So I tried to keep clothing/souvenir shopping to a minimum because I didn't want to go over my luggage weight, so I only picked out a few special items for myself.
 |
| The Museum of Modern Art Pin: $3 Postcard: $2 |
These are the small souvenir items that I picked out for myself. I really enjoyed The Museum of Modern Art, particularly Yoko Ono's gallery. I get a little scared when I meet people that admit that they don't like art. I love surrounding myself with people who enjoy art, no matter how weird things may seem. I guess that is why I loved Yoko Ono's so much. There were pieces that seemed to look so random, such as a display of a green apple titled "Apple," or projecting videos of nipples and butts. Her gallery was so simple, yet had so much more meaning behind everything.
 |
| Black Heels: Madden Girl from The Market $49 White Heels: Steve Madden $40 |
If you know me, you'd know that I'm usually not a huge fan of wearing heels casually. However, being in NYC, I felt inspired to experiment out of my comfort zone. I never really gravitated towards wearing heels, because let's face it- I'm horrible at walking in them! But these babies are heaven for me. The chunky heel on both of these made them ideal for wanting to look fashionable while being able to walk around the city.
For the black shoes, it only took a day to break them in. The days after were so comfortable I felt like I could run a mile in them. These will definitely be my go-to shoes because I can easily wear them casually or more dressed up if I wanted.
The white shoes were surprisingly comfortable the first day I wore them out. The only thing I fear is getting them dirty so quickly. Similar to the black shoes, I feel like they can be worn either casually or dressed up- however they are a little more on the dressy side because of the classic white.
 |
| Chelsea Market: $12 |
This necklace was actually the first item that I bought in New York for myself. The Chelsea Market is full of artists and small businesses who sell and sometimes even make their own items. I came across this small boutique of jewelry. What was cool was that they had a huge selection of charms and chains that you could pick from and they would assemble them for you. You could make earrings, necklaces, and bracelets, and you could even stack as many charms as you want. I picked this cool edgy bug charm and a simple necklace chain to go along with it. I had no particular reason why, I just thought it would look pretty bad-ass to have a bug on my neck. It's also a cool conversation starter.
 |
| Forever 21: $23 |
 |
| Brooklyn Art Walls at Coney Island |
This shirt probably doesn't seem too special because I found it at Forever 21 in Union Square, but I still think it's pretty unique. I've never seen anything like this at other Forever 21's or maybe it's because usually I don't look hard enough anymore... I just thought it was cool because it's see-through and tie-dye.
 |
| Koala Socks: Top Shop: $6 Daisy Socks: Antoinette Brooklyn- TabbiSocks: $13 |
I wasn't looking for socks when I found both of these fun pairs, but they were both so cheeky I couldn't resist! I found the daisy socks in a small vintage boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn called Antoinette. I had always wanted transparent floral socks for a while now but I had only seen them on the internet. When I first spotted these babies I actually hesitated because I bought something else (the bracelet I will soon describe), then someone else swooped on them while I was talking to the shop owner. The owner, Lexi, was actually sweet enough to rush order them from the designer for me before I left NYC, so I stopped by the second time just to pick these up!
I found the koala socks at TopShop. I usually don't even walk into TopShop because I know how tempting everything in there is but I can't afford anything. But my love for koalas couldn't stop me from purchasing these. I plan to experiment with these socks by wearing them with heels and with shorts/skirts/dresses.
 |
| New York Hat: a souvenir shop: $10 |
I've been slowly wearing more of these types of hats lately. One, because my hair is crazy whenever I wake up and two, because they are becoming more trendy again. Just before this trip I had also just recently bought a "Los Angeles" hat from Brandy Melville so buying a "New York" just added to my new collection of "buying hats with places from wherever you've lived."
 |
| Brass ID Bracelet: Antoinette Brooklyn: $20 Salvador Dali- esque Watch: an outside sidewalk sale: $13 |
Lastly, more jewelry! These are probably my favorite things that I got from New York.
The ID was personalized by the owner of the boutique called Antoinette that I just mentioned. The bracelet itself was $20 and then you could personalize the stamp/engraved details without additional cost. I decided to just keep it really simple and got my initials "J G." My friend that I went with also got one and wrote her whole name "Rose." Then the second time I went back I actually made another ID bracelet that I gave to my mentor that had her initials on the front "D S" and then on the inside of the bracelet it said "MENTOR."
I feel like I won the jackpot when I found this watch. I was walking around Williamsburg with my friends and a guy was just on the sidewalk selling used vintage things, like more jewelry, records, and shoes. I only gave the table one look and my eyes went straight to this watch. I've only seen this watch on Tumblr, and I also thought it was a coincidence I saw this because we had just came back from an art museum where we were looking at a Salvador Dali painting (if you aren't familiar with it, you should look it up for reference).
That's it! I probably would have bought more things for myself if I hadn't already been spending so much money on food while I was there. But I feel like I picked some cool things that will remind me NYC in the future whenever I wear them around.
