Friday in NYC :)

On our second full day in the city, we decided to hit up a bunch of random places on the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn that we wanted to go to. Lucky for us, we were staying with my friend Camryn who lives just a 10 minute walk from Columbus Circle Station so we could easily get anywhere we needed in the city!

Christmas in the Big Apple means selling Christmas trees outside buildings and along the sidewalks. Very New York.

First stop of the day : SUPERMOON BAKEHOUSE in the Lower East Side. I had seen this spot on Instagram and immediately knew I had to go here!

Lattes in cute pink cups…OK.

They are known for their fabulous and crazy pastry creations…take for example this raspberry, white chocolate, MINT croissant.

The aesthetics of this place reminded me so much of the cafes I visited in South Korea…that effortless, instagrammable, chic look that is TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL!!

Next spot we hit up was CHILLHOUSE…this very hip and millenial place which combines…get this…A CAFE WITH A NAIL SALON. Yep, you heard me. A place to grab some coffee and get your nails done?? PERFECTION.

Back behind that glass wall is where the nail salon is. If we had more time in the city I would 100% get a manicure here!!

CHILL VOICES SUGGESTED. CHILL VIBES ALWAYS.

Next spot was YUMI KIM…a cute clothing store that is most known for the dumpster art on the side wall. This is another spot I found via insta and had to see for myself. How cool is this?? We soon realized that this area of town resembled a sort of, LA Arts District vibe.

Right down the street from Yumi Kim was a store I had to see in person… CW PENCIL ENTERPRISE… a store entirely dedicated to PENCILS. can you believe that? Pencils!!

In the store there was a $100 pencil..haha! Apparently it was one of the first pencils every created and that model was used by some famous people who signed some famous papers? Clearly, I needed to pay better attention to those details.

Ok now drumroll for a store I was MOST EXCITED to see…

HAVE A GOOD TIME.

Yes…that is the name of the brand. “have a good time”. I first found out about when I went to South Korea this past summer… I kept seeing people wearing this very simple shirt and had to find out what it was all about. Turns out it’s a Tokyo based brand with only two stores…ONE IN TOKYO AND ONE IN NEW YORK!!! So I was stoked when I could actually see this store in person.

Any brand that is a Tokyo based brand making cool, comfortable, affordable clothes is a win in my book!!!

After our time in the LES (Lower East Side), we then headed to the infamous BROOKLYN BRIDGE. We walked there easily and decided to cross is going towards Brooklyn form Manhattan (it was way less crowded this way).

The Brooklyn Bridge is just as beautiful as all the photos make it out to be!

Emi and her epic coat!

Up next…TIME FOR PIZZAAAAAA. It wouldn’t be a trip to Brooklyn without some good, crispy, pizza. We settled on GRIMALDIS, which had a long line outside (30+ people) even at 2pm on a weekday! But hey, we knew we had to try it.

Right as I bit into my first bite of their famous pizza, my brothers so kindly informed me via text that “GRIMALDIS is in El Segundo!” ohhhhh great. Well, i’d like to think I had a chance to eat the real deal. so HEY. still worth it.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Brooklyn without stopping by DUMBO. Honestly, this little street was way too touristy and chalk full of instagram models trying to get their perfect shot -so…not down for it at all. But, once again, cool to see IRL.

Coffee break time! This time we just walked a block or two from Dumbo and went to USAGI (which means rabbit in Japanese btw). This place is a coffee shop, book shop and art gallery. How cool is that?

And to end the night…I met up with my two childhood friends who live in the city, Camryn and Kristen, and we had a little reunion and girls night out!! It was so much fun. Kristen lives in an amazing apt in Chelsea so we headed that way and had dinner at MOMOFUKU NISHI!

Everything at MOMOFUKU NISHI lived up to the hype. Especially the ribs which Kristen knew about even though they weren’t on the menu!!! legit.

A few shops away from MOMOFUKU NISHI is duh..duh…duh…MILK BAR!!!! This is just a block or two away from Kirsten’s place and she told us she gets a birthday cake shake all the time - so of course we had to partake in her NYC tradition.

SO GOOD. Even though MILK is in LA now…still good to go to the OG store.

We ended the night back at Kristen’s cool 6-floor Chelsea walk up sippin on various beers from the beer place down the street and catching up on everything and anything that has happened the past few years. There is something really magical about being in a new place with old friends. The perfect kinda combo.

A few iphone shots :