OLIVIA IN NC

MD/NYC/DC: part II

Since I was on a kick of dedicating road trips to delayed celebrations, I decided to do the same here:
GRADUATING FROM BYU = NYC CELEBRATION.
That whole Bachelor's degree is actually a really big deal for me and therfore gets its own post later,
but for now, welcome to our graduation party:

Our first guest is Miss Alice—always on the move. Here she dances during a stop off the New Jersey Turnpike.

After a couple hours, a cool bridge and a Lady-Liberty sighting, we saw the City welcoming us...

Next awesome guests: Tallia and Jon. Even their backs are awesome.
Awesome Jon got us a great Penthouse Suite in Jersey city; just two blocks from a PATH station.

There is nothing like coming up out of the Subway into Times Square. Seriously, can anyone get used to that?

Alice points out that no; no one can get used to that.

Only two more months to 2011!

Spontaneous gems of the rest of that night:

Sandwiches at Num Pang (thanks Becky for the tip!) I got the Roasted Cauliflower...

And Ben got the Five Spiced Pork Belly (he described it as "P712's shortribs, on a bun with amazing sauce")

The atmosphere was almost as fun as the food. Ben complained, "why can't awesome stuff like this be everywhere?" I know Ben, that's why NYC is so amazing...

STRAND bookstore was next. We happened to get there just in time for an author's visit—
Charles Burns explained his journey into a genre that has fascinated me since I discovered it: graphic novels...

Last time I was here I spent a LONG while in the kids books and graphic design books. This time I found myself in a little different section...
(the tiniest room in the dark basement) but I found some treasures... including this.

Walked by this place—each shoe is shrink-wrapped, can you see? It was like a cross between a gallery and a shoe store. Thought of you, Jacob.

Another place we happened upon—Ben just learned about cloisters in his class.
We walked around the bushes and in the gate to look at the landscaping. I was a fan of the full moon.

Saw this on our walk back. I think we still heard honking anyway. Maybe $350 is worth a honk...

Happened upon a huge record collection/shop. You could tell the owner-lady knew her stuff.

 

On the same corner where our PATH station was that would take us back to Jersey City,
we stopped inside a Dean and Deluca-like store. Can't remember the name... but look at those CHEESES!

All those beverages! (Hello, Fentiman's.)

All those breads!

 We had toffee/chocolate-covered hazelnuts, dried kiwi (from The Nut Box) and chocolate ice cream for dessert; together with full-on planning session for a non-spontaneous Day 2:

SSB for breakfast; (and we bought enough for a drive-home snack with Dean & Deluca goat cheese and baba ghanoush)

My Freshman Career Test said I should be a window display designer. My dad said I could be something better.
Really, Papá, is graphic design better than cloud-head mannequins?

Then, a stop for the landscape architect:
The High Line

Except there was a giant cloud over us and it was windy up there too; so we split up for a season.

Ben was cool.

Super fun to see design in this form: those benches were not just bought from a catalog and added; they were an integral part of the landscape.

Divine Design: also fascinating.

Part of the old railroad incorporated...

Rail cars preserved here too...

At intersections, the High Line weaved under buildings. These windows were cooler in person, I think...

At this intersection, The High Line gives you the ultimate street view...

A cool installation/sculpture on the way...

A look through the peep-hole revealed that the abstract shapes came from all the architecture from that POV...

 

Then The High Line dead-ended. They're fixing up the rest...

Another fascinating NYC-ism. Something tells me Ashton would think this is as cool as I do.

Then we met up with our awesome friends again in awesome SOHO:

PEARL RIVER MARKET: Cool things go on forever and ever.

More cool things go on and on in KIOSK; except with much less square-footage.

I loved the set-up as much as the products...

 

Thank goodness I made this journal entry on the wall outside KIOSK when I was here in March '09. (It's still there!)
Otherwise, I'd never have remembered the funny story where classmate Miriam took the soap sample outside and thought it was edible...
(To her credit, they gave out the samples with fancy tweezers as if it were food).

A display at the ABC Expensive store...

CB2 & MUJI were also among the Soho fave's...

One of my favorite Subway-stop-tile-art's...

Up to Union Square; they were having their awesome Farmer's Market.
Ben bought a juice that tasted JUST LIKE raspberries and apples, except somehow in liquid form.

Our only star-sighting turned out to only be exciting for me—Stefan Sagmeister; just a super graphic designer.

Waiting for food at REPUBLIC.

Alice looks both ways.

My bento box lunch special. My mouth waters just thinking of it:
A lime-y soup, spicy peanut sauce for the satay, and a vermicelli salad that reminded me of the bibimbap in Seoul.

THEN FISHS EDDY!! So many dishes in so many ways...

Our final NY delicacy: BIG GAY Ice Cream.

Click & zoom to read the topping options...

The soft-serve itself was amazing, but the orange-blossom-infused balsamic made it double-amazing.

Then we hopped back on PATH and then drove home!

Hooray for graduating from BYU!
Hooray for friends visiting the East!
Hooray for NYC being a drive away!