Freezing on the Hottest Day in NYC

Park Avenue (west) elevation of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ah, a week in New York City, and I am exhausted but exhilarated at the same!  Is there really any other place in America that requires so much energy?  I doubt it. 

This week was the Fall Preview and Fashion Runway Show for Worth New York and W By Worth.  Over 500 beautiful and astute business woman literally take over the Waldorf Astoria!  The lobby has never looked so fabulous.  The rooftop bees could not be heard over the buzz of the Worth women!  A couple of interesting facts I bet you haven't heard on the hotel's website:

a) This is the coldest hotel in America!  Each conference room is colder than the other.  Wear your warmest clothes, even if there is a heat wave outside, like there was this past week!

b) There is absolutely no phone reception in the lobby area.  Consequently, the lobby is filled with angry people texting message away like mad!  Do you think they have done this intentionally? 

c) When making your hotel reservation, be sure to ask for the most uniquely-shaped rooms, because....boy, do they have them.  Ours had this most awesome dressing and make-up area and yet the bathroom itself, was quite small.

The company I work for, Worth New York, went above and beyond, for the Fall Preview 2012! We had the all-company cocktail reception, we had regional dinners, and Leadership Award meetings, and breakfasts and seminars on fit and how to grow your business and some of us even had midnight lobby bar champagne parties.......and the very best part............a full Fashion Runway Show! It was definately WORTHwhile! Thanks to the Worth staff/employees who worked so hard to make sure we had a valuable and enjoyable event...........you all are the very best in the apparel industry!

I know you are dying to see the Fall line, so here you go:
Worth New York Fall 2012 Fashion Video

Tomorrow, I will tell you about the hilarious times (crazy Indian cab drivers, being 50+ at 2 am in the Big Apple and the true definition for the "Meatpacking District") I had over the weekend in NYC with my son and daughter-in-law, but like I said, I am exhausted, so this is all you get for now!  

 Time for a nap...................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
 

Related articles

• 'Buzzing' over the newest residents atop NYC hotels

  ---

Riding the Waves of the Empty Nest Syndrome

I have just returned from my summer trip back East and several "friends" (and by friends, I mean people who I only know because they read my blog posts) have emailed me and said, "Are you still feeling effects from being an empty nester, even though its been 3 years since your youngest flew the coop?"  They also said that they noticed I haven't written as much lately, so maybe I am "cured" or something.  But, this summer has been the most difficult time frame of all for me and here's why...................

Three years ago, in the middle of August, my youngest child started her first year of college and this blog was created to document the emotions, the thoughts and the activities of being an empty nest Mom.  I wrote sad posts while sobbing, I wrote posts telling of funny stories about getting older and forgetting things, I wrote about treating my golden retriever as if he was a child and many posts about dieting and generally living out my wonderful life!  It's been very therapeutic and I would recommend to all empty nest parents, to at least write a journal about this time in your life.

Just when I thought I have conquered this phase, I became jolted by another even more powerful wave of empty nest issues!  Blindsided, actually.  In hindsight, I should have been ready and prepared for the emotional roller coaster that occurred in July.

My oldest son had attended college at ASU, just 25 minutes down the road.  I got to see him regularly for Sunday dinners, tailgate parties and the like.  After college, he took a position with a large firm, in downtown Phoenix.  Again, I got to see him when I missed the kids.  He and his girlfriend (now wife) were always very accommodating to my need for temporary filling up the empty nest.  But Andy was now packing and leaving to attend Columbia Graduate School, for his MBA.......and for the first time, I was really going to be an empty nester!  Mother Bird kicked into serious crazy mode and stayed with them for about 5 solid days, helping them pack, and handling the details of a cross-country move.  I can tell you now, songs on the radio were my enemy!  I could not control the tears and if I heard Alisha Keyes and Jay-Z sing that beautiful song about NEW YORK one more time, I was going to explode!

So, I think the best answer I can give my reader friends is that I believe that from now on, we will experience "waves" of that ole empty nest feeling.  Some waves will be gentle and others, like this summer for me, will have hurricane force winds behind those waves.  And, I would tell them not to worry, because we Mother Birds are very resilient and strong.  And we will control the situation as best as we can to help alleviate the pain and loss that we are experiencing.

