Earlier this week I promised a recap of my latest trip. Traveling anywhere is a treat, but there’s something about New York that’s unbeatable. There’s a certain energy in the air that you just can’t get anywhere else. Anyone else with me, or do a I sound completely wack?
This trip to New York was all about firsts. I flew out on a Friday afternoon for my first ever blogging conference on Saturday. For those of you bloggers out there, please do yourself a favor and GO TO A BLOGGING CONFERENCE. Sorry to jump down your throat there, but it seriously was the best experience.
More on the conference later…
This was the first time I’ve traveled with just a friend, so it was kind of surreal getting to call all of the shots ourselves. I was immediately blown away when we passed the Batman set on the way to our hotel, which was nestled right smack on the outskirts of the Financial District.
While our hotel was gorgeous, we weren’t exactly thrilled about the location. We’d chosen the place because it was only a 10 minute walk from the conference. However, there wasn’t a lot to do or see nearby, which was unfortunate.
Though the first leg of the trip was rough (our original flight got canceled and we weren’t happy with where we were staying once we got there), getting to attend Her Campus’ Her Conference Saturday morning immediately forced all of my frustration to melt away. Also: see what I wore here!
I was invited to an exclusive MTV event before the conference, so I hustled to register and take advantage of the delicious complimentary breakfast. Note: No joke, the breakfast bar was great. As soon as I got my Greek yogurt, I was a happy camper. So what if we had totally gotten lost walking to the conference and I’d almost missed the preview event? Ha!
After downing my bfast, I headed to the MTV event, which was called Perfectly Imperfect. The panel was hosted by Dr. Diana Ramos and MTV’s “Girl Code” stars Nessa and Carly. Here they discussed Plan B and gave the lowdown on emergency contraception facts and fictions. Seems kind of random for a blogging conference, right? That was my first thought. Buuuut, I then realized how important it is to know about these issues and help educate other young women. The whole intention of hosting this event was to have us bloggers spread the word and prevent teen pregnancy. I gotta admit, I’m all for that…and yes, I actually did learn a few things from Dr. Ramos. (More info HERE)
After the Perfectly Imperfect event, I headed to a variety of other panels including one on the business of blogging. This one was particularly exciting, especially because I got to meet Carly from The College Prepster! Her and the other panelists answered great questions about monetizing blogs and working with brands. I was also happy to hear that Carly’s boyfriend Garrett takes most of her photos. I see so many bloggers hiring photographers, so I’ve always wondered if that’s the way to go. Thankfully, Carly proves that you don’t have to spend a fortune for quality photography. So I guess I’ll keep Richard around 😉
The rest of the day went off without a hitch and included complimentary chipotle (yay!) and a keynote speech from the editor in chief of Seventeen magazine, Michelle Tan. I was exhausted when the conference concluded, but I still had an afterparty to attend. So, the show must go on.
I headed over to the 7 For All Mankind SoHo location with a small group of other attendees for horderves, mocktails (favorite recipe here), shopping and complimentary hair braiding by Drybar.
It.
Was.
Awesome.
(In a I can’t really afford to buy anything here, but I feel super fancy eating mini espresso brownies and pretending kind of way…)
I have to say though, I loved browsing the braided denim pieces, which I’m thinking about investing in at some point. The clothing may be pricey for a college student, but it’s definitely unique and well made.
After the 7 For All Mankind event, my blogging BFF and I wandered around SoHo and eventually settled down for dinner at Delicatessen. And let me just say, the truffle fries are to. die. for.
Needless to say, if we were exhausted after the conference, we were practically comatose at this point. However, we forced ourselves to take advantage of the city and stopped at Laduree for their famous macarons. It was my first time, so it was pretty exciting (and delish, as expected)!
The next day was kind of a blur, since we hopped around from place to place. It felt like we saw all of New York by the afternoon, but really we just hadn’t done our research on the area. Regardless, we started the day off on the right foot by visiting Rockefeller Center. We went to the top of the Rockefeller building, and it was amazing. We were a little frustrated trying to get the perfect, blog-worthy photos with all the other tourists around, but it ended up working out just fine.
We then headed to Central Park. I always love seeing the carriage horses and the beautiful landscape, but we didn’t stay long. Instead we made our way to Shake Shack for lunch. I had never even heard of the place, but it was probably the best cheeseburger I’ve ever had!
>”/> << All of the above photos taken from my Instagram! Follow HERE for more >>
After lunch we shopped around 5th Ave, walked to Times Square, saw Kim Kardashian in wax form and eventually had dinner at a really cute restaurant that I just can’t remember the name of *sighs*. Then it was time to hop on the plane back home and start dreaming up another good reason to return to the city soon.
So, thank you thank you thank you for staying with me throughout this ridiculously long post. If you have questions about the blogging conference or anything else for that matter, feel free to reach out!
Also, has anyone else been to a blogging conference? I’d love to hear your experience!
xx,
Holly
