This post is created in partnership with Delsey, Aldo, Eliza J, Kestan, and TheeGirl. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links and clicking on them/buying items through them may provide me with a small commission.
Sweater (regular/plus) / Maurices // Jeans / Mavi // Sneakers c/o Aldo (so obsessed with these, they are like metallic mermaid print and magically go with everything!) // Luggage c/o Delsey (currently over $200 off!) // Necklace / Kyle Chan Love Initials
Oh my goodness, dolls.. It has been an adventure to get to where I am now (mostly literally ?). Not only did we pack up a admittedly overstuffed 3 bedroom house and move cross-country via road trip with 2 dogs, but 5 days after, I packed up again and flew by myself to New York for Fashion Week! I have SO much content to share with y’all so I’m going to break the posts up into NYFW Days 1 & 2, 3 & 4 and 5 & 6, so I don’t overwhelm everyone, including myself. I’ll also be sharing a few tips on attending and some observations I’ve made over this season and the last, (I attended in February as well, check out those posts here for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3/4).
This time, a group of us (9 influencers and one photographer), for our lodging accomodations worked with a company called Domio, which is similar to AirBnB but soooo much improved, in my opinion. Domio is just moving in to the New York area and we had the opportunity to stay at one of their properties that is not even on their website yet. We were ALL trepidatious about 10 ladies staying under the same roof during the flurry of Fashion Week, but I’ve got to say, we all had enough room to spread out, and boy, did we! I’ll be sharing some shots of our apartment on my last post, but for now, I’ve got to share with you some of the fashion!
After landing, I took the Newark Airport Express shuttle bus to the city, which is a great option when flying in to EWR. It’s only $31 for a round-trip ticket, versus around $70 for an uber. I met up with Lauryn from @lauryncakes outside of our apartment, but unfortunately it wasn’t ready for us to explode upon just yet.. Not Domio’s fault, we both just arrived HOURS before check-in. We hauled all of our stuff to the nearest Starbucks, put on full faces of makeup at the table, and changed into our first look. We were joined by Caitlin of @caitpatton, and Cait and I headed off to Spring Studios for our very first show!
Now, I will say that I didn’t get too many still pics of the fashion shows this season… It’s just too rough, unless there is a presentation. However, I have saved all show coverage on my Instagram Stories, if you wanna go check those out. So here is where the tips and what have you come in to play. I was told to get to the show 30-60 mins before start time. I actually arrived about an hour and 20 minutes prior, and stood in line for ONE HOUR AND 45 MINUTES. Now… I’m not saying that I am not incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go to a major runway show, and have a seat on top of that, but girrrrrl, my feet were killing me! So first tip… Yes, arrive early, (but not too early), stand in line and be respectable. But for the love of everything, wear shoes that you know won’t wreck your feet after standing in place for an extreme period of time. My blisters had names by the end of the day.
The first show we went to was Tadashi Shoji, and WOW, so many gorgeous designs, I was clapping in my head during the entire runway. I also couldn’t help but notice Heather Graham, Dascha Polanco, and Tess Holliday sitting front row, hello! Cait and I met up with her friend Austen of @austentosone, and we did a quickie photo shoot across the street from the event space, which I shared on Instagram and Eliza J was so amazing to share on their feed as well, so thank you, Eliza J!
Dress c/o Eliza J // Bag / Target (old Phillip Lim collab) // Heels / vintage // Necklace c/o Kestan
Side note, can you tell the difference in the color of my legs? I was still having to wear a compression sock on my right leg because of my sclerotherapy battle wound, but thankfully, I think the nude shade wasn’t TOO different from my own skin. It probably would have been an exact match, except I was a little red from all of the running around and sweating in the low 90’s heat.
After this, we headed back to the apartment to check in, unload all of our stuff, meet up with the roomies who had arrived while we were gone, and then get ready for the next event!
Jozy (@blondeblissblog), Leslie (@dear.kindred), Courtney (@courteypecorinophoto), and I all headed to the Banana Republic store for the Bumble event. The real treat was to hear the Foster sisters, Erin & Sara, speak on gender equality, creating content, female empowerment and so much more. What I didn’t know is that they are both hysterical and I could pretty much listen to them feed off of each other all day long. On that note, going to check to see if they have a podcast… OK, so it doesn’t look like they have one, but they did inspire me to download the Bumble app to see if it could lead to me meeting new people, now that we’re settling into the Chicago area. More on that later!
