01 June 2006

NYC, Spamalot and my birthday

and why this post has no pictures....oh blogger - thou hast forsaken me - and there will be no fabulous pictures of the yummy yarn and fabric . so i must caption for missing pics until i can get this f*@#&$ thing to post them :)

Well it *was* my birthday – as of 3 hours ago anyway :) - oh and what a lovely birthday it was. Actually, it all started yesterday with a fabulous trip into NYC. The day started awfully early for me (6:30AM!!!) – I am not a morning person and do not get out of bed until I have had at least 1 cup of coffee – and that is brought to me by Fritz (what can I say? I am so spoiled). But my mother was not catering to that whim – she is not a coffee drinker and she is not a morning person.

Fast Forward to NYC – I am off to a good start when I find out that “the little shop” where my mom buys her sewing notions across from work is none other than
Greenberg & Hammer! G&H is an institution in the costuming world, if you ask me. Every major costume shop I have ever worked at has ordered from them – I got to meet the manager and chat with him a bit as well as shop for OZ and got some really cool buttons for gifts.

Then, went on over to
Rockefeller Center to check out Kinokuniya Books for some Japanese craft books – of course that is not all I found:
As a pre-birthday treat, a friend of mine from High School took me out to lunch – for 3 hours !!!! It had been awhile since we had a good chat and boy did we talk!
As the day got hotter my bags got heavier! After lunch I headed to Soho to check out
Purl and its companion Purl Patchwork.

After getting lost after getting out of the subway at Bleeker (typical Marietta) I finally arrived at the fabric shop schwitzing like crazy! They let me just rest for a moment and enjoy the AC until my brain could function again– which was not easy, what with so much selection in such a tiny store. Oh! but they were so nice – and of course, I bought lovely items – (fuer unsere päckchenzirkel, vielleicht…). After spending too much money (happily)and cooling off, I went down the block to the yarn store. SO very nice and very big! Fabulous selection – mostly what we carry – but other lovely items such as Habu Textiles Yarn. There was a lot to choose from and my brain had melted from the heat, so I cannot recall it all but I did make a yarn purchase of the Rowan "wanna-be harris tweed" in the 4ply for a fair isle sweater vest – no idea why, other than the yarn called to me…it did….i am sure the sales clerk heard it too…no, I am not crazy! – this yarn said it wanted to come home with me… (“there coming to take me away haha!...”) And it did.

kinokuniyapurl patchwork stashrowan
lt-rt: kinokuniya craft books etc, purpl patch work stash enhancement, purl rowan 4 ply scottish tweed
Then off to the Fabric District for show shopping – long story short, go to 39th between 7th and 8th Avenues – the cheapest stores are there and you WILL get amazing deals. For example – bought lovely fabric for $25.00 per yard , which I know for a FACT costs $120.00/yard at GStreet Fabrics by me in Maryland. It is worth the price of gas to go to NYC for fabric!
sewing man spamalotneedle on 7th
lft-rt: immigrant tailor statue in Fabric District, SPAMALOT!!!!!!!!!, big ol' needle w/button in fabric/garment district (w/ statue on corner of 7th ave and 39th, or was it 40th?)

After all that – my mom and I went to see SPAMALOT! – which was fantastic! I have not seen a a true NYC Broadway spectacle show since Les Mis. I have seen several straight plays, but nothing on this scale in a long time – and it was fabulous! Oh! And Harry Groener played King Arthur. He was played the Mayor in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3 (big Buffy fan here) – got to say HI to him after the show but didn’t get an autograph – shucks!
that was just tuesday - prebirthday day! and just as much happened today - which i will show you in pictures:



modernyarn.combday shoppingmom's garden
lt-rt: www.modernyarn.com in montclair, nj - awesome store! everyone must got there! shopping in montclair, my mom's front garden

well thