i heart vegan ice cream.

YAY New York! Today’s been a great day! I just got done talking to Kim (I actually got to see her! Haha…I thought she’d be too busy the whole time I was here to even say hi. But, alas!). I was actually just talking to her about, out of all the places I’ve visited…Illinois, Ohio, New York…New York is definitely the most in my comfort zone. In a lot of ways, it actually reminds me of Flagstaff: walking everywhere, people watching, living in a nice, small apartment. BUT, today was AMAZING. Let’s see. It didn’t start off too amazing. I realized that doing touristy stuff just isn’t my thing. I tried it out this morning, though. I missed the Daughtry concert, so I settled to go on the NBC Studio Tour. It was at least an hour of bad trivia, bad puns, and boring stops. I got to see the sets for Nightly News with Brian Williams, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and Saturday Night Live. Okay, so the SNL set is pretty cool, especially since not many people ever get to see that set, but of course, it’s not as cool as on TV. The moral of the tour was that television can manipulate your perception of things, visually and otherwise. So, after the tour, I was antsy to get a move on. I walked to Grand Central Station. Such a cool building! From there I bought a MetCard and took the 6 train to Union Square. There was a farmers market there, which was pretty amazing because since the farmers didn’t live in NYC, everything was cheaper. The food looked so fresh and good…I wish I lived in New York at that moment! So, in that area I visited Free People, which had always been a dream of mine since obsessing over the brand. The store wasn’t really all that it was cracked up to be…but it may have been because I didn’t have much money to spend. I walked a couple more blocks to a vintage jewelry store I found online called Pippen Vintage Jewelry. What a quaint little shop! They had so many good finds there, and most of it was under $40. I ended up by this cute necklace from the 1950s that I plan to wear to the musical on Sunday. From there I took the 6 train further south to Spring Street, where I meandered the overpriced district of SoHo. The store All Saints was the highlight…they had an awesome vintage sewing urban western warehouse interior design theme going on. From SoHo I walked and walked and walked (got some mango and kiwi and strawberries from Whole Foods on the way…YUM), until I got into the heart of the East Village. If I ever live in New York, I would like to reside in the East Village. Vegan hubs, bicycles everywhere, walk-up apartments, local artists, rows of vintage clothing stores...this place was very home-y to me. So, my mission for the East Village was to locate Lula’s Sweet Apothecary, a small vegan ice cream place that opens at 3pm. I found the little diamond in the rough, that’s for sure. This place rocked! Their handmade chocolate chocolate chip ice cream was made out of cashews and was served in a crunchy cone. This was the first time I was able to enjoy a delicacy like this in about 5 years. It was nothing less than amazing. I’m thinking about slightly changing my plans tomorrow just to get another cone…maybe even a sundae. Eh heh heh. So, I walk with my cone through Thompkin’s Square, and eventually find the subway that takes me back up to homebase. I explore the 24/7 Apple Store (that place was PACKED…probably over 500 people), and the AWESOME, hands-on FAO Schwartz store (I wish I would have been able to experience this store when I was, like, 8). I then realize my feet have horrible blisters and are KILLING me, so I head back to Kim’s. I do my laundry at the nearby Laundromat, buy some Easy Mac at the Rite Aid next door, and relax. It was an awesome, unforgettable day :].

Tomorrow should be just as cool, but different. I plan to spend most of the day at the Met, but I was thinking of Lula’s again, and possibly a trip to see the 9/11 Memorial Site, and take a glance at the Statue of Liberty. Those last two might wait ‘til Sunday. The ice cream, however, probably can not wait.