this time last year...

This time last year, Mitch and I were stomping around in Manhattan (or Brooklyn if we want to get ultra specific about dates). Judging from the news and weather reports, it's looking pretty damn cold in NYC (and actually, the whole of north america and canada in general) at the mo, so actually, for once, I'm glad I'm not there right now. It's definitely hammering home the fact that I really shouldn't complain about the rain that's happening in London. I've got my fingers and toes crossed that this gang of storms will bugger off soon.

Anyway, enough about the weather. It was very hard not to keep comparing this new year to last new year (apologies for banging on about it) but, I'm going to afford myself one more slice of reminiscence pie before I shut up about last year. And that slice of pie will take the form of some of the things we brought back from our holiday across the pond. Our NYC haul, if you will.

We went to a free exhibition at the NY Public Library, it was called Lunch Hour and, shockingly enough, talked you through the history of NYC lunches - from 'power lunches' to the Automat (essentially a vending machine with lunches in it). It was pretty interesting. In amongst the exhibition they had a number of old  menus from long-gone city restaurants, as well some rather amusing 1960s cookbooks and an impressive collection of kids' lunch boxes. The exhibition was also giving away recipe cards taken from the original Automat kitchens. Mitch and I picked up pumpkin pie and mac'n'cheese cards.

On our last morning in new york Mitch and I went to the Guggenheim Museum. This painting, 'Yellow Cow' by Franz Marc, is part of the museum's founding collection. I just love the cow's expression - she looks so blissfully happy. When Mitch and I first saw this painting we both turned to each and, at the same time, imitated that happy cow's expression. I couldn't leave new york without a postcard of it.

This is the cork - still in the cork screw - from the bottle of wine we had on new years eve. Call me mushy, I don't care. I think it's fun to keep it Plus, the cork bears the name of wine we drank: Smoking Loon :)

The most expensive purchase I made in New York? This leather bag from a leather stall at a flea market inside Chelsea Market on Dec 31st. I've been wearing it nearly every day for a whole year and still bloody love it. The bag gets a lot of lovely compliments and whenever any body asks me where I got it from I am immediately transported back to that flea market in the Meat Packing District.

These two prints were also purchased at the flea market sold to us by the artist herself. She takes well known paintings and adds her own little characters to them. We actually bought five of them but I think these two are my favourites. They're so weird but great - I cannot wait to be able to frame and display them properly.

We picked up a few coasters over the holiday - the beer one from Blue Smoke is a favourite.

The mug was bought at Brooklyn Flea. It was, hands down, the coolest flea market I'd ever been to and I really wanted something to commemorate that day. Can't go wrong with a good mug.

The 'greetings from' postcard I found in a lovely bookshop but can't for the life of me remember where... And just to the left of it, is our ticket to the Top of the Rock :)

After I took these pictures I realised that I forgot to include our largest purchase of the holiday. Also from the Brooklyn Flea, this awesome cushion cover which, to be honest, looks a little big for our tiny crappy sofa. However, once we eventually buy our dream sofa (it exists - I've seen it!), this cushion will look right at home.

So there you have it - our new york goodies :)

weekending

The december busyness kicked off for me this weekend what with... ★ a trip franco manca in brixton village and craft beer on friday night. ★ a day of sisterly fun at the crafty fox market followed by lunch at the joint on saturday. ★ a long over-due meet-up for dinner and drinks (and an exchange of secret santa gifts) with my old school mates on sunday. ★ Plus, I managed to squeeze in some present wrapping, finally finishing star trek voyager AND crocheting too!

Also, over the rather jam-packed weekend I managed to almost completely book-up the rest of my december which can only mean it's going to go quickly (it's already the 10th?!) so rest assured I'll be savouring every festive minute of it.

an afternoon in east

Another super sister saturday took place at the weekend - crafty goods and cocktails were on the menu.

First off we headed to the Truman Brewery near Brick Lane for the Renegade Craft Fair. I've missed it the last two years (for shame) so I was pretty stoked to have remembered this time. The upstairs bit of the old brewery was jam-packed with independent makers, artists and designers all selling quality and unique products. The amount of excellent stuff on offer was slightly overwhelming. If I hadn't restricted myself to a budget I might have gone a bit spending-crazy.

dinner print amused me greatly 

Mashka's Lion 

this stall had the best cards

these anti swallow necklaces were ace - the messages on the necklaces say 'f**k swallows' :)

I managed to get two christmas presents for other people as well as a couple of inexpensive bits and bobs for myself. I also picked up a ton of business cards for future reference (and when I get paid again). Here's what I bagged: A v.cool bookmark, this cute purse, 's is for sloth' card and two postcards from the funniest stall ever.

