idle in the sunshine.

day two : april 30th : nyc

i awoke very early the following morning at six thirty am, which is very odd for someone like me (i hate mornings) but seeing as i knew there would be pretty much nothing to do that early & also knowing that i would absolutely have to be up & alert for most of the next 24 hours, i decided it best to fall back asleep until the iHome alarm set to goldfrapp would wake me again at ten.


with liz still fast asleep, i rushed over to my macbook so i could scour the internet for any review or mention i could find of the fabulous night before. mostly though i was excited for my possible villagevoice.com mention & to see all those photographs that were taken of me with all those fancy cameras. (thank god for flickr - now if you search 'alison goldfrapp'
guess who's photo pops up?)


after a good hour of searching, a few posts to all my fellow goldfrapp friends letting them know i was still alive & a new myspace default later, it was time to get dressed & get packed up again for a final day in the city spent vintage shopping in the lower east side.




the moment we stepped foot in our little hotel room at the pod, we both gasped at the incredible view we had. classic nyc style, fire escapes & all. we decided then & there that before we left we absolutely had to take at least a few photos in front of it.





after that lovely early morning photoshoot we finally cleared the room of all our clutter & once again threw it all back into our balenciaga motorcycle carryon bags for the final journey home. we then said a sorrowful goodbye to our room & headed downstairs for check out.

i knew only after about a minute of standing in line at the front desk that the concierge was definitely staring at me in a really strange way. when it got to the point of almost being too weird, i see him slowly stand & still looking directly at me, he says - "i took your photo at the beacon last night - the goldfrapp concert?" & immediately i knew. i was not lying when i said that at least a hundred fans took my photo that night & funny enough one of them just happened to be the concierge of our hotel. we, of course, go straight into a typical goldfrapp conversation, asking how long we'd been fans for, how much we adore alison, how fucking amazing the show was - the whole bit. he then went on to say that i was the highlight of his night, with that fabulous costume no less (aw) he said he had even gone into work that morning telling everyone about the girl who dressed up. how funny that suddenly - here i was. besides being just the concierge he also has the task of managing all the photographs taken & used for the pod hotel's city life blog that scans through multiple photos on flat screened televisions hung behind the front desk. as we chatted he uploaded mine, so if you ever find yourself staying at the pod hotel in midtown, nyc - keep a look out for yours truly, up on the screen, clad in a pirate hat of course.

since he was, after all, our concierge we proceed to ask him about some cafes in the area for a quick bite to eat before all our shopping madness. he directed us to PAX, a whole foods cafe just on the corner.


there liz & i shared a delicious honey granola & blackberry yogurt parfait, the perfect thing to hold us over just until our planned stop at a cafe, a few hours later for afternoon tea.


sadly, due to lack of remembering & the sheer awe of all the loveliness that then surrounded me, i have not a single picture of what is now my most favourite vintage shop ever. it's name? fox & fawn* lower east side, manhattan. owned by two californian girlfriends who have such a bloody brilliant eye for all things old & fabulous.



the quaint shop sits tucked away on suffolk street & is absolutely filled to the brim with designer shoes (think ysl), old cameras, sunnies, jewellery & what seemed like a million & one floral playsuits. i loved that the place was so teeny & quiet making it feel like youre either attending an exclusive trunk show or just aimlessly browsing through your dream closet. liz & i were the only ones there that whole two hours, sans the blonde half of the fox & fawn duo, who was always there to give us an insight or suggestion, a few friends of hers quickly dropping off things theyd found for the shop & one girl that came back in for this amazing seventies maxi dress. i had my eye on it the whole time but apparently so had she, because she came in that day especially for it, saying she "could not live without this dress". but all was fine because i did not leave empty handed, instead i left feeling quite satisfied carrying with me a brown paper bag filled with snakeskin ysl heels in my exact size (a five & a half is not easy to find), a lightweight denim skirt which has only the slightest flair & white buttons running down the front, an oversized grey suede clutch, ysl mens wallet for my brother & my absolute favourite favourite favourite - a floral playsuit who's print reminds me a lot of the ones chloe did for opening ceremony. if only i lived in one of the many ivy covered apartment buildings scattering that street & the lower east side, im sure id be in there everyday & my ikea closet storage system would hate me for it.

so, after the completely horrid task of sifting through racks of vintage what else are two hip girls to do but pop into teany* for a nice cuppa, some currant scones & tea sandwiches?




