Hey guys,
I've just come back from a quick (and I mean very quick) 24 hour trip to New York City. My friends and I had applied to win invites to Aimee Song's (@songofstyle) book launch in NYC for her newest book: World of Style. We have all been super fans of Aimee and her blog for years already. When her first book came out, Capture Your Style, I was in love with it. I would read it religiously and would go back and reread parts every now and then for inspiration. So when Aimee announced her second book, I pre-ordered it as soon as I could.
That's when she released her contest to win passes to her book signing in NYC. By pure luck, a bunch of us from Montreal won and got to go to the book signing! So we made plans to drive down to NYC for 24 hours and attend the book signing. It was the most intense 24 hour trip I've ever done, but surprisingly we managed to get a lot done.
Here was our itinerary:
11:30AM
We arrived in NYC at 11:30am, parked our car right away and went straight to our Airbnb to check in and get settle in. We got dressed, slapped on some makeup, curled our hair and left to get a quick lunch before the event. We were running quite late so we really had to hustle to make it on time for the book launch at 2pm.
1:00PM
We went out and got tacos at Otto's tacos in the West Village. I especially wanted to go to this place because I had seen their tacos all over instagram and they had amazing reviews. Tacos we're $3 each and SO GOOD. Worth it. We then rushed back to the subway to head over to the event.
2:00PM
The book launch had finally arrived. Aimee talked about her book, answered a few questions from the crowd and then we all got to meet her, get our book signed and take a picture with her (obvs!). We also hung out with Jared, her bestie and got little gift bags on our way out.
Aimee was the sweetest human being and was so thankful that we had all driven down from Montreal. Jared had told her a bunch of us were coming from Canada so she had already heard about us ;) I was actually the first person to meet her in the room, it was kind of a pinch me moment. Since she was still setting up, I got a few extra moments with her, she said I was beautiful and I died (I know she says this to everyone but just let me have my moment). Jared and her team had taken a few videos for her YouTube video of the event, so we can't wait to spot ourselves on her channel!
I posted my photo with Aimee on Instagram along with an important message. We found out we had won admission to this book signing only a few days before. It was a complete and utter surprise. This book signing is proof of how unexpected life can be and how life can throw amazing things your way every now and then. I still can't believe we we're lucky enough to be chosen to meet her and experience this.
4:00PM
Katie, Ana and I went out to take our first outfit pics. We took them right outside the venue of the book launch (see photos above).
My first look was an oversized dress shirt from Zara that I wore as a dress. I put a belt around it to accentuate my waist (makes you look leaner) and styled it with over-the-knee black suede boots and a black bag. This ootd made me look like I had legs for days. Once all our photos were taken, we rushed back to our Airbnb.
5:00PM
We ran up to our room to change into our second looks and headed right back out and took pics around Little Italy. We needed to hurry up before we lost too much sunlight.
My second look featured an oversized blazer that I scored at the thrift store for only $12. I styled it with classic blue mom jeans, a white silk tank top, some big sunnies and some socked high heeled booties. But my favourite part of this look just might be the last minute hairstyle I pulled together out of frustration. I tried on this outfit and was feeling like something was missing. I think the high ponytail was the perfect cherry on top ;) I have actually never worn my hair this way so I love how different this look is from my usual looks.
6:30PM
At the book signing, we had asked Aimee where we should have dinner that night. She suggested Bo Ca Phé, a French Vietnamese restaurant near Soho. So naturally, we decided to go there and test it out. The restaurant was cute, the food was good, but quite expensive for what it was. With our Canadian dollar being so weak, everything is already expensive haha, but I suppose that all prices are inflated in the city. However, the owners were nice enough to send us some dessert on the house which was nice!
8:00PM
After dinner we went out for drinks at Botanica Bar. Katie found this spot by doing a quick Google search and it really paid off. It's a basement bar that has very affordable drinks and a cool, darkish basement vibe. It can be really hard to find a spot with affordable drinks in the city so I would definitely recommend this place!
11:00PM
After drinks, we we're determined to find cheap pizza. We walked around endlessly trying to spot a pizza place. The only one we found had just closed. But the owner was super nice and suggested we go over to Champion pizza. It was crazy good and the owner has pictures of himself with celebrities all over the wall, including Kim Kardashian, Neil Patrick Harris and so many more.
9:30AM
The next morning we were out of the airbnb by 9am to head out for brunch. We had a reservation at the Nomo Kitchen, the restaurant within of the famous Nomo Soho Hotel. If you haven't heard of this place, it is a totally Instagramable hotel and they have their own gorgeous restaurant as well with the cutest terrasse. We ordered their lemon ricotta pancakes, chia pudding and classic egg breakfast with potatoes. Everything was on point and I highly recommend! You can spot these plates on my Instagram very soon ;)
10:45AM
We rushed out to Greene street, at the corner of Spring Street in Soho. It's my favorite street for Soho pics. We only had a few moments to snap all our looks before rushing back to our airbnb to check out and drive back home.
This third look was completely unplanned to be honest. I wasn't feeling the looks I had originally prepared so I scrambled to put together a new outfit. I decided to use this statement jacket as the center piece and wear classic jeans and a black top with it to let it stand out. I then added the glasses because I felt they had a cute Soho vibe.
11:30AM
The 24 hours were up so we got our parked car and we drove right back home so I could make it back in time to give out candy for Halloween.