New York!
When I started sharing my recipes and food adventures a couple of years ago, I never thought I would have the opportunities I have been given. From attending the Foodbuzz Festival in 2009 as a Nature’s Pride Bread Ambassador, to sampling and giving feedback on raw items for a new online bakery to today, I am a lucky woman.
Today’s adventure began early. I woke up unhappy to hear such an early alarm, but it is worth it. I am in New York City for the next two days for an event featuring Electrolux and Kelly Ripa benefiting the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. I applied through Foodbuzz to participate in the event, and am one of 15 bloggers chosen to be here. When the time comes, I will need all of your help voting on our cake creation. That’s right, we are participating in a cake decorating contest! Buddy Valastro from Cake Boss will instruct us on a few cake decorating techniques. The event will be held tomorrow afternoon, but until then, lots of fun is to be had!
I got to the hotel bright and early and was able to check into my room right away. Each blogger was given a beautiful gift bag.
It had the following items:
-Electrolux tote bag
-heart shaped bowls by Zak designs
-spatulas, sugar shaker, measuring cups and spoons from Williams Sonoma
-Carlo’s Bake Shop t-shirt (and mine actually fits!)
-Electrolux wine cooler!
The wine cooler will be delivered at a later date, and I already know where it is going to go in our home!
I unpacked my bag so my clothes would be wrinkle free, and explored the hotel a bit. The Hotel Gansevoort is really beautiful. It is in the Meatpacking District, an area I haven’t explored since my cousin was a fashion design intern for Yigal Azrouel. The style of the hotel is similar to the one I stayed at in Chicago, but even sleeker.
It is directly across the street from Pastis and Spice Market.
I have lunch plans with Tina in a little bit, but until then I decided to walk around the area. I am vaguely familiar with it from the day I spent roaming the area before the Yigal Azrouel show I attended three years ago. Of course, I had to stop by his store to see the latest collection.
A few more shops piqued my interest and I checked them out. I saw a beautiful shirt at Catherine Malandrino, but at $345, it wasn’t worth buying. On my way back to the hotel I saw a SALE sign in front of charles nolan. Have you ever heard of him? I hadn’t before, but he designed for Ellen Tracy and Anne Klein for many years, and more recently has sold pieces from his charles nolan collection at Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and more. He currently is selling his work only at this store.
I loved the warm, family feeling in the store, and I took a good look at everything for sale. I ended up buying an oversized cream sweater, kelly green tank for St. Patrick’s Day, and three beautiful ornaments that were 70% off! If you are in the area, definitely check out their store!
I will be blogging about this entire trip in extensive detail, so keep checking back for more updates! Feel free to also follow me on Twitter as I share the smaller details of the trip! For now, I’m off to lunch!
P.S. I am so excited to have Tina & Joseline on my cake decorating team!
P.P.S. I already miss PhillyBoy.
Your hotel is gorgeous! Have a great time! NYC is one of my most favorite places.
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When I told Mark how jealous I was of your baking and cake decorating opportunity (yes, I am more jealous of that than meeting Kelly Ripa), he said, “Well don’t tell them that!” I said heck no – I must tell.
Also, there’s a little town not too far from NY called Glen Ridge. You should visit it.
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That hotel looks so nice! Glad you got to be one of the finalists and I can’t wait to see what else you guys do while you’re there!
Gotta love all the heart-shaped goodies too!
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FUN! Pastis is the bomb…have you been?
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Have a great time in the Big Apple!
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Philly Boy misses you too!!!!! ENJOY EVERY SECOND!
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omg your husband is so cute! he leaves you blog comments!
and: have an AWESOME TIME !
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Sabri,
It looks like you are already having a nice time. Enjoy yourself!!!!
You seem to be getting used to that camera, it takes nice pictures…
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Looks super fancy and awesome! Hope you’re having a blast.
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Such an awesome trip- enjoy every minute. What an awesome location and free goodies!! Ah!
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What a nice-looking hotel.
..and those ornaments are gorgeous.
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I love New York. Have a blast!!!!
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How cool it will be to meet Kelly Ripa and Cake Boss!! Enjoy all the sights and foods- looks like a totally gorgy day.
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Have fun in NY! You are seriously right across the street from me! I work next to Spice Market haha.
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Beautiful hotel! Enjoy every second!
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What a cool opportunity. I’m so happy to be affiliated with Foodbuzz now and hopefully I’ll have some interesting experiences with them in the future.
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Wow! That looks like SO much fun:)
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Sabrina,
Oh my god. I am SO JEALOUS that you get to meet Buddy Valastro!!! iJEjtwioethn;awtu;awrhu if there were any possible way of getting an autograph or ANYTHING I would be in debt forever to you. Good luck with everything I am so proud of you!!!!!!
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How fun!!!! Sounds like an adventure. Those ornaments are lovely.
I have a picture of Kelly Ripa inside one of my kitchen cabinets for motivation. The one where I keep the nuts.
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Enjoy NYC! From the looks of it, you definitely already are.
I can’t wait to hear all about the cake decorating!
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so jealous you girls are all there! i wish i had been able to go!
i can’t wait to see these cakes!!!
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We are honored to have you sample our products!!
Have fun in NY!! We will be cheering for Tina and you!!! We cannot wait to see your cake ; ) You know we will be following you on Twitter!!
Best of luck!! Enjoy that nice hotel!!
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What a wonderful experience and it’s been fun following your journey as an online food blogging.
Good luck to your team!
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Looks like you’re having a great time in our city! That neighborhood is so much fun. All the expensive stores are worth going into, even if its just to admire their loveliness.
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So exciting!
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Just found your blog through Tina’s! Have fun in NYC…I love the Chelsea Market, it’s great! Lots of treats in NYC
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I got to the hotel bright and early and was able to check into my room right away. Each blogger was given a beautiful gift bag.
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