Weekly adventures with Madeline

Tonight Madeline and I went to Essex for dinner because she had a Groupon. While we were looking at the menu, Madeline even mentioned that she had read awful reviews for the restaurant, but she got the Groupon anyway. Well, Madeline was right, the food wasn't that great, but we did have some rather delicious mussels as an appetizer! Afterward, neither of us wanted to go home, so we wandered around the les for a while. We wanted to go to the Doughnut Plant, but they were already closed. boo. So we decided to go to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory and we struck up a conversation with a famous person and his very large crew about ice cream flavors and sprinkles! We didn't know it at the time, but an elderly woman informed us that it was Matthew Gray Gubler! Then Madeline and I wandered the aisles of Duane Reade looking for hair dye and stuff for bug bites, respectively.

Century 21.

While on my way to Battery Park, I decided to stop in Century 21 since I hardly go to the Financial District, and also  to briefly escape the heat. I've been to Century 21 once, but it was years ago—I hardly remember it. I think the store has also gained popularity since then. So I walked in and I was immediately overwhelmed. There were clothes and people everywhere. It was really, quite frightening. I felt like I had to fight my way anywhere I went. After I got over my initial shock, I hit up the accessories section to mentally prepare myself for the battle I was sure to encounter in the Womens' clothing section. Once I got over my fear, I was quite pleased with the choices (clothing and accessories alike). Century 21 really is NYC's best kept secret. I could have spent hours looking through the racks of the designer clothing. And not just Michael Kors and BCBG, there was Vivienne Westwood, Milly, Lanvin and so much more! I'm definitely going to go back in the future, in fact, I'm pretty excited to go back!

I'm trying to get back into photography. Strangely, my best pictures recently have been of flowers. I say this is strange only because I currently live in new york city. Here are the results thus far:

weekly adventures with Madeline, featuring Gia.

Today for our weekly thing, Madeline and I decided to go to the Brooklyn Museum to see the American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection exhibit and we invited Madeline's friend Gia. It's linked to the Costume Institute exhibit, but it's actually a bigger collection. I was quite pleased with the exhibit, my only complaint was that I wanted to see more! My favorite looks were by Lanvin and Chanel. Even though the gowns were made by the designers, Jeanne and Gabrielle (Coco), the looks were completely timeless and still so chic and modern! There were also these three looks with the same textile that I absolutely loved. The textile had a Indian or Thai feel to it. It was hot pink and Hermes orange with gold accents.

housing works.

The Housing Works thrift shop randomly had a street fair a few weeks ago at their soho location. I decided to go because they were having their infamous $20 brown bag sale. You pay $20 for a sizable brown paper bag and then whatever you can stuff in the bag is just the flat rate of $20. I heard about the sale from my friend Jessie, so I decided to check it out. At first I was pretty overwhelmed—clothes were flying, people were literally knee-deep in clothes (including me!), the sun was beating down, meanwhile, it's a busy Saturday afternoon in SoHo—what a scene! After my initial shock, I decided to just go for it, so I started digging in the first bin, and I slowly made my way to the end. I only stayed about 45-50 minutes but if I didn't have to go to work and the sale were indoors, I could have stayed all day! I have some big plans for a few of the items I got (a little DIY summer projects!) but here are the items I'm most excited about: a worn in/super soft denim shirt, a navy pull-over military-esque jacket, random dress shirts and a night gown with a beautiful Japanese motif (I want to make a skirt from it!).

Battery Park.

After my trip to the Highline last week, I was inspired to visit more of NYC's public parks. I surprisingly and conveniently had/have three days off in a row this week, so I decided to go to Battery Park. I took off on a blazing hot Tuesday afternoon, backpack, water bottle and New York magazine in tow to the southern tip of Manhattan—an area I'm not familiar with. Google maps told me the best route was to take Centre until it ran into Broadway, which would take me to the entrance of the park. Since I've never really been to the Financial District before, I didn't stray too far from said path. After a few pit stops and one slightly traumatizing experience in Century 21, I finally made it to Battery Park!
It's called Battery Park because the area used to be a fort and as NYC's harbor defense, was heavily fortified with the batteries of guns....hence Battery Park. The park was surprisingly big with plenty of greenery. I didn't walk around too, too much, but I did find a nice spot on the river to read. 

the highline.

Today was my day off, so I decided to enjoy the great outdoors and go to the High Line. It's a park built on an old, elevated train track on the west side of Manhattan. The park opened just over a year ago, so it's still well kept, clean and not too, too touristy. While I was still climbing the stairs at the Gansevoort entrance I was greeted by a fashion shoot! I walked around a bit, took some pictures, read my magazine, and then went on my way. Though, while I was reading, I noticed the cutest little asian baby! After the High Line, I stopped by Chelsea Market in hopes for a brownie from Fat Witch, but had no luck. I also went into the new Anthropolgie. I had read that the Chelsea Market location was going to be very different from the other Anthropolgies and I was not disappointed! I can't quite explain it, but it was the greatest Anthropolgie I've ever been to! Anyway, I decided on my next day off, I'd like to go to Battery Park (weather permitting).

Weekly adventures with Madeline, featuring Johnny.

My dear friend Johnny decided to take a spontaneous trip into the city today! So for our weekly luncheon, Madeline and I decided to have dinner at Rice, in NoLita. I've been meaning to try it, and I'm so glad we went! The decor was quaint, there were a lot of rice bags and other country-esque decor touches but the furnishings were very sleek and modern. We all had the Thai black rice (my new obsession is Thai/coconut rice!) with our meal and all three of us were quite pleased. Afterward, we went to The Meatball Shop to get ice-cream sandwiches. mmmh, they were so yummy! Johnny and I shared a brownie/caramel sandwich and Madeline got a Chocolate chip cookie/caramel sandwich. It was such a pleasant evening (the weather in NY is currently fantastic!) with great food and excellent company.

trends.

I'm usually not big on trends, just because I know they won't work on me, and high heel clogs were no different—or so I thought. A few weeks ago I saw a women crossing Centre st and low and behold, she was wearing the coveted Chanel clogs! Then, while shoe shopping at home, my mom found these beautiful Jeffrey Campbell clogs! Boasting a 5.25 inch heel, the shoes are so comfy yet chic and urban! However, I've had so many issues with them. The first pair I got literally broke as I tried them on to show my mom! The second pair broke after wearing them once. I'm incredibly upset because the shoes are amazing and none of my friends have clogs, yet.

Weekly adventures with Madeline. Williamsburg edition.

This week, it was Madeline's turn to choose the restaurant for our weekly lunch, so she chose Pies 'n Thighs in Williamsburg. It's a little hole in the wall filled with Southern cooking and plenty of it! We both had the chicken biscuit which has a strangely delicious combination of honey butter and hot sauce. It was divine. Then, for dessert, we had to have a slice of pie, so we chose guava. It was slightly strange, but also delicious. There was a guava jelly layer on top of ricotta cheese-esque filling and a flaky crust.

and then once we got out of the subway back in Manhattan, we were greeted by a huge movie set for a Ginnifer Goodwin movie—it took up two blocks!