On Thursday Leslie and I took off very early in the morning to fly from California to NY to meet up with a few of our friends from craftsquad for the first time! At JFK we met up with Giao and Yvonne. Then caught our first yellow cab and headed off to meet Hope, Jess, and Dawn who were waiting for us near the hotel. It was so exciting to have everyone together for the first time. Everyone brought the most thoughtful gifts. Jess gave us all fabulous goodie bags, and her sweet mom knit us all scarves, Yvonne brought us European magazines, Giao brought specialty goodies from the south, Leslie gave the cutest notebook sets, and Hope a beautiful print of this fabulous keepsake collage for each of us.
We were also so lucky to have such great tour guides between Dawn and Hope! They both gave us great tips about the city. We also had this wonderful tour book that Hope had from a previous NY trip, that we sent through the mail to each other, then wrote in, and dog-eared the pages. We were so well equipped!
We spent our first day in NY exploring the shops in SoHo. I instantly fell in love with our first stop Dean & DeLuca. They had the most delicious assortment of treats! I tried a slice of their potato pizza it was divine! Afterwards we hit Kate's paperie, and almost fell over gawking at all of the beautiful artistisan papers.
There were so many brilliant shops within walking distance, which was coupled by original work by artists selling their goods outside. My favorite purchases made in NY ended up being things we bought off the street! I loved all of the colors of the buildings and the bustling vibe of the city. It was so incredible to watch the sea of yellow cabs flooding the streets, posh street-wear, bicycles with baskets, and the vast accessibly of everything!
We were really fortunate to spend our second day at an event in central park called Be Creative New York. Jess had found an ad for it in Country Home magazine, just as we were planning our trip there. Just stepping in the park was fascinating to me, but actually going to something creative with the likes of Mary Jane Butters, and Rachel Ashwell as they demonstrated in small tents... really took the cake! We got huge orange goodie bags filled with books and magazines, and kitchen-aide swag! Our group had fun wandering through the event, some knitting, some getting free massages, and taking photographs. Jess introduced herself to Mary Jane Butters who was so very sweet, and welcomed her with a nice hug! After we left the event, I was so excited to get to visit Strawberry Fields, John Lennon's monument... and one of my favorite childhood icon's, Alice in Wonderland's central park sculpture. On our way to the sculpture, we saw quite a few interesting sights... college guys with lewd sayings painted on their bodies dressed in speedos for fraternity rushing (I don't know who was more embarrassed as they serenaded us with a backstreet boys song), a brief glimpse of Ethan Hawk walking past us, and a little bulldog riding a skateboard! Later that evening we took a cab to Little Italy for the yummiest dinner, bought Torrone from a vendor off the street, and looked through some fun NY tourist shops... and even got a little glimpse into China Town.
It really was a whirlwind weekend, our last day we went to the Avenue of the Americas to visit M&J trimmings and had a slice of NY pizza before going back to fetch our bags from the hotel to go back to the airport. The time really flew past us, and although I was really missing home I wish I could've spent more time hanging out with this lovely group of women, they all rock!
Hope, Leslie, Jess, & Giao striking a pose for me on our walk over to little Italy. :) |
| posted by Liquid Sky Arts at 8:54 AM |
