Shopping in New York...for fabric, of course!

You guys, I'm a little disappointed in myself.

After spending nearly an entire day fabric shopping in New York (a pursuit fully worthy of an entire day, just to be clear) my mom and I bought, between us, 6 pieces of fabric. Which might sound acceptable until you realize that half of those were 1-yard swatches from Spandex House.

How, you might ask, did I permit such scantiness to come about? I am afraid (I'm ashamed to admit it) that I became so focused on finding certain textiles that I knew I wanted that I was not as open as I should have been to the wealth of options around me.

Which means I ended up with a very responsible heap of fabric. I have all the fabric I need for my prospective projects, without a lot of extra unallocated textiles to bloat The Stash. Moreover, I have a clearer idea of what sort of fabric I'm looking to match to some of the newer Vogue patterns (V1419 Ralph Rucci coat, anyone?). Unfortunately I found these items at the expense of those exquisite, unanticipated impulse purchases you hope to find while fabric shopping in New York. (Although I suppose tackling impulse buying is a good thing...)

Ok time for show-and-tell :D

I know you were curious about that Spandex I mentioned!

Pasta for Days: Eating in Boston's North End

Guess where I went last week???!!!

The State House

I found this by accident outside my hotel...I felt like I was meeting celebrities!!! (Yes, I am an American Revolution nerd.)

(Hint: it’s in the title :D)

Last week my mom and I took a trip to the East Coast to look at colleges, attend a conference, and just generally have a whole lot of fun in Boston!

Picture in transit!

Ice cream and Paul Revere...I was a pretty happy camper ;) 

 …Which necessitates, of course, enjoying some delicious Bostonian food!

Picture courtesy of cleangreenmobile.com

Now if you have ever planned on eating in a foreign location, you probably understand how difficult it is to identify an acceptable restaurant. Before leaving for the East Coast, I spent so much time wading through recommendations, critical synopses, and Google images that I saw red-boxed stars every time I closed my eyes. And yet, several restaurants that my mom and I tried on the trip, accompanied by stellar Yelp reviews, I found pretty unimpressive.


Thankfully,  my mom and I discovered an excellent alternative to browsing Yelp for a good dinner stop...

Taking a stroll around Boston's North End.

The North End is Boston's Italian neighborhood. It's a cozy, old-fashioned area of the city chock-full of little family-owned businesses. Hanover Street, where my mom and I spent most of our time, is so packed with cute little storefronts that you can't even get a good-sized truck through the narrow street. The neighborhood has a charming, happening feel (I mean, it was thronging on a Tuesday night! It was fun just walking around passing people in the street!) .



Most importantly, the North End is a treasure trove of tiny, rustic, absolutely scrumptious Italian restaurants. Supposedly there are over ninety (90...!!!) restaurants within this one easily-navigable-by-foot area. I only actually got around to trying four, but they were all delicious and a really fun experience (...fun ranging in definition from pleasant and romantic to chaotic and decidedly entertaining). But seriously, you could walk down Hanover street and run into half-a-dozen adorable restaurants you want to try tonight. One of my last comments as I was leaving the area was "How did we  miss that restaurant?"...not like there would have been room in my schedule ;) 

So here are my breakdowns of the handful of restaurants I sampled in Boston. Also, go ahead and click on the map below to check out my Google Map with the locations of the restaurants I'm talking about. Enjoy!