This past weekend, I traveled to the city that never sleeps for a Her Campus Media Conference. It was my first ever real life conference, and while part of me was excited to wear my killer pumps and go to journalism workshops, the other part was not thrilled about spending a significant amount of time on the subway. Well, I survived the subway (barely) & went to all my fancy workshops, plus I made some friends & memories along the way. Here’s a special edition of Likes & Favorites from my travels to the Big Apple.

The actual conference. 

Call me a nerd, but I actually enjoyed sitting in on panels about blogging, journalism and how to succeed in this industry. There were also super cool speakers who came (like the editor in chief of Seventeen) and because we were a bunch of college-aged-aspiring-journalists, it was appropriate to fangirl. Beyond that, I got to rock my business casual swag, received a TON of freebies/giveaways & made some really nice friends. {In case you forgot what I write about on Her Campus, i.e. the reason I attended this conference, check out my work here!}

Some really good advice. 

As I mentioned before, Michelle Tan, the new editor in chief of Seventeen, was the keynote speaker the first day, and I’ll be the first to say that she is hilarious. Besides cracking us up the whole time, she also dropped some awesome wisdom. I love this quote she said about making it in the journalism industry, but I think it also just applies to life. Shout out to Krista for making the cool graphic.

Lovely parts of the city. 

Because he’s an amazing boyfriend, Ryan surprised me on Saturday night after the conference and took me to dinner at this incredible Italian restaurant, La Lanterna Di Vittorio. While it took us a little while to get there (stupid subways make me so confused), the romantic atmosphere and delicious lasagna was worth the wait (Couples in NYC, you have to go). Then on Sunday, it was my turn to plan the date, so we went to Jane’s Carousel (made in 1922) by the Brooklyn bridge and then had pizza and ice cream.

Despite how much I hate the dirtiness, busyness and subway system of the city, there are quaint parts of it that truly are lovely.

Not your average statement necklace. 

At the conference, there were a few vendors there, one of which was chloe + isabel. If you’ve never heard of them, you definitely need to check them out. They make beautiful statement jewelry AND you can sign up to become a merchandiser for their products! You can literally be your own boss in the fashion industry. I adore this necklace I got from them!

Ampersand’s having a giveaway!

On a similar note… I’ve decided to host Ampersand’s first ever giveaway!! To thank you for being loyal readers, I’m giving away a chloe + isabel wrap bracelet to one lucky winner. All you have to do is like Ampersand on Facebook & fill out the form below. I’ll be randomly drawing a winner next week so stay tuned to see if you won!

Here’s the prize…

And here’s the form!

{PS. I’m launching a new section soon with some exciting news! Yay surprises!}

Liking my NYC adventures & favoriting being back in NJ.