just because :)

Have been pretty slow on the updates but it's really because all the projects are suddenly PILING UP!! :((( The first two weeks were incredibly relaxed and I think my classmates and I were all taking things slow and easy since there weren't any real deadlines given. But suddenly, there's only a little more than a week left (which makes me very very sad) and all the deadlines are coming fast and furious. Some of the projects I'm currently up to my neck with include: completing a Children's book cover, finishing up a flip book (which was INCREDIBLY tedious but am looking forward to seeing the end product! :D), starting on posters for Coney Island and Frank Gehry - architect extraordinaire... and there are a couple more. You get the idea. Basically am feeling bogged down by work now.

But, just because it's something I love doing, I went into Urban Outfitters today and found a perfect white maxi dress. :D

Reformed by the Reformation Mayfair Dress, Urban Outfitters

I tried on both XS and S and while XS is probably the perfect fit, it's just a little tooooo snug. I worry about what might happen if I eat too much or gain just a bit more weight. It's that precarious. ;p So I'm thinking of getting it in size S which is definitely looser but then I'll still be able to wear it to a buffet brunch or after 3 kids. Hopefully. :) I'm trying to think long term here.

Tomorrow after class, I think I'll try out a dessert place called Momofuku . I've heard so much about it and it's so near my dorm! I've consciously been staying away from dessert places because I've been trying to save money (well, more like spend it all on clothes rather than food) but now that I'm nearing the end of my stay here, I think I should work in a dessert place a day. :) Starting with the East Village and starting tomorrow.

xx

from east village to west

Last Sunday, my roomie Sabrina and I traipsed all the way from our dorm to the heart of the East Village, all the way across to the West Village and then back again to our dorm in the heat of the scorching sun. I'd wanted to check out the hotel that my mum will be staying at when she comes to visit (in just a little over a week!) which is all the way over on West Eleventh. While I remember the heat to be pretty unbearable and nastily reminiscent of that of Singapore's (UGHHH I did not come to NYC to face the same sort of heat!), the afternoon's walk was made much more pleasant with the funky sights of the East Village and slow siesta feel of the West Village.

Funky Graffiti. I love spontaneous urban art like this. :)

Originally we'd planned on checking out the famous Cafe Habana for lunch but when we strolled over at 1pm, it was PACKED to the brim. We waited for like 10minutes and they kept telling us that the 'hostess' would be back soon (from where, huh??) to put us on the waiting list blahblah. The 'hostess' never showed up and our growling tummies lead us elsewhere. SIGH.

But we ended up at a quaint little cafe not very far down! I love how there are always great places to eat at practically every single street so it really doesn't matter if you don't manage to find a seat at an intended place because there's another great, albeit relatively undiscovered place just around the corner.

Our brunch at:

Prince St. Cafe

26 Prince Street

My "New Yorker" (it was literally called that) brunch special. AWESOME eggs benedict with scrummy hollandaise sauce. Only thing that wasn't fantastic was the bread that was crunchy at the sides but almost impossible to tear into pieces in your mouth if you aren't a dinosaur. So...you'd probably wanna help your granny with that if she ends up ordering it.

Sabrina's vegetarian sandwich. Yeah, she likes to eat vegetarian stuff. Like my sis. Go figure these people out. ;) I'd never foresake my bacon.

Fruit bowl for dessert! That was part of the brunch special. I relish every opportunity to sink my teeth into some yummy fruit when I'm over here... I love how Whole Foods Market has such fat juicy strawberries all the time... but that's a story for another day.

Walked by some street stalls. This one (without a visible owner) sold movie Scripts! I was so tempted to get the one for Dead Poet's Society (one of my favorite movies!) and The Social Network.

Isn't it fun how there are all these stalls along the side of the road that sell just about ANYTHING? You could get all the furniture you need for a new apartment just off the sidewalk... add a new coat of paint of your choice and it's good to go. :D

Quickie outfit shot taken outside our dorm (photos of me taken by Sabrina and vice versa!).

(top and bag: Urban Outfitters, skirt: American Eagle Outfitters, shoes: Aldo)

So I have recently discovered the awesomeness that is American Eagle Outfitters thanks to a fellow coursemate whose entire outfit that day comprised of A.E.O wear. I've never ventured into it before because I thought it would be something like a Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch; just full of generic tank tops and hot shorts for summer drenched in cologne. But A.E.O had some pretty nice stuff! :D And the offshoot brand, Aerie, has such a nice collection of nightwear and lingerie for really reasonable prices too. And no, no one's paying me to say all this. X) I do recommend you check it out for some pretty summerwear and lingerie at decent prices. When I saw this skirt in the store, it really reminded me of some sort of whimsical oil painting on a canvas. I suppose the beautiful Kandinsky paintings were still fresh in my mind from last Friday when we went to the Guggenheim (sososososo good. One of the best museum experiences ever!) so I pounced on it. Imagine my happiness when I found out that EVERYTHING was 30% OFF!

Sabrina in her new shades that she scored off Prince Street at a random stall. She has such a great collection of colorful print clothes.

And before I end off this post, take a look at what I found nestled in a RECORD STORE.

