Five on Friday - Favorite Items That I Took on Our Trip to New York City

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Happy Friday, y’all!  I’m coming at y’all fresh off our trip to New York City, and today I’m going to share a few of the real MVPs from our trip!

O N E – Belt Bag

First up, is this belt bag!  Y’all, I love this bag so much that I think I shall name it my top favorite purchase from Amazon in all of 2022!  I have used it a gazillion times already and it has been worth every single penny!  Especially since it didn’t cost much to begin with!  ;o)

This bag is almost identical to the ever-popular Lululemon belt bag, but for a fraction of the cost.  I have compared this bag with the Lulu bag in person, and literally the only difference is that this one doesn’t have the Lulu logo on the outside (obviously).  Everything else is identical from the fabric to the pockets to the belt.  It’s a carbon copy.

I cannot stress how grateful I was to have this bag on our trip.  It held every single thing that I needed without being overly bulky or heavy.  That’s right… no sore shoulders or arms from carrying too much!

Every single day I carried around my ID, a credit card, a tiny bit of cash, a couple of tissues, a compact, a lipstick, a Chapstick, a charging bank with the cord, some gum, a 20-pack of hand wipes (can’t have too many of those – LOL), and a little pill box with Ibuprofen, Tums, etc.  Everything fit in there comfortably with room to spare, and I could even squeeze my phone in there when I needed to, although, most of the time I had it in my hand or in my jacket pocket since I wanted to keep it handy for pictures. 

I wore the belt bag across one shoulder with the pack on the front of my chest, and I wore it under my jacket, so nobody even knew it was there.  That way I didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to swipe it, and I didn’t have to worry about being attacked because somebody saw and wanted my bag.

There were a couple of times that we had to take our bags off and send them through a metal detector at security, and instead of having to take my jacket off to get the bag off, all I had to do was unclip the bag and slide it out of my jacket.  It was soooo coooold while we were there, so I would NOT have wanted to take my jacket off ever.  Haha.

It was, by far, my favorite item that I brought on our trip!  So convenient and seriously perfect.  Perfect, y’all! 

 

T W O – Faux Leather Leggings

My second favorite thing that I packed were my faux leather leggings.  They are my favorite leggings in the history of the world.  They’re comfortable, they’re chic, they’re warm if you wear them with boots, they’re stylish, you can wear them with pretty much anything, and if I’m being honest, they make everyone’s butts look fantastic.  Haha. 

For the trip, I packed two pairs of Zella leggings, one pair of jeans, and my one pair of faux leather leggings, and I ended up wishing I could wear the faux leather leggings every day.  As a matter of fact, the day I was supposed to wear jeans, I ditched them and opted to wear the faux leather leggings a second day.  (I don’t usually wear leggings two days in a row without washing them (ew, haha) but I never sweated since it was so cold, so I figured it would be alright.)

My New York City uniform was leggings (Zella two of the days, Spanx two of the days), a tunic sweater, my favorite grey boots that are so comfy, my snow jacket, my Georgia hat, and my belt bag.  I was uber comfortable, soooo warm (well, as warm as you can be when it’s 30 degrees – haha), and I looked cuuuute.  Because that’s important, too.  Haha.

 

T H R E E – Jacket

I also finally got to put my heavy jacket to the test.  I’ve been wearing it here in town a bit here and there, but honestly, we rarely need anything that warm in Georgia.  Y’all, I LOVE THIS JACKET. 

It kept me nice and toasty, and it also did a great job repelling the rain on the day that it drizzled most of the day.  It’s hooded with removable faux fur trim, and it has three pockets – two outside and one inside.  The two outside pockets are super deep, so I was able to put my phone in there and not worry about it falling out, and each of the outer pockets have buttons to keep the pocket closed.  The inside pocket is great for storing anything that you want to keep secure – keys, small wallet, phone, etc. 

I also love the length because it kept my legs warm all the way to my knees.  Then below my knees, my boots provided the warmth, so barely any of my legs were exposed. 

My favorite part about it, though, is that it’s fitted, so it looks sophisticated and chic.  Most of the time I feel like a marshmallow when I wear a bulky jacket, but this one is sleek, while also providing ample warmth even in the coldest of temperatures.

I wore it all day, every day for the entire trip!

It comes in ten different colors, and it’s under $100, which is a great price for such a nice quality jacket.

 

F O U R – TSA Approved Toiletry Set

I bought this set on Amazon specifically for this trip since my old carryon toiletry set was falling apart and missing pieces.  There were soooo many to choose from on Amazon, but I’m so glad I went with this one because it is PERFECTION.

This set had the perfect amount of containers for everything that I needed and I even had a couple that I didn’t need to use. 

The best part is – the containers do not leak.  I repeat, THE CONTAINERS DO NOT LEAK.  Praise!  Every single container I’ve ever had that has claimed to be leak-proof always ends up leaking and it’s so annoying. 

The bottles are made of soft, supple silicone which was unexpected, but it is awesome because that enables you to squeeze out every single drop of what you put in there… kind of like a toothpaste tube, but softer. 

All of the tubs that came with the set have shield guards that rest across the tops of the tubs but under the caps, so there’s no way they could leak either.

This set also came with a little funnel and a little scoop which I appreciated tremendously because it made the transfer from the original bottles to the travel bottles so easy.  I mean, normally, I have to use my fingers to transfer my face creams, so it was awesome to have that little scoop right there.

Finally, the set came with really nice, clear labels so I was able to label every bottle and tub. 

I cannot recommend this set enough, y’all!  A lot of thought obviously went into creating it and there’s nothing that I would change about it because it’s perfect!

 

F I V E – Apple Watch

I am obsessed with my Apple Watch, and I have been from day one, but it is even more special when I get to use it on trips like these when we walk a lot.  I cannot tell you how much I loved being able to see how many steps we walked and how many miles we walked each day. 

It was also nice to have to track our walks when we were walking from one point to another.  B would look at Apple Maps, tell us how many miles it was from our location to our destination, and then I would start an outdoor walk workout on my watch so I could watch in real-time how far we’d gone and how far we had left to go.  That was convenient if the kids ever asked, “How much farther is it?!”  Haha.

It’s just so convenient and fun to have!

 

Friday Funnies

It me

Also me

Hahahaha me again.  Why is this so true?!  I have quite a few of these.

And now I have a blog for this.  Haha.

On the Blog This Week

Follow Along in NYC

 What I Wore – November 2022

Our 2022 New York City Trip by the Numbers

Happy Friday, y’all!

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.