Happy Labor Day Weekend! I hope y’all are staying cool in this heat wave we’re currently experiencing in the LA area. I know that fall is fast approaching, but with this heat I can’t even think about Fall clothing which is why most of my picks are still in summer mode. There are so many great sales going on, so I wanted to share some of my favorite items from each!
Now is the perfect time to refresh your fall wardrobe and definitely take advantage of the LDW sales going on. You can easily shop the sales below by clicking on the store’s link or by clicking on the links under each picture.
Happy Monday y’all!! I know that last week I only posted one time but like I told y’all, I’ve been super busy these last couple of weeks. Here I am to tell you what I’ve been up to…the Fiancé and I finally celebrated our engagement with our families this past Saturday. It was a TON of work but the final outcome was everything I hoped it would be.
Ok, so for starters, we’ve been planning this party since about May. It was supposed to be in July, but my future in-laws house wouldn’t be done with their remodel by the beginning of July so we pushed it back to the beginning of August instead. The remodel at the house should have been done around mid-July, but as of Monday of last week, it still wasn’t finished (eek, talk about stressful!). So we were about a week out and the remodel seemed to be never-ending and I honestly didn’t think it would be done in time. I think magic was made because by Friday, the bathroom and living room were about 95% done and the backyard had grass and was landscaped making the remodel pretty much done.
Friday morning my mom and I went to DTLA so that I could pick up the flowers I needed to make all the centerpieces. As soon as we got to my house, I finished the welcome sign that would be hung for people to see as they walked in and then got to work on cutting and arranging flowers. Once we were done with those, we headed over to the fiancé’s house to start setting up (there were still tons of workers there so not much got done). We all worked really hard on Friday to get as much stuff set up as possible.
Saturday morning rolls around and we head back over to the house to finish setting up all the details. Let me tell you, it was not smooth sailing, there were lots of sweat, tears and threatening to cancel the party (what are y’alls thoughts on kids at an engagement party?) Anyway, we got it all resolved and ended up with 100 people over at my future in-laws house for the party. I made most of the decorations used at the party and my parents helped me with pretty much anything I needed. My future husband’s parents also helped us out a lot too. Even though all of our bridal party couldn’t be there, we had such a great time with everyone who was able to make it. I can’t thank everyone who helped out enough for being there for us even when I was being such a pain!
Here are some pictures of the decorations I made for the party:
Here are some shots of us, the bridal party and our parents:
Sunday afternoon the fiancé and I opened our gifts and were pleasantly surprised at how generous people were (any money we got is going straight into the wedding fund account because every little bit helps)! That’s all for my fun-filled weekend. I hope y’all went and did something fun and didn’t work too hard!
Hey y’all I hope you had a great weekend! I know my weekend was filled with running around doing errands and then an ALL day cheer competition on Sunday!
So as I’m sitting at work this morning, I can’t help but look back at my pictures and see what a great time I had two weekends ago in my favorite city – NEW YORK! I don’t have vacation time at work yet, so I have to take advantage of long weekends and off days. Since MLK weekend gave me Monday as a holiday, I had Friday and Monday off, I had planned a weekend trip with one of my girlfriends.
I know some of you may be shaking your heads wondering how on earth a girl from SoCal can make NYC a weekend trip!? You get up and go every morning that your there and you don’t stop going until your head hits the pillow at night, that’s how you do it!
But in case you’re still confused, let me break it down for you:
Thursday:
I took a red eye flight leaving at 9:30pm California time and landing at JFK at 5:30am. I personally LOVE red eye flights because I don’t feel like I’m wasting a whole day and I get to sleep on the plane! It’s like killing two birds with one stone. It’s this feeling of getting to your destination before the rest of the world is awake and I personally already feel ahead of the game.
Waiting to board our plane on Thursday night!
