Editor’s Note — if you’re looking for additional New York City recommendations, here are some other posts to check out: 

• New York City for New Year’s Eve
• Life Lately December 2022
• Life Lately October 2022
• Life Lately August 2022
• A Girls’ Weekend in New York City
• A Bachelorette Party in New York City
• My President’s Day Weekend in New York City
• New York City Travel Guide
• New York City at Christmastime
• Champagne at Bergdorf Goodman
• How I Spent a Very Rainy Friday in New York City

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Happy Friday!

I thought we would do a little flash back Friday today…to this time last week. Which might win for the rainiest day of my life—or, at least the rainiest one I remember.

Because it’s so comical, I thought I’d give you the play-by-play of my day. Disclaimer—it’s certainly not the most cultural way to spend a rainy day in New York City—for that, I’d recommend taking refuge in museums or at the Chelsea Market—but we sure had fun.

Let me paint the scene for you—Monica and I took the good ol’ Northeast Regional train up to the city on Thursday night. To catch up with college friends and save some money on hotels, we slept over at our respective friend’s apartments. I crashed at my friend Emma’s apartment in the East Village and had a great night with her drinking La Croix and painting our nails while watching Friends.

I woke up at her place on Friday morning and started my day. Here’s an inside look:

6:45 am: The first alarm goes off. Neither Emma or I move. I mean, it’s casual Friday for her and vacation for me, what’s the rush?

7:15 am: We’re finally up, comparing notes on our favorite R+Co Products. The verdict? Between the two of us, we’ve tried them all, but our favorite is the dry shampoo.

7:45 am: I text Monica to let her know we’re out the door and headed towards FiDi, where Emma works, and conveniently, where our hotel for the weekend is.

7:50 am: There’s a slight drizzle as we walk towards the L Train, but I comment aloud to Emma how it could be much worse. Editors Note—I definitely eat my words.

7:52 am: I buy a Metrocard for the Subway and tell Emma how wonderful it is to only have to deal with single fare. Could I sound anymore Washingtonian?

8:00 am: Emma and I transfer to the 4/5 at Union Station, which means I have to lug my 30 lb suitcase up and down approximately 12 flights of stairs. Definitely counting this as my workout for the day.

8:15 am: We arrive at the Fulton Street Station. Emma then proceeds to talk me through the Oculus at the WTC. Of approximately 5,000 commuters, I am the only one trying to get optimal lighting for my Instagram Story. I delay Emma’s arrival at work by at least 10 minutes in order to pursue this artistic venture.

8:25 am: Emma and I part ways at the end of the Oculus, and I whip out Apple Maps to try to find the best walking route to our hotel. I tell Monica I’ll be there in ten.

8:27 am: I walk outside and to find the Freedom Tower jetting up right in front of me. I snap a picture, and immediately realize I am in a wind tunnel and it’s raining, which means I now have to hold an umbrella and pull a rolling suitcase. I also realize our hotel is more like 25 minutes away. I text Monica and let her know I’m on track to get 10,000 steps before breakfast.

8:56 am: I arrive to our hotel, and thanks to Monica’s Mom’s street cred, we are granted an upgraded room.

8:57 am: We arrive in the room, a normal-sized-but-not-large hotel room and wonder how small the regular room would have been. Ah, NYC square footage.

9:06 am: After testing out our bed for the weekend, Monica and I make the executive decision to walk up to Nolita. Barely drizzling at this point, our main complaint—okay, mine—is that it’s too darn cold for May.

9:25 am: We arrive to Jack’s Wife Freda. It’s packed, which we hadn’t anticipated. Luckily, the server tells us it’s only a five minute wait because at this point, I’m getting a little hangry.

9:29 am: Monica and I are seated, and I immediately ask the waitress for water. After refilling my glass about 10 times in so many minutes, she gives me a pint glass of the good stuff.

9:32 am: Monica and I debate what we’re ordering. I go back and forth between the avocado toast and the burger. But let’s be real, I settled on the burger.

9:47 am: Our food arrives, and not a minute too soon. Monica and I notice it’s raining hard outside and start to wonder how to spend a rainy day in Manhattan.

9:55 am: Monica and I have now stuffed ourselves silly and decide we need a sweet treat. We opt to skip heading to the Upper East Side, which was the original plan, and instead, hang closer to the East Village, where we have a lunch reservation.

10:02 am: Monica and I pay the bill and she introduces me to the concept of a cronut. Yes, I know, I’m behind the times. We decide there’s no time like the present to head to Dominique Ansel Bakery, home of said cronut.

10:03 am: We walk outside Jack’s Wife Freda and realize there’s a 100% chance it’s already pouring. But, I managed to snap this cute photo without getting my camera wet, so there’s that:

10:04 am: Monica is giving me a pep talk, knowing it’s my pet peeve to be wet in clothes. “It’s only eight minutes!,” she says.

10:11 am: Okay, she was right. We’re here.

10:12 am: We settle on a divide-and-conquer strategy—I hold down our table located in their inside garden, which is surprisingly spring-y despite the outdoor weather, while Monica hops in the cronut line. We aren’t sure if they’ve sold out yet, but we’re hoping for the best.