For me, maybe the nest moves...................maybe my wings will grow....................maybe all of the above.  That's the beauty of life.......and we should relax and try to enjoy the moments as they occur.

Fate Strikes Again

Several years ago, we took a family vacation over the Christmas holidays, and visited New York City.  I would recommend this trip to anyone with high school and college-aged children.  Who doesn't love visiting this vibrant, active town?  Well, I imagine there are THOSE people out there, but I am not sure I want to meet them!

As I typically do, I read everything online about the place we are planning to visit, and plan out minute for minute what we should do.  It has worked well for us in the past.  And no one in the family questions my selections.  It's kind of neat that way.  So, on this trip when I suggested we walk around the Columbia University campus, no one blinked an eye.  In hindsight, it was kind of a quirky choice, as we had no connection to the school, the location wasn't too close to others places on the agenda.....I just felt that it might be important to see the school together.  So we went.

It was windy and cold the day of our visit.  We took pictures on the central courtyard and on the Alma Mater statue and then left.  We were hungry and it was on to lunch!

As fate would have it, starting this August, my oldest son will be attending graduate school in their famed Real Estate-Finance- MBA.  Turns out this is his field of interest and Columbia University has the top program in the country!  Who knew?!......

We all look at this picture now and recognize the irony of it all.  I happen to think that there are higher powers above us who somehow knew going to see this campus would be important to our family.  I like to think that 'someone' guides my direction and thoughts and helps me out in decision-making.  It's rather comforting, don't you think?

A Preview of Worth Collection Preview

Image by iceman9294 via Flickr

Image via Wikipedia

I had the pleasure of attending the Annual Worth Collection Preview event, held in New York City in June.  My sister and I went together so it's pretty much a given that the trip would be a blast.   The event is held at the Waldorf Astoria.  Our room was huge which was a nice plus.  No view but who cared...the best view was all the gorgeous Worth Sales Associates running around inside the building!  They offered a tour of the hotel for $60 but we wisely chose to use that money at the hotel bar instead!


The event lasts several days and includes a fashion show and workshops on the clothes, how to sell them correctly and you meet with your region sales associates, too.  The presentation is well done and everyone takes the clothes and their businesses seriously.

The Fall clothing line is beautiful...rich.....stylish...chic!  I love fall clothes....always have.

And I really love how they take dressy evening clothes and make them easy-to-wear and comfortable.  Take this simple black top, add this beautiful gold long skirt and finish off with this amazing wrap and you look fantastic!

I also love their selection of jackets, which seems to be their specialty.  I like this shorter reddish houndstooth jacket. It will be perfect to wear to this year's Parent's Weekend at Dickinson College.

And, I know I will select one of their new handbags because they are smaller which I prefer to the huge shopping bag style.

Of course, it wasn't "all work and no play" at the Worth preview! In fact we managed to close up the bars along Central Park south one of the evenings.  I remember asking why on Earth was the kitchen closed when the hostess said, well we always close the kitchen at 2 am, Ma'am!

  

One evening we spent time with some of Worth's best sales people (thinking we might get them drunk enough and then they'd tell us their secrets to success!) But, they were so nice, they gave us tips right away.  That's one common denominator I found with the Worth associates....everyone was genuine and friendly and helpful.  No cat fights in this group.  Isn't that refreshing to hear?  

One evening, June and I stepped across the street to eat on the outside patio of St. Bart's Church.  I would highly recommend  this place to anyone visiting the big City!

I have no idea why we decided to order dessert as a takeout item to eat back in the room, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!

Would I attend the annual event again next year?  You bet I would, only this time, I would like to be one of those sales associates that get rewarded for their sales effort, ie, sell a LOT more clothing items!  Feel like helping me and my sister out?  Email me at beth@emtnester.com and I can take you to their cool select shopper site to look at and to order your Fall Wardrobe.  I buy all my items online and you can too, you just need me or June to place the order.  To visit the Worth website, go here....