sleep no more {and other nyc bucket list moments}

Dress: Self Portrait; Shoes: Saint Laurent; Clutch: Edie Parker (borrowed from McMullen); Bracelet: Miansai; Sunglasses: Celine

Little known fact: I love scary movies. Well. Scary anything, really. Haunted houses. Ghost hunter documentaries. Halloween. You name it, if it makes the hair on the back of my neck rise, then I'm all over it. In fact, I remember the first time I saw The Shining with a certain ex boyfriend. Once the ending credits started rolling, I remember all he wanted to do was watch a comedy to forget about Jack Nicholson's face. And all I wanted to do was look up where that exact hotel was located so I could visit it someday. (Side note: The Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the actual hotel that inspired the King novel, is opening a horror museum soon. Sign me up!)

Of course, as you can imagine, this has proven difficult with most of my past boyfriends who don't share my same appreciation. But hey, it usually means I grab onto you during the movie and bury my head into your shoulder, so let's pick our battles, shall we? ;)

Anyway, as you can also imagine, this means the minute I moved to New York, I've been itching to check out the Sleep No More performance at the McKittrick Hotel -- an interactive take on MacBeth that encourages you get lost roaming 5 floors of a dimly lit, eerie hotel. Actors run in and out of rooms, sometimes into you and past you, reenacting different tense scenes, while you, the audience, are mere bystanders (and sometimes participants), all wearing masks. I'd be amiss if I didn't mention a certain Gossip Girl episode tipped me off to this, as I'm sure it did for the rest of America, but I digress.

Much to my delight, I was able to sneak in an evening at the McKittrick Hotel a few weeks ago now and was beyond giddy the entire time -- even if I technically lost my date during it (it's easy to do, they purposefully split groups up). I decided to wear this new Self Portrait dress for the occasion as it felt like an appropriate moody nod to the evening's festivities, although granted, I'll probably opt for flats next time due to all the running up flights of stairs you do. 

This, of course, has gotten me started on my other "Only in New York City" bucket list moments, most of which are luckily right around the corner. So without further adieu...

1. Ice skating at Rockefeller Center and Central Park.

2. Spending an evening strolling past all of the holiday window displays at Bergdorfs, Barneys and Saks. 

3. Catch a performance of the Nutcracker.

4. Camp out for a live taping of The Late Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

5. Now that the Mets are in the World Series, I'm dying to see Game 3 here in town. 

6. Sit court side at a Knicks game, next to Jay and B. Just kidding. I'm fine with cheap seats.

7. Save up for one of the helicopter tours of NYC. Ya know, also with Jay and B.

8. Dinner at Per Se -- yep, you guessed it. Also with Jay and B.

9. Carriage ride through Central Park when it's snowing.

10. Rent one of the row boats in Central Park (this one may have to wait for next summer).

For all my New Yorkers and New York aficionados alike, what's on your NYC bucket list? Do share!  

Photos by Lydia Hudgens