After the event, the four of us went to a fantastic little tapas restaurant that I now for the life of me can’t remember the name of. But it was good. We were all so wiped after the long day of traveling and whatnot that we headed back to the apartment and knocked out. Good thing too, because Leslie and I had the most jam-packed ever schedule for Day #2.
OK, so I wasn’t expecting to write this much in each post, but I feel like each day was so full, it kind of just gets long, you know? So Day 2 included Leslie and myself waking up at 5:45 AM, (I was supposed to wake at 5:15 but like a ding-dong set my alarm for PM instead of AM, insert face palm), to take a $45 uber to Brooklyn to get all kinds of dolled up for a photo shoot for SoCal dress brand, Thee Girl. It’s been a long time coming, me working with this brand. They didn’t offer any size above a Large, but I was asked to help with the launch of their new extended size range, woohoo!! I’ll try not to overload y’all, but we took some reallllly good shots!
Dress c/o Thee Girl // Heels (on sale under $15!!) / Maurices // Earrings & Necklace c/o @collette_marie_jewelry
How stunning does Leslie look in that sheer overlay gown???
TBH, the first thing I saw when I looked at these shots is wow, I’ve gained some weight. My hips look ginormous, my thighs are all dimpled, I’m so damn pale… And then all of a sudden, I was like, why am I talking down on them? Yes, those are all traits that I have, but that doesn’t mean the pics aren’t still gorgeous and that I look really good in that dress?! I know it’s not just me, but sometimes it is SO easy to play the comparison game and get down on yourself for supposed imperfections. I’m trying to learn to appreciate the “flaws” as just part of what makes me, me.
OK, guys, and this is where I take a moment to get a bit serious and tell you the whole story. Shortly after Leslie and I got back from our shoot, my phone rang and it was my mom. I instantly got a bad feeling and my throat was tight when I answered. She said “Hi”, and then told me she was calling to let me know that my grandfather had passed away in his sleep that morning. I’m now crying as I type this because I didn’t really have a chance to process it then. He was 96 years old and lived a long and full and beautiful life, and can now be at peace with my grandmother, who passed a year and a half ago. I wouldn’t say that the news was completely unexpected, but I definitely thought I’d have another chance to go back home to see him again, and I deeply regret not doing that sooner. My mom asked what I was up to, and I told her I was in New York, (she had forgotten I was going to Fashion Week), and she told me to put the news out of my mind as best I could so I would be able to enjoy every moment. She told me that Papa was proud of me for working so hard to get where I am and he wouldn’t want to put a damper on my plans. And you know, she was right. Papa was one of those selfless people who always wanted to make others happy and put their needs before his own, especially with regards to my grandmother. I could only hope to be so devoted to someone after 60 years of marriage. We just booked our flights to fly back to San Diego next weekend for the services, and are still trying to figure out what to do with the dogs. I might do a post on loss later, because I have so much to say on that topic, but for now, back to the reason you came here!
@dear.kindred; me; @blondeblissblog; @raelynsroulette
Shot by Courtney Pecorino Photo
Immediately following the shoot, we raced back to our Murray Hill apartment to decompress, change, and then race to our next event, the Fashion Palette show featuring a plethora of awesome Australian designers, such as Elliatt and Harvey the Label. Unfortunately, even though we were technically 10 minutes early (and thats after someone else’s ticket issue held us at the door for 5 minutes), they had already given away our seats! So my coverage of that show was not as good as it could have been, I’m just sayin’. Something to be wary of as well.. Your seating situation can change at a moment’s notice. You can go from standing to seated or seated to being shoved in the back in the far corner jusssst like that. But it’s all part of the ride!
After that, we jetted over to the Eliza J showroom to check out their newest collection (OMG, swoon!!) I was beyond excited to run in to Kim from @liveloveblank in the their lobby! We’ve been following each other for years, and it was so nice to finally connect in person. She is one of those people who is EXACTLY like she is in her stories… another running conversation in my apartment was how each of us kept meeting people at random events and them being so completely opposite of their persona on Insta. I’m talking specifically about girls who are cheery, bubbly, tote being highly religious and/or inclusive in their bios and then treating some of my roomies and me like absolute dog shit. I’m not going to name names, but some of these chicks were so aggressively rude for NO reason, I just don’t get it.
Note to everyone, having 500K followers on Insta (or whatever platform or whatever number), does NOT EVER make you more important, more entitled, or just plain better than anyone else in this world. Get your shit together, ladies!!
Time for a little photo shoot in front of the apartment!