JUST ABOUT THE FATTEST GREY CAT ALIVE!

We went into a random record store in Greenwich Village and as I walked down the aisle not really looking for anything in particular, something MOVED out of the corner of my eye. I nearly choked on my own saliva when I saw this monstrous fur ball right in the center of the store. It was probably the most grouchy cat I'd ever seen. -___- But cute in its own way.

Oh wow, I was so tired today but somehow at night I never really want to sleep.

loving each day

Hi there, from NYC! :) A week has gone by already and gosh what a week it has been. I'll be in NYC attending a summer program at Parsons for the month and ahhhh what an experience this has been so far! =) If you haven't heard of it, Parsons has what they call 'Summer Intensive Studies' every year during the summer holidays (basically summer school) and the variety of courses they have on offer is really incredible! They run the gamut from your awesome design courses such as interior design (which I really do want to take one day XD), industrial design, fashion design (of course), graphic design... to the more esoteric ones such as footwear design and I think they offer stuff like art history as well. :) The one I'm taking is Graphic Design. I was sooo happy when I randomly googled a few months back and realized that the time frame for the course fit exactly into my summer vacation. It's something I've always been interested in so I figured, why not give it a try now? When I'm young and malleable. And my mama was so understanding about it. Couldn't be more grateful to her for letting me experience this whole other incredible field.

So I'll be chronically my time here in bits and bobs.

This is what my dorm room looked like when I first arrived just a little over a week ago:

I was sooo excited! :) After all, I've never stayed away from home for an extended period of time by myself (since I have never even stayed at the university dorm back at home) and was really looking forward to experiencing life away from... overly concerned *coughnaggycough* parents. I'll probably take a photo again soon, maybe at the 2 week mark, just to see how my room has evolved. Mind you, now it looks... VERY LIVED IN. (My roomie's side, on the other hand, is still incredibly clean. How do people do it, honestly?)

When I first got to NY, I stayed with my mum's friend's place in Brooklyn and she was such an incredible help (she and her mum brought me to Marshall's and helped me through the maze of bed linen and pillows). I don't know what I would have done without all the help settling in (of course, the extra hands with the luggage was fantastic ;p). After checking in at the dorm, she brought me to this great Italian restaurant in Soho, called Il Corallo.

Il Corallo Trattoria

176 Prince Street

New York

NY 10012

I wish I could give a really nice caption of the dishes above as they were written out on the menu but I was too busy eating to remember to take note of the descriptions.

Honestly, that ravioli was one of the BEST mushroom ravioli I've had EVER. I don't even like creamy pasta usually because I've got mixed responses to cheese heh, but this one was simply DIVINE. I mean it. Every bit was a perfect blend of not-too-cheesy-yet-rich cream sauce and mushroom with chewy slices of ravioli. MMMM. I'm definitely going back there to have this dish at least once or twice more if I can. :D

(Soho is just full of quaint little boutiques like this.)

And here are my roomies! :)

(Sisi and Sabrina)

So in the dorm, I stay in well, I guess you could call it a suite, with two bedrooms and two people stay in each bedroom. Sabrina is my roomie while Sisi stays in the room next door. For some reason the other bed in her room never got occupied so it's just the 3 of us for now. Given that this is the first time I'm staying in a dorm with others and how I've heard of some horror roommate stories, I'm so glad they're such lovely roommates to live with. :D They're both doing the Photography course (Sabrina's taking digital photography and Sisi's taking film photography) and the stuff they get to do sounds sooo fun. Plus, they have hardly any coursework compared to me. -__-

Isn't she gorgeous? :) Sabrina's actually a fashion photographer from Uruguay! Check out her website HERE. Her work is really professional and she is such a nice roommate to have. For one, we love the same sort of music so she's introduced me to a couple of bands (some Spanish ones), we both love Urban Outfitters (anyone who's an Urbie fan is a woman after my own heart) and among other things...she doesn't complain about the mess on my side of the room. ;)

Here's Sisi. She's from China and is currently doing her masters in engineering in Boston. Pretty awesome, no? :) That day, she had to retake photos for her class because of some little accident in the dark room. Since it had to be portrait shots, Sabrina was her model and we all went to the nearby park for an afternoon of photos and fun. :D I loooove spending time with people who are into photography. No one finds it weird when you stoop down in awkward positions to capture a shot or break off from a conversation halfway to capture something you've just seen... and no one says no when you point the camera at them. :)

top: Fancy French Cologne (check out their website! lots and lots of pretty stuff and great service. The owner, Carly is really friendly and gets back to your queries about items really quickly. Obviously I've bought quite a few items from them already), jeans: Urban Outfitters, shoes: Aldo (recent buy in NY and soooo comfy), hat: Brixton

So this hat is appearing again, but I do love it. :D I'm too lazy to learn how to do my hair into some funky style so this will have to do for now.

(Stuyvesant Park, May 2011)

Ok, I'm so tired now. The one thing I still can't get used to is waking up for 9 am classes every day so I'm really looking forward to the weekend at the moment. Lots more to come soon!

Have a great week, guys. <3