Brooklyn Flea: Part 2

So I do sort of realize that the title of this post is a bit of a misnomer since I'm not actually writing anything about the Brooklyn Flea in this post... but it's really just a continuation of that wonderful day I spent in Brooklyn when I'd set out to visit the Brooklyn Flea. :)

The one that my friend, Steph, and I went for was the Williamsburg Flea which was right at the waterfront so there was a fantastic view of Manhattan at the pier.

THE skyline photo! :D I suppose this is probably where artists stand when they paint the Manhattan skyline.

photos taken by Stephanie. :)

(dress: Need Supply Co., blazer: random store in Tokyo quite a long time ago, mocassins: Aldo, bag: Le Mode Accessories)

I bought these Aldo mocassins very early on when I was in NYC and they ended up being my staple shoes for a large part of the trip.

Outfit shot for Steph! :) Aren't her oxfords darling? She had the cutest collection of them!

Next we continued our exploration of Brooklyn and managed to locate Blue Bottle Coffee ! I'd read so many glowing reviews about it so I was really happy when we managed to find it.

(Doesn't that look incredible? I have NO IDEA what those are though. ;p So if anyone does, please enlighten me! I just love the way they've been displayed against that gorgeous blue wall beneath a mysterious spotlight.)

A technique they use to make 'Drip Coffee'. Basically using filter paper to distill the goodness out of those coffee beans with hot water. I didn't actually try any of the coffee (because I'd run out of money after getting a dress HEHEHE) but the aroma of the entire place was so lovely.

Berry St. Brooklyn

160 Berry Street, Brooklyn NY

M-F 7-7, Sat & Sun 8-7

If you're ever in Brooklyn, this is definitely a place to check out! I love everything about it - the interior decoration and design... their minimalist and clean branding... Do check out their website and take a look at the really cute illustrations they have!

One thing I really love about Brooklyn is how so many buildings look so different from each other on the outside. None of that mass produced homogeneity.

It was really funny because Steph and I were searching high and low for THE famous vintage clothing store, Beacon's Closet, which is like THE HAVEN for vintage shoppers in Brooklyn. We happened to walk down a street and the first thing we saw was that sign and we went, "EW. What a scary looking baby!!!", not realizing that... THAT WAS THE STORE. ;p

203 Grand Street

(between Bedford and Driggs Avenue)

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Bird is one of the nicest stores I've been into. It carries all sorts of incredible brands such as Alexander Wang, A.P.C, Tsumori Chisato... basically all the most awesome and expensive brands. Even though I usually end up feeling semi-crappy after, I do love going into stores that sell gorgeous things simply because... I love looking at things that are beautiful. :) It does make me feel happy...until I pick up a price tag. But this store also has really nice interior decor; notice the hanging lights? I love how cozy it makes the place feel.

See why I love Brooklyn so much? :)

Brooklyn Flea: Part 1

One of the best weekends I had in New York City was the one when I traveled to Brooklyn with my friend, Stephanie, to check out the Brooklyn Flea. I'd heard so much about it and was sooo excited to check it out and visit Brooklyn for the first time!

Steph and I started out the day with a DELICIOUS Rio Bowl from Juicy Lucy, a teeny little coffee shop tucked away in the heart of the East Village.

Juicy Lucy

85 Ave A

New York, NY 10009

The Rio Bowl is a MUST HAVE if you're ever able to pop by the shop. It's an absolutely phenomenal bowl of yummy granola and sliced bananas, topped off with a refreshing blend of acai berry smoothie. It was SOSOSO refreshing; every bite felt like a fresh burst of healthy goodness and it was the perfect start to a Sunday morning. I could eat that every day of the week (just that I was too lazy to wake up early for breakfast. SIGH!). I miss it so much now!

Funnily enough on that day, the L subway to Brooklyn wasn't in operation (it's the most direct way to get to Bedford Avenue and just ONE stop away from my dorm!) so we had to take long arduous route which included switching a couple of times on the subway and then eventually taking a shuttle bus to our destination. It was funny how we waited at what we hope was the shuttle bus stop and the longer we waited, the more people came along asking us if we were also waiting for the shuttle to Bedford Ave so we weren't the only clueless souls there.