the afternoon tea special gave us a lovely array of choices & in the end our teapots came filled with my choice of vanilla citrus rose tea & liz's choice of lavender tea. the three tired cake plate arrived full with vegetarian tea sandwiches; ham, mustard, and cucumber, goat cheese and tomato, cream cheese and avocado & cashew butter and apple slices, currant scones with clotted cream & jam (my most favourite thing ever) & finally set atop were two dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting.



teany inside is just lovely, as is most everyplace in nyc. (everything there just has that something, that certain coolness about it, no?) to one side of us was a white washed brick wall that had tea lights placed & glowing in its many holes & on the other side hung a mirror lined at the bottom with cake plate after cake plate, displaying all the delicious (vegan) desserts.


we sat there for a good while, slowly enjoying our last moments together, eating & chatting about everything from our to die for recent purchases, that amazing concert (!) to how long we'd have to wait until we could be back in nyc again. but once the teapots were empty & our stomachs were almost too full to stand, it was already time to get liz back to the hotel again so she could pick up her luggage & head to jfk for her early flight back home. we were running very close on time but after a slightly panicked rush back, liz & i took a few last photos together outside the pod & said our goodbyes on the street corner where she hailed a cab & drove away.

i immediately grabbed for my ipod to listen to the song that had been stuck in my head all day, monster love*, which actually quite perfectly fit that exact moment as i turned & walked the other way back into the city streets alone, my head filled with lovely thoughts of those past two days.

"everything comes around, bringing us back again.
here is where we start and where we end..."

i continued walking & found my way over to a little corner shop where they sold postcards, so i could pick up a few & send them, like i had promised, to my closest friends. our hotel had a lovely rooftop lounge, & since we hadnt the time to suss it all out before hand i figured it the perfect place to sit & write to all my mates from afar.


i lay there atop one of the giant red cushions, alone again, with alison still singing in my ear, writing away trying to ignore how freezing cold the air was. the view was absolutely gorgeous & when i got done with the postcards, i opened up the little box i had with me & got out the cupcake i was too full to eat earlier at teany & sat just staring at it.




it was a beautiful moment & i could have stayed there for a million more but i too had to get myself all the way back to jfk & figured, since i wasnt taking a cab & didnt really know my way that it would be best if i left early. so once down eight floors, i grabbed my luggage, made room for my new vintage & made sure my directions to the airport were correct - they were & off i went. it was a dreary one hour ride there just sitting on that subway. all i wanted to do was curl up & fall asleep but thankfully i had my ipod set to a playlist of strictly uptempo tunes to keep me from doing just that.

once that ride was finally over, i then had to board the airtrain to get to my terminal. i guess i had arrived at a not so busy time because i was strangely the only person in the entire station except for a few employees. i suddenly felt as though i had stepped into goldfrapp's 'pilots' video as i walked down that long idle hallway. it was the coolest thing ever. & as always my ipod was right there at my side, or in my chanel 2.55 rather, to play 'pilots' & help further that surreal feeling.



i definitely would not have been surprised if the few employees that were there suddenly came out of nowhere, following me further into the terminal, all whilst dancing, kissing & riding on scooters. ahh, if only!







finally at jfk & after a quick cig break & a long wait in the security line, i realized that i hadnt bought a single magazine my whole trip, so i quickly stopped by one of the many newsstands en route to gate 12 & bought, quite fittingly, a copy of 'new york look' for the aeroplane ride home.




& quite like i began, i sat flying high in the sky, diet coke in hand, macbook on my lap & while watching the goldfrapp 'wonderful electric' concert dvd i shed a silent tear & felt absolute honour & luck to have now experienced it all first hand - no dvd player required.


photos of purchases to come next...


i want to lastly say a huge thank you to everyone who has read & will read these blogs. i know they are both incredibly long & take forever to read through, but i just wanted to make sure i would have a place where i could come back from time to time, read it & instantly feel all those feelings over again. it takes a lot to read paragraph after paragraph of my writing & only slightly annoying goldfrapp insanities (wink wink),
so thank you darlings. it means a lot.


XOXO, A.



*i was only able to visit these amazing shops - including pippin from day one - because of the fabulous stevie of discotheque confusion & all her lovely suggestions.
so if you ever find yourself with a plane ticket to nyc - shes the girl to ask.
*polaroids of fox & fawn taken from their myspace page.
*the last photo of teany taken from flickr.
*monster love is now my featured song here on 10.17. you could quite possibly be listening to it now.
thats sortof the idea...