NYC Snapshots: AKA Dogs, Mirror-Selfies, and Shit I Bought

I've really got to try and take more relevant pictures. I don't like to play tourist and stand outside taking photos of tall buildings and junk...but there's probably a happy medium between that and.... this. But nevertheless...

Hometown Barbeque in Red Hook. I don't know if it was actually amazing, or if it was just really, really good and I was really, really hungry, but either way I recommend it. I do have a picture of the food but I don't think the suave city boys making gross chewing faces in it would appreciate my posting it. So instead, here is their rather charming bathroom.

I met an excitable Boston Terrier named Liam who lived in a curiously long apartment with his two dogfathers. He is the source of the aforementioned dog drool, btw.

I decided at some point that it would be funny to text pictures of dogs to my husband all weekend, just to be annoying. I will spare you most of them. This dude was cute though. Travis suggested I start a tumblr called "Dogs of New York".... I assured him that that must already exist.

Last time I was in NYC I went to Purl Soho, which is a gorgeous shop, but I thought this time I'd mix it up and go to Downtown Yarns. In my light-packing frenzy I hadn't brought any yarn or needles which was obviously foolish. I purchased both. This is Madelinetosh DK in the rather amazing Cosmos colorway.

I also bought this necklace and a random-ish gift shop- I'm fairly sure it's not a real porcupine quill, I think it's burnt wood. Pretty, though.

This is what I look like hiding in the dressing room at Urban Outfitters so I can sit down without being cold or spending money- not an easy thing to do in Manhattan.

An amazing elderberry-lime soda, the best of a great many drinks I purchased in order to use various coffee-shop restrooms. Notice the self-defeating-ness of this strategy. Regardless, I now have the drive to learn to make "mocktails" even though I can't say that word without gagging on the tweeness a little.

On Tuesday I had some time to kill around the garment district so I stopped into Kinokuniya, a huge English/Japanese bookstore with an amazing English-language fashion section (because duh) and a fabulous Japanese-language craft section, including these obscenely adorable needlefelting kits. I didn't buy one...but it took a lot of willpower. (There's another Kinokuniya just outside of Portland, in a big Asian grocery store, but I'd only ever made it over there once or twice and I think it was almost exclusively Japanese.)

This is Vinegar Hill House, which was literally across the street from the apartment my friend and I were renting (which is remarkable because there is NOTHING else in that part of town, heh.) It's hard to see, but above that weird wheel thing is a window made of agate slices. I am completely obsessed with it. Definitely having a pretty rock phase, lately. Also, amazing cornbread.

Plane pup! A satisfying end to my dog-pic-texting (poor Travis.) And no, I don't know why he was allowed to fly all free like that- maybe an anxiety dog? But he behaved like a total champ and deserved that seat to himself.

Packing List: 3 nights in NYC

I have to admit, I am absolute crap at packing light. This is mostly because I'm a klutz, and by the time I take an item of clothing off, there's a pretty good chance it's not fit for another day's wear. So even though I fawn over other blogger's "capsule wardrobes" and what-have-you... there's just no chance I'm going to manage a 3-day trip with one pair of pants and two shirts.

But still, I love peeking into other people's suitcases, and as long as it still fits in the carry-on.... hey!

The list:
- Comfy jeans (for the plane)
- Black jeans
- Blue jeans
- 3 tees
- 1 tank
- 1 flannel shirt
- 2 sweaters
- 1 hoodie (for the plane)
- Leggings (for sleeping)
- Leather jacket
- Water resistant jacket (for the day(s) it was supposed to rain)
- Knee-high boots
- Black flats, just in case
- Scarf
- Hat (I ended up bringing a yellow one and a brown one, rather than black)
- All the requisite socks & underthings

If I'd wanted to pack lighter I could've reworn more of the clothes and only brought one jacket, but even so all of this fit into a carry-on easily.

Other tips for hopefully-not-having-to-check-a-bag:
- Hoard bath & body samples like it's your job. A lot of natural-ish food stores will occasionally have them (one of the shops near me periodically does a "spa day" even where they give out a ton) and they are so great for short trips when even a little bottle full of shampoo is too much. Also hoard tiny bottles- anything that you don't have a sample size of, stick it in a tiny bottle. I even brought about 1/2 a square centimeter of liquid foundation in a tiny plastic container that once held a lotion sample.
- Bring the smallest device you can get by with. In my case, my phone was fine. It would've been nice having my laptop, but not worth the trouble.
- Leave space in your suitcase, or bring an extra bag just in case. You're probably gonna buy stuff, c'mon.


Here's how the outfits played out:

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Sunday night: insanely good BBQ with friends

Jacket: Theory
Shirt: OP
Jeans: Grane
Boots: Franco Sarto
Tee: BDG
Hat: a modified Bivouac

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Monday: Checking out shops, lunch with a friend. Notice the room around me getting messier as I go.

Jacket: Green with Envy (it was supposed to rain this day, though it barely did. Old coat, can't find a website.)
Sweater: Roxy
Jeans: Hollister (I can't go within 100 feet of their stores because they reek of perfume, but I found this pair used and it turns out they're crazy comfortable around the waist while still being good 'n tight. Score.)
Boots: same as above
Glasses: no clue
Hat: Corone

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Tuesday: Meetings of a secret and covert nature in the fashion district. You can't tell, but there is a small amount of dog slobber on the jeans- I TOLD you I can't be trusted to wear things twice! Luckily it wasn't very noticeable.

Sweater: ABound
Jeans: Grane again
Scarf: Collection 18
Hat: same
Boots: same
Ended up wearing the waterproof jacket again as it was lookin' mighty misty.


I'll spare you my flying outfit- let's just say I prioritize comfort, heh.

I didn't take a ton of pictures during the trip (as you may have surmised from the shitty mirror selfies, the only camera I brought was my phone- packing light, see?) but I did take a few- I'll post 'em up tomorrow :-)