One the bus, we sat behind the sweetest little pup and his owner. That doggy was just the best-behaved dog ever! Not a barf, pip or squeak; just doeful curious eyes that stared right back at you. If I ever had a dog, I'd want one like him... just so I could bring him along with me when I go shopping and he wouldn't cause any trouble or attract any unwanted attention.

PEEK-A-BOO~~!

So happy when I saw this sight. :D What could be more perfect that people lounging on a field beside the flea market enjoying the gorgeous spring weather, munching on their lunches and having a good chat with each other? A sight like this just calms me down.

There were so many incredible stalls at the flea market, selling all sorts of items ranging from conventional ones such as jewelry/vintage clothes... to really niche-market items such as well... LIGHTBULBS for one, wacky furniture... BOTTLES... type stamps... you name it, there was probably a stall that had it.

How cute are these scrabble rings! :D Probably highly DIY-able too.

Steph at the lightbulb stall!

GRUNGE-Y SESAME STREET LAMP COVER!! I took this pic really to show my sis since we're both mega fans of Sesame Street. Cookie Monster and Ernie FTW!! Not an Elmo fan at all. (Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Why does everyone like Elmo?!? He's small and whiny. Like the kind of guy you'd never want to date.)

Lunch was a delicious grilled cheese sandwich! Oh did I forget to mention? There were also a ton of food stalls! Some sold drinks like Lemonade amongst other more unique concoctions... others sold sandwiches...burgers...fries...pizzas... and I think there were frozen bananas/chocolate covered bananas being sold. YUMM.

I'm not usually a fan of cheese but I happen to LOVE grilled cheese sandwiches! Maybe because they add in other stuff like onions and herbs that flavor the cheese such that the original cheese flavor isn't so strong and all you really taste is a gooey salty crispy goodness.

We sat on the field by the side of the market and LOUNGED. :)

Me and my dear friend, Steph. She's one of my classmates from the Graphic Design course and I'm soso happy I met her! :) We both ended up walking around the quaint and quiet(er) streets of Brooklyn but that'll be for the next post.

I know this is a little voyeuristic of me but really, I just wanted to capture the feeling that was presented by this scene at that particular moment in time. It would be nice to live in Brooklyn next time. :) Something to work towards in the future.

I just think that every Sunday should be like this.

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.

why, hello stranger

It's been ages, I know. :P And I seem to always start off a post with something along those lines! And end off with a rambling paragraph about how school sucks and there's never any time for anything else. Quite EEEEYSH I know, but I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. 2.5 weeks to my finals for the year and I'm taking a break looking at photos taken in these past few months (soooooo many soooo many) to break the monotony of the day.

I left off at Hong Kong, Dec 2010, so that's where I'll continue from! :)



Say hello to Brownie. He's the adorable mangly furball of a POODLE who belongs to my aunt! I stayed with her when I was in HK over the holidays and got quite acquainted with her THREE cutie patuties. He's my faaaaaavorite. :)



Here's his older brother, Chomper, who is also about half his size. Funny how things work out in life, no?

I tried to get a shot of the youngest one, who's also a poodle, and darker brown but he was ALWAYS moving so most of the shots are blurred. Maybe one semi-clear one will pop up in the folders soon. ;p

A visit to HK is never complete without a walk through the market/street stalls (and of course, the market shot is a must).







So there was this particularly famous Dimsum restaurant that my bf kept saying we had to try because not only was it supposed to be fabulous grub it's also really CHEAP. It opens at 10am on weekdays and thinking we'd be there earlier to beat the crowds, we strolled over at 10.30. THIS WAS THE SCENE. :(((( And I never did get to try the super dimsum from there!

There was, however, lots of this:

(Pork Chop bun!)

And this:

(Left: Bo Lor Pao! something like Pineapple Bun but there's nothing Pineapple flavored about it... Right: One of the boy's favorite street snacks. It's really hard to pronounce...something like Gai Dan Zai..? Egg Puff Waffle. Pretty nice when it's hot but a little on the bland side for me.)

(In Mongkok)

Here's chomper saying "Night, night!".