool to see all of Manhattan by doing a lap around the observation deck.

After the Empire State Building, we took a cab back to the hotel where we freshened up for dinner and then relaxed for a little bit after a long and fun day of sightseeing. My aunt and grandfather sent my birthday gift, which included cupcakes from Sprinkles, over to our hotel so I indulged in a Red Velvet cupcake while we relaxed :)

One of the gorgeous buildings near our hotel!

We had dinner at Patsy's, an Italian restaurant recommended to us by my grandfather, on Friday night around 5 PM and it was so delicious. I had the four-cheese ravioli and then spilt a slice of chocolate cake with my mom for dessert, it was all so good! The perfect meal after a busy day and before our show!

Since we had such an early dinner reservation and Wicked didn't begin until 8, we decided to walk back to our hotel and relax for 30 minutes, which was definitely a good move!

As we were walking from the hotel to the theater where Wicked is, my mom realized how close we were to Times Square and we decided to walk by as I have never been to Times Square. It was quite the experience to say the least. While we were there, there was a man playing a drum only in bikini-style underwear and shouting "New York City" as well as a bunch of people dressed up as Frozen characters and asking for pictures with you for tips. It was definitely interesting but my mom and I decided we had enough after a few minutes ;)

My mom and I both really wanted to see a show while in the city so after a bit of research, we decided to see Wicked! Wicked was absolutely amazing- it was hilarious, the music was great, it was just an overall fun show to attend! My mom and I joked that Galinda is a combination of Elle Woods from Legally Blonde and Regina George from Mean Girls. The show was so fun to see and I was definitely bummed when it ended!

Wicked ended around 11 PM so after walking back to the hotel from the theater, we headed straight to bed to rest up for a full day of adventures on the Upper East Side in the morning!

Stay tuned for pictures and a recap of Day 2 tomorrow!