Ready for a little day trip? There was a time when this midwestern girl didn’t realize that Broadway was a real place, and New York City seemed as far away as the Land of Oz.
As an adult, I’m super lucky that NYC is not only a short drive away, but I also get to hang in fun places with some of my besties at HGTV Magazine.
The HGTV Magazine Block Party is, for me at least, just an excuse to soak in color. Even though it is nearly the law that everyone in NYC has to wear mostly black most of the time, HGTV Magazine is my happy place, with COLOR COLOR COLOR!
This time around we made it a positively luxurious 24 hour trip, my friend Jennifer who runs Philly Fun 4 Kids, and I. After ditching the car and checking into the hotel, we just started walking. That’s the best way to see most cities, but really, it’s the absolute best way to see NYC.
The weather was perfect. The trip was easy. The food was great. We had NY cheesecake. Is there any doubt?
About that cheesecake. It’s definitely for sharing. But I would never judge if you don’t feel like sharing.
In the morning, we slept late, because that’s what moms do on a kid-free vacation. Am I right, ladies? We finally made it to the 9/11 memorial. It’s a very moving site, and my hat is off to all who have been involved in creating and maintaining the tasteful remembrance site. It is surreal to watch children playing in what was a war zone just a few short years ago.
We wandered across the street into a new structure that I didn’t know anything about. It would have fit right into the amazing architecture in Melbourne Australia. The Oculus is an awe-inspiring new structure that is reminiscent of a whale’s skeleton or a winged dove on the top, and somewhat reminiscent of the Carousel of the Louvre Museum underneath. Cavernous. It’s just cavernous. And disorienting with all white. It’s all clean and pretty and spare right now, but eventually there will be crowds filtering through, since it’s being built as a new transportation center.
If you can’t find one anywhere else in the city , there is a Starbucks there. (LOL, since there is a Starbucks about every block and a half in NYC. I think it’s the law.)
Then we headed to the main event., the HGTV Magazine Block Party. I love learning from the hot new social influencers like Sam Ushiro from AwwSam with her insanely colorful and happy Instagram feed.
We got to meet the always sweet Sherri and John from Young House Love. Have you listened to the new Young House Love podcast feed? It will make you happy.
I LOVED playing with the giant design board from Delta faucet. The handlers apologized that the board accidentally blew away my first design, but it just gave me more time to play. The room elements were pretty limited, but I still had fun creating an inspiration board with classic, timeless elements and a fair amount of color. It felt just like the command center boards that super heroes have in their HQs.
Oh, and there was just one other little thing going on that day. They actually paused the HGTV event so we could all spill out onto the sidewalks and check out the solar eclipse. It was only a partial deal where we were, but I still got some interesting shots.
No, there were no more solar eclipse glasses to be had, even at the camera megastore B&H. Stop asking, for pete’s sake!
HGTV had us covered with the pinhole projector thingy. I still think it’s lame, but at least HGTV Magazine’s version is colorful, as is everything they do.
You can get a lot into a 24 hour trip in NYC, but there is always more to come back for. More to do. More to see. More to eat. Much, much more to eat. There’s practically food falling out of the sky in Manhattan. I don’t know why this huge banana was on the street, but it was fun. I thought NYC was the Big Apple, but maybe they are trying something new?
Where are my NYC blogger friends? I think we need to set up a little Back to School blogger meet and greet in NYC. I’m always up for a road trip! And I still need to make it back inside the most beautiful Home Depot I have ever seen.
I’m pretty sure that this gal, the awesome Evey from Evey’s Creations would be happy to drop everything and head to NYC. Loved getting to see her again! You can catch her, as I always do, at the Philly Home Shows in January.
Thanks for visiting my eclectic and fast NYC trip. What would you have to do if you had 24 hours in NYC?
i love that giant banana.
Well, who doesn’t love a giant banana, after all?