So now that I've given you a week off from Dia&Co news, I wanted to give an overview of the weekend. I want to express how grateful I am to the Dia&Co ladies for bringing me out to NYC for such an amazing experience. I truly had an amazing time and I hope the friends I made will last a lifetime!
If you haven't been keeping up, Dia&Co is a fairly new personal styling company out in New York for plus size women. Its similar to Gwennie Bee in the fact that you pay them a little something every month, every season or just whenever you want and they send you a box of clothes but instead of just renting, you're actually buying the clothes. You don't have to buy everything- once you try the clothes on you keep what you like and send what you don't like back in a prepaid package. You can sign up here.
So now that we've got all that out of the way, on to the fun stuff. It was a blur of a weekend so I'm going to do the best I can at organizing my thoughts here. Oh and this is extra long and photo heavy so get ready for a long read!
Friday Night:
I flew out of Dallas and Landed in Queens around 10. That is the walkin-est airport! I felt like I had to walk like 35 minutes to get to my baggage claim, but I finally made it, sweaty and all, to meet my driver. He even had the cute little sign with my name on it. Probably my favorite thing about traveling- you really feel like you've made it in life when a man in a suit has your name on a sign so he can then cater to your every need. Bags? Handled. Bottle of water? Yes- because I'm sweaty and he feels bad for me. Driver? Thank goodness because NY drivers are terrifying and I would have to pull over and cry for a good 20 min before I got to my destination. As we are waiting for baggage, my soon-to-be- roommate makes her way over after her flight lands and we are instant friends. I was definitely nervous about rooming with a stranger- I havent roomed with a stranger since Girl Scout camp and I wasnt a fan then. In the end, I'm so happy we got the time to get to know one another, it really helped the bonding process.
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| Our room- notice how close I was sleeping to a stranger. So glad she wasnt weird. |
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| Swag Bag Contents- notice the skull scarf!! (They will be putting scarves in boxes soon!) |
Molly and I were both starving so we headed over to a little Italian place across the street for an amazing diner. We chatted about everything and realized we had quite a bit in common- she is such a doll! The fact that we both love wine was a win/win and life felt complete. After dinner it was about 1 am and we were exhausted so it was back to the room to turn in for the night.
Saturday:
Saturday started early! I was up early to get ready because I take forever, so around 6 I hopped up and an in the shower. We made our way to the lobby to meet the other girls so we could catch Uber to Dia&Co headquarters in Brooklyn around 8ish. I cant even explain how easily the 7 of us got along. It was all as if we had known each other for years and were getting back together for a weekend of fun. Truly a group of exceptional women.
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| Street art outside Dia&Co |
Ramon was our first Uber driver and boy was he a hottie! He may have almost killed us a time or two by backing up on the highway to take an exit he missed but I forgave him pretty easily. We were all teasing him about his girlfriend's purse in the trunk that he was very protective of because she had to leave it on her trip to visit family- she had good taste- so I'm sure he was distracted. We made it alive to the headquarters and headed in for bagels and fruit for breakfast before we went in for brainstorming. Everything was being filmed and I definitely felt like a Kardashian. I kind of wish I had cameras around all the time so if E! wants to get in on this- I'm ready!
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| Brainstorming in progress |
After brainstorming we headed up to their studio for styling and hair and makeup. Their building is being renovated and the elevator was actually just a large hole in the ground so walking four flights of stairs it was. Guys... I was so sweaty! Poor Veronica had to fix me a few times that day. By the way, if youre in the Dallas area and need your hair done- she is the girl to go to! I'll link her salon here. As I was getting my face beat, Timothy Snell (Queen Latifa's stylist) came in to help out with styling tips for everyone. He is seriously the nicest guy in the world. Hilarious and so nice. He is actually going to have his own show very soon doing makeovers for plus size women so keep an eye out for that. I'll be doing an outfit post on what I came home with that day very soon.
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| Pretty sure there is footage of my naked bottom on this camera somewhere. A story for another time. |
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| Molly getting styling tips from Timothy Snell |
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| Veronica saving my life! |
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| The picks for me by the stylist (they know what I like!) |
After styling, hair and makeup, it was time for the panel. I made sure to get a front row seat so I could stare as creepily as possible at all of the panelists. It was such a good panel! It was very interesting to hear the viewpoints of people inside the industry. You can watch it here. Certainly worth a watch. After the panel we had champagne and cupcakes with most of the panelists. Cece ducked out pretty quickly but everyone else stayed for about an hour or so taking pictures and mingling. Denise Bidot is so kind and so passionate about changing how plus size women are viewed in the business. Hero-worthy.
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| The Panel. Cece, Ellie, Denise, Allison and Timothy |
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| Lydia & Nadia- aka the Dia of Dia&Co |
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| Most of the Brand Ambassadors and Megan Murphy |
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| The happiest of hours |
Right after mingling, I had to hike it back upstairs to do an on camera interview. Veronica to the rescue again because I was sweating and not only was my hair a disaster but my eyeliner had melted and I was just a general mess. She quickly made a chic loose braid and touched up my makeup before I started my interview. I tell you, she was my own personal savior and I will forever worship the ground she walks on. Let me tell you about this interview! Ohhh boy. So the guy that was interviewing me, I believe his name was Hadid, was the nicest and most gentle soul Ive ever met. Very instantly calming and could get some serious answers so effortlessly. I felt like I needed to pay him after we were done for the therapy session! They are making it into a video for us so I'll link that once its live as well.
It was evening at this point and we had dinner at 9sh so Molly and I hopped back in an Uber and made it to the hotel with 20 min left before our next Uber was there and ready to take us to dinner. I have literally never freshened up so fast in my life! Thank goodness for my chic braid because hair and makeup had no chance in 20 min. We went over to SoHo for some Mexican food as a group and had dinner and drinks. The food was really good- it was certainly different than the TexMex I'm used to but still very good. Note to self: find that recipe for guac because dang! It was after midnight at that point and I was so exhausted I couldnt find it in me to go exploring. Back to the hotel I went for bed.
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| Our personalized menu |
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| Time Square at night |
Sunday:
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| ...and during the day |
Molly and I woke up, checked out and headed with our suitcases through Time Square (about 1/2 mile) to the restaurant for brunch. We all had brunch and then thank goodess we had our suitcases because then it was right off to the airport in just enough time to catch our flights.
There are so many more pictures out there, especially of the panelists, so as they start surfacing I'll update this post. It was such a great time and there are so many fun things happening that I cant wait to share with you! Until next time...
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