i'm gonna start off by answering some FAQs. i traveled with my friend jill (but, her trip was for business reasons). we stayed with our friend, karla. and no, unfortunately, i didn't find a job while i was out there. lol it would have been nice to rub shoulders with the right people, so that i could find a job and move out there, but I was too busy living life up on my vacation and having fun. that might have to be accomplished on another trip out there. hee hee!
we arrived early thursday morning, literally dropped our stuff off at karla's and went right back out the door to start our adventure, stat! we traveled with her to work and visited the century 21 right next to her building. a pretty big one, but not as big as the one we visited with elaine, janice's friend. i gotta find out where that one was. i just remember we crossed a bridge to get there. anyway, i digress... and so our shopping spree started. we both indulged in our share of cute leggings, and i bought a pair of isotoner gloves to protect my hands from the ny winter weather. thursday was the coldest day while we were there, so what i call my "ny jacket" definitely came in handy. (i call it my ny jacket b/c i got it in ny a couple years ago at the triple 5 soul store, and it has back pack straps...sooo new york! lol check out my "brr...it's cold in here" blog to see what i'm talking about.) we then ventured off to soho for more shopping and studying for jill's t-shirt line. boy, did i shop!! i totally did damage that day. i think i bought something at every single necessary in ny. hahaha!! ohhh and i got to visit michael k. and too bad for the man i don't have...they were having a 60% off sale for all clothing. i don't know what it is but i love shopping for boys. i guess i like dressing them up, in what i like to see them wear. oh well! i got myself and my goddaughter some cute jackets. it was a little too crazy in there b/c of all the inchicks going CRAZY, i wasn't able to take my time and shop around. but, we did see ardiana from "the hills" while shopping.
that night we had reservations for buddakan, next door to the chelsea market. i am in no way a chef, but i can cook for myself and you too, if i like you. lol anyway, i loveeee the food network and love cooking shows. one of my favorites is top chef. and right now top chef: all stars has people from every season competing. my favorite is mr dale tale. yes he is filipino and i gotta support my fellow islander, but he is soooo freaking awesome. his recipes are awesome, both complex and simple at the same time and look hella good. anthony bourdain explained one of his dishes as "late night comfort stoner food," which translates to me as hella good. but, in general, whenever i'm really interested in someone (or something) i look them up and see what research i can do on them. in his case, i found out that he works at buddakan, so i was hoping to catch a glimpse of him while we were there. if he came out to my table to wish me a happy birthday, that would have been the best bday ever. but, the staff informed me that he had went home for the day, which was completely fine b/c the food was AMAZING. every dish that came out delivered a food-gasm i wasn't expecting. oh and i discovered a rather refreshing cocktail as we waited for our table. they called it a sake-tini. it had cucumber vodka and sake. it's like the drink was MADE for me, sake and vodka my two favorite alcohols combined. i could totally drink those on a hot day by the pool or on a beach. so we had a couple of drinks by the bar (some free btw..woo hoo for me and talking to bartenders), had an INCREDIBLE dinner, and discovered that the restaurant we sat in was where SATC filmed the engagement party for big and carrie...totally the icing on the cake. me and jill are big satc fans...i'm carrie, so it just seemed like everything fell into place. and, if you watch top chef, angelo has also worked there, which also reaffirmed my wishes to eat there. sorry i didn't take pictures of the food we were soo excited we just ate it as soon as each dish arrived. but, this has been added to my must visit places in ny.
the next day, jill and i got up late but traveled over to the lower east side. dale lives here so i was hoping i could see him walking around. lol stalker status. i wanted to eat at clinton street bakery, but the wait was too long. it's a small place as it is, and i'm sure ever since they've been featured on the food network it's gotten even more packed. i'm glad to say i knew about the place before that. but i was happy just grabbing a scone and being on our merry way. our next stop in the les was sugar sweet sunshine. my most favorite cupcakery ever. my sister and i are huge cupcake fans and i'd say this is at the top of both our lists. jill and i had one each at the shop and i grabbed 4 to go, so that we could have some and share at the house.
we shopped around at the little boutiques and wondered into the steve madden outlet? i guess that's considered an outlet store the only other one i've been to like that was in san diego. i totally forgot it was there but the sale shoes were 2 for $50. i found a pair and so did jill, so we each got our shoes for $25. what a steal considering i found them on another site on sale for $40, originally $80. we then traveled back into soho and did more shopping.
for dinner, we ate at sylvia's, a soul food joint. the food was ok. i wouldn't eat there again. and, that night karla took us to a new club. i don't even remember what it was called. the music was alright, the spot was a little small...but i had fun. i made friends with the bartender again and he gave us a couple of free rounds.
the next day we ventured over to brooklyn to check out the brooklyn flea. i'd say that was the best flea market i've ever been to. i found myself a cute necklace (shown in the brrrr...it's cold in here blog) and some cool bracelets made of vinyl records. and jill got some cute ass short heel red ankle boots. i'd say she got the best deal that day. i'd say this is also a good place to start selling 45threads. the price of a vendor booth was reasonable. and this is the exact type of exposure that could get the 45threads name started off right.
that night, karla took us out to her friend's spot called, taj. a different feel than the ny clubs that i've visited before. but our hosts showed us a good time and we definitely had fun.
the next day we tried to eat at serendipity, but as always it was PACKKKKEEDDDDD! we should've made reservations but again we got up hella late. we wandered around dylan's candy shop for some time and got a few souvenirs.
on our last night, like true new yorkers, we ordered in. we ordered jimmy's? i forget what it was called...a bbq spot. totally good. everyone's food was GOOOD!! we ate like the heffers we are and were happy. it was the night before valentine's day, so we were also entertained by karla's upstairs neighbors gettin it on! at least someone was! lmao!
jill...we always have good times together. thank you for traveling with me for my bday.
karla...thank you thank you thank you for the hospitality. another visit is in the making...get ready!
Here are some pictures of the weekend.
Yesss...finally, buddakan!
Does this scenery look familiar?
My birthday dessert:
Me and Jill totally full from our delicious meal!
Sugar Sweet Sunshine! Pistachio and Ooey Gooey
carrot, red velvet, vanilla w/chocolate almond frosting, and pistachio
Playing around in dylan's
Gigantic Crumb's cupcake
View from Karla's office
