Week 23: Days 5 - 7; Week 24

Week 24, Day 6 Outfit (daytime): Old Navy brown linen camisole, Express Jeans

Week 24, Day 6 Outfit (evening attire): Jimmy Choo for H&M "bedazzled" black off the shoulder dress

Week 24, Day 7 Outfit (re-enactment): Gap brown ribbed tank (going in the donation pile!), turquoise Ann Taylor Loft cotton skirt (on the fence about this one)

Week 25, Day 1 Outfit (daytime, re-enactment): Ann Taylor white v-neck short sleeved tee, favorite denim skirt (can't remember the brand - but got it from Marshalls' 5 years ago and will never get rid of it!)

Week 25, Day 1 Outfit (evening): same denim skirt, Zara black "bedazzled" top (of which I have now left with my hostess, Robyn as it looks terrible on me!)

Week 25, Day 2 Outfit (re-enactment): Ann Taylor White cap-sleeved silk tee, Ann Taylor Loft Red skirt with lazer-cut details, Ann Taylor Loft wide black belt

Week 25, Day 2 Outfit: White House Black Market sleeveless tunic, J Crew Salmon colored trousers

So NYC continued...

After a couple of glasses of wine at a tapas bar at 5:30, I was getting nicely unwound from my crazy work week and pseudo-vacation in Miami. Julie, Maggie, and I were all waiting on one more member of our girl's weekend (there was supposed to be 5 of us, but Gina is now with child and is suffering from such terrible morning sickness that she decided to opt out). Once our last member, Nikki, arrived, the party was ready to get started!! The ladies all got dressed up for "going out" Sex and the City style and we headed to a restaurant in the SoHo area - one that last time Julie went, saw Lenny Kravitz. No such celeb citing this time, but we did enjoy a good meal and managed to flirt our ways into the rooftop bar located on the top floor of the hotel that the restaurant was in. We enjoyed the night feeling swank and girls-nighty, sipping vodka cocktails and enjoying the view. We later met up with Julie's husband, Jason, and hit up a neighborhood pub - ending the night (or shall we say, morning) at 3A. What a throwback to the grad school days!

As one might imagine, Saturday morning began a bit later than would be typical for any of us - and we eased into it with a trip to one of the amazing grocery stores that NYC has to offer, grabbed some breakfast staples, and had a nice leiseruly breakfast at Julie's. We then headed out to our nail appointments, and then made our way to our "brunch" reservation in the Meatpacking district. It was at this place that I had my only celebrity citing - someone who was a model on Project Runway. We tried as discretely as possible to take her picture - by pretending to take a picture of Jason and then zooming way past his face to get the model in the picture...it worked well enough so that Mike recognized her when we emailed the picture to him.

Okay, so, I'm thinking it is now that I reveal that I have "cheated" on this challenge. As you may recall, I have toyed with the idea of buying some outrageously priced clothing item to commemorate my promotion to Senior Consultant. Well, throughout the weekend, I could think of no better place to do this than in NYC during a girl's weekend. As soon as I mentioned this to Julie, she got really excited and it became her mission to take me to a Christian Louboutin shoe store, or at least purveyor of his pieces of art. So, before brunch, we headed to a store that offered some of his shoes - but I didn't really latch onto what I was looking for - which is a classic black stiletto. So, no purchase there - and the guilt about possibly "breaking the rules" of this challenge left as I walked out of the store doors. We continued throughout the day with the idea that we'd make our way to the Christian Louboutin store, but time passed quickly by and the stores began closing by the time we were in a place where we could resume shopping. We instead decided to hit up a few more bars in the Meatpacking district and then made our way to West Village for a scrumptious italian meal at one of those little unassuming restaurants that I love so much about New York City! We all had grand notions of hitting up another bar when we arrived back at Julie and Jason's hood in the Upper West Side - but, funnily enough, we all were in the same state after spending the day eating and drinking - let's hit the hay!

Sunday morning, we again eased into the morning with a stroll through central park, buying a few more items for breakfast as Julie's, and then had our last meal together before Girl's Weekend was officially over. Maggie had to catch flight, so it was Julie, me, and Nikki that walked about Julie's neighborhood shopping at the amazing boutiques in that area. It was at this time that I really began to feel the sting of this challenge - wishing that I could start grabbing things off the rack and trying them on...but, strangely, after about a 5 minute wave of this hysteria, I once again re-gained composure and experienced a great sense of accomplishment...kind of like when you are able to run that last lap on the track, or lift that extra 5 lbs in weights...I felt like my restraint muscle finally has been toned to a point where my crazy uncontrollable shopping has been officially curbed! I can't say that I have been permanently cured, but being able to thumb through the most adorable and fashion-forward clothes that I've seen in 6 months, and resist the urge to try anything on or buy it is quite a feat!!

Okay, so I would have liked to end this blog by saying "I'm cured" and I left NYC without making a single clothing purchase...but, sadly, I cannot...as opportunity knocked on Tuesday afternoon when a co-worker of mine, Robyn, and I met up with Julie for lunch. After the Girl's weekend, I had made plans to stay in the city for a couple more days and work from our company's NYC office. So, Sunday afternoon, I took the train to Robyn's town in Connecticut, hung out with her by the beach, had a terrific tapas dinner and 1/2 priced Albarino, and then headed into the city with her Monday morning. Monday was another jam-packed day work-wise, but at least I got to experience from the 32nd floor of an office building in the center of Manhattan! Monday evening, Robyn and I enjoyed a 3 course dinner at a nearby restaurant participating in Restaurant Week (where countless restaurants offer 3 course meals at $35). We then hopped the train and headed home...and then awoke again Tuesday morning to repeat the process.

I had been wanting Robyn and Julie to meet each other given that they are both NYC professionals in the HR world...and coincidentally, Julie is going to be moving into the building that our company's office inhabits come next May. So, we ladies made a plan to do the "NYC power lunch" thing and meet up for another 3 course meal on Tuesday. It was at the beginning of lunch that Julie, still with her mission of "helping" me purchase my token "I've been promoted" item, mentioned that there is a Saks 5th right around the corner of where we were having lunch. So...I'm sure you can all guess what happened then...we all scarfed down our food, made the trek to the store, and with the swipe of a card, I made my first clothing purchase since Superbowl Sunday (well, except for the "soccer" outfit that I had to buy for our 4th of July party). So, readers, I will let you decide whether or not I have failed this challenge, or if this pre-meditated and planned-out purchase really does not count as a lapse in willpower. While you noodle through that, I am going to wear my beautiful new stilettos with unabashed indulgence!