My Birthday in New York

This month, I had the opportunity to take a brief, yet much need vacation to New York City! I'd never been and had been dying for years to go and visit. I was blessed to be able to experience such a wonderful city and hang out on the busy streets. I was really expecting the trip to be about relaxation, shopping and site-seeing. But fortunately, I ran into so much more!

Our first stop in the NYC was Harlem. In Harlem, we ate at Sylvia's Restaurant and I was impressed with her location on Lenox Avenue. I knew of Sylvia's food products sold in local grocery stores but I had no idea she owned a restaurant...and it was popping in the middle of the day! After reading more about her and how she opened her restaurant, it started to stir up my entrepreneurship spirit. To make things even more inspiring, I read that her children were the ones to continue her legacy by starting the soul food products in grocery stores. The idea of leaving something for your children to expand and build upon is so grand to me.

After eating, we shopped the streets of Harlem which further fired up my business mentality! Everyone had a vendor's license to sell something. Everyone had something to sell, whether it was an original craft, CD's, incense, clothes, or earrings...they were seriously hustling to earn their money!

On the second day of our trip, we jumped on the Water Taxi and headed over to Brooklyn. There, I was faced with more motivation, only this time more directly related to the event planning industry....

 

There were weddings left and right the entire time we were in Brooklyn. So apparently, wedding pictures off the pier of the Brooklyn dock is the popular trend. The brides were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and business was booming for those photographers.

I really enjoyed my stay in NYC and I can't wait to revisit. I thought I needed the trip for a break, but apparently I needed it for the inspiration!