All posts in: Central Park

Life

28 Dec 2019

Yow Yow’s New York Minute

Since I had my Taipei vacation earlier in the year, I opted for two weekend trips this summer. While Mandi had moved to New York last year, I actually have a handful of friends that had been living there for some time. It feels like just yesterday I was helping Mandi find an apartment and move up there. In fact, I remember being worried about her safety because she’d never lived in a big city before and she turned around and said “This is safest neighborhoods in New York City, I’ll be fine!” And she was right — she’s done nothing but thrive since she moved. It was fun seeing her again. In my first visit with Mandi years ago, everything felt new to me! The majority of our time was spent seeing and doing all things tourists would do. It was a great experience, but not as crucial for us to follow the same route this time. For this visit, it felt like we had more time. There wasn’t a rush to get in line early anywhere even though we definitely did that waiting for tickets for Shakespeare in the Park! Instead, our time was spent in areas that I knew I loved (SoHo!) and more time with my friends.

Did I mention that my two girlfriends are trying to get me to move to New York? I’m usually the planner for most of my trips, but they did an amazing job making sure that my entire weekend was laid out for me. The first time I was in New York, we were in between winter and spring. This time’s trip was the complete opposite! I’ve never been in humidity like this in my life. How do people survive it? Despite that, I had the best time! It was hard to get on my flight to go back home after that weekend.

And in true vacation tradition, I also managed to squeeze in a haircut at Rudy’s one morning!

Can people live in SoHo? Is this where I would live?

A Mets game!

A quick summary of everywhere we went:

[Momofuku Noodle Bar] (food)
[Shakespeare in the Park] (activity / entertainment )
Tomoe Sushi (food) – 172 Thompson St
Levain Bakery (dessert)
Stumptown (coffee) – 18 W 29th St @Ace Hotel
Grand Banks (food) – Pier 25 Hudson River Park
Fifth Hammer Brewing Company (drink) – 10-28 46th Ave, Long Island City
Mets game at Citi Field (entertainment)
Smorgasburg Prospect Park (food)
Gantry Plaza State Park

Uncategorized

20 Jun 2016

Let’s Talk About New York!

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As much as I love taking the trips and looking forward to writing about them on Yow Yow! When I sit down to actually start writing the post, I find myself dreading it. These are always the meatiest and because of that, I want to make sure that everything is perfect and not leave anything out.

I went to New York for the first time in March with Mandi and I couldn’t have imagined a better travel partner. I’m not just saying that because she writes on Yow Yow! with us. I’m mostly saying this because it just seemed like a no-brainer – we already really enjoy spending time with each other, but we’ve never spent THIS much time together. It could’ve gone either way, however, it was definitely more positive for us. Even though we went as friends, with New York being a city that has so much to offer, I can see why falling in love would be easy to do here! Anyway, Mandi graduated from Columbia a few years back when she was there for grad school so she really knew her way around the city. We all know that I would have had a tough time surviving that if I were on my own.

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Similar to me, Mandi likes to plan things out so there were things she wanted to do/see and things I also wanted to do/see as well. Together, we compiled a list and made up a plan for every single day that we were there. It’s not surprising that we didn’t hit everything, but we did A LOT and I felt like all the walking I did in that trip was enough to last me a year. Another wonderful part about our trip was that we left some pockets open to fill. Not everything was planned to a tee and I really appreciated that because that allowed the both of us to take some time apart and do our own thing or catch up with our own friends without the other person feeling like they were being dragged into it.

When I let people know that I was going on this trip, a lot of people were surprised that this was my first time. To be honest, I didn’t think I would be 26 when I went, but it’s not terrible. When I was younger and in college, I didn’t have any friends that lived there. It was also difficult to make the time to take a trip like this since I was in school and didn’t have as much $$$ back then. Better late than never? I felt like when I left on our last day that I had a greater sense of appreciation for the city and the things that I saw, did, and ate. I’m not sure if I would have had that same feeling had I been younger.

Read more “Let’s Talk About New York!”

Design

14 Oct 2013

Banksy Sells His Art to the Public

…And you won’t believe for how much. Something unusual happened this past weekend in New York City’s Central Park. Banksy solicited an anonymous man to sell some of his artwork for next to nothing and by nothing I mean $60 US which is considered nothing when you learn that his original paintings go for $42,400 each. #baller. The man selling the paintings didn’t even get his first hire until hours later because everyone walking past him thought that he was selling counterfeits. The ones that did make a purchase, however, walked away with a serious find!

For more on this project, click here.

Culture

05 Dec 2012

A Collection Part 32

This post is being released today because Veronica reminded me that I was overdue. Something you need to know: she asks for these posts often, but I usually don’t give in because I need to have a specific amount of photos for me to warrant a post. This time, she was right on the money hence…

The City Never Sleeps…in NEW YORRRRRK

I don’t know about you, but four months later, I am still loving the “Empire State of Mind” song. As mainstream as it is, there’s no denying the goodness of it. So everytime I hear some news about New York, all I wanna do is sing, “…in NEWWWWW YORRRRK…These streets will make you feel brand new!”

Inspiring is what it is.

I’ve never been to New York, but from what I hear it is always being referred to as “the city that never sleeps,” and it’s easy to believe.

German photographer Christopher Thomas must have been conducting stakeouts because he has managed to compose a book of photographers proving that the city does sleep after all. After nearly a decade of snapping these rare shots, he has managed to capture notable sights with not one single person in them.