Caroling in Gramercy Park

Merry Christmas again everyone!

Yesterday, while friends and family on the other side of world were digging in to Christmas breakfast/brunch, it was still Christmas Eve in this neck of the woods. 

With all gift-shopping out of the way, we started the day lazy and then headed out to Broadway for the matinee screening of Relatively Speaking (cheap tickets ftw). 

Then we skipped down to Maialino for an early dinner (God bless their spaghetti alla carbonara) before crossing the street to Gramercy Park for the one day a year the beautiful garden is open to the peasants.. sorry, the public.

NY Times

We caroled around the beautiful blue Christmas tree in freezing temperatures and in nearly-pitch-black surroundings, firmly staying within the grounds for the entire hour the park was open.  

As pretty as the park was (especially in the daytime), it was challenging to truly appreciate the beauty of the small 2-acre piece of well-manicured landscape when one is only allowed in it from 6-7pm on December 24th. For those unaware, the park is usually only accessible to a select few key-holders, whilst the rest of us common-folk can only peek at the space through the tall iron gates surrounding it. I fail to comprehend the rigidity around the access and use of the park and now that I can cross this off my to-do list, I am in no hurry to return. Why remind myself of what I am prohibited from enjoying, no?

Moving on from the soapbox to what I wore:

Anthropologie Sweetheart Shrug Tee, H&M lace skirt, J Crew rose-gold glitter belt and maroon tights, Steve Madden Graanie boots

This top (which I also have in red) is by far my favourite purchase this year and I have worn it nearly every day this week. Although sold out at Anthro, you can still grab it for full-price here. 

Hand-crafted ring from the recent jaunt to Istanbul

Once again, happy holidays to you and yours!

Merry Christmas and the Liebster Blog Award

Merry merry Christmas everyone. Hope Santa was as good to you as he was with me! 


It's a quiet day since our families are 7563894037675 miles away and I have been spending the day on the couch catching up on blogs, tv and reading.  


This brings me to this lovely badge making its way around the blogosphere - the Liebster Blog Award. Thank you so much, Kelly of Fashion Fuel DC for kindly awarding me with this earlier this week.

Liebster means "dearest" in German, and this award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers. The stipulations of the award are as follows:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. List out your 5 "dearest" blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that the people you have sent the award to will forward it to their favorite bloggers.

This is a great way to get acquainted with "new-ish" blogs and I am thrilled to pass on the Liebster Blog Award to the following lovely ladies:  

The Voyage of V

Hello Dodo

A Few of My Favourite Things

In Pursuit of Style

Mr and Mrs in Paris

Have a wonderful day!

I'm just a Broadway Baby

I love the theatre and I am grateful the city provides me with plenty of opportunities to indulge.

No doubt this can be expensive - so apart from getting half-priced tickets at TKTS (downtown booth only kids, forget the one in Times Square), my other wonderful source for unbelievably cheap tickets is Student Rush's Will Call Club.

The name is misleading as there is no need for one to be a student to sign up. What you get in return are email notifications when rush tickets are available to shows on-Broadway and off, usually for a token price of $5. I can not say enough good things about Student Rush and I encourage everyone in the city to sign up. 

Last weekend, Student Rush allowed me to see Lysistrata Jones and earlier today, Relatively Speaking - for 5 buckaroos, no joke. I then happily paid full price to watch Jesse Eisenberg in Asuncion before the end of it's run (side note: as good as it was, how many times can Jesse play someone neurotic?!)

As a bad cold meant I barely got dressed this week, this is what I wore last weekend when I went theatre-hopping:

 Anthropologie Frosted Boucle Pullover over a French Connection sweater dress over a Uniqlo Heattech singlet, Calvin Klein black boots and a couple layers of stockings

I usually don't care much for replicas but I couldn't resist this YSL Arty Ovale ring one

  

Who knew boucle and sequins were a match made-in-heaven?

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas Eve!  

I am back in DVF!

WHY HELLO THERE!!

Much has happened since I have been away - I clocked up nearly 70 hours of flying last month visiting Australia and Turkey. In between the resulting jet lag, work has been extraordinarily busy and I had more visitors to entertain as they passed through the city. Excuses aside, I am glad to be back and I look forward to regaling you with tales from my time away in posts to come.

Now to the issue at hand - how wonderful New York is this time of year! The weather is milder than usual, Christmas is in the air, and most importantly, it's sample sale season! 

Although the Diane Von Furstenberg sample sale officially started yesterday, it was a not-so-secret secret that the venue would be open to the public the afternoon before (i.e. as soon as the press were done with their sneak peak). I rocked up to the sale shortly after 6pm on Monday and was in after a short wait. 


The selection was absolutely brilliant and the lack of crowds verged on luxurious. See here for photos of the racks, and also here for a hilarious video taken on the day 1 of the sale. 


I felt like I was swimming in a pool of wrap dresses so imagine the restraint I exercised by only leaving with one - which I promptly wore to work the very next day. 

New Julian LS Dress In Diamond Haze Large

  

Ferragamo Carla Pumps in Textured Brown

Fun combo of mint greenish-grey with fuchsia 

Prices are reportedly slashed towards the final days of the sale though choices may be thin. If you are queue-averse like me, you can pick up this dress right here.