I Heart New York, enfin

Even more and more things I love about New York:

JOHN DERIAN. John Derian, John Derian, John Derian. More on this later.

Pylones! This awesome French chain is like Alessi on crack. I was so excited when I walked past their Soho location - I found this shop in Avignon when I was there last summer and didn't think they had any locations outside of France.
Below: Pylones superhero salad servers on top, Alessi corkscrews on bottom:



MOSS - The high altar of design. I swear I check their website everyday, and their New York store is a must visit. This trip I was only able to look in the window (it was closed), for which my wallet thanks me. Not that I could afford anything in there! The last time I was there in August, my mom and I sighed over a spectacularly lacy white iron garden bench by Tord Boontje that was about $40,000...like this more wallet-friendly curtain on steroids.


Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. I was so ready to proclaim them overrated. Too bad! At 10:30 on a Saturday night, the line was out the door...and they really were that great. Although I would draw the line at taking a dozen ecstatic photos of my treats like the people ahead of me were doing. (the photo's not mine, I promise - courtesy of About.com!).

Biography Bookshop. So it doesn't have the musty, cozy ambiance of bookshops I found wandering around Bloomsbury in London. All of the books I found were pretty new editions. But I found lots of great deals on "name-brand books" - Simon Doonan's OOP autobiography, still wrapped in plastic, and Evelyne Lever's bio of Madame de Pompadour (Nancy Mitford's version will always have a soft spot in my heart, but I'll give this one a chance) being two such examples. And it's kitty-corner from Magnolia.

Feeling the rumblings of the subway beneath me at Angelika as I watched a wonderful French film, Fauteuils d'orchestre...like an earthquake moving to the surface.

My brunch at tiny East Village eatery Prune, the best meal I've ever waited 1.5 hours for. The eggs benedict and hot chocolate were fantastic.


Glitter and Doom, which just closed at the Met today. It was an amazing, amazing show of Verist portraiture during the short-lived, decadent, and utterly corrupt Weimar republic. Otherwise known as the roaring twenties in Germany. I would exhort you to go, go, go but, uh, it closed today - so sorry!


This room. I usually spend most of my time in the 19th century rooms at the Met, but they were mostly being renovated and I decided to switch it up and spend the afternoon in the American wing - boy am I glad that I did! Maybe I love the wallpaper so much because I picked out something very similar for my very first decorating project - my dollhouse!

Coming home to find my March Domino smiling up at me from the table outside my door.
I'm going to read it right now.

I Heart NY, part deux

More things I love about New York:

My breakfast yesterday, at the most fabulous cafe outside of Vienna. Sorry, Julius Meinl...you'll have to console yourself with second best! The gugelhopf (ginger cake) melted in my mouth, and the hot cocoa...while not Angelina...was very good.


This gorgeous fabric by Dagobert Peche. Find it at the Neue Galerie on one of Josef Hoffman's neoclassical chairs. If you haven't been yet, please go to this tiny gem of a museum - if only for the Klimts and the drool-worthy design shop! It's called Schwalbenschwanz (butterfly). This is the best image I could find of it. You can buy this skirt and other Schwalbenschwanz items at this German design shop.

Takashimaya. I mean, hello? They carry Santa Maria Novella! Yeah, I know, you can get it at Eluxury now but I was still excited. Ultra-refined, ultra-beautiful everything. The tea room's great too. I had a limited number of stores I had time to go to yesterday, but I made sure I got there, because it's definitely an all-time fave. Bendel's was disappointing in comparison. Despite the speedo-clad, blonde-wigged male models gyrating in the window for some MAC Barbie promotion.


My new lace earrings and Muji notebooks from the Moma Design Store. Awful picture, sorry.



Van Dyck's characteristic elegant, tapered hands - you just know those sitters had short, stubby fingers! See them several times over at my favorite American museum, the Frick Collection.


The gorgeous shawl of the Comtesse Daru, by Jacques-Louis David. The ultimate Neoclassical ladies' accessory. Unfortunately the color's a bit off - the green is really much more fresh and vibrant. The comtesse also lives at the Frick.


This symphony in black and white in the window at Calypso last night.

I hate...the horrible taxi drivers who, if you can even find one, ask you where you're going and zoom off if it's not to their liking.

I Heart NY

Things I love about New York:

Hearing the bells of St. Bartholomew's church this evening as I walked back to my hotel. It was just one of those random, perfect moments that sent chills up my spine.

The efficient subway system...shame on you, CTA! I also love the parallel-facing seats, as they remind me of the Tube in London - without the funky upholstery though.

The two-floor Anthropologie I found next to Radio City. Totally unexpected and cool. I was less enthused with their spring/summer offerings, but that's more about me than about the store and will be explained at a later date. Getting to see the Josef Frank stuff in person, though, was to die for.

This one's my favorite. It's so whimsical! I would upholster my whole life with Josef Frank prints if I could.

My dinner last night. Worth every penny.

My teensy "mod on the cheap" hotel, especially the cheerful Eames bedspread (it matches my stationery!) in my tiny, cute little room. And don't forget the iPod dock and flat screen TV! I'm only paying $100 a night, which is pretty great for Manhattan...and Midtown to boot.


The fact that it's warmer than Chicago. It's 30 degrees, get out the shorts and t-shirts ladies and gentlemen!

All of the above totally makes up for the nasty, foot-deep sludge I've been trudging in for the past two days...and the fact that my plane was delayed 7 hours and I didn't get to my hotel until 5:30 a.m. yesterday. Seriously.

Anthropologie catalog image credit (you must see their new print catalog by the way, it's a feast for the eyes) goes to Craving Anthropologie. I'm such a fan of that blog.