Manhattan Cocktail Classic Gala

Once I woke up from my cat nap early Friday evening I started getting ready for the Gala. I decided on a simple black cocktail dress which had a bright gold zipper down the back. Since the dress I wore was so simple I accentuated the gold from the zipper with black and gold jewelery. 

I decided to keep my hair up and out of my face to avoid fussing with it all evening. I came across a simple up-do style on Pinterest a while ago and knew this would be the perfect do for the gala.

It was surprisingly simple to execute and lasted all evening, I was pretty impressed with myself!
We arrived a little after 9 and headed straight up to the third floor where the Taste of New York room was. The area was packed with beautiful people, wonderfully entertaining live music, and refreshing cocktails. 

The Van Buren by the lovely ADCo

This was some sort of tropical pineapple rum drink. It was pretty...but that's about it, there was just too much pineapple for my liking.

The food was scattered throughout the entire library, boy did they have some hidden gems.

Like the pulled pork from Brooklyn.
This lovely little guy was just calling my name. I devoured him in a second, seriously.

There was something new and exciting around each and every corner. When I think back on it, the night felt like a continuous scene from Alice in Wonderland.

Beautiful ladies acting as portable tables and serving delicious chocolatey treats took the place of the Cheshire Cat.

 Delicious sesame noodles served in adorably mini Chinese boxes.

 Yummy cocktail with some ... okay bacon flavored nuts.

 

Random shoe polish anyone?

<3

Later in the evening some of the ladies had enough of their high heels and decided to kick them off for a bit.

 The ground level had a couple dancing on stilts to live music.

The library's license ran out at exactly 1:00 a.m. so the security guards were pushing people out as fast as they could. I was in the middle of of taking a picture and a security guard tried telling my group of friends to skedaddle down the stairs.
Obviously that wasn't going to happen, so I was forced to channel my inner grumpy bear and explain to the security guard that I only wanted to take ONE photo... we eventually came to an understanding and he let us snap a quick one.

M was a little surprised by my reaction, if you couldn't tell.

With the VIP tickets, we were given a $50 voucher for an Uber cab ride. We gladly took advantage of it and decided to go out on the town for just a little longer... Irish pub anyone?

The Manhattan Cocktail Classic Gala was such an amazing event. I know I'll remember me evening for years to come. I hope to attend next year's event as well and I think you should try and come too!