Lullanotes

In the 1000 things to do in New York City, having a burger at Shake Shack took the spot at #19. There are so many movies which had Shake Shack at Madison Square Park as the backdrop. Just recently, I spied it again in "Something Borrowed". We didn't go with the intention of specifically locating the outlet at Madison Square Park because we weren't too sure of our bearings and we didn't know if it was going to be out of the way. It initially stamped from a simple desire to try the burgers and see if they were as good as some claimed. However one night in a taxi ride, we swished past the Madison Square Park and lo behold! We knew we had to sit and eat at the green benches with its incredible outdoor setting.

Going in the afternoon would be nice but going at night was almost magical with its fairy lights. It almost felt romantic but would have been even more so had we been there with our better halves but hey, I was there with my two girlfriends and it in itself was gratifying. The queue was pretty long and it took a while before we got food but consuming the juicy burger, the cheesy fries and washing it down with milkshake was like a heart attack about to happen. Because I am a crap food blogger, I shall leave you with reviews from TripAdvisor.



Although it was good, just as how all sinful food taste like but if you are anything like me, you believe in the power of ambience and company too. One bite sends you to gastronomic heaven but the collective energy of the crowd dining together with you in an outdoor setting as such brings you straight back to Earth to cherish this very moment where you are far away from home, in the city that doesn't sleep, living a life you thought you could only experience when you hit "replay" on a DVD.

I leave you with a dreamy, bokeh picture of Shake Shack.

It was the eve of a public holiday so The Boy and I headed to the airport at night to lounge. We stay in the eastern part of Singapore and the Singapore Changi airport is very accessible from both our homes by car. Let's face it. Singapore is miniscule. Everywhere is accessible when the traffic jam doesn't hit. Except it does and quite a lot, especially on the eve of a public holiday.

It is so very coincidental that McDonalds was crowded (or maybe not that coincidental since it is always crowded). We then wanted to make our way to Swensens even though in our heart we knew that the queue is just going to be as dismaying but who should come out from the Arrival Hall was one of The Boy's longtime friend. He is an air steward and had returned from a flight. For the sake of convenience, we shall call him Mr. Wise Man.

Mr. Wise Man agreed to join us for coffee and we started to talk about his travels and also about luxury items in which The Boy had no idea of. He did occasionally contribute by wrinkling his nose in disapproval. In our conversation, we started talking about our biggest ticket item. For me, it was my Prada Bauletto Bag in Saffiano leather. For Mr. Wise Man, it was his Cartier watch. For The Boy, if we exclude the car, apartment and gadgets, he doesn't really spend on any big ticket luxury items. Because the Prada bag for me, was an expensive purchase, I've only brought it out once and even then, I found myself coddling it by not doing what I usually do - which is to leave it on the floor and I examined it for invisible scratches ever so often. Mr. Wise Man said something that made sense.

You should own your things and not let your things own you.

If it should have scratches, so be it. Things are meant to be enjoyed and used. There is no point to owning something and then baby-ing it because then, the fear of using it and accidentally destroying it becomes too great. There is much truth in that. There is satisfaction in knowing that books get dogeared and wrinkled because I've read it over and over again. I love the creases in the leather bags I've often carried around because every little crease is an indication that it has been used and over time, the leather bags grew a character of their own.


My preciousssss ....
So this is what I am bringing away with me today from our little chat. Love your things but learn to enjoy them too.

It was summer when we first stepped into New York last year. I was going to Toronto for a work trip and I persuaded a friend to come along with the lure of free accommodation. Because we already flew halfway around the world to be in Toronto, we decided to make a stop in New York as well. It sure was tough trying to find an open jaw flight that was reasonable but we managed it. We didn't exactly go with an itinerary in mind. We just knew from the top of our heads that we wanted to go to Times Square, Central Park, Macy's (yes it was an attraction), see the Statue of Liberty (my wish, not hers) etc.

Summer in New York is warm and not unlike Singapore minus the humidity. We trotted about in breezy dresses, capris or shorts almost anywhere that didn't require a proper dress code. To go to Central Park in that weather was perfect. Central Park is a public park right in the centre of Manhattan. We talked about buying a picnic basket, filling it with goodies and cheese and then going to Central Park to laze for a good part of the afternoon away but in the end we got lazy and just went without the said basket. Central Park, due to New York's good weather, was crowded .. and smelly. There were a lot of horse carriages lined up to be hired for rides so we shuffled along, hoping to find quieter spots. We came to the road junction of 72nd Street and Central Park West, I saw a pretty building and took a picture of it. Little did I know that that building turned out to be "The Dakota", famous for two things: its exclusivity and John Lennon. John Lennon was shot four times in the back just as he was entering The Dakota.


Because John Lennon and Yoko Ono loved being in Central Park, strolling and doing what lovers do, a 2.5 acre teardrop-shaped area of Central Park was sanctioned off in John Lennon's memory and his crusade for Peace. The entrance to this area is directly opposite The Dakota and named "Strawberry Fields" after one of The Beatles' song.


We ventured further in and managed to find a lovely shady spot and that's where we threw down our bags, took off our shoes and started lying on the grass, not believing that we actually made it to one of New York's most famous attractions. By a stroke of luck, we also found Le Pain Quotient, right next to the Sheep Meadow and that's where we bought crusty almond croissants, berry fruit tarts and iced lemon tea to feast on while we laid back on the grass to either watch the sky, read our Kindles or people watch.

One couple sat pretty close to us and brought their puppy and the puppy was so fascinated with us (more precisely, our almond croissants) that he sat with us, good as gold, his head cocked to one side and his eyes soulfully staring at our bakery treats. We got permission from the owners to feed him and he must have ate an entire croissant on his own. An hour later, some Central Park guards appeared in the vicinity and upon seeing them, the couple scooped the puppy up, popped him into a Balenciaga carrier and made off. There are some rules about bringing your dog to Central Park so I guessed they just wanted to avoid trouble!

