10 Things I did Last Summer

Within the blink of an eye, dear summer has come and gone. The nights have started to get chilly and the familiar cool breeze that sends us scrambling into a nearby H&M store in search of an emergency cardigan is a firm reminder that Fall has arrived. I saw the first tree browning near my house today. The last few weeks turned out to be super fun and I shall miss the good times greatly. Good friends from Michigan came to visit and I met new people whom I enjoyed hanging out with. For the first time in many years, there were times when I actually felt BORED every once in a while! School starts tomorrow and life will resume its previous pace as New York City shakes itself back to a more solemn mood. 

So to recap the awesome memories, here is a list of 10 things I did last summer.

1. Lazed in the sun at the NYC parks.



Park#1 - Downtown at Battery Park.

Yenn and I sharing a sis moment as we walked towards South Street Seaport (where you'd catch a ferry to go see the Statue of liberty.

Park #2 - The Highline Park located on Manhattan's west side, which runs from 34th st to below 14th st. It was originally an old railroad track which was left abandoned until some genius decided to turn the space into a city park. I love this place cause it's super interesting!

Can you see the park?

Here are some pics from their official website HERE.

The park is very romantic at night too!







Park #3 - And of course, Central Park! @ Sheep's meadow, one of my favorite hangout spots.







There's always eye candy. Hours can fly by gossiping about fellow picnickers. hohoho.







An impromptu Malaysian gathering last weekend.

This is what I call life. Like I always said, Central Park's existence is how New Yorkers stay sane.





2. Toured New York City on a BIKE.




Yeap. I think this was the second time I rode on two wheels in the last 10 years. It was an entirely new experience experiencing the city in such a lovely pace. Read about my biking experience HERE. 







3. Celebrated birthdays of dear ones.

Sis Yenn's birthday!

Dear DMC's birthday!

Roomie Cheryl's birthday!

This was the most epic cake ever! Moist chocolate cake layered with raspberry jam, chocolate rum ganache and fresh berries. For the topping, homemade Bailey's and rum buttercream smeared all over and generously decorated with black and blue berries. All baking credit goes to Yenn. :)






4. Explored nearby destinations. 


Such as....

Jersey Shore of New Jersey.







Newport Mansions of Rhode Island.







5. Visited NYC museums and zoos without paying a single penny through my babysitting job. :)


Children's Museum of Manhattan, which I have been to four times already and will go again with another kid tomorrow. Kinda bored of this place now but eh, it's part of the job.

Interactive Curious George exhibition!

The American Museum of Natural History, which I've been to countless already because of my previous job as a butler.

So far every trip I had taken has been different, depending on the four-year-olds I brought with me. Some kids were more interested in poisonous tree frogs while some preferred touch screen interactive dinosaur 'movies'. I really enjoyed the special frog and dinosaur exhibitions which would be quite costly if it were out-of-pocket! (Most parents were members of the museums)







And then there was the Bronx zoo, one of the popular zoos of the USA. I brought Izzah there with me last week (she had visited from Michigan).

'We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you....~'







6. Indulged in thrift shopping for the first time ever.


Brooklyn is just an entire cultural phenomenon on its own. Unlike most people in uptight Manhattan (don't count NYU and below), Brooklyn is just super chill in comparison. The home of many artists such as musicians, fashion designers, sculptors and the like, Brooklyn can be a very inspiring place to be. In generalization, the fashion tone of the place consists of troll hair, loose-fitting tops, shredded pants and vintage clothes. Yenn describes it like this "Imagine the models from the American Apparel catalog sprinkled along the streets of Brooklyn". This is where you'd get great bargains from thrift stores.

One of the popular vintage/thrift stores in the area.

Found this vintage-inspired Doucette Duvall Bea coat for only $35!! I was quite hesitant to buy anything at first since I'm like dirt poor, but I was struck by the unique design and color. I needed a new coat anyway since I have only ONE coat (black & four-years-old) which I've reused almost everyday during winter. I bought the $35 coat and went home to google the brand only to find out that their stuff was super duper expensive. Like, about $300 for a flimsy dress. So...yay to Brooklyn shopping!

7. Hit the clubs.


With my beloved girls (and a guy)! This was us celebrating Cheryl's bday. Missing you already Em and Izzah!






At the Meatpacking District.





8. Went on an evening cruise.

I love Groupon, it's such a great way to save money and still get to enjoy the city. Got a pretty decent deal online - Cruise/dinner/dance at $35 for two.







Too bad everything felt quite cheap. The food was worse then our college cafeteria's and the plastic utensils just felt 'meh'. We even had a Titanic moment when the captain drove the boat into the platform when it took off! A whole row of windows shattered and we ran to the other side of the boat for our lives. Super dramatic. The crew then swept up the pieces of glass as if it were nothing. Honestly, not a very good experience.

Thank God for the view.

And the great company of friends.

9. Attended free events at Lincoln Center.

One awesome thing about New York City is that there are many free things to do if you look hard enough. Museums and zoos have free or pay-as-you-wish days and you could save super a lot of $$$ and still have a great time with good planning! Lincoln Center is always coming up with fun events and I attended a few of those.

Midsummer Night Swing! A night where people dress up from the 20s (or 30s?) and swing dance the night away.You could buy tickets but poor people still can have fun observing/dancing outside the dance floor. Got this pic from their webbie.

It's super cute. New Yorkers are always up for dance and dress-up. I only wish that I knew some dance moves!

I also watched Opera for the first time. Outdoors. In HD TV. Like the above. I used to think that Opera would bore me. But despite the foreign singing language and a little neck craning, I enjoyed myself a lot!

10. I cooked. I ate. And ate somemore.

This was how my freezer looked like a while ago. Stocked up on Jersey-priced meats.

You know what they say....eating at home saves you a lot of moolah!





Here are some sporadic pictures of my eating experiences.

Made watermelon sake! Discovered that it tastes much better than watermelon soju. Ingredients: Watermelon, lemon juice, sugar syrup, sake and ice.

Homemade pan mee, a favorite from Malaysia.

Homemade ondeh-ondeh!

Homemade japanese-inspired crepe. Red bean ice-cream with red bean paste.

Makan excursions.

Massive candy store, brainchild of Ralph Lauren's daughter.

Hers truly.

S'mores dessert pizza.







Massive sundae.







All gone.






The Best Chocolate Cake?

Designer macaron boutique.

You know where now.

Waffle truck.







New York style super thin crust pizza.







Green tea cupcakes and bubble tea at SPOT dessert bar.

Crayfish Party at Ikea, one of the most interesting dining experience ever.







Massive crayfish massacre.







We had such a hard time figuring out how to crack these guys open at first!

First time eating crayfish.

At the end of the day, it's your company that matters most.

Back to the real world. School starts tomorrow. Loooooong day ahead. NIght.