WOOOOO yeah it’s summer. Now that I’m at my newest internship with StyleCaster, I’ve opted for a 4 day work week and you know what that means, 50% more weekend than before, ohhhh yeah. 

Here’s some places I went and things I did this past weekend, in chronological order to make it easier:

Visited Bergdorf’s

There’s no place like home

Hah! Literally could not stay away. I got to surprise my friend Yanelis who works in the memo loan office in the store which was wonderful. But I was also there on strict business— had to spend my BG gift card! Most of it went towards Hermes perfume that I’ve essentially been snuffing for a year (that’s how much I love it).

I also got to (finally!) show Alice my world, I gave her a tour of the store and we made sure to pause at all the brands specializing in fur (whatup J Mendel & Moncler). Here she is dreaming of the lavish life she could lead in this Moncler jacket.

I also ran into two people from the BG office, one of which was my old boss! So great to see them, I miss working there a lot.

Central Park

Alice and I JPicnicked in Sheep Meadow in Central Park and pretended we were in Europe in lots of different ways (you can fill in the blanks). The field was full of 20/30 somethings hanging out- don’t these people have jobs?? It was a Friday afternoon! #NotClearOn

Birthday Karaoke 

Friday night was Jess’ 23rd birthday (WOOOO) and to celebrate some of us went to a Korean karaoke place to wine, dine and sing like it was our last chance to do all three— at least it definitely felt that way the next morning -____-

Faryn singin’ it out.
Most of our expert selections were 90’s pop classics, aka what I still listen to on a regular basis.

Howl! Festival

Literally steps from my apartment was the annual Howl festival. Kate and I hit this thing up Saturday afternoon. Part of the festival were spaces along the Tompkin Square park fence you could rent and do whatever on. Some people used it as a bit of a political platform, others were more light hearted and fun like…

“What Makes Someone a New Yorker?” anyone could come up and add to this, harder to think of things on the spot! Even Kate, born and raised in Brooklyn, was strugglin’.

It should be noted that right after we saw the above piece, a old dude had an unsolicited one minute spit fire conversation with Kate that started with asking if she was Canadian and ended with him asking her to go Kayaking with him sometime. L to the OL, after that we were like kbai.

Sooooo meta.
The whole festival is inspired by Allen Ginsberg, author of the epic poem Howl. If you haven’t read it, you should. I read it sophomore year in my poetry class and afterwards I was like, “Damn New York is SO ALIVE”. Which is now how I feel every day when I walk around here, it’s a timeless feeling apparently.

Placed next to a piece still getting spray painted, but I couldn’t resist. Boomboxes are still a thing here and I’m sooooo okay with that. I only threw my personal boombox of 12 years away recently, RIP.

There was also a performance area. Kate and I witnessed a very strange piece that somehow we were the only ones laughing at (sorry y’all), we figured it’s because everyone just takes themselves too seriously. We were later serenated by a Drag Queen and saw some other dance groups.

Our diva drag queen, his/her legs were more toned than mine :(

Men in Skirts- that’s their official name. The asian guy sort of cracked me and Kate up, he didn’t have any major role at all until people were bowing, then he spun some flags.

Big Gay Icecream

It was a Saturday in the city in the summer, how could you NOT cop some soft serve?! Kate had never been to Big Gay, which has become a personal favorite and/or weakness of mine (one time I got it alone on a Tuesday night in the rain on the way to a friend’s apt, I finished it before I could even buzz the buzzer of her building). So we went, we stood in a crazy line but it was all worth it because 1. it’s so delicious and 2. the employees are, capital TN, The Nicest.

SoulCycle

SoulCycle IS a dance party on a bike, I love going there so much. The new studio on the UES is crazy nice- the bathrooms have bouquets of fresh peonies in them! Plus endorphins just leak out of that place, my mood improves just by walking in.

Drawn at the Howl! Festival, “my favorite physical activity is…”- told you I love SoulCycle

The Met: Impossible Conversations

India and I hit up The Met on Sunday afternoon to see the much anticipated Impossible Conversations exhibit about Elsa Schiaperelli and Miuccia Prada (<3 seriously, my favorite designer). The exhibit was cool and I was honestly there to just oogle Prada’s stuff but it was cool to see the similarities between the two designers, although sometimes it was a little forced or literal.

Prada on the left, Schiaperelli on the right

Prada is my favorite because she has a good head on her shoulders and kindof sees fashion in the same cynical way that I do. Becoming a designer just sort of fell into her lap (she has a PhD in Political Science and studied miming) and she doesn’t take it seriously! I think that’s something that often plagues fashion today- people are just way too uptight about the whole thing and see it more as a commodity than an art. Fashion has become too much of a “gimme gimme gimme” situation, you don’t need to be constantly shopping to enjoy or partake in it. Alright I’m getting off my soapbox now.

BONUS: India and I were hit on by one of the museum security guards, luckily I escaped in time but he asked India, “so, are you online?” and then proceeded to give her his unsolicited email address. LOL is this 2001?

Central Bar

Trekked over there (jk it’s like 3 blocks from me) to meet up with some of my long lost WashU friends who are spending the summer in the city! I hadn’t seen most of them in 6 months, so crazy! We caught up over beer and the Celtics/Heat game. And of course, it wouldn’t be a WashU anything if it didn’t end with froyo, specifically at 16 Handles this time. Phil told me he’s almost done with his punch card and has barely been here a week- lolz/yikes.