Clover Canyon Christmas

2013 was a great year for me - a fresh job, a fitter lifestyle and a wonderful new husband. Ending the year on a high made making 2014 goals a little contrived. Regardless I like thinking about style resolutions - which on a fundamental level really means shopping a little less. I pledge to, however, continue to be smart about my purchases, and only add items to my wardrobe that are like nothing I currently own. 

Ergo, you saw the new kicks and hat, now let me introduce you to my latest obsession - Clover Canyon. This is a brand I've known of for months but while they appealed to my print-loving personality, their initial designs didn't quite rock my boat. Also the scuba-like fabric that appears in a lot of their designs can be rather unforgiving when used on slim silhouettes. 

Then they go and release an art-deco-inspired collection. Boom, dead. Come at me, neoprene. 

That Damn Green Dress Visits

A few weeks ago, my dear blog-friend-turned-real-life-kindred-spirit, Sarah, was in NYC for work. She was diligent enough to post about her trip soon after here. Me on the other hand... sigh. I will however say that my tardiness is in direct correlation of how much fun we had on her visit.

There was plenty of eating - dinner and wine at Commerce in the West Village, salty pimp sundae cones at Big Gay Ice Cream and then a hearty brunch at Maialino - and a whole lot of gabbing. So many times during her visit, I silently gave thanks for all the wonderful people I have met through this blog that have gone on to grace my life beyond the confines of cyberspace.

Anyway, there were selfish reasons for choosing Maialino as I couldn't let go of the chance to show Sarah one of my favourite places in the city (forgive me for flogging a dead horse). After gorging on eggs and pancakes, we walked around Gramercy Park - peeking in through the tall gates keeping us out - and then did what style bloggers are want to do in the presence of good lighting and a pretty background:

J Crew Maritime Anchor Dress (sim, sim and many sim); Club Monaco short-sleeved Carol Parka and necklace, Hermes Garden Party bag and scarf, Steve Madden Tippsy glitter sandals

Hope you've had a great weekend - I spent mine at Soul Cycle, brunch, working out seating arrangements for the wedding reception and finally finishing off The Sopranos (arrgghh can we please discuss that Diner ending?!)

Christmas in New York City

Merry merry merry Christmas everyone!

As a non-Christian household and our immediate families thousands of miles away, we've established a few New York City traditions of our own to usher in this festive day.

We start with the night before Christmas, which is the only time of year that Gramercy Park is open to the public, and even then, only for a single hour. Like last year, we braved the frigid cold to carol in the Park, only this year we hung back from the crowds; to sing, cuddle and reminisce on "our" bench instead. The memories we have of this Park are so precious that I won't deny how rough it felt knowing we wouldn't be able to enter this space again for another year.

Food solves most troubles so we crossed the street to Maialino and ate and drank ourselves very happy.

DVF Zarita in Navy, Nine West Jeneil pumps in Red Suede (my weak ankles LOVE the solid heel on this shoe)

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Christmas Day for us means a visit to the holiday windows and displays around town. Here are some of my favourites.

Barneys x Disney. I thought the video was pretty cute but wished the rest of the windows were similarly decked out

Bergdorf Goodman - while not as elaborate as last years, the 1920s-themed windows are the best of the lot. This particular display was my favourite. Seriously, white peacocks?!

Tiffany's - if I had a Christmas tree, this is how I want the bottom of it to look like 

Gingerbread Lincoln at the Le Parker Meridien gingerbread extravaganza

Hilarious gingerbread depiction of the dangling crane 

I usually don't take photos of trees but I liked how the Le Parker Meridien one took a leaf (ha!) out of the AMNH tree

Uniqlo +J 3-way coat, Anthropologie Jeweler's Choice Cardigan, Zara drop waist dress (sim), Chanel vintage flap

More new shoes: Wolverine x Samantha Pleet boots (here, here and here)

One in a row of giant nutcrackers outside UBS in midtown

We finally ended up at the Rockefeller Tree. There were SO. MANY. PEOPLE, we hightailed it out of there as soon as this picture was taken

And then we made like Jews and had chinese. 

