New York owes me nothing.

My husband and I spent the past week in New York and words really can’t express how amazing our trip was — but I’m going to try anyway.

One of my favorite quotes about New York:

One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.

Or five days.

I went to New York for the Melanie Duncan Workshop, a one-day conference for entrepreneurs. (Be sure to swing by the blog Friday for recap of the conference.) But we decided to make a trip of it and stay a few extra days.

My legs are still sore from pounding the pavement of New York’s city streets for five days in sandals not fit for walking several miles at a time, but that is not a complaint. All that walking was needed to help burn off delicious food from places like the Meatball Shop and Calle Ocho.

But someone once said…

New York walking isn’t exercise; it’s a continually showing make-your-own movie.

And the movie I made was a feminist one. Here’s why:

1. I met Melanie Duncan.

I don’t know if Melanie Duncan considers herself a feminist or not, but her workshop oozes female empowerment nonetheless. She and her husband Devin Duncan both presented at the conference and watching them work together as partners was a case study for the beauty of egalitarian relationships.

I left the workshop even more motivated to be a wildly successful entrepreneuress like Melanie and to help other women do the same.  Plus, by meeting Melanie Duncan I got to cross off something on my Life List!

2. I met Eric Danforth IRL!

Several years ago a piece of mine was published in a collection of feminist essays. One day I received a message from someone in New York named Eric who loved my writing and loved that I was a feminist wrestling fan. My husband (the ultimate wrestling fan), Eric and I became fast friends. We talk all the time via social media and send gifts for Christmas and birthdays. Edward and I always talked about how crazy it was that we were so close to someone we’d never actually met. Finally, that has changed! We finally met Eric in real life during our New York trip. And Eric is even more amazing in person! He took us to great restaurants like the Meatball Shop, the nerd heaven that is Forbidden Planet and Strand Book Store, home of 18 miles of new, used, rare and out-of-print books.

Thanks to Eric I also think I know what tattoo I’m going to get.

3. I got to embrace my inner feminist nerd.

Check out my feminist nerd purchases made at Forbidden Planet!

And speaking of being a nerd…

4. I got to hang out at NerdLand!

I said that New York owes me nothing, but really 2015 owes me nothing. Earlier this year I got to meet Melissa Harris-Perry on my birthday and I thought nothing could top that as far as meeting your heroes goes. I was wrong.

During our trip Edd and I had the chance to hang out at NBC Studios at 30 Rock during the taping of the Melissa Harris-Perry Show. We were in the studio while she was interviewing guests and got to spend time in the control room.

We even attended the post-show meeting which was too much fun because when Professor Harris-Perry takes those braids down after the show you get to really meet Melissa! She is so down-to-earth. I love it!

We couldn’t have picked a better day to be there as several segments were about body image issues and feminism in pop culture  — two topics I love discussing most. My favorite segments included Why ‘Magic Mike XXL is a feminist movie and NYT slammed for Serena ‘body image’ story.

5. I was reunited with two of my favorite feminists. 

Our time at the MHP Show was made possible thanks to two friends from my grad school days at UC Berkeley. My friends Traci and Kai are producers at the show and arranged for us to be special NerdLand backstage guests. They were also the producers behind those two segments that I loved the most.

***

If you follow me on Instagram (@writeousbabe) you may have noticed that most of my New York pictures were of people, not places. That was intentional.

New York is one of the greatest cities on the planet — we all know that. But what made our trip so wonderful wasn’t really the city itself but the people we spent time with while we were there.

This was a great trip for Edward because he met in person many people he’s gotten to know over the years through blogging and social media. And when I met them I felt as if I were seeing old friends again, too.

And, New York, you had me at brunch.

The best part about this trip was that Edd and I had time to relax, to reconnect with each other and even reconnect with ourselves. I’ve never been more motivated to read and write as I am right now. Thank you, New York.

“Quite simply, I was in love with New York. I do not mean ‘love’ in any colloquial way, I mean that I was in love with the city, the way you love the first person who ever touches you and you never love anyone quite that way again.” — Joan Didion