Friday:
Landing day: We landed at JFK at 5:30am and headed down to baggage claim to pick up my luggage (it’s January in the City, of course I needed to check a bag!). I personally enjoy taking the train into Penn Station (right by the hotel I stay at), but my friend was not on board to do that. We ended up taking a Taxi (worst experience EVER!!) and it was soo expensive!! (Side note: taking the train from the airport is less than $20 and the taxi was $60+tip) We finally got to the hotel and, if I’m being honest, was hoping that the room wasn’t ready yet (my plan was to have the hotel hold our bags, go grab breakfast, and get started on the day). Our room was ready and of course my friend wanted to nap, so I let her, but then our day got started later than I hoped and I was hungry. We FINALLY left the hotel closer to 11am and found a diner to eat breakfast at and then made our way to Central Park (there are a ton of different things you can do in the park). The weather was crisp, but it was so nice feeling the cool air on my face. We spent a little time in the park walking around and sitting on one of the many big rocks.
Such a picture perfect moment in Central Park
Then we took a little trek to The Met steps so we could sit and of course take a Gossip Girl inspired picture.
Laughing and loving the great weather in the sun
Once we were done with that, we went back to the hotel where we sat and relaxed for a while then walked down the block to get pizza. The big highlight of the day was signing up for a Paint and Sip Night at the Painting Lounge a few blocks from our hotel. It was soo much fun and definitely not something my Mr. ever wants to do! (If you have never been, an instructor takes you step by step through the painting process and you get to drink wine while you do it!) I absolutely love how my painting turned out and being from SoCal, you don’t normally get to paint the NY scenes.
I absolutely love how my painting came out!
Saturday:
Another late start… when we FINALLY left the hotel, we took the subway to the 9/11 Memorial site where we got off in this really cool mall. We made our way across the street to the Memorials where we sat and reflected for a few minutes in silence. That day had such a huge impact on so many people and when you sit and think, it brings so many different emotions to you at once. It makes you think about where you were at the moment you found out about the attack.
There are no words to accurately describe this moment
After reflecting for a few moments, we got in line to buy tickets to go to the top of One World Trade Center. It’s a short elevator ride up to the 102nd floor where you can see breath taking views of the city below you. You could literally spend all day looking over the city (I love views like this, so I will definitely go back again).
Views from the top!!
Once we were done there, we took the subway down to Wall Street to see the Charging Bull. It was pretty crowded so we didn’t stick around long.
Grabbing life by the horns
It was getting late into the afternoon, so we headed back towards our hotel and got to Shake Shack right as it started snowing!! Lunch was delicious (I absolutely love Shake Shack, but I’ll only eat it in the city) and the view of the snow falling was like the cherry on top of a sundae!
oops, I might have been to hungry to wait for my picture
Later that evening, we headed over to The Rink at Rockefeller Center to ice skate. We had to wait a while to even get on the ice since it was between skate times. While we waited, we saw a man proposing to his girlfriend right there on the ice! It was picture perfect with the snow still falling as he got to his knee. We skated for a while until we were both tired and hungry. We took a short walk to Junior’s for dinner (they have the best cheesecake!!) and then called it a night after that.
Skating through life without a care in the world
Delicious chicken parm and veggies from Junior’s
Sunday:
The final day… I really wanted to get up early and get going, but my friend had other ideas (sleeping lol).But, I finally made it into Brooklyn and got Rainbow Bagels from The Bagel Store!! It’s this tiny little store that you will literally pass if you’re not paying attention. I ordered my rainbow bagel with confetti cream cheese and then ordered 5 more bagels to bring home with me! I enjoyed my bagel so much that I brought 5 home for my family to enjoy too (you can now order online and have them shipped to you)!
basic bagel and bridge picture
Since New York is all about great picture taking, I knew I just had to tote my bagels all the way over to the Brooklyn Bridge for the perfect picture! I made it to the bridge and snapped a picture, but I would have liked to walk all the way across the bridge. We didn’t too much the rest of the day since our flight was later that evening. We took the train from Penn Station to JFK and got there soo fast that we were way too early and ended up sitting at the airport forever!!
Literally couldn’t have asked for better weather on my last day
As always while I’m in the city, I take the Subway everywhere I go. I think that it is an inexpensive way to get around the city and get to where ever your heart desires! I also think that it helps you get acquainted with the city and definitely makes me feel at home when I can navigate the subway system without looking at a map.
This was the view from the street my hotel was on!
While my trip was a short one, I always enjoy my time in my favorite city and I can’t wait to get back there as soon as possible.
Feel free to leave your comments and let me know what your favorite things to do in the city are!
Not Another LA Blonde 
