NYC Essentials

There are about a million essential things to do while visiting New York City, and on Saturday I participated in a few. Although I looked extremely touristy while doing so, it was so amazing and fun that I didn't even care! My friend Ann and I decided to get up early and hit the city for some shopping, lunch at the Rockefeller Center Summer Garden and Bar, and of course, to act like a total kid in Dylan's Candy Bar. One of our favorite stores, ZARA, was having one of the 3-month-annual blow out sales, so we had to go. We traveled to Fifth Avenue where we passed some gorgeous stores, as well as glamorous people. When we got to ZARA I was very pleasantly overwhelmed by how gigantic the store was. It has two floors fully stocked with trendy clothes. As soon as I started looking on the first rack, I realized this was going to take awhile. About 30 minutes into shopping I had so many garments in my hand that one of the store clerks asked me if I wanted a shopping bag to hold everything. I graciously accepted, which might not have been my best decision because my bag soon became overloaded. This is when another store clerk informed me that I was only aloud 12 items in the dressing room at a time -- I guess I am not the best NYC shopper. I quickly went to get into the fitting room line before anything else could catch my eye. To give you a glimpse into how many people were in the store, I just need to say that I waited in the fitting room line for 45 minutes. This sequence happened one more time as I continued to the downstairs part of the store. Overall we spent 3 hours in ZARA and I got three new trendy items of clothing -- they were totally worth the wait.

After mustering up an appetite with all that shopping, Ann and I ventured towards Rockefeller Center to get some lunch. During the summer, there is a Cafe with a bar, tables, and lounging couches all covered by huge umbrellas. We got a spot on a comfy couch in the sun right in front of the fountain. With the summer breeze, this was so relaxing and I felt a little bit like a celebrity. And I also had the best Margarita I have ever had in my life!

We still had some time in our afternoon left to explore, so Ann and I looked at our Bucket List of things to accomplish during the summer to pick our next destination. We decided to go to Dylan's Candy Bar. After becoming working girls in the city, we thought it would be fun to act like kids for a change...and to get some candy! The store was filled with sweet-toothed kids and adults. After walking around the first two floors of candy, we decided to go up to the ice-cream bar. We also discovered an alcohol bar that sold drinks with different types of candy mixed in them. Ann tried the Jolly Rancher and I had the Strawberry Nerds Mojito. Although it was the most sugar-filled drink I have had, it was fun to try! They were also serving a drink with Pop Rocks Candy in it and every time she mixed it, the Pop Rocks would explode in the glass. Dylan's was so fun and entertaining, and  I am definitely going to make a trip back!