10:17 am: Monica returns with the cronut! But, before we can eat our food, we have to take pictures of it, duh. The Australian couple behind us is 100% judging us. TBH, I’m judging us a little bit, too. But, worth it for a shot like this:

10:19 am: Monica digs in and reports the cronut lives up to the hype. I follow with my fork and agree—it’s just what the doctor ordered for vacation.

10:25 am: We’re finished with the cronut and unsure what to do next. We decide to see if there are any shops or sample sales in SoHo worth checking out. We grab our umbrellas and hit the streets.

10:30 am: The rain and wind noticeably pick up. We start frantically looking for stores worth popping into.

10:40 am: It’s like we’re walking through a hurricane down Houston Street. We’re holding our umbrellas out in front of us to fight the wind and the rain. My white converse are soaked through and starting to show signs of the NYC city sidewalks. In front of us, we see a Hollister and an American Eagle. The clothing stores of my youth have never looked so appealing.

10:41 am: I tell Monica I can’t make it anymore and beg her to let us run into American Eagle, which is rapidly approaching on our right. You could say I have a flair for the dramatic.

10:42 am: Monica and I take refuge in the American Eagle. We’re the only people in the store, so the sales associates descend on us rapidly. Despite the enticing specials and cute weekend looks, we stay strong and avoid purchasing anything. At this point, our credit cards are probably soaked through anyway.

10:47 am: Realizing that we’re starting to overstay our welcome, Monica and I spot a Duane Reade across the street. She needs allergy medicine, I need caffeine. We decide to make a run for it.

10:50 am: We’re procrastinating making a run for it. But, this extra time helped us realize we need to time our exit with the crosswalk signals.

10:51 am: The fates and crosswalks align, and we make a run to the Duane Reade.

10:55 am: After picking up our much-needed necessities, we cross our fingers and hope my five-year-old Duane Reade loyalty card still works so we can take advantage of the specials.

10:56 am: Good news, it works. Bad news, we realize the rain is now coming down harder than before. We find a bench, drop our wet umbrellas, and decide to take a social media/sanity break. There are no pictures from this time—but imagine any convenience store and insert that photo here.

11:40 am: We decide it’s time to catch a cab up to the restaurant, after I emphatically tell Monica no margaritas are worth getting more wet for. Can you tell how much I hate getting wet?

11:43 am: Slight problem: every cab in the city is taken. I open the Uber app, and see it’s $20 to the restaurant. I order immediately, knowing this might be the best $20 I’ll ever spend. After all, the sidewalks are flooding around me.

12:01 pm: We walk into Avenida Cantina for a Tex Mex Cinco de Mayo lunch and realize we’re the only people there. It’s a relief after a crowded, busy morning. The chef tells us to take a seat anywhere, and we opt for two barstools near the window. (Natural light for photos, you know.)

12:03 pm: I excuse myself to head to the bathroom and realize the door is adorned with the Texas flag. After drying my Converse out in a high-quality Dyson hand drier, I run back to the bar to tell Monica, who’s from Dallas, all about this clever homage to her home state.

12:04 pm: Overhearing us, the chef tells Monica she’s from Texas, too, and a beautiful friendship is born.

12:05 pm: The bartender makes dreams come true and brings us $5 happy hour margs—even though it’s not happy hour. Being nice to people pays off, y’all!

12:06 pm: We immediately bring the margaritas over to the natural light and start snapping pictures. At this point, Monica mentions to the chef we are bloggers to assuage this unusual behavior. She encourages us to snap away.

12:08 pm: After our margarita shoot is done, we ask for a consultation on whether to opt for the white or yellow queso, and the chef has the waitress bring out both. It’s been a week, and I’m still not sure which is my favorite.

12:10 pm: Monica and I put away our phones, make an effort to be present, and catch up on the big things each of us has been dealing with lately.

12:45 pm: We’ve conquered our first margs, order another round, and pull out the food menu.

12:48 pm: Monica opts for enchiladas, her Mexican go-to, while I opt for fried chicken tacos with a side of rice and black beans. My Miami diet at its finest, ladies.

1:10 pm: Our food arrives, and y’all, it is so good. New York is known for its lack of Tex Mex food, but Avenida Cantina is the real deal. We start to ask if they are considering expanding to DC.

1:30 pm: Noticing Monica has half a margarita left, I order another one—it’s vacation, after all. This time I opt for strawberry, which they make with real fruit juice. I like this place more and more by the minute.

1:50 pm: We acknowledge that all good things must come to an end and ask for the check.

1:55 pm: We’re given the check and realize the restaurant comped most of our meal. We thank them endlessly.

2:05 pm: Monica and I tip more than 100% and say farewell to our new friends.

2:07 pm: It’s finally stopped raining, and we decide to walk back to our hotel in FiDi to work off that Tex Mex feast we just enjoyed.

Whew! What a day that was. Once we returned to the hotel, Monica and I immediately hopped out of our still-wet clothes, took a nap, and freshened up for the Create + Cultivate happy hour kickoff. You can read more about our Create + Cultivate Conference experience here! We capped off the day with a delicious dinner at Eatly. I can’t recommend the lasagna enough.

Though our trip wasn’t a warm May day like we’d hoped, it was still one for the books. I’d love to know if you have a similar experience! x