Tag Archives: NYC

Got Pickpocketed, but I Got my Wallet Back


With all of New York’s splendor and glamour, we often forget that this is a dangerous city. A place with so many people is bound to have just as much good as it does evil. If you watch Law & Order: SVU as much as I do, then you totally know what I mean. Saturday night, my neighbor and I went to see the dark Lars von Trier film, Melancholia, starring Kirsten Dunst in SoHo. What started out as a classy artsy evening in one of Manhattan’s trendiest neighborhoods could have potentially been ruined had I not recovered my wallet after a criminal attempted to steal it right out of my Elliott Lucca purse. I was climbing up the stairs to get off the crowded subway and there was a man in back of me carrying tons of shopping bags filled with boxes that looked like Christmas gifts. As I walked further up the stairs, I noticed that his bags kept hitting me. Nearly all the way up the stairs, I felt something strange and looked down at my bag to find it wide open and my WALLET GONE!

I stopped in my tracks and turned around at the people behind me screaming that someone had taken my wallet. That made everyone stop and give me their full attention. That must has scared him and made him drop my wallet because a girl found it on the stairs and handed it back to me pointing at that guy with all the bags. We all yelled at him and called him a pick pocketer to his face. At first he denied it and tried to blame it on someone else. But, other people getting off the subway had seen him try to take stuff from them. We yelled at him some more until he finally left the scene of the crime (luckily without my wallet.) I guess only a true New Yorker can get pick pocketed on the subway and get their stuff back two seconds later.

Even though I had gotten my wallet back, I was so shaken up about the whole thing. After the movie which was an interesting depiction of the end of the world, I locked myself in my apartment with a bottle of wine and tried to calm down. Perhaps, my impeccable fashion sense ultimately caused me to be the victim of theft. I must have done an excellent job dressing up last season’s boots because in reality, I’m not the ideal candidate to steal from. Remember to always stay fabulous and be on guard, especially in crowded places. The more people there are around you, the more crazy people there are around you. Keep your purse close at all times with the zipper in front of you because having to cancel all your credit cards and report fraudulent charges is super annoying.

J. Estina Launch at The Plaza Hotel


You can always expect the royal treatment at The Plaza Hotel. After all, it was the home of everyone’s favorite spoiled storybook character, Eloise.  Today, I felt a lot like the grown-up Eloise sipping champagne at the Grand Opening of J. Estina at The Shops at The Plaza.  J. Estina is a Korean brand of jewelry and accessories.  It’s mostly costume jewelry, but there is some fine jewelry as well.  There are so many tiaras in the collection because in Korean culture, tiaras are considered good luck. In socialite culture, it’s always lucky to look and feel like a princess. I don’t know about you, but I’d choose being surrounding by tiaras any day over being surrounded by crowds of crazy people at the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

More crowns!

A Late Afternoon in Central Park


When you are aspiring in the city that never sleeps, time goes by even faster than you could ever imagine. Summer is coming to an end and it will soon be time for stylish boots, scarves, and long sweaters over leggings. Lately, I have spent my time taking in every last ray of sunshine on Central Park’s green. Yesterday was such a beautiful day that by late afternoon I could stay in my apartment no longer and ventured to Central Park to read magazines and drink an iced coffee in the glorious weather. I even skipped the subway and walked the 20 blocks to my destination.

I could not have made a better decision.  The late afternoon sun was warm and welcoming not at all overbearing like it might have been at noon.  I sat there on a beach towel drinking a Starbucks and reading Ladies Home Journal felling like a true New York socialite.  I then decided that I needed to capture this wonderful moment for posterity.  Finding myself in the best of both worlds surrounded by trees and grass with beautiful buildings in the distance, I took out my camera and began snapping pictures of myself on the lawn.  A self-absorbed move?  Maybe.  But, I couldn’t be happier with how the pictures came out.  I guess even socialites can enjoy the simple pleasures of alone time. What do you do to get away without ever leaving home?

A serious socialite

A lovely day in New York

The Most Inspiring NYC Movies Ever!

It’s cloudy and rainy in NYC and this ugly weather will be making many appearances this week. But, no worries. It’s time to trade in your rooftop lounge chair for a plush couch. For me, bad weather calls for a movie marathon complete with delivery food. One of the coolest things about living in New York is that so many movies are shot here. Sometimes I will be watching TV and see a scene taking place somewhere I’d passed that day. No wonder everyone here seems to think they have movie star status. The small island of Manhattan is full of some of the biggest personalities, myself included.

When putting together a New York City themed movie marathon, I like to choose films with fun main characters who mirror aspects of my own New York experiences. Here are the top five New York chick flicks to save for your next rainy day:

5. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: This movie is hilarious!  Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey have excellent chemistry on-screen as they cruise around New York on a motorcycle.  It’s great how they wrote diamonds into the storyline.  Rainy day or not, they are a girl’s best friend.

4. The Devil Wears Prada: Only in New York can a scantily paid journalist get free designer clothes long before they hit stores.  This movie has fashionistas everywhere wondering if Miranda Priestly is actually based on Vogue’s Anna Wintour.  Though many suspect, it’s never been proven.

3. Confessions of a Shopaholic: I have a bit of a shopping problem so I can totally relate to Rebecca Bloomwood’s passion for magical credit cards. Her writing also gains her critical acclaim from the New York elite just as mine has.

2. The Nanny Diaries: The epic story of a Jersey Girl who takes a job as a nanny in New York directly after graduating from college while telling her parents that she landed a job at Goldman Sachs.  This movie shows that no matter how confused you are when you first get here, New York is a great place to find yourself.  You can also learn a lot about anthropology from this movie so it’s an educational experience.

1. Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Obviously! Every socialite wants to be like Audrey Hepburn. Plus, I always cry at the end when they find the cat.

Dear NYC, I Need a Bigger Closet


I don’t ask for much, only for a life filled with socialite fortune and fame. But, I think I also need a bigger closet. Manhattan apartments may be known for being small, but when the majority of your time is spent roaming the city in search of the next big sale or party, the size of your home doesn’t seem to matter.  As a lover of fashion and all things shopping, I am currently going through a complete closet crisis.  As you can see, my tiny closet that is actually big by New York standards is overflowing with just a small portion of my constantly expanding wardrobe.

Considering that many apartments in Manhattan are built without closets, I am lucky to have one at all.  But, in a city that glorifies fashion, I find this architectural decision to be extremely hypocritical.  I agree that you don’t need that much room to sleep, but where are all of your clothes supposed to go? I store the rest of my wardrobe in bins under my kitchen table and in any available floorspace in my bedroom along with under my bed.  The main issue with this storage system is that I can never find anything.  Having all of my clothes stacked on top of each other, causes me to wear the same looks over and over again because I can never make it to the bottom of the pile.  This forces me to go out and buy even more clothes. I guess the solution to this problem would be to buy a free standing closet from Ikea, but that would involve hours of self-installation that I simply don’t have.  Therefore, my kitchen will continue to serve as a walk-in closet.