72 hours in NYC

last saturday i flew to new york city! it was my first time leaving jack for more than 24 hours and i felt kind of guilty about it...but i'm not going to lie, getting 5 whole hours all to myself to sit on an airplane and do whatever i wanted felt like a total luxury. not to mention the three days of fun that followed.

the main purpose of my trip was to attend the national stationery show. if you're new, here's a quick recap of my life: in 2009 i started a blog all about stationery. i am NOT a big deal by any means and there are other stationery bloggers much cooler than me. but i love pretty paper and i've been regularly blogging there ever since.

the stationery show is like the super bowl of the industry, and i'd been dreaming of going ever since i started my blog -- but didn't actually plan on ever coughing up the money to fly all the way to NYC. that is, until last fall when the powers that be asked me IF I WANTED TO SPEAK ON A PANEL AT THE SHOW. um, yes please. three of those actual, legit bloggers, plus little me, hosting a seminar about current trends in stationery. attending was a no brainer -- this was, like, bucket-list worthy for me. speaking at NSS?! i had died and gone to heaven. 

if only everything had gone according to plan. it rained that day and (as you can see above) my hair decided to go completely insane, so i looked like a frizzy crazy person. our panel went smoothly overall but i definitely felt like the odd man out...like the others were so professional and serious, and i was just this little blogger who likes to talk about stationery every once in a while and doesn't know her stuff. chalk one up to a learning experience, i guess. we definitely kept my ego in check.

the stationery show as a whole was beautiful, amazing, overwhelming and fun. you can read my recap posts on the stationery place where i've got tons of photos and details.

to make this little trip a bit more economical and productive, i combined the NSS visit with some PR business. one of my blogger clients, amy, met me in NYC and we had meetings with HGTV magazine and parents. parents magazine is one of my all-time favorite pubs and i feel so lucky to have worked with them a few different times, so i was SUPER excited to finally tour their offices and meet my editor-friends face to face. finally, a successful part of the trip for me to feel happy about :)

and, before any of the work stuff started, i was lucky enough to squeeze in some free time around the city! randomly, one of my roommates from college was visiting NYC the same weekend so i met up with em & her friends for some frozen hot chocolate & catching up.

i went to church in the manhattan temple and spent some time with one of my co-workers from american crafts, mary martha. she just had twin baby boys and i looooved snuggling them and helping out during church, lunch and afternoon playtime.

i left mary martha's house and took myself on a long walk through the city -- from 66th all the way to my hotel on 28th st. it was sunny and warm and crowded and i loved being back in my old stomping grounds. such good memories from my NYC internship!

and of course i had to swing by this big guy -- my favorite building in the world -- as much as possible. TODAY marks exactly six years since b showed up on the observation deck of the empire state building and asked me to marry him -- funny that i would be back in the city the same week as that anniversary. i said yes, of course, but spent our whole engagement freaking out (i'm a bit of a commitment-phobe, if you didn't know;) -- i'm pretty sure if he hadn't popped the question in such a completely amazing way, i might just have backed out...and subsequently missed out on the best decision of my life. well played, b.

i managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of shopping and dining while there, but spent most of the trip either working or zipping around the city in taxis, buses and subways. wish i had had a few days more just to relax and play tourist! tuesday night it was time to come home and i barely caught a glimpse of the new freedom tower on my train ride out to JFK.

while i was gone, everyone did great! b and jack had some awesome father-son bonding time, and i had a couple of amazing friends take SUPER good care of jack while b was at work. i am so, so grateful for a fantastic husband and kind friends who help me out while i'm able to do stuff like this. but, unfortunately, i've been paying for the trip ever since i got back. major work catch up, chores, out-of-the-ordinary tantrums from the little person...i'd really like my life to stop being a string of never-ending crises, but i guess that's not going to happen. at least i got a tiny break from reality for a few days!