Other great stuff included: Ace plates from Oh no Rachio!; this vase from Scawn Studios; the mugs and illustrations of Ella Masters;  this print from Scout Editions; this ring from Moko. I really could go on forever. After two hours at the fair, my sis and I went in search of cocktails.

A short walk down the road onto shoreditch high street and we were tempted by happy hour cocktails at Barrio East. I am SO glad we went in. Not only were the cocktails very good (and cheap) but the food was lush. We ordered slightly spicy pork tacos and a massive plate of nachos (with all the trimmings). YUM. I'd definitely recommend it but get there early if you don't fancy booking a table, it got pretty busy by 8ish.

My Sunday was v.chilled - a good tidy up of the flat followed by lunch at The Joint (the obsession continues) before an evening of lazing about on the couch and a good old play with Moriarty.

south london love

Last weekend Mitch and I spent a glorious couple of days soaking up the sights of south london.

Saturday - Brixton
Well, yes, we do live in Brixton so most saturdays do start there but this weekend was different as the Crafty Fox Market was in town. Taking up its regular occupancy in the Dogstar, it was packed with a fabulous variety of designer/makers. My sister and I spent a good couple of hours perusing the stalls. She got a few cards and I picked up this lovely necklace (below) from Kate Rowland and bought this plate from JimbobArt for a friend's birthday. Had I had more money I would've splashed out on one of these tees from Skev. A delightful day as ever. If you missed it this time, worry not. I do believe there's going to be another one before Christmas.

Saturday Night - Peckham
Mitch and I headed to The Gowlett for pizzas (it's a nice old boozer and the pizzas were very tasty but they did take about 50 mins to arrive) before heading to the The Montpelier for a friends' birthday. Leaving the chilled-out relaxed atmosphere of the gowlett and arriving at the completely over-crowed Montpelier was a bit of rude awakening. We opted to stand outside until we were ushered in at 10:30 at which point it was so crowded inside there wasn't really anywhere to stand. Safe to say, I don't think I'll be going back there again on a saturday night. The evening picked up when we moved onto Canavan's pool hall. A bizarre little set-up with a bar area, dance floor and, surprisingly enough, a pool hall at the back. The perfect place as it provided a whole new activity (aside from just sitting down) for those who didn't fancy dancing! When we eventually departed for home the night bus was about a 15 min journey. Bliss.

image source

Sunday - Forest Hill
Having been wanting to go for over a year, Mitch and I finally got ourselves over to The Horniman Museum. It's a lovely little place with a very interesting collection. We took a wander around its pretty gardens - reading all about the various plants they grow and how they're used in medicine - before heading inside to look at the natural history stuff. For obvious reasons it's nowhere near as grand as the NHM at south ken but it has some great specimens including the famous Walrus. The main bit is free entry and as the museum is only a 20 min bus ride from Brixton station I'd highly recommend it for all south londoners :)

Wednesday - Camberwell.
Two nights ago, the lovely Jo organised a south london bloggers meet up at The Tiger. Amid ale, chips and yarn, the seven of us - Jess, Siobhan, Jo, Amy, Michelle, Leigh and myself - had a good old knit/crochet and a chat. It was a v.fun evening and they were a  lovely bunch! Plans to meet up again are on the cards :)

Knitting in progress.
I started a new scarf in the week, which I brought to the craft/bloggers meet up in camberwell, the pattern is definitely starting to take shape. So far so good!

car boot sale-ing

Last sunday mitch and I left the flat at 6:45am armed with 4 big boxes of stuff. Why? To take part in the brockwell park car boot sale of course!

I'd never sold stuff at a car boot sale before and I certainly learned a lot from this first experience.