In the early part of the evening, tired from all the reading, we packed our shower curtain (which we used as a mat) and started walking around. We stopped for a good while to watch the rollerskating dancers and this is an event open to everyone I believe. They rollerskate to the music and some even carried their own sound system as they skated. It seemed like very good exercise to me, except that I am a complete douche at rollerskating.

Some of them are part of Central Park Dance Skaters Association (CPDSA)

Lovers ― boating on the lake, basking in summer warmth
Central Park is a lush green sanctuary in the middle of the busy Manhattan. You can walk into her leafy embrace away from the hustle and bustle of city life to find a spot of peace. If you think people who hang out at Central Park are just regular park-goers, you should go experience it for yourself. There are many colourful characters literally and metaphorically in Central Park and it is they who lent the vibrancy to "just another big park" otherwise that made it uniquely New York.



When you are in Central Park, it feels like a different place ― a place away from the city but yet still in the heart of it all.

There is something liberating about sky watching. The wide expanse of sky makes me feel that my heart has to stretch further and wider too just to take the sight of it all in. I love to watch out for interesting cloud formations and gauge if there is enough blue in the sky to make the sailor a pair of pants. I know I sound completely dopey with the last sentence but those who had been an Enid Blyton fan would have known very well what I meant indeed.

It was one of those Sundays that I thought I was going to be going through the humdrum of a regular Sunday activity - laundry when I glanced outside the window. What I saw made me drop my clothes and raced for the phone camera and I captured this. Fast as it came, it was gone within the next five minutes.

Picture unfiltered by Instagram
Somewhere, someone knew I had a lifelong desire to see the Aurora Borealis but it is not quite the time to fulfill my dream yet ... so it brought Aurora Borealis to me.

If I have a small closet and I have to pare down my wardrobe to the absolute essentials, with the space to comprise only things I love to wear, this would be it - The Ultimate Curated Wardrobe. 80% of this curated set are things I actually own, a scant few are on my wishlist, like that gorgeous pair of YSL ballet flats. When I was creating this set on Polyvore, I kept thinking that one day if I have to live in a foreign land and I couldn't bring all my stuff, what would I bring that would fit into a luggage?

I am really satisfied with this list and perhaps I could add in a white shirt or so but I would still survive without one. The unfortunate thing is that after creating this, it seems like I don't need as much clothes as I think I do and the current wardrobe is starting to look confining and excessive.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
― C.S. Lewis, 'The Four Loves'

I love my designer bags, accessories and clothes as much as a lot of other women I've seen. As much as the neighbour down the corridor likes her plant, as much as the man in the nice shirt loves his shiny car and as much as my mother whoops in joy at supermarket sales. It's frivolous, I give you that but honestly, I find no shame in it. I work hard to finance my desires and I will not justify that it is a good way of spending hard-earned dosh but it's my money, I am allowed to be careless with it (but I want to assure you I wish I didn't).

No, it is not a post at flaunting whatever little I have. I've been using designer wallets for a long time because I always feel that if I have to splurge on designer anything, wallets are the best cost-per-wear items to own as one doesn't change her wallet everyday and usually it lasts for at least a good 2 - 3 years if not much longer. However I've been looking at minimizing the things that I bring outside with me. I used to step out of the house carrying the world with me in a giant tote. In this huge bag, you could find every single convenience from batteries to another pair of flats and extra underwear to full size perfume to a plastic fan. Since then, I've come a long way and managed to pair down to the absolute essentials ‒ iPad, mobile charger for my constantly dying phone, minimal makeup kit, keys, phone and a wallet. I even managed to squeeze these into a crossbody bag ... except for the wallet. I had these thick, fat wallets and my love for leather didn't help.

It was frustrating because although the leather was soft and smoochy and the brand shines through in uniformly spaced out letters, it was something I felt I could scale back on in size on but foolhardily refused to. Anyway, to cut the long story short, there came this day I just wanted things to be simple. I just wanted to bring out a fully charged phone, a wallet and house keys and stuff them into this mini clutch so I dug around, found the Coach Poppy Graffiti Wristlet that a few of my friends had given to me for my 30th birthday and decided to use it.

Instead, I found Freedom. The purse was utilitarian. It had a large zipped compartment which consisted of 4 spacious card slots and a coin compartment. There was also an exterior slot and it had straps. The spacious card slots were important because I had to carry my debit and credit cards, personal identification card and some discount cards. Each card slot could fit 2 cards at least and the last one could probably fit four. For the bills, I just put it in the main compartment and my coins are neatly stashed into the inner zipped compartment. The outer slot was important for putting my subway card which I used to lose on a very regular basis because I would not put it in my bulky wallet with my other cards. The best part is of course the detachable straps. Even if I had an abyss for a bag, I could detach the straps and hang it around the handle of the bag and never lose my wallet in my mess again. It was patent and I never feared getting it dirty because just a wet wipe would clean it up very nicely. All those crap stuffed in the little pink purse and it didn't look like it held the universe. It was still slim and sleek plus I genuinely also love it for the sentimental value. I stopped using my other more expensive wallet but I didn't miss it, especially now it fits perfectly into my smallest of bags and I didn't have to juggle a bowl of noodles, a drink and on top of it, a bulky wallet during lunch.

Maybe the same applies in Life itself. Perhaps we overthink the amount of things we need in our life and over-emphasize on what we thought was important and how others look at us. It turned out what I was looking for in a wallet wasn't something prestigious or even extremely well-crafted in the finest material. I was looking for something useful, befitting of my lifestyle and the sentimental value was only a reason to love it even more.