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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

NYC 2012 - The Abridged Version (No, Really)


As promised, here is my NYC recap.  Lotsa pictures.  Less(ish) text.  I tried my best to edit, but there are still a ton of things to see here.  Most of the snaps are from my shopping expeditions, but contextual photos of food, drink, and the sights snuck their way in here to give you the full experience.

Most of my retail energy went into local boutiques and stuff that I can’t find at home or online, or the bricks-and-mortar shops of national brands that have very few physical stores.  And, of course, I had to get back to Uniqlo for their awesome jeans. 

Enjoy…


The bar at Shoyu, at MSP airport.





The crazy corridors of Little Italy.  Kind of like the State Fair on massive East Coast steroids and different accents.

















At Zara.


In the Zara dressing room.


Love this.  Assuming it's for heart health.





I want that outfit in the middle, head to toe.











It's Bullseye!  He's defected, heh heh.


I was excited to find the Kooples now has a (limited) US presence.  I still want the trench coat that I spied in their Paris store this Spring.


Bloomie's SoHo









































Not your typical Trader Joe's.




















I was not allowed to shop for a kitty.  Sigh.








To make up for no real cat, I got these smoking slippers instead.





The NYC "yard sale."























This kid cracked me up.  He was giving decidedly unsolicited business tips to the sales guy.








I think DH was relieved this store was closed by the time we saw it.

















Hey, it's shopping, too.


Damn straight!














I like the limited signage.  Possibly a zoning or building-specific ordinance.


Again, no screaming ticky-tacky signs.  Simple and tasteful.

















I walked out of here empty-handed this time.  Be very impressed.








Yes, of course we own that rabbit.


Uniqlo.






Does the picture look random and disheveled?  That's how I felt both at Zara and here at Uniqlo.  Long lines, too many clothes, and basically a rushed experience overall.  I didn't see more than half the offerings due to the crowds and my sanity.  Total drive-by shopping.





My husband and I celebrated an anniversary while in NYC.  Cheers!























I spared you all the taxidermy at this lovely lunch spot.  Possibly the best Bloody Mary ever.  And bacon-wrapped prunes.  Score!
































I pretty much shopped until we had to catch our return flight.





The view from our friends' new digs.


Well, we broke with tradition this time around.  Not only did we abstain from our usual liquor beverage at the aeropuerto (hey, 10AM flight), but we tried out a new place.  Shoyu not only offers sustenance, but it also has iPads located at every table, picking up on a trend I've seen in other spots.  In fact, you can scroll through the menu and order on the darn Apple product.  A novel and fun way to get your brioche and tomato juice.

My friend Annie, who flew in to meet up with us and our NYC-based pals, has always been my retail partner in crime.  I was so happy that she and I were finally able to shop the Big Apple together.  One of the stores she brought me into was All Saints, a place I’ve kind of passed off as not my style.  For no really good reason.  I was glad we ventured in there, as I realized I do kinda like their stuff, and their store design appealed to the goth-y music lover in me.

I was delighted to find the SoHo Bloomingdale’s.  Carved out of various older buildings, I enjoyed this reinterpretation of a department store.  Well-edited selections got a much warmer backdrop than the typical mall digs of endless floor plates and canned HVAC smell.

On this trip, we finally made it over to Brooklyn – yeah!  We spent a day walking through DUMBO, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, and other neighborhoods.  Plenty of good stuff to be had across the river.  And on our last night, we met our friend K, who'd just relocated from Minneapolis, for drinks and ice cream. 

DH and I both agree we need to make our NYC pilgrimage annually.  The Twin Cities has quite a lot going on for a metro of its size; new places open as quickly as other establishments call it quits.  So you can imagine how insane that rate multiplies in a huge-opolis like New York.  Plus, well, it's flippin' New York.  We visited a few of last year's haunts and were introduced to many new finds thanks to our friends L & S, who now live in a sweet apartment with fabulous views of Wall Street (and from whose balcony my closing image was snapped).

Overall, a very successful trip.  Unlike the last one, I didn't almost kill myself.  I know, hard to tell from the sheer amount of pictures crammed into this post.  We struck a nice balance of eating, drinking, shopping, seeing friends, and just meandering all over the place.  These images only show part of all we absorbed.  I've got a belly full of good food and drink, a transit pass with $7 on it, and a tall shopping bag stuffed with great purchases to tide me over til next year's visit.  

See you next summer, NYC.  I've still got unfinished biz with you...





All images:  my own

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