Weekend in My Life: Less than 24 Hours in NYC

This weekend was a total whirlwind! In less than 24 hours, we drove from Blacksburg, Virginia up to NYC, attended the 10th anniversary celebrations for Women in Business in NYC, stayed the night, and then drove back to Blacksburg. If you’ve been following along my blog for a while, you’ll know I spent two summers up in New York City studying Fashion Merchandising & Design in high school, so the city has a special place in my heart.

View of the skyline from the cruise on the East River

The Trek:

Thursday morning, eight of us hit the road at 5 a.m. in two separate rental cars for the city. Of course, I woke up with a head cold that I actually ended up fighting the entire trip (thank goodness for Emergen-C & ibuprofen), but I was so determined to make it on this trip. Matt was a saint and met me at my apartment at 4:45 am to drop me off at our meeting spot. We arrived in the city at about 1:30 p.m., checked into our hotel in Midtown East and did a little exploring to stretch our legs. A few of us were in desperate need of coffee, so we scouted out a Dunkin’ Donuts and wandered around for a little while with our coffee. We came across Buttercup Bake Shop, and although this bake shop is known for their cupcakes, their NY style cheesecake caught our attention. These cheesecakes were the perfect treat for a mid-day pick-me-up and big enough to share! If you’re in the area definitely be sure to stop in and check them out.

After we got our caffeine, we trekked back to the hotel for time to nap, shower and change before we left for the Women in Business event that night. Although I had every intention of napping, the time was instead filled with getting to know my roommates a little more and laughing SO hard my cheeks hurt.

We met down in the lobby and Ubered to Empire Cruises, a port nestled along FDR drive and the East River. The entire event was hosted on an 180 foot yacht, the Harbor Lights. The cruise set off on the East River and featured views of the New York City skyline, the Freedom Tower, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It was extremely sobering to be in New York City on September 12, the day after 9/11, so seeing the Freedom Tower definitely caused us to pause and think for a moment.

Shop the post:

Although I was passing out motion sickness meds like nobody’s business, the cruise overall was an experience I’ll never forget. If you want to make instant friendships, have extra motion sickness drugs on hand. The weather was definitely less than ideal, and it was pouring rain the entire time, so we experienced a very choppy cruise. As I said before; however, it was such an incredible experience I’m not going to forget anytime soon!

Friday morning, we had to get out of the city pretty early to get back in time for our home football game the next day. We were all so sad to leave and wished the trip extended through the weekend so we could see, do and explore more. We grabbed breakfast at Juice Press and coffee from the hotel, and hit the road home!

Women In Business:

The event we attended in New York City was in celebration of the Women in Business chapter at Virginia Tech. Ten years ago, a group of Pamplin College of Business alumnae from Virginia Tech set out to give back and empower alumnae and students from the business school by forming Women in Business. I am the co-CEO of the student chapter at Virginia Tech, Collegiate Women in Business, and this event is one of our favorites each and every year.

The event this year was hosted by Tracy Castle-Newman, Managing Director and COO of Global Equity Distribution at Morgan Stanley. She was the keynote speaker and had an incredibly empowering and real message to share with each and every one of us about being women in business. She was also joined by a panel of women including Bridget Ryan Berman, former chief executive officer of Victoria’s Secret Direct, LLC. and the Giorgio Armani Corporation, and current Managing Partner of Ryan Berman Advisory, LLC.

I “Vlogged” the whole experience!

I’m still trying to get into this whole vlogging thing, but knew I had to share a video from this trip because there were too many good moments I couldn’t put into words!