Good points

★ A productive morning - The early start meant that I really felt like I'd done something with my day (i usually spend whole sunday mornings in bed before getting up to a very leisurely brunch - so it was nice change).
★ It's a pretty good way to get rid of odd stuff that wouldn't sell on ebay. You know the things I mean - old board games, toys, books etc. Stuff that'd you normally just give to the charity shop but only at the car boot you can make a bit of profit. (That sounds terribly uncharitable but the stuff we didn't sell went to the oxfam in herne hill - we're not total jerks!)
★ Meeting people. As I've said before, I very rarely meet new people, I'm quite settled with my social group and rarely, if ever, meet people outside of it, so the car boot sale was perfect for engaging with an altogether different group of people. Not only do you get to have a good old chat with the punters but also with your fellow sellers. ALL the sellers we met/spoke to (and that was quite a lot) were v.friendly and chatty.
★ Something different to do - mitch may have done a car boot before but not with me. It was a pretty fun thing to do together, you know, working as a team. Although, I have to admit, mitch was the real star - he was so good with the potential buyers and definitely made most of the sales. I perked up by about 10 but he was the one with all the positivity and kept us going for 6 hours! I did end up making a few sales  and I deffo got a buzz from it.


Bad points

★ We had to get up really early and even then the car park was already over half full with sellers. Not long after we arrived a few people got turned away due to lack of room!
★ It was really hot - unluckily for us the car park was almost completely exposed to the sun. I applied sun cream several times while we were there and still got burnt. However, had it not been nearly 30 degrees the car boot sale might not have been as busy as it was so I shouldn't complain really.
★ You can't choose your neighbours - the people who pitched up next to us were, on the whole, nice people but the lady did talk a lot and a couple of times prevented us from conversing with potential buyers. As for the guy, he found a rugby ball in the park and then sold it to a little kid and later bought something from us and then sold it on his stall for 3 times the price. Mitch did warn me that that sort of thing does go on at car boots and there's no law against it but it just doesn't sit well with me. The guy also kept complaining (loudly) to us about the punters not buying any of his stuff. I dunno, it just wasn't the sort of convo I wanted to have, nor did I want to tell him how much money we made, despite his asking a number of times.
★ It can get a bit boring. Most of the time we both manned the stall, which was cool, but we needed breaks (the loo, filling up the water bottle) and when I was left on my own I realised that doing a car boot sale alone would not be fun.
★ It's a hard days work for not much in return. This aspect didn't actually bother me too much as the main aim for us was to get rid of our stuff and we did - a whole box full! There were definitely people at the car boot who do it all the time - you can tell by their set-up and items for sale - and they probably walk away with a v.tidy sum. We set ourselves a target, just to make it a little more interesting, and to our delight we actually reached it plus a little bit extra. The profits will pay for dinner and drinks in the village on night next week and that's good enough for me!

this was our little plot.

After the car boot sale we went to watch some of the brockwell park dog show but had to leave before the end as we were both completely shattered. I'm gutted we left before the fancy dress round as this years theme was space and aliens. On our way out we did catch a glimpse of a dog in a princess leia outfit - it looked ace.

the 'cutest puppy' catergory. Trust me, they were all cute.

pooches galore!

so good they named it twice

 Brooklyn Bridge

(This had been intended for last Friday but my god it's been a busy weekend!)

Last Tuesday Mitch and I returned from our 10 day jaunt in the Big Apple. Needless to say it was unbelievably awesome. Where to begin? 

 New York Public Library 

Rockafella Centre

Ghostbusters' Headquarters

The sights - I guess anyone who's been to Manhattan, aside from residents, must have a felt a little like being in a movie whilst walking the streets and avenues of the iconic city, I know I did. It was all v.familiar despite the fact that it was my first time to New York (to the US even). We did lots of touristy stuff (naturally) my favourites being The Top of the Rock (and I mean the v.top, none of this glass around the edge business), The New York Public Library and the Guggenheim Museum - all of which are truly fabulous buildings. We walked a lot, partly to work off all the food we consumed (see below) but mostly because it meant we could take in all the sights of the city - the flat iron building, Battery Park, The Chrysler Building, The High Line, Chelsea Market, Soho, Ground Zero, Central Park - where I might have got us slightly (read very) lost, Madison Square Garden, Times Square...the list is endless!

A rather snowy central park

Times Square 

outside the Blue Smoke restaurant and jazz bar - the chicken wings here were soooo good.

