Our first breakfast in New York City was at The Grey Dog in Chelsea.  I had read about it through a link from a blog but I can't remember where.  It sounded exactly like something we were looking for:  off the beaten path, hipster-esque, home-cooking with breakfast classics.

We walked almost three kilometres--from Times Square; but next time we'll know to take the subway--to finally arrive at a rustic, coffeehouse on a quieter street lined with town homes and apartments.

 

Happy Friday from NYC!  Marco and I are here for a few days in the big apple to celebrate our anniversary. This is my first time here (shock is usually the look on people's faces when I state that...) and we are staying in Times Square being full on tourists!

We arrived mid-afternoon yesterday and were able to check into our hotel. We unpacked a little then ended up snoozing a couple hours away. So zonked from being up at 5:30am. Despite it technically being less than three hours flying time, we had a connecting flight with a layover and also flew into Newark and grabbed a shuttle into the city--so, all time consuming but still so wonderful to be able to fly (versus the eight hour drive). 

When we finally woke up, we got ready and headed out in search of some grub. We took the subway down to Yankee Stadium and caught a game against the Red Sox, then back to Times Square to shop and poke around... at 11pm!  The city really does not sleep. 

I am, of course, snapping photos and vlogging and will share more photos next week. In the meantime, follow me on Instagram if you'd like (I'm acoest1984), to see more. Have a great weekend!

Hello!  Sorry for the radio silence the past couple days, I've been adjusting to the time change (which is hardly anything, at three hours, but still), getting back into the swing of work and trying to just get organized since returning from Vegas. 

I know some of you follow me on Instagram (thanks!) but not everyone has it and I like when others do Instagram recaps on their blogs, and since I did it for Punta Cana, thought I would share my Instagram snaps from my trip to Las Vegas last week.

Warning, this post is super photo heavy, hence why I'm putting it all after the jump.  If you'd like to see a condense version of this, they are in the hashtag album #acoinvegas on Instagram.

So here we go!

Upon arrival, despite it only being 11am, I was able to check in right away.  I stayed at the Aria Hotel which is across the strip from Planet Hollywood and really quite fantastic. 

I was given a tip by a friend to ask if they would offer a complimentary upgrade to a higher floor level / better view of the strip and it worked!  They initially were going to give me the 7th floor (of 54) and bumped me up to the 52nd (hello amazing!) free of charge.

I grabbed some food after dropping my bags, explored the hotel a bit then crashed for a solid six hours (not going to the bed the night before due to a 6am flight will do that to you).  When I got up, just after the dinner hour, I went downstairs and hit the buffet for an amazing dinner.  Then back to bed to sleep off the remainder of the jet lag.

I ended up getting up bright and early on Monday morning and hit the gym at the hotel.  It was surprisingly busy but quite nice.  There was an abundance of cardio machines--which I never touched--and a sizeable weight area. 

 A lot of people ask me why I work out on vacation but I kind of enjoy it.  My rationale is this: on vacation you technically have all day every day to do whatever you want.  I like to start my day with a workout because I find it sets a great tone for the day; you feel better as you get dressed, there is no rush to be anywhere and I feel a little less guilty about all the indulgence that come with holidays (margaritas & buffets anyone?). 

I could never be the person who gets up during the week and works out before work.  It's either after work or bust, but on vacation, time is infinite (sort of) and especially if you're sitting around in a bikini all day, that helps keep myself in check.

  

Outfit deets:  Urban Planet romper (new!) tucked into Bench shorts, Diba sandals & Target lace bralette.

After my workout and breakfast, I showered and got dressed.  I headed out to explore the strip, but mainly to shop.  I hit up Ross & Marshalls and scored huge at latter.

I arrived yesterday--after pulling an all nighter--at 11am Vegas time.  Dropped off the bags in the and went out to explore.  Ended up eating some great Mexican food at a place called Javier's in the Aria resort and then took a 6-hour nap!  Clearly pulling an all-nighter is not ideal, but when you have to leave for the airport at 3:30am, it almost seems pointless to go to bed--that and I'm a horrible last-minute packer.

