New York City, Day 2

Hello Friends:

If you missed Day 1 of my trip to NYC please click here.

So day two of my exciting trip to NYC started off  a little lonely as hubby had to attend an all day work conference but I quicky perked up with a visit to Bloomingdales. To those who are not familiar with this iconic New York city department store let me tell you that it is like 9 floors of pure fashion heaven. Almost every high-end designer label that you have ever heard is housed right here and it's almost impossible to leave without a gift for yourself:

So after doing some minor damage on my credit card (on a gorgeous Diane Von Furstenburg dress) I realized that it might be nice to grab a souvenir for the kids. And what better place to do that then at F.A.O Schwartz, which is one of the largest toy stores in the world. This place is every child's biggest dream (and every parents biggest nightmare as the kids NEVER want to leave). One of the most notable features in the store is the giant piano (used in the movie BIG with Tom Hanks) that they let you jump around on. So of course, I couldn't resist striking a pose! Check out the pics for other highlights of the store:

After carefully selecting my goodies for the kids (a lego empire state building set for J. and an overpriced 'authentic' NYC taxi car for K.) I decided to head down Fifth avenue. The thing that I love about New York city is that you can walk almost anywhere, it's such a pedestrian city. I never looked at a map and found New Yorkers to be so friendly when I would ask them for directions (half of the time I didn't know where North and South was, there were skyscrapers everywhere). The only problem I encountered was how faced paced everyone walked and I almost got run over several times by people, not cars. However, when not being trampled over I was able to get a few city shots:

I have to say that Fifth Avenue was a blast, it was so fun to drool over stuff that I will never be able to afford. With that in mind I decided to head over to Soho, a shopping area that was a little more my price range. Not only was it a quick subway ride away but as a fan of the Kardashian's (I don't know whether to be proud of admitting that or if I should be deeply ashamed and should have kept my mouth shut), I had to visit their newly opened store Dash. My heart pounded with anticipation as I approached the store, secretely hoping that I would run into one of the 'famous for doing nothing' sisters. So what did I think when I walked in?

Honestly I was met with great disappointment. The store was TINY, and literally had maybe 100 articles in the whole store. People think that DASH has it's own clothing line but it does not. The clothes were overpriced with such little selection, and I love the fact that they charge $10 for a bottle of probably tap water with their faces all over it (as per pic above). I literally dashed (no pun intended) in and out without spending a penny. After perusing popular stores in Soho such as Scoop NYC (they had great Alexander Wang T-shirts and tanks) and All Saints (known for their distressed cardigan look) I finally settled for this really cute top that I found at Top Shop:

So after 7 hours of walking virtually non-stop my body was aching and demanding to be pampered. Seeing as the popular Bliss Spa was conveniently located in the W hotel I decided to treat myself to their 'blissage', which is described as a 75 minute massage with a foot parafin treatment. I purposely booked the appt. for 8:00pm so that I could enjoy my treatment and then go pass out in my room. When I arrived at the spa I couldn't believe how cheery it was.  The walls were all colored a light blue to ressemble the sky and big fluffy white clouds greeted you everywhere you went. Even the treatment room was purposely made to look like the sun was rising.

Holy crap let me tell you that my massage was absolute bliss. The treatment bed was heated, my masseuse took care of every single knot in my body that resulted in walking over 100 blocks in 24 hours and I left feeling extremely relaxed and rejuvenated. Even though the treatment wasn't cheap it was such a luxury that I think every woman should allow herself at least once every few months. Those are Make Mommy Chic rules.

And just like that , the next day it was time to go home. The trip seemed like it passed by so quickly and in a new york minute we were headed in taxi back to the airport where we were met with more cancellation/delays and arrived home 5 hours later than originally planned. As much as I enjoyed my vacation away from the little monkeys I couldn't wait to get back home to feel their grubby little hands all over my face. Can't wait to plan the next trip :)

I hope that you enjoyed my little travel story. What about you? Do you have any fun trips coming up soon?