The food - everywhere we ate the food was fantastic from fancy Steakhouses and restaurants where the waiting staff belt out broadway numbers to the tiny deli home of the fattest pastrami sandwich I ever eaten and the 24 hour diner which became our local brunch spot. We ate a lot of meat over the 10 days (I'm having a little detox from it now that I'm back) - burgers, ribs, BBQ chicken wings, steak, I was even asked whether I'd like some bacon with my pancakes! Which brings to me to the breakfasts. Oh my god the breakfasts. New York/the US certainly knows how to do breakfast. Yoghurt, granola and berries, buttermilk pancakes, pumpkin waffles with cinnamon butter, banana and walnut pancakes and, my favourite, nutella french toast courtesy of Penelope's (a v.excellent establishment - we may have gone back to it more than once...).

graffiti from the High Line

seriously big and old (1300 years!) sequoia in the American Museum of Natural History 

gazing out at Lady Liberty

Hoboken NJ and Brooklyn - We ventured over to NJ for an afternoon and evening - it's a very quick crossing either by train or ferry - and wandered along Washington Street. As well as excellent views of New York City, Hoboken also offered some great pizza, quirky little shops and plenty of drinking holes. I really liked it there, it was a little more village-y, however I still don't get the riff between new yorkers and new jerseyers (pretty sure that's not a word). I loved Brooklyn. It's not quite so hectic as Manhattan, the buildings aren't as tall so you can actually feel the warmth of the sun PLUS it's home to the Brooklyn Flea - a totally rad market set up in the Williamsburg Savings Bank (awesome building) selling anything from up-cycled furniture and kitschy memorabilia, to vintage clothing, maps and prints, as well as work from modern designers and crafters, we even had a delish slice of s'mores pie. The market was easily one of my highlights from the holiday - there was so much I wanted to buy.

all is fair in love and brooklyn 

despite the encouraging sign I refrained from buying any of the scantily clad women pics from bygone times. Brooklyn Flea.

Just outside Prospect Park

The people - everyone we encountered in Manhattan, Brooklyn and NJ (save for the guy in Tiffany's) whether we were eating out or asking for directions, everyone was v.friendly and helpful. The service in NYC was excellent - I felt like a queen - and the majority of our cab drivers were v.chatty, one even gave us a load of restaurant recommendations!

The weather - it snowed on our first full day in New York, not a lot, but enough to blanket Central Park in about 3 inches - so pretty. The rest of the time it was bright sunshine, clear blue skies (the exact opposite of what was happening in London I've been informed) and v.cold but nothing that multiple layers couldn't handle.

Inside the Guggenheim

Wool swoon in Purl Soho

And of course, New Year's Eve - I'd been warned that Times Square for NYE would be a huuuge mistake (massive crowds pushing and shoving and nowhere to pee) so Mitch and I saw in the new year, 5 hours after all our family and friends, on the Brooklyn Bridge after walking along the promenade and taking in the spectacular night time views of Manhattan's skyline. 

View from our hotel's rooftop

good advice in hoboken

Disappointments: Macy's (what is all the fuss about?), Tiffany's (a rude sales assistant is technically to blame) and tea. I cannot fault the bottomless coffes in NY nor the insanely refreshing spring water that comes from their taps but the tea was shit.

Celebrities spotted: Alan Rickman across the street from Chelsea Market. Mitch and I were both star struck and so said nothing and stared at him, he gave us an extremely puzzled look. Opportunity wasted.

We went to the What Not workshop in FAO Schwartz and Mitch designed his very own muppet!

People were surprised when we told them we were going to New York for 10 days, yes it did and continues to financially cripple me, but it was worth it. Mitch and I didn't want to rush around and cram everything into 3 or 4 days, we wanted to take it easy. For the first few days we went a little crazy but then we settled into New York, treating it less like a holiday and more like somewhere we lived -  leisurely brunches, wandering downtown, catching a movie - and it was great. There was plenty of stuff we didn't get round to: Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty (these were both off limits due to the damage done by Hurricane Sandy), Coney island (I think this shuts down in the colder months), watching a game of basketball in Madison Square Garden, ferry tour around Manhattan, watching a gig in one of New York's famous venues, the Botanic Gardens. I reckon you could spend a month in NYC and still find stuff to do, the extensive 'things we missed' list means we'll just have to go back :)