A Tree Does Grow in Brooklyn. Actually Lots of Trees

My daughter & I managed to make our yearly trip to NYC this past week.  Needing to get away and de-stress I thought the Big Apple might help take my mind off of recent sad events for a bit.  We usually go to sample sales, hit the bead stores for supplies, and spend Saturday morning at the Garage Flea looking for steampunk parts.  But we've been doing this for a few years now and each year we get braver and venture farther out.  This year my daughter wanted to go to the popular Brooklyn Flea.  I've never been to Brooklyn.

A  cross between a flea market and a craft show, The Brooklyn Flea also has great food. We never did get the name of the vendor whose donuts were "life changing."  Lunch was a margarita pizza and the best limeade.  One vendor had some steampunk jewelry similar to ours.  And we saw lots of vintage clothes.  Actually several women attending the flea were wearing vintage clothes. Yeah recycling!

The sample sales we stopped at this time were all in the Soho district.  Sadly they were all at high end trendy boutique shops.  You know, those minimalist stores that have 20 items all between size 0 and size 2.  Very intimidating.  We actually did quite well at Macy's and their 50% and 70% off racks.

But...we bought the best shoes at United Nude, a great shoe store on Bond St.  Also minimalist and totally black, the shop has its shoes backlit with rainbow colors.  But there were actual customers in there and the staff was very friendly.  Shoes were 60% off.  While not as colorful as my Irregular Choice shoes (we managed to stop there too), United Nude shoes are architecturally unique.
 And I can't believe how comfortable they are.

I managed to snag a couple of tickets to How the Succeed in Business without Really Trying.  Yes, this musical has been around forever.  But I really wanted to see John Larroquette.  He can't really sing and doesn't do much dancing but he was a hoot as the CEO of World Wide Widgets.  Oh, and Daniel Radcliffe had the starring role as Finch.  Harry Potter actually can sing and dance.

All in all it was a good trip.  We only got lost once on the subway.  We found out that even when the local isn't running the express doesn't pick up the missed stops.  We rode around for awhile.

We walked up to 50th and bought very expensive chocolates. On the way we passed the entrance to the Empire State Building and noticed a SWAT team in front complete with large black van, rifles, and dogs.  I asked the doorman if something was going on.  "No," he said.  "That's the travelling SWAT team.  They'll stay here awhile and then move on to another (undisclosed) location."  He made it sound like they might go into a song and dance routine.

We also passed the New York Public Library.  I was tempted to stop in and look around but my daughter spotted and 80% off sign on a shop across the street.  Maybe next year.

We even made it up to Central Park this time.

Finding a reasonably priced hotel gets harder each year--especially if you want clean and bedbug free.  This time we stayed at NYMH on 32nd St., about 2 blocks from Penn Station in the section called Korea Way. The shops and banks there all have English & Korean signs. We were happy to find the rooms air conditioned, upgraded and clean and the beds comfortable. Breakfast was included in the price of the room. If they don't raise their prices, we'll go back there next year.  The hotel is next door to the Paris Baguette, a bakery carrying a combination of Parisian and Korean pastry.  Really, check out the website.  


Each year I like to see what kinds of jewelry people are wearing in NY and check out the jewelry stores looking for trends.  This year we found a row of 3 or 4 shops selling Asian imported jewelry in wholesale lots.  This jewelry is BIG.  Do you think this could be the latest trend?  If it is, I'm really not ready for it.