Well friends, after a whirlwind of a week, I'm back from New York City and FINALLY home for....two weeks! haha I'm telling you this has been the craziest summer for me traveling, but I am LOVING it!!

Let's go back to the beginning...

To start out our wonderful trip, the airlines lost all of our luggage until 3pm the next day, so we pretty much lost a whole day in the city. Let me tell you, I've never hunted through CVS for sleep shirts and leggings so intensely before in my entire life! That first night ended up not being so terrible once we made our CVS run...showered, face masks, CVS pajamas, and a little Netflix and chill...not EXACTLY how I imagined our first night in the Big Apple, but you take what you can get, right?!

- OFFICIALLY DAY 1 -

We covered a LOT of ground on our first official day of touring the city AND we didn't start until 4pm!! You'll be quite impressed with what we did... you ready!?!

St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral -It was literally 3 blocks from our apartment! This is the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church, so we HAD to go!

Empire State Building -Duh, and of course we did both the 86th AND the 102nd floors! My recommendation, get the VIP fast pass. 100% worth it!

Patrizia's - Mmmm probably one of my favorite meals we had in the city! We honestly didn't get to eat much on this trip because we were GOING GOING GOING, so I'm glad we took the time to enjoy this wonderful meal in the beginning!

Grand Central Terminal - It's hard to imagine that a working public train station is this clean and this beautiful. Just absolutely stunning!

Times Square - A place you really only need to see once...in my case I've seen at least three or four times now... It's not my FAVORITE part of the city, but when you come, you have to go there and say you've been to Times Square. The End.

Bryant Park - The most quaint and adorable park!! Danae definitely tried to play a game a ping pong, but learned you gotta come prepared with your OWN paddle! Next time! haha

Rockefeller Center - This was our last stop for the night... We ended here with a MAGNIFICENT view of the fountain and had some delicious dessert, one which included New York Cheesecake...duh.

- DAY 2 -

We started our next day (Sunday) off with Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral and we couldn't have asked for a better way to start our day of exploring the city!

St. Patrick's Cathedral - I've visited the Cathedral before, but I've never had the opportunity to attend Sunday mass before and it was truly an experience, something I will remember for the rest of my life!

American Museum of Natural History - WE GOT TO SEE THE T-REX!!! OK, this is the COOLEST museum I've probably EVER been to! They had everything you could possibly think of! Dinosaurs, whales, mummies, pretty much every animal you could think of, and the coolest part...there was a section on ARMENIANS in the Asia section!! I'm telling you, this place was full of surprises!

Blue Fin - We decided on sushi for lunch, so we headed over to Blue Fin for some swanky afternoon sushi and complimentary cocktails!

Central Park - We decided to take a guided tour around Central Park which was super cool to hear all the history and fun facts about the park!

After a long day of museums and touring...you'll never believe what we did for dinner...CHINESE TAKEOUT!! It was kind of fun having Chinese food delivered to our apartment, something I've never had done before at home!

- Day 3 -

Today we spent most of our day at the One World Observatory and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. There a simply no words to explain the feelings and emotions I felt while visiting this exquisite monument.

One World Observatory - It was really amazing to see a fresh take on how an observation deck can be made in today's time. The best part of this, besides the breathtaking views, had to have been during the reveal...after all the pomp and circumstance, they unveiled the windows and low and behold there was a window washer right smack in front of us! I most certainly got a kick out of that! We were in and out of this building in about 45 minutes!

9/11 Memorial & Museum - All I have to say is make it a point to go. You must must MUST see this place as some point in your life. It's life changing...

2006

2017

Between the Observatory, the Memorial and the Museum, we spent a total of FIVE hours here. COMPLETELY worth it.

Next up...

Battery Park - Since we were in the area, we popped down here so we could get a good look of Lady Liberty!

The rest of the day we ventured around the New York Stock Exchange, NYU, and all around lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village! It's such a different world down there, so much to see!!

Probably one of my favorite stops was Milk Bar. Pure Deliciousness.

We ended this glorious day with a showing of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway!! I hadn't seen this show for awhile, so I was excited to see what New York could do with it and let me tell you, this production dazzled the audience, the music was mesmerizing and the performers were perfection!

- Day 4 -

This would be our final FULL day in the city...

Before attending our work event in the evening, we decided to pop into The Plaza Hotel for some breakfast (where they HAPPENED to be filming a 70's movie), do a leisurely walk through Central Park and tour the amazing New York Public Library!

Finally it was time for work! The REASON for our fabulous trip was to introduce our product "Raisels" across the country at a wonderful Back-to-School event hosted by Nicole of Mom Trends and let moms know about the "hidden healthiness" in Raisels." We had such a blast at this event, met so many wonderful people and look forward to new and exciting ventures!

To read more about the event, click HERE!

*Additional photos provided by Mom Trends

Our last night in the city, we decided to do none other than walk the Brooklyn Bridge...

Hey! You gotta live a little!

We ventured over into the East Village to visit Ray at Ray's Candy Store to cool ourselves off with a delicious strawberry soft-serve, Ray's recommendation! The stories this man has are unbelievable! Sometimes you come across the kindest, most gentlest souls, and Ray is most definitely just that.

Well, that about sums up our entire NYC trip! I'm telling you, we hit just about everything!! I had such wonderful time and am so thankful and blessed to be able to have these opportunities in my life!

I'll leave you with one thing...the view from our apartment...