New York City Dreams

I'm now in London and it's completely fabulous (and quite rainy at the moment) so if I don't hurry up and post about New York, I'm going to forget everything that happened! We'll make this quick: New York is AMAZING. Just in case you had any doubts, believe me, it is. I spent my first day there lost, just wandering around, getting a feel for the pulse of the city and loving every beautiful second of it. I started out by the Brooklyn Bridge and wandered up Broadway until I hit Washington Square Park. Passed by this incredible DVF creation at Bloomingdale's along the way:

I also stepped into my new favorite place in the whole world: Dean and Deluca. Apparently it's a chain - I ran into a few others while in NYC, but this is seriously one of the most inspirational food spots I've seen! The cheese selection alone was enough to make me drool with delight, not to mention the produce, sauces, chocolates, meats, wines and dried fruit (pictured below)!

(Looks like I got water on the lens of my cell phone's camera...)

After that, I took a train to what Google said was the Met but instead it turned out to be a giant Macy's! I finally succumbed to asking directions, proceeded to get lost again, and finally turned up at 81st and 5th, at the steps of the famous museum - pictures of red carpets and the splendidly dressed immediately flashed through my imagination at the sight!

I spent over 2 hours browsing around - would have been longer if my feet weren't so exhausted. Here are a few of my favorites:

(Early Native American art...why scientists believe in aliens...)

(I really like the basic block canvases. I know it doesn't make much sense, but there's a dramatic simplicity to them that fascinates me.)

(More simple...)

(This is an enamel on canvas piece by Jackson Pollock from 1950 that I'm completely obsessed with. I absolutely love his work - one of my life goals is to have a huge work of his on my living room wall someday!)

(No art museum would be complete without a Rauschenberg. I wouldn't necessarily want any of his pieces for my own, but I can stand and look at them for ages - there are so many layers! I love how he used such unexpected materials.)

(Some exquisite furs from the American Woman: Shaping a National Identity exhibit. It was an incredible collection of vintage garments and I almost got kicked out for taking pictures so I just ended up sketching my inspiration. All I can say is that there will definitely be an oversize lace vest in a future LCS collection!)

(The Egypt room. Is it bad that I really want to host an event here - isn't the space perfect?)

After the Met, I wandered around Central Park for a while - really beautiful and relaxing - until a came across the boat pond. There's a little stand with seating in front of it called KnishKnosh where I stopped for ice cream and the adorable little old Ukrainian lady who ran the place ended up giving me one of her homemade muffins, drenched in whipped cream and chocolate sauce for free because she said I was pretty!

(Boat pond)

From Central Park I wandered on down to Bergdorf's. There was a huge sale so the shoe section was a literal zoo - I thus quickly proceeded to higher ground to start and the fantastic works of some of my favorite designers: Balmain, Rodarte, Burberry...

(Blurry shot of a Jil Sander coat - I love the Audrey Hepburn-esque cut and I have the perfect fabric for an LCS version!)
(This is an absolutely terrible picture, but I had to record this somehow. It's a Rodarte dress made of overworked leather and different thicknesses of tulle. In person, it's DIVINE. Priced at over $9,000. Yikes.)

From Bergdorf's I met up with Tina and we had drinks at the restaurant on the 7th floor, overlooking the park. Yummy stuff and very much needed. Then on to La Maison du Chocolat for an early dessert. I had a champagne truffle and a dark chocolate Quito and I can safely say that they were the best chocolate I've had in my life. I'm coming back someday for their hot cocoa. (Another item on the list to come back for is an espresso bar called Fika which I've heard is amazing, and the rooftop bar of the Peninsula Hotel) Then we grabbed dinner at Fig and Olive, a really well designed Italian place. Mildly overpriced, simple but insanely delicious food. I ordered the Penne Funghi Tartufo (penne with cremini mushroom, Parmesan, black truffle paste, fresh parsley and scallion) and I spent each bite mentally pinching myself it was so good. Later that night we stopped at the Charthouse on the New Jersey side for another drink. Terrible service and very strict about carding but there's a peerless view of the NYC city skyline lit up at night through the long glass window.

The next day, Tina and I hit up Canal street and breezed through the crazy madness of swarming vendors, then on to Little Italy for lunch at a family friend's restaurant, Da Giorgno's (I think). It was really cute, quite busy, and the gnocci al pesto was really good - not too rich - but the sangria was a tad weak for my taste. Hit up Lombardi's pizza the day after for lunch and yes, it is the best pizza. Kind of reminds me of my mom's :)