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Thursday, July 7, 2011

New York City Solo

The Writer had to go back to work yesterday, which left me to explore the city on my own.  In all the times I've traveled to NYC, I've never had to navigate on my own.  I wasn't worried. I love subway systems and city grids, they make sense to me, unlike the winding country roads that swirl around until you have no idea who's cornfield you're in.

I hadn't slept especially well, so I spent a few hours in the morning reading in Borders and scouring Sephora's shelves for body care products that line up with my new obsession: paraben, mineral oil, and sodium laureth sulphate free.

Feeling rejuvenated from my lunch with The Writer, I headed down to SoHo for some shopping.  My first destination was Topshop.  I want to say that I loved it and never want to shop anywhere else, but that would be a lie.  I was most impressed by the shoes, however, I found the prices, in general, to be a little outside of my budget.  The clothes were of a higher quality than Forever 21, but had the same hipster shabbiness to them, for the most part. I did find a cute, vintage-inspired red and white polka dot dress that, if it weren't for the price tag, I probably would've bought.  It was 100% silk, and with the heat this week, I'm finding that all I want to wear are lightweight dresses.

I was about to give up on SoHo, but I decided to give a few more stores a try.  Right before a sun shower, I ducked into a little Japanese store with all kinds of interesting things.  It reminded me of a miniature, Asian Ikea.  I wish Ohio'd had one before I came here, because this store was stocked with all kinds of travel accessories.  After the rain, I stopped at another store that reminded me of Ikea.  This one had more furniture and housewares and made me want an apartment that needed decorating.  I then wandered into a little boutique stocked almost entirely of dresses and shoes. Ding, ding, ding!  I found a lightweight, black and white abstract print dress there.  It needs a slip,  but I can probably find one of those today so that I can wear the dress in the next week.

My last purchase of the day came from another boutique a little further down Broadway.  This one was crowded and less classy than I prefer, but I found the perfect maxi dress that I've been searching for.  I deal with a strange phenomenon when maxi dress shopping. Unlike many Americans, I have a waist and that waist needs to be defined by my clothes, otherwise I look like I'm wearing a sack.  Maxi dresses are particularly difficult to shop for, because so many of them feature a gathered empire waist and flow out from under the bust line.  These make me look like arms and a head perched on top of a prairie-like traffic cone. The tiered ones are the worst.  They may flatter thicker girls, but me? I disappear.  This maxi dress was different.  It's a slightly clingy rayon/spandex blend, is strapless, and features a drawstring waistline that falls not too far from my natural waist.  I love the teal color too--I see it being very versatile.  Possibly the best thing about it, it was only $19.99.  If you've shopped for maxi dresses lately, you know its hard to find a nice one on sale for even $30. and that's pushing it.

After that, I thought it best to remove myself from SoHo, lest I be tempted to keep shopping.  I took the train back uptown to meet The Writer for dinner at Otarian, his favorite vegan restaurant.  We had potato and spinach burgers and sweet potato chiplets. Yum!  We did some quick grocery shopping before heading home.

Later on, we took a nighttime stroll along the High Line.  It was every bit as cool as I'd imagined and I really enjoyed the quite walk with my love.  I'm having such a great time on this trip, I don't think I want to leave.

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