Hope your day was as festive as mine! 

Gramercy Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Firstly, thank you so much for the lovely comments on the last post. You would think after nearly 9 years together we'd be nonchalant about taking steps to formalise our union. Au contraire! 

Our engagement weekend was a blast. I've never been on a staycation thisclose to home so my overnight bag only contained PJs, clean undies and this fabulous sweatercoat.

Morning Birds Sweatercoat, Uniqlo heattech tank, AG Stevie polka dot denim (sim), Ferragamo My Joy ballerinas, Tiffany & Co. pendant necklace, NARS Funny Face lipstick

Gramercy Park Hotel is a grand place. Here are a few more pictures from the weekend:

Cereal bar at breakfast - note the PB milk!

S and I are visiting our families in Australia and Malaysia respectively, celebrating and giving thanks for all the love in our lives. Here's wishing y'all have the same - best wishes for a safe and happy holiday!

A Proposal in the Park

I am trying not to become one of those people - you know, the ones that won't stop talking about their engagement at the slightest prompting. But seriously, ours was so wonderful, so special and so us. Just like you will not see his face on this website anytime soon, the moment was decidedly private; but very meaningful, and it took place within a beautiful New York City landmark. I promised to write it all down for y'all so here goes! 

Previously written about here and here, Gramercy Park is a beautiful 2-acre park which can only be accessed by a select few key-holders who are either: 

• a resident of the apartments surrounding the park; or 
• a guest of the adjacent Gramercy Park Hotel.

Bloody selfish I tell you..

Anyhoo, last Saturday after going our separate ways in the morning to run errands, I was given strict instructions to meet my love in the vicinity of the Gramercy Park Hotel. I presumed the surprise involved some form of dining at Maialino so I was pretty darn excited (that carbonara is insane).

When I arrived in front of the hotel, instead of taking me right into the restaurant, he leads me across the street to the park, together with the hotel doorman who proceeds to unlock the park gates to let us in. All I could think of was: HOW DID HE HOOK THIS UP?!! It took a lot to refrain from squealing until the doorman was well out of earshot! 

Anyway, S explains that he got wind of an awesome deal for a room at the hotel via his new fancy pants credit card, which he booked for a fellow Australian co-worker who was visiting with his girlfriend. Since the couple weren't scheduled to arrive till later in the evening, S told me he checked in on behalf of them so that we could take advantage of the park for a short while. 

J Crew sequin jacket, AG Stevie Polka Dot denim (sim and sim), COS cashmere, Kenneth Jay Lane necklace (sim), Target booties

I was THRILLED! Having only peered through the gates on previous visits, I can't deny how cool I felt being on the right side of the park. We walked around, (it's so small it took all but a few minutes to do so) gawked at the fattest squirrels I have ever seen and took these requisite outfit photos. 

We then picked a quiet bench to sit and hold hands. It was by coincidence I chose to sit in front of this one:

We are pretty lovey-dovey with each other on the regular so this moment, while sweet, was not unlike any other we've had in the past. Getting into the park was awesome enough so never once did I suspect anything else was on the cards. It was at this point that S took my hand and placed in it, a pendant necklace.

I opened the key pendant to reveal those choice four words (i.e. the ones with the initials WYMM?) and in shock and/or adrenaline rush, burst out laughing! I took a second to calm down, answered "YES", then flung my arms around him and cried the happiest of tears!

We promptly woke up our families on the other side of the world before texting and calling our nearest and dearest to tell them the wonderful news. It was then that S decides to tell me that there was no such "co-worker from Australia" and that we were spending the weekend at the hotel! Sucker much? 

The icing on the cake - we didn't skip out on Maialino and celebrated our engagement over champagne and carbonara. Plus we didn't have to pretend to be guests of the hotel on our many subsequent visits to the park that weekend.