Speaking up packing, I will be sharing what I've brought on this trip tomorrow, along with my weekend snaps later today.  Hope you don't mind on the delay.  Additionally, I edited a new haul video on the plane so expect that sometime this week too.  

It's only 8am here and I'm up and off to the gym, then to find breakfast.  Today will be an exploring-the-strip kind of day, I'm thinking.  Was so excited to fluke and catch the fountain show last night at the Bellagio so I can check that off my list.  Thanks everyone so much for the fabulous suggestions for the city on my post last week--so helpful and can't wait to check some of them out.

I'm rolling out all my vacation posts this week and next up, Instagram shots!

I know not everyone has Instagram so I wanted to share shots of my vacation I posted on there.  If you already follow me (I'm @acoest1984), you can skip this post and come back tomorrow, but if not, here's a few things you may have missed.

Also, if you do have Instagram, you can find all these photos under our vacation hashtag #acomsppuntacana.

Cheers!

After the gym, Marco and I went shopping for some snowboard boots for me and I ended up picking up this red Burton 'Sapphire' model.

That evening was a turkey dinner with a ton of friends.  Everyone brought a dish--I made my Grammy's sweedish potatoes which were a huge hit--and it was a really fun evening.

On Friday, after doing some Black Friday shopping, finishing packing, we finally hit the road in the afternoon.  Since I clogged our weekend, at one point we were playing a silly game (similar to the 1-2-3 tag) to pass the time, which I caught on video:

Outfit deets:  Bench jacket, H&M pants, Spring boots & headband, Club Monaco scarf, Ardene mitts & Aldo cross-body/clutch.

After dinner, I said hello to you all and then we relaxed with a movie.  Our one-bedroom suite was really quaint and cottage-y; I liked having the fire place on anytime we were there (why not!?).

Outfit deets:  TNA jacket (old), Aeropostale scarf, Sirens leggings & Spring boots.

On Saturday morning, after being unable to get a hot breakfast at our hotel, we headed out of the village towards McDonalds for breakfast.  We instead ended up stumbling upon l'Arome cafe--thank you Urbanspoon--and had a delicious breakfast with the most amazing home-made mango-peach jam…

…and were able to purchase a jar of it!  They make it in house and sell it, which I'm so excited about--I don't even eat jam at home normally but I will now!

We got back to our hotel, changed and then it was time to hit the slopes!  Here I am at the top of Mont Tremblant:

I hadn't been snowboarding in several years and was quite apprehensive when we first got to the top--however, like riding a bike, after the first couple runs (which took a while), I got a bit of a groove back and started to feel more comfortable (despite numb feet and sore quads).

Later that evening, we headed out to the Mont Tremblant casino to dine at Altitude--a fine dining restaurant with a beautiful setting…   

Outfit deets:  H&M dress (new!), Sirens leggings, Expressions by The Bay necklace, Aldo boots & clutch.

Unfortunately, we ended up having a terrible experience with over cooked food and a smirking manager.  They had to bring my beef tartar three times before the poached egg on top was done right and by the time I got to my steak I had ordered rare and it was done medium-well, it was pretty frustrating.  I definitely wouldn't recommend the spot and we were really, really looking forward to it, sadly.

On Sunday morning we over slept and rushed around to finish filming my upcoming Holiday Lookbook for Place d'Orleans.  I instagrammed a photo of this dress in the fitting room and yep, she came home with me!

Outfit deets:  Le Chateau dress.

On our way home, we stopped at l'Arome cafe again for breakfast as my insistence.

We ended up ordering Chinese food on Sunday evening when we got home--finish the weekend right… right?--and I spent hours editing my video.

And finally, ending the weekend on a super sweet note: Marco got me an iPhone 5S--yipee!  We set it up so I could start using this gold 32GB beauty.  My previous iPhone 5 was 16GB and had no space left because I hate erasing my photos off of it.  That said, I reserved this 5S over two months ago and that's how long it took for it to come--nutso, I know.  Hoorah to it finally being here.

Hope you all had a great weekend!