A Well-Rounded Venture

My trip to New York City and Full Figured Fashion week was fantastic. The Big Apple, fabulous fatty friends and lots of fashion. What’s not to love? I’m going to do a series of posts about the trip… because there is too much for just one!

I can’t believe that it has been over two weeks since I’ve been home. The day after I got back, we had a friend from New Zealand arrive to stay with us for a week AND my accelerated, online semester started. After that, my body decided enough was enough – I’d had my fun and now it was time to get sick! Perfect timing, right?

Two bags, six days, day/night events = lots of outfits.

Closet aftermath, post packing. To be honest, I’m still trying to organize it… cough, cough.

The Monday before I left, I was procrastinating to the extreme. I had an idea of what I was bringing, clothes laid out on the bed, etc. but nothing was really packed IN THE BAG. My flight was paid for, the hotel was booked and I had saved plenty of money for shopping but in the weeks leading up to the event… it just didn’t feel real.

Normally when I travel, I obsessively plan my outfits to be efficient and “maximize my packing space”. My methods for FFFW were a mess. I threw a couple haphazard outfits together, put in some new pieces (dangerous) and added a few extras, just in case.

Also, I found out a reason to own a scale – being able to weigh your bag. Yes, not for me… for my bag!

After I threw everything in the bag, it was around 2am… and we had been talking about getting up at 4am. Ouch. I just barely made my flight that boarded at 6:31am. A huge, huge THANK YOU to the woman who let me on the plane. The very last person, at the very last minute. If she had a bad morning… I think my trip would have started off differently.

I arrived in NYC around 11am, and made my very first “big city” mistake by getting into one of those “sketchy” cabs. A group of girls had employed his friend, so I figured, what the heck. Rookie mistake. Stick with the yellow cabs. Obviously it turned out just fine. I wish I could blame my poor judgement on my lack of sleep…

Left: View from the plane just before landing at JFK. Right: Exit sign for Manhattan on the drive to the hotel.

But he took me for a surprisingly peaceful drive on that rainy afternoon, through some less busy streets of Manhattan and ultimately to the hotel, where I got to meet Rebecca for the first time! My FFFW roomie and (patient) photographer for the remainder of my time in NYC.

Rebecca and I met in the lobby, hugged (yeah, I’m one of those) and got down to business – getting in the room after a long day of traveling! Since we arrived a night early, we started off in a smaller room that wasn’t part of the event block, and swapped the next day.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous meeting Rebecca (since we were stuck together for a week!) and other bloggers. Meeting people that you know from the internet isn’t always what you think. I try to be as “me” as possible in online spaces, but it just isn’t the same as knowing someone in person. Especially when you have to share a bathroom!

Luckily, everything was great! We talked easily and comfortably, like old friends. One of the reasons why I love Rebecca’s blog is because her way with words always strike me as genuine and honest. Plus, I’d love to raid her closet…

King Kong, for $19.95! Kind of creepy…

I loved their sign, “I’m out taking on the world”.

By time we got in the room, a nap was very tempting, but we chatted for a bit then decided to explore part of the city. And by explore I mean… go shopping.

We walked over to Macy’s on 34th street, a serious shopping mecca. So many floors of retail heaven… and people! There was an entire floor dedicated to plus sizes. I don’t think we even made it through the whole thing before heading to the changing rooms. I brought in 20+ pieces of clothing to try on, but nothing that I loved enough to buy. We both walked out empty-handed. Shocking, I know!

Rebecca had the foresight to bring an umbrella and attempted to share but I embraced the fact that I was going to get wet and went without. We popped in a F21 nearby, but they didn’t have plus sizes. At that point, it was pouring. I was soaked, my dress was hanging and I looked like a drowned something-or-other. On the way back, we passed Old Navy and I walked in, praying they had an umbrella in June.

Rebecca and I on 7th Avenue!

I found the very last one and bought it. Then we made our way back to the hotel for a well-deserved nap and dinner. I will say that Manhattan has very good Cobb salads.

Stay turned to hear about the rest of my trip! I’ve been trying to dig myself out of this mountain of homework.

Tags: FFFW

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012 at 3:21 PM and is filed under Events, FFF. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.