Trench & Necklace c/o Kestan // Tank / Nordstrom Rack find // Jeans / Black Orchid Denim // Bag / Loeffler Randall // Sneakers / Superga // Earrings / Banana Republic
Shot by Courtney Pecorino Photo
I honestly don’t even remember what we had for dinner because it was such an exhausting day. Another little honesty bit is that we actually had THREE more fashion shows to attend this day and missed them all. The first, because our shoot ran crazy long, and the other two we were too overwhelmed and already beat to be able to enjoy. So note for next time, schedule no more than 2 shows and 2 events per day, and budget TONS of time for anything that’s beyond your control.
Hope you enjoyed to post, loves, and stay tuned for the next two chapters in my recap!
Hello, my lovely babes!
Top / Halogen at Nordstrom Rack (sold out) // 
Mark and I, pre-flight. Such cheeseballs.
A gratuitous in-flight cloud shot.
The grand chandelier in the lobby of our first hotel. I need this in my dining room.
Mark and I arrived a night before everyone else, so we decided to stay in downtown San Juan at the 
After checking in to the hotel, we headed next door to 
In the morning, we walked along these gorgeous streets in Old San Juan, in search of a delicious meal at the highly rated Caficultura. We were both left entirely underwhelmed at the whole experience, from the food, to the service, to the hammering and drilling going on in the back room. Shaking that off, we continued our morning of exploring little gift shows and boutiques, picking up some framed butterflies and art prints of the city.
Almost ready to meet up with everyone, the heat was really starting to get to me, more specifically my hair haha!
Finally, I meet up with Rebekah, her mom, Martin and the rest of the crew. There were 10 of us staying in a condo in San Juan, and we basically had the entire floor, with tons of room to spread out.
Walking around the gorgeous blue brick streets of Old San Juan, and seeing the chapel at which the bride and groom would be married.
Cathedral de San Juan Bautista.
Several gorgeous views while strolling around downtown.
The next day, while the girls and I wandered around some more downtown, Mark and the boys took a trip to the rainforest! I wanted to go, but it was kind of a boys bonding trip, and who am I to interrupt boy time? 😉
The next day, we took a trip to the beach!
The next day was the wedding, but as an attendee (maid of honor), of course, I wasn’t able to take many pictures of the event. It started raining, but tapered off as we neared the start of the ceremony. After, we headed to the Marriott for the gorgeous reception and enjoyed our first of many drinks, haha.
The morning after the wedding, comfort food from Libros AC was just what I needed to get back to normal. I also picked up one of those adult coloring books, which I’d been wanting for a while. I love the idea of having a full-fledged bookstore and coffee shop under the same roof.
Mark and I decided to branch off from the rest of the group and spend our afternoon at the Museo de Arto. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any pictures inside the museum, but we did manage to take some great shots in the garden area. Miles of paths with works of art on either side, gorgeous trees and plants, and a huge coy pond.
Our last dinner in town was spent with the whole crew, back in downtown Old San Juan. It just so happened to be National Pina Colada Day, and who am I to not partake in such an occasion? 🙂
On the plane ride home, we experienced some inclement weather, meaning circling Orlando for an hour, landing in Tampa to weight for a thunderstorm to pass, heading back to Orlando, and then to Phoenix then Ontario. About 12.5 hours on the same plane. Kind of my nightmare but we made it! I took this picture, thinking that the clouds looked like a wolf breathing fire or something, but Mark thought it, ahem.. Looked like something else. Boys..
I started my morning with a little chia pudding with fruit and coconut cream. It was simple, but so tasty. After breakfast, we all headed inside one of the theatres and waited for the panels to commence.
The first panel was moderated by 
Next up was the bloggers panel. It was hosted by the friendly and approachable (and smokin’ hot!) blogger behind 
My dress is from 
Awaiting us at The Morels was this pretty table setting with a supremely generous gift from 
Also pictured are the adorable cards I was gifted from 
The last, and arguably most-anticipated speaker of the day was Tyra Banks. It was really interesting hearing about how America’s Next Top Model came to be, her early days in the modeling industry, and how she’s developed a new makeup line that uses an Avon-like business model. I felt like she was pushing the makeup line a bit, and I was excited to try some of it, but was surprised to not find any of it in the VIP gift bag. In a room full of bloggers and influencers, I would have figured it was the perfect time to introduce a makeup line, but what do I know 😉 Cat Sadler was Tyra’s interviewer and I think she did a phenomenal job at keeping the crowd engaged with cute little jokes and her high energy.
So much crazy-good stuff.