Look of the Day: Turn Off the Dark

Continuing with my New York tour, and like I mentioned on the previous post, we were able to get a great deal for a Broadway show at the TKTS booth on South Street Seaport. So that’s what we did our first night in the city. The show we decided to watch, since it seemed like a good one for a 13 year old’s first experience with a musical, was Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. We got wonderful, right in the middle, orchestra seats for $100/ea. When we’re seating there waiting for the show to start, we overheard someone behind us saying he paid $300 for his ticket, so not too shabby.

My quick review about the show is that it’s not the best. At least, definitely not my favorite (side note, Wicked happens to be my favorite, looooved it with all my heart). The special effects are extraordinary, no doubt about that. Visually, they did a really good job of truly making it like if you were watching a comic book come to life, and the story is pretty similar to the 2002 movie version, but it’s still lacking something. Maybe it all comes down to the score. The music and lyrics were written by Bono and The Edge (in case you’ve been living under a rock, they are the lead singer and guitarist of U2) which created high expectations for me… and were unfortunately not met. The score is just flat, that’s the best way I can describe it; it didn’t touch me or move me or created a single emotion in me at all. Correction, it actually did create one emotion in me, disappointment! So sad to think the most expensive production in Broadway’s history ends up being a ‘just okay’ show. Despite deserving 5 stars in some categories, like special effects, overall, as a whole, I would give this show 2.5 stars, maybe 3 if I’m feeling generous.

After the show, we spent some time in Times Square, admiring the light show that it really is as well as some of the famous street performers. Then, we walked around for a bit, and I was surprised to notice 5th avenue is kind of dead at night; it makes sense when I think about it, since it’s mostly a shopping district and those stores are not open late, but being such a popular NY destination, I figured there would be something to keep it alive after-hours and there really isn’t. So we made our way to Avenue of the Americas, took my stepson over to see Radio City Music Hall, and ended up our evening with a delicious cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. In case you haven’t heard, Magnolia Bakery is a very famous dessert destination in NY; it’s been featured in TV shows and movies, like Sex and the City, Saturday Night Live, The Devil Wears Prada, among others. It’s also credited with starting the “cupcake craze”, and let me tell you, they are every bit as good as they say… great, now I have a craving for a moist, sweetly balanced, and perfectly iced chocolate Magnolia cupcake. Oh well, I’ll just have to wait until my next visit.

So here I leave you with a few pictures from that night, including of course the pictures of my outfit. I’m wearing my snake print heels in the pictures because that’s how I really like this outfit to be styled, but in reality, to walk around I wore it with my black flats. What can I say, sometimes you just gotta put comfort and practicality over fashion, but never over style. Even when being comfortable and practical, you can do it in style, and this outfit still look pretty cute with black flats (if I do say so myself).

 

 

What I wore
Top: H&M
Skirt: Old Navy
Shoes: Guess
Belt: H&M
Earrings: Nordstrom Rack
Cuff: Vintage

Look of the Day: Hot Child in the City

And by hot, I mean literally hot. I arrived in Manhattan on Friday and the high temperature for the day was 94˚F, which doesn’t sound so bad when I live in a city that hits 115˚F often during the summer… except I rather have 115˚F of dry heat over 94˚F with humidity any day. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived most of my life in the desert, but I cannot stand humidity, not even a little bit. Besides being extremely uncomfortable, it makes my already hard to handle hair even more of a mess, so I wore it pulled back the whole trip, as you’ll notice in all the pictures. Also, excuse any excess shine on my face you might see, but between my combination skin and the sweat, my adored Hourglass primer and Laura Mercier powder could barely keep up, and I wasn’t as good at retouching my makeup as I should’ve been. On top of all that, and at the risk of sounding too whiny (which I usually am indeed anyway), due to other, ahem, circumstances, I was also very bloated the whole time I was there.  So, bottom line, I am not very happy with how I look in the pictures but since I don’t use Photoshop, both you, my beloved readers, and I are stuck looking at the reality of my travels.

Now, all that said and as whiny as I can be, I’m not complaining… no, really, I’m not, I promise. I mean, I was in New York… wonderful, fabulous, exciting, beautiful, eclectic, full of possibilities, New York!!! The one and only, and my time there was all of that and more. I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited the city several times already (this was actually my fourth trip there), but this time was even more special because we took my 13 year old stepson along and it was his first time there. So I was just as excited as he was to show him around the main sights and the several fun activities the city has to offer, which are so many, a lot of them were a first for me too, despite having been there before.

I won’t tell you all about the trip in a single post because you know I like to keep them short(er), for your sake and mine. So, I’ll start with my first day there, and tell you about the rest in subsequent posts.

Like I mentioned earlier, I arrived Friday early morning. I actually took a red eye flight from Phoenix Thursday night, and didn’t get much sleep on it, so I was pretty exhausted when I arrived. Luckily, my husband and my stepson had gotten in the day before and spend the night in New Jersey to be close to the airport (I flew into Newark), so I was able to take a little morning nap there since check in at our hotel in Manhattan wasn’t going to happen earlier than 3 P.M. Of course I didn’t want to waste much time sleeping, so I just took a 2 hour nap and was good to go.

Nevertheless, we decided to take it easy on Friday, and we just drove around the city for a bit, as an introductory tour for my stepson. Then went to the TKTS booth on South Street Seaport to try to find a good deal for a Broadway show, which we did, but more on that later. After, we had lunch at a little chain cafe, nothing fancy but even simple sandwiches at low key cafes are so yummy there. Next, it was time to check in at our hotel.

We stayed at The Roosevelt Hotel, which is gorgeous and has a great location in Midtown Manhattan, almost behind Grand Central Station (one of my favorite sights… but then again, you’ll hear/read me saying that about most places in New York!). So we got settled in, and after a quick change of clothes, off we went to visit Grand Central Station and look at the Chrysler building. And those are the pictures I share with you on this post: the first outfit I wore around Manhattan (technically), and some pictures I took of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler building. I had also planned to use some official pictures of the hotel from their website (since theirs are far better than any I could’ve taken) to share with you, but turns out they don’t allow that, so if you would like to check their photo gallery, you can do it here.

Dressed up in heels to explore the hotel
Wearing flats to explore the city
View of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building
Grand Central Station façade .
Grand Central Station Main Concourse
Grand Central Station ceiling

What I Wore
Top: H&M
Skirt: Vintage
Handbag: Deux Lux
Belt: H&M
Orange Shoes: Gianni Bini
Flats: Crocs
Sunnies: $5 pair from street vendor in Mexico City
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