Currently listening to:Super Bass by Niki Minaj
Status:DYING

So i have a skype session with my family at 9am (thats 9pm for all you singaporeans) and im terrified of oversleeping so im embarking on this doomed attempt to stay awake the whole night till 9am and i figured the best way to pass time would be to blog. The original plan was to sleep early, but over a cup of latte and green tea, G and i stayed up to talk.. and here i find myself sitting in front of the Mac alone while G is somewhere off in dreamland without me. If i dont get my extra double shot starbucks tomorrow, God help any New Yorkers who stop walking in the street in front of me. (i hate it when people do that, i mean like excuse me if you want to stop, go wait for the red light or something. But to be fair usually only the clueless tourists do that.)

Anyway today we hit SoHo and i pretty much forced my wallet to go bulimic ie. puke out all its money. Went back to Armani to get the same wallet in a different color for mum: its too gorgeous to resist. Also went a little crazy in Zara and Mango based on the personal philosophy that Hey, how often do you come to New York, right?

Not really the best philosophy for my wallet though.


In our new Aviators.
I have bought 5 pieces of eyewear since touchdown in new york, a purple pair of shades from Michael Kors, a brown one from F21, aviators and pink top sunglasses from H&M and a cat eyed tortoiseshell pair of clear lens glasses from this street store. I like the tortoiseshell glasses so much that im seriously considering getting degree-lenses to fit them, and wear them as spectacles so my eyes can take a break from contact lenses.

Also someone needs to hit me if i buy another pair of shades/glasses. I am being very, very sorely tempted by these Aldo shades with a gold top though…. my self determination which has never been very strong to begin with has reached its ultimate test in Soho.

I drew the line at Prada. When i walked in, fingered a bag, finally understood the true meaning of soft buttery leather, swooned, went through a period of serious intense temptation and doubt (how bad can it get right? should i? should i not??) and finally decided that no, a teenager does not need a prada, there are starving children in africa, also (i cant afford it without starving for the next two weeks)

The entire outlay of the shop, though, was clearly designed beyond the intention of impressing a customer, you stand there and admire the curves of the walls, floors, the understated elegance of tilts and slants, reflections. Nurin Amalia, pursue your architect dream, because one day i want to tell the world The lady who designed the Prada building is my friend.


Drenched in luxury.

In the evening, looking for a place to rest our feet, we passed by a discreet looking boutique cafe. I looked up and screamed, the sign scrawled Nespresso. If you know me, you’ll know what a terrible weakness i have for this particular brand of coffee machines, it churns out heaven in a cup. I’ve always wanted a nespresso machine but it costs about three hundred dollars and you can only use special nespresso mixes on it if im not wrong- consistent costs, always told myself it was unnecessary for a student. However, back from when i was still a writer at Havas, i’d hover at client offices which had nespresso machines.. its a wonder i’d never been reported for suspicious behaviour.

I had no idea nespresso had Cafes though, what a genius idea.

Caramel Latte with their special caramel macaroon.
It costs 8USD before tax, tax here is about 10-20% i think, and on top of that you should tip twice the amount of tax, so it amounts to about 11 USD..? i think. that’s a rough estimation. But believe me, for nespresso, its worth it.

This is the one i went to, do drop in if you’re shopping at Soho.

92 Prince Street, New York
(800) 562-1465

Went down to Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center to meet Jon, intending to catch a movie at Regal Theaters but there were no timings so we just walked around.

My pastor’s daughter side comes out. LOL.
Tweeted this pic to my dad and he cracked up too. (yeah my dad has twitter lol cool or what. He finds the whole concept of twitter hilarious, he wants to create some fake parody account but he cant decide of who. I told him.. no.)

Fro-Yo with Reese bits (Xiao Qi would love this!!) from.. er ok i cant remember where. i think its called D-light or D-licious or something.

My salad from Wholefoods, Lincoln. ‘DKASDKASKLDN I LOVE WHOLEFOODS ITS SO YUMMY. Let me explain the concept of wholefoods.

1. You choose a cute brown box from a range of sizes, they look like the chinese takeout noodle boxes you see in movies.
2. You just put in whatever you want, choosing from 5 different food bars of Salad, Hot Food, Cold Food, Indian Food and Dessert.
3. You weigh it up and pay by pounds.

ITS SO AWESOME!!! You can also just get sandwiches, or ready made stuff, or sushi, or basically anything if you dont want to mix and match your own food but i personally like the mix n match cos its so cute.

I went a little overboard piling on the different types of salad leaves though, because i ended up paying 14USD before tax for my salad which is considered pretty expensive here. Usually salads cost about 8-10 dollars. STILL. I love how people are so salad-friendly in NY, so much so that almost any salad bar you enter has awesome salad. With singapore its pretty much a hit or miss.


Rest of today’s photos, here

On the subway, this black dude came on holding a huge boom box with two of his friends, yelled I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE SHOW EVERYBODY, and the three of them broke out into hiphop dance.

IT WAS SO AWESOME. G says this happens a lot, but i think this is one sight i’ll never forget. It was amazing, and everyone was smiling and clapping. In Singapore you do that, 1. your friends will pretend that they dont know you 2. You might be arrested for disturbance of public peace or something. Ok im kidding. .. Maybe.

Along the streets, i saw a whole row of canvas paintings of different sizes lined up against the brick wall. Marilyn Monroe, Obama, the NY Skyline.. I drew all these myself, a voice behind me explains, i jump, turn around, there stands a (maybe 20 year old) man with blonde hair in a short ponytail and bright eyes. You’re so talented, i tell him, and he smiles. I think to myself, the talent overflowing in this city is incredible, how can such talent be selling his art on the streets? Considered buying one, realised the dimensions exceeded anything i could fit in my luggage, walked away sadly. He said its okay, thank you for the compliment, you made my day.

I made somebody’s day today, i am content.

So it’s 640am over here, i think im doing pretty well in my stay-up-to-skype mission. I watched the New York sunrise a couple of hours back, as far as you can watch a sunrise through the slits in between buildings on wall street. It’s bright now, i think i might start on my new copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which G gifted to me, but i dont know if im awake enough to absorb anything. I want to savor the book fully, in its entirety.

Hi.

x
♥ Jem