Victoria Strader: New York in October Days 1, 2, & 3

You may be like.. girl you are crazy. New York three times in a year? And you're just a random girl in Texas? I know. New York just happens to be the city where we have access to complimentary accommodations so it's become a great place to travel with friends. :) And for this trip, my friend Susannah already needed to be in the city for work, so it seemed perfect for Kayla and I to tag along.

It wouldn't be a trip without a poor quality airplane selfie :) Traveling with friends is SO FUN.

After getting settled at our hotel, we hopped on the subway to get to Greenwich Village. We walked through Washington Square Park on our way to our reservation at Palma. I had never really been in this part of the city, so that was fun!

Palma was decorated like an Anthropologie, and had INCREDIBLE Italian food. And I'm hard to please after visiting Italy this summer. YUM. Love you Palma, you're on my return to list.

When in the city, you eat ALL the desserts. It's a rule. :) We started with a trip to Baked by Melissa for some mini cupcakes. These are Susannah's favorite, but for me it's not worth not just getting my favorite Magnolia Bakery.

We decided last minute to get matching pajamas and it was SUCH a great idea. We were so excited about this and felt so cool. These are from Target and are now my new favorites. SO COMFY.

During our first two days Susannah worked, leaving Kayla and I to leisurely explore for ourselves. I had mostly gotten my morning sickness under control by this trip.. but my friends were incredibly gracious with me stopping when I needed to and taking things slow. Kayla and I obviously started the trip with brunch at Sarabeth's. I got the Lemon Ricotta pancakes.

We started our exploration of 5th avenue with a trip into St. Patricks, where I had never been before. This was before I changed into my tennies (read about that here) and so we slowly walked around and soaked up the beautiful architecture.

Next stop was the Rockefeller Center Anthropologie because they were having extra 30% off sale! It's been different trying to buy clothes that I think will work for pregnancy (more about that soon) but I thought this cute swing dress in a size bigger than my usual would be great!

We checked out the Rockefeller rink, ran into Saks to look for something (tennies.. fail) and then went back to Anthro to get Susannah the same dress I had. We texted her a photo and she wanted it too. :) Then I started to feel sick so we stopped at Pret in the Rockefeller food court to split a wrap. We then hit the Nike store where I fell in love with my beautiful tennies.

We had a short rest at the hotel, and then went to the Madison avenue Kate Spade and Tory Burch stores. No purchases, but I loved this exclusive Magnolia Bakery collection. So fun, although not really practical.

We then had another rest at the hotel (haha!) and met Susannah at Bendels when she got off work.

We went to fancy Bergdorf Goodman, and they were having a Lula Kate event. That was beyond fun to spy on! Our favorite bit was the Christmas area.

We then went to Bloomingdale's.. which is now by far my favorite New York department store. The search for maternity friendly non maternity clothes continued, and I found this cute Free People top (in Pearl). My first ever Free People Item. (I linked it through Nordstrom bc free shipping!!) If you're ever visiting, make sure to ask for the visitor discount. The sweet sales gal gave me 15% off when I showed her my Texas ID.

My sweet friends are such troopers when I just want to get the shot. Haha!

We stopped by Dylan's Candy Bar for $15 of candy each (YIKES!!) and then went to dinner at Serendipity. I had never been there. It's kind of a one time spot, but I'm really glad we went.

Kayla and I split their signature Frozen Hot Chocolate.

The next morning Kayla and I grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbucks (Strawberry greek yogurt parfait and venti ice water, please!) and hopped on the subway to the Flatiron district, an area I had never visited before. We were immediately obsessed!

First stop was Club Monaco. I believe this location is their flagship. I had never been in CM before, and the clothes were honestly out of our price range for the most part. But everything in there was beautiful and we left incredibly inspired when it comes to interiors. The store is beautiful!

We were obsessed with this vignette in the entryway!

We walked in circles a bit, but it was worth it to explore the amazing neighborhoods!

Our stop to keep us occupied until our 1:15 lunch reservation was ABC Carpet and Home.. 6 floors of home decor wonder. We just wandered for an hour or so before starting the walk to Chelsea.

I'd been wanting to visit the Tipsy Parson for awhile, but it's a hard place to get a reservation because it's a tiny spot. But lunch was perfect! We split the Avocado toast, Shrimp and grits, and a biscuit. YUM. I would definitely go back.

Next stop was the Highline but it was super packed, like we could barely walk. We weren't feeling that so we moved on to go check out the New York Public Library, a beautiful building I had never visited. Unfortunately that required us to get off the Subway in Times Square, Aka my least favorite place on the planet.

The library was beautiful but we weren't there long.. we headed back to the room for an afternoon rest and an episode of Gossip Girl. When in New York, am I right? :)

We then met Susannah and had dinner at The Smith, and then to Grand Central Station.

We wanted to go in The Campbell Apartment, because its a Gossip Girl spot.. but we didn't really want to hang out in the small busy bar, no matter how sophisticated it was. We were in and out in just a few minutes and I'm sure the girls at the door thought we were ridiculous but oh well. :)