Soho and real friends

Our last full day in NYC. Brunch at The Brooklyn Diner on 43rd near Broadway which opened just a week ago and then off to Soho for some more shopping.

Our first stop was at Ann Taylor Loft, where I did the most damage volume-wise. I've been wanting a tuxedo suit for a couple years now and ended up buying one here. The jacket is a perfect fit and the pants have traditional satin stripe up the sides. So elegant and smart.

I LOVE Ann Taylor pants because they fit me perfectly, so I ended up combing their sale racks for pants in my size and bought all the wide-leg dress pants in my size. The bonus? An additional 20% off the lowest ticketed price! I also bought a fantastic Minnie Rose cashmere kimono shawl - so soft and so must-have.

I found LOTS of other beautiful things that I coveted...like the jacket at Calvin Tran with a satin tie; the pretty chiffon dresses at Rebecca Taylor; and the japanese kimono silk dreses at the store that I don't know the name of....so lovely.
But my favourite? My favourite store was the calm, fragrant oasis of Nancy Koltes at Home where I spied the pink cashmere robe to the right. I sat in the comfy armchair opposite to rest my weary feet and to just take in the ambience. I love how everything in the store was edited. I admired the lovely robe, which would have been crazy for me to buy because I don't use robes at home anyway, besides which, I think it was $400+. sigh.

By about 5:30pm, we were tired of shopping...and looking forward to dinner. I'd made reservations at Cafe Espanol on Bleecker at Sullivan for 7 and we ended up arriving early. I'd discovered it a couple years ago while in NYC with my cousin A. I was looking forward to this meal all weekend. Their paella marinara with the half lobster was as good as I remembered, and we also ordered a lobster and shrimp in garlic sauce. It was pretty decadent considering it was just us 2 girls but it's such great value! Lobster and big juicy shrimps for $23? You can't beat that! And their sangria! The best sangria I've ever had with the fruits drowned in brandy overnight. :) We lingered over the sangria for more than an hour after paying the bill and ended up ordering flan for dessert and staying another hour.

We had a vague intention of going out to a jazz club but after making it back to our hotel, we ended up just staying in for the night. We packed and we chilled. I don't see W very often, in fact, the last time we saw each other was 2 Xmas' ago on holiday in Hong Kong, and we don't correspond regularly, but she's one of those special friends that it doesn't matter how much time has passed since we last saw each other, we can pick up like it was just yesterday since we last chatted.

The weekend was far too short. We're already thinking about our next girls' weekend...maybe it'll be NYC again...perhaps I'll meet her there when she's back on the east coast on a buying trip...or maybe it'll be somewhere warm where we can loll on the beach (though I'm not very good at that!) or perhaps it'll be gay Par-ee....? Regardless of the where, we know it'll be fun with lots of shopping, despite our best intentions - we are each others' good luck shopping charm. So good, but also, so dangerous. :)

(The Princess Bride is on TV, and despite being really tired, I have to watch til it ends at 3am)