Inspiration du jour ... #NYNOW

I am madly in love with Kate Spade.  I have been since her very first bag design in January 1993.  I love every single thing about the designer and the brand.  It was simply put ... love at first sight!

Imagine my sheer giddiness when Natalie Chang asked me to fill in on the Lifeguard Press design team for the New York Now show.  I think I dropped the phone, then picked it up, reread it twice and then typed back in all caps ... YES!  It was nothing short of a dream come true for me.

Before babies I worked in fashion.  Leaving the legal field in 1993 on a whim, I took a job as an assistant manager in Atlanta leaving my home in Orlando for an adventure and to mend a broken heart.  Little did I know that I would fall madly in love with my career and my new city.  Fashion has always been a dream of mine, and window designer being at the top of that list.  Something about visuals and styling just seems to come natural to me.  Maybe I see it as an extension of playing with my dollhouse, who knows.  Simply put ... I love it.  I spent many days in trouble with my mother for redesigning my bedroom on paper and moving furniture and rearranging my room much to her dislike.  She existed on order and stability, me on change.  

I spent about sixth months as an assistant manager and moved quickly to store manager and then to visuals.  I absolutely loved it.  Not only did I love our own floor moves, but I traveled the city and helped out with others.  Visuals was by far the most exciting thing I had ever done.  There was nothing better than the corporate visual team popping in for days.  To this day if I am shopping and the visuals team is working I have a hard time tearing myself away to leave the store.  I want to put down my bags and pitch in any way they will have me.  So ... setting up and working the trade booth was just what this visual loving girl ordered.  

We arrived in NYC on Thursday afternoon to begin work.  The first three days were filled with building the booth, painting, adding logos, unpacking merchandise, filling shelves and styling products.  It was hard work and long days.  The next three days were filled with selling and meeting amazing people.  Wednesday we took down the booth and packed it all up.  Thursday we SHOPPED!  

Each evening we ate, drank and relaxed in the most amazing restaurants.  Who am I kidding ... every single meal I have ever eaten in NYC was over the top AMAZING!

Eataly for Thursday lunch after a huge haul at Home Depot ... 

the best arugula salad I have ever eaten!  I think I could have gotten lost in Eataly for days on end.  It is the best market and gathering of food I have ever experienced.  If you have never been ... you must go.  I can promise you if I lived in the city it would be a frequent haunt.

The Smith for dinner ~ the sexist little place, so fab and delish.  I sat the whole time waiting for the Sex and the City girls to pop in for dinner.  

Serafina after a long day of painting and building was the perfect choice.  Prosecco and pasta cures anything at all.  The end.

West Bank Cafe for the most amazing crab cake I have ever eaten.  I think I was so tired this evening I may have fallen asleep in the Uber on the way back to our hotel.  It was the perfect combo of hard wine and 2 glasses of wine!  

Kelly, Kim, me, Iris & Natalie

Tipsy Parson ... the best southern food in NYC.  The Tipsy Palmer with Bourbon was ah-mazing!!!! 

And yes, we did think it was ironic that we were southerners eating southern food in NYC.

Iris decided we were crazy to eat even more so she headed to the hotel and the four of us headed to Momofuku Milk Bar ... where we bought every single thing they sell.  I can highly recommend the crack pie and the compost cookies.  I may have ate a blueberry & cream cookie the next two mornings and I know I snacked on birthday cake truffles for at least the next two days, maybe more. 

Sunday evening we ate dinner with the Moon & Lola girls at this amazing place.  When we first pulled up and I spotted the vintage pawn shop I thought we were just shopping before dinner.  As you walk in and the back door opens ... its show stopping!  Three floors of gorgeous and the best tapas and drinks.  Hours of hard work and yummy drinks make for a giggly and silly crew on the way home.  At that point I knew this trip was life changing!

If you go I highly recommend you order the kale & apple salad, grilled cheese & tomato soup, chicken meatballs and the grilled salmon.  And I am a bourbon girl and I can highly recommend The Woodsman.  De-lish!!!

When we left the Javits Center on Monday evening there were no cabs or Ubers to be found ... so we ended up in a limo.  Think 1980's bad prom limo ... but limo nonetheless! 

Hearing we would need to wait 45 minutes for dinner we walked acorss the street to this darling little spot ... each of us had the warm mulled wine and a pretzel.

Both of which were so good!

The fried chicken at Root & Bone was the best I have ever tasted.  That says a lot coming from a girl who lives in the deep south.  They brine their chicken in sweet tea which makes it like none other.  My sweet friend to my left lovingly pulled it off the bone for me.  This girl doesn't do bones of any kind.  

Oh, and those Smash & Grabs were probably the best drink I had the whole trip ... and I am pretty sure I had bourbon drinks each and every night.  These were so good and hard to repeat at home.  Trust me ... I am trying.

After dinner we headed to 230 Fifth for drinks and this ridiculous view.  I could have stared at the Empire State Building all evening.  So iconic and so beautiful!

Natalie and I grabbed these Pistachio Lime rice krispy treats on the way out of Root & Bone.  We ate them as snacks the next day and I have two words for you ... life changing!  

I was so sad to see our sweet Kim go home on Wednesday afternoon.  She is the cruise director of the crew making all ressies, taking recs from vendors and friends and researching our next eating adventures.  There are some Uber drivers who lives have been forever changed after driving us around and becoming part of Kim's "Roll Tide from around the world" series. 

 Love you Kimmy G!!!  xo

After tearing down on Wednesday afternoon we headed to Barbuto for dinner.  What a wonderful and warm bistro with amazing food.  But like I said ... saying amazing food in NYC equates to amazing architecture in Chicago.  Its a given.

I ate a yummy dinner of Rigatoni con patate and another drop dead yummy kale salad.  My margarita was good but I was coveting Natalie's 1919.  I think my head hit the pillow that night while I was changing into my pjs.  Natalie said she came out of the shower and I was crashed.  Working hard equals sleeping well and waking up ready for another day. And our last day in NYC was by far the best we had ... 

#tomorrowspost ...