Although last week was quite a busy one for the Joonbug team, we were looking forward to our visit to 82 Mercer on Wednesday night with great anticipation. It's not every week that Shecky's traveling shopping mecca, Girls Night Out, stops in New York. We had been patiently waiting for its next NYC stop ever since our visit to Holiday Night Out back in December. While we were elated to see some of our old favorites back again, we were pleasantly surprised by some of the new vendors, shops, and activities that Shecky's introduced for 2010.  Here are few of our top picks of the night:

Claudia's Closet: Upon entering the new home for Girls Night Out, 82 Mercer, we noticed what looked like a mini boutique just outside the event room. What started off as clothing and accessories that "caught Claudia's [President and co-founder of Shecky's] eye" (according to her assistant), turned out to be a delicate merchandising strategy that illustrated what we'd expect an easy-going girl, who thrives on being fashionable yet comfortable, to die for. Claudia's Closet was composed of versatile apparel, accessories and beauty products that could take one from day to night with style and ease. There were perfect-for-spring frocks mixed with glam-time blazers that would pair perfectly with City Slips - convenient and easily packed ballet shoes, for the nights those Prada pumps just won't do.

During our visit to Claudia's Closet, we had the opportunity to sit down with the president herself. Claudia seemed more than excited for the big turnout, as she should be. She explained that her goal for the event was to enable women to share a Sex-And-The-City-like experience of shopping with their girlfriends and colleagues while enjoying an open bar and goodie bags. During our conversation, she welcomed vendors selling affordable and consumer-friendly products to come and join the event, by way of contacting her through her site. When speaking on the success of these events, she truly glistened when asked about the popularity of Shecky's Girls Night Out events nationwide. Stopping in cosmopolitan hubs like Boston, LA, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Atlanta, check Sheckys.com to find the dates of events local to you. Much to our delight, Claudia even modelled one of her favorite pieces for us - donning what we've deemed as the "glam-time blazer."

Beer Tastings: Another thrill at the Shecky's event was the awesome opportunity to join a group of fellow shoppers for a crash course in beer pairing. Several brands of beer were sampled together, reminiscent of a wine tasting in the vineyards. An attraction that seemed to hold the longest line, it was quite entertaining to watch the guests' reactions to the beer and small hors d'oeuvres.

Authors: In the outskirts of the event, an experienced gem waited patiently to tell her story. Veteran makeup artist, Karen Cecilia, sat a table selling her newly released book, The Lipstick Classified. We spoke briefly with Karen about what to expect from her book. She explained that the book was her take on the makeup industry, after being an artist for more than 15 years. In the book, she discusses her mistakes, her advantages, and  gives advice on what an aspiring makeup artist can expect - all by way of wit and humor.

Vendors: As expected, there were various vendors selling the typical jewelry, hair and apparel products. Our chat with Claudia led us to a mysterious jewelry line called Symbolistik, designed by a very eclectic and lovely young designer from Paris, Marilyne Neuchat. Her inspiration behind the line was to create jewelry using symbols of protection and spirituality - ergo, her jewelry included pendants of symbols and numbers with origins in a range of cultures and creeds. A very spiritual and mystic bevy indeed, we were quite intrigued.

The Guests: Always on the lookout for street style at its finest, we scoped out the crowd to see who was wearing what. Though we didn't see much of the fur, glitz or Louboutins like we experienced during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, we did find a few guests with quite an exquisite taste in style. One of our favorite looks came from a shopper by the name of Marie. In a world where clashing non-related trends together has become the norm, we were pleasantly shocked to see Marie wearing head-to-toe matching patterns with confidence and style. She explained to us that she wears and is inspired by Japanese designers exclusively - most of whom, embarrassingly, we had never heard of. Her look was rather season-appropriate, considering Milan and Paris fashion weeks. By way of an A-line hemmed skirt and a loose-fitting blouse and cardigan, Marie earned her stamp of approval.

Overall, the Shecky's Girls Night Out was reliably entertaining, as we're already looking forward to the next one.