New York Welcome!

I flew into New York before 6:00am on a very rainy Friday. My heart sunk with the prospect of navigating my way through the city in pouring rain. Luckily, I had booked William, (718.775.2611) to pick me up. He was awesome - prompt and communicated with me from the time my plane landed until he found me in front of the terminal. He was a bit difficult to understand due to his thick Columbian accent but was extremely polite and professional. (Case in point: Jelp. He had picked up a client who was an owner/investor in Jelp...you know...the company in California. Oh, right...Yelp.)

Sheraton Manhattan Times Square. I really hate that hotel. It is such a dump. Added to that was some ridiculous claim that they didn't have a single room available for me until that afternoon. It's one thing if I wasn't in the industry but the fact that I understood hotel speak and knew he was blowing smoke up my butt, added to the fact that i didn't sleep on the red-eye really nearly made me lose my mind....then again, I wasn't VIP or have any status with this hotel chain so what could I expect? He asked for a business card with cellphone number to call me when a room was ready. I gave him one...and got a call a couple of hours later to check in. That was better than I was expecting but it didn't change the fact that i was still tired. :(

I killed some time while i waited for Carrie to fly in by participating in my favorite past time - shopping. I decided to join a "garment district tour" (http://www.shopgotham.com/) at 10:00am. They handed out the list of stores we'd be hitting and I have to admit, I poo-poo'ed the list with a hint of snobbery. I know some of you are thinking, "wow?? jenny struck out??" Please...needless to say that in a group of 10 women - all complete strangers, I "won". Again. Added to that i kept spurring other women on with why they should buy what they had on (if it looked good). I did well for the shopkeeps. You can always count on me to upsell...well, when I'm not busy upselling myself.

My best buy was the Japanese crushed wool sweater above. Regularly, $540. I got it for a cool $40. I was going to get a basic cardigan that retails for $780 but I still couldn't stomach the idea of paying out $150 for it. No way.

These pair of shoes were on sale for about $110. I didn't pay that much...because why would i pay $110 for SATIN shoes?? Right. I wouldn't. What happened was that I bought a pair of shoes that were high heels, black leather that was almost biker chic. I tried on the right shoe and it was like I was cinderella. a perfect fit. I get back to the hotel to show Carrie my score only to discover that they were TWO right side shoes. I mean...at least if they were left feet shoes, I'd understand...and could probably work with it. As it was...not so much. *SIGH*...loved those shoes but these are infinitely more practical.

I'm sure I'd have PETA crawling up my butt over this but I bought this scarf. Somehow, midway through the freaking shopping trip, the other women realized that I was trying to upsell them or they thought it was funny that I was so mad that I was the only one "winning" that they told me how fantastic this looked on me. Unfortunately, it really was warm and comfy. I loved this thing. it looks ridiculous on the hanger but it really does look fabulous on.

Here's another sweater that I bought. Wool angora...it fit me like a glove. Other people tried it on but it just made them look short. *SIGH*. There was no way I was leaving without it.

I highly recommend going on this trip, if for no other reason than to just get into the showrooms of some famous designers. A good time to go is in the spring or fall when a lot of people are trying to get rid of inventory.