I’m super excited to kick off my own blog!! I thought right now would be the perfect time, right before the holidays while I’m on break.
I just got back, not too long ago, from my first trip to New York! It was super exciting, since I’ve wanted to visit there since I was seven. I thought I would post photos of the places I visited, along with some fab fashion looks I was able to wear out in the city!
First of all, I traveled to NYC with one of my closest friends, Carrie. She’s been to NY a countless number of times, so she was well-seasoned around here to say the least.
We started our trip off by going to Jacob’s Pickles, in the Upper West Side. They serve comfort food and much more beyond pickles. Carrie and I ordered the honey chicken & pickles and a side of mac & cheese (which was HUGE by the way). As a mac and cheese connoisseur, it was amazing and I highly recommend it.
Later that evening, we went to go check out the Rockettes and their amazing holiday performance. The Rockefeller tree was right across the street, and I somehow managed to get a cool blurred photo of the tree.
In the morning, we visited this cute coffee shop called Irving Farm. I ordered a vanilla mocha (my usual) and a cranberry muffin. I thought the coffee was great, but the muffin was a little crumble-y for my liking. They have a ton of different pastries to choose from, so I would go with something else.
We also went to Central Park, but the rink was crazy crowded, so we settled for people watching there instead. I absolutely loved the cityscape view from the park, it’s something I never imagined seeing. The trees and nature make it so beautiful upon the skyscrapers.
After, we went to Tiffany’s on fifth street and I finally bought my first Tiffany’s necklace! This was another thing I’ve wanted for as long as I could remember. They have some pretty dainty looking necklaces, but dainty has never fit just right on me unfortunately. I instead bought the traditional Tiffany’s heart necklace.
We also shopped around a bit at various places such as Macy’s, Sephora, and H&M before heading back to the hotel to get ready to go to The Polo Bar.
The Polo Bar was easily my favorite part of the trip. Ralph Lauren is my favorite designer and I’ve heard all the rave about this restaurant. It actually was a surprise that we were able to go, and we didn’t get a reservation until the day prior. We planned this trip a couple weeks before, but that wasn’t enough time to get a reservation at The Polo Bar. I literally called every single day to see if there would be a cancellation, and it took for me to call at just the right time, the day before they had an opening. So, I advise if you plan to go, place your reservation way ahead.
With that being said, The Polo Bar was absolutely stunning. The atmosphere, the food, the wine, everything was perfect. It has a very classic, warm, cabin feel, and what else could you expect from Mr.Ralph Lauren himself? The entire restaurant is decked out in the finest tanned leather and green plaid. I ordered the Chicken Paillard with the Garganega white wine. The chicken was absolutely to die for and I highly recommend it.
As for my attire, I wore the Red Velvet Sweetheart Ruched Dress from JLUXLABEL with black Calvin Klein strappy heels. I topped it off with my white Topshop Mohair Coat.
The next day we ate at a Mediterranean restaurant called Jack’s Wife Freda in Soho. The restaurant was very crowded but rather quaint. The food is completely worth it however, and I’m still craving it today! I ordered a cappuccino with the Breakfast Bowl, which has eggs, red quinoa, kale, spaghetti squash, grilled tomato, and avocado. I’m currently trying to recreate this at home, so I’ll let you know if I’m successful!
The rest of the day was mostly spent at NBC Studios where Carrie and I went to the taping of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon! It was really neat to see how the whole show is put together and filmed, and to see Jimmy up close and personal! Strangely enough, they don’t allow any form of photography while inside the studios, so I couldn’t get any pictures. Carrie and I got in the second row and saw his guests, Steve Harvey, Annette Bening, and Busta Rhymes, so close!
So many people wonder how to get these tickets, and we basically looked up a month in advance of how to get tickets, and the morning they launched on his website, we got on a waitlist for the show at exactly 10:30am CST. I got on the waitlist at 10:31am and was able to get tickets, but the waitlist was completely full by 10:35am, so the key is to get there exactly on time!! A backup plan, which many of the people we met at the show did, is to wait outside of NBC studios the morning of the show. This is kinda crazy though, and the line apparently started at 2am. If you’re a die-hard Jimmy Fallon fan and want to get on the show, then shoot for it! But the 10:30am way is the way I would go.
After the show, we went ice skating at Bryant Park, right in between Times Square and Grand Central Station. This was a great choice because it was cheaper and wasn’t as crowded as the alternatives such as the Rockefeller Rink or the Wollman Rink at Central Park. It also had a gorgeous tree and markets set up around it.
We were starving and went to this authentic Italian restaurant in Little Eatly. Yes, it’s called Little Eatly and I still laugh about it #SoPunny. It’s called Baita on the Roof and it’s literally right across from the Flatiron building. It was really interesting because it was actually on the top floor of an Italian grocery store. I had saw it on Pinterest and went for the atmosphere, which it didn’t disappoint. It was super cute with Christmas decorations everywhere. I ordered the Pasta Al Forno Alle Verdure, which was a super cheesy/creamy lasagna. It was small, but super filling.
We finished up the night with a NY favorite, Black Tap. We obviously couldn’t leave without going here and weren’t disappointed. We shared the Brooklyn Blackout shake, which is a total chocolate overload. If you can finish the entire thing, major props to you.
The last day we had to run off to the airport, and we barely made our flight with less than 5 minutes to spare. Before, we left, we had breakfast at a cute brunch/dessert place that was close to our hotel called Sugar & Plumm. I got another vanilla mocha and had mixed berry waffles. There’s a lot of good stuff to pick from here, but I wasn’t super hungry from the night before, so I tried to pick something rather light.
Oh! I also can’t forget. I also ran into Mariah Carey. Like literally ran into Mariah Carey while I was up there. She’s been doing a holiday concert series at the Beacon Theater, which happens to be on our way back to the hotel. We just saw a crowd and walked up and literally less than five minutes later, Mariah Carey walked out and greeted all of us. Let me just say, she’s even more fab in person, if that’s even possible.
Thank you for reading my first post! I hope there will be many more to come!
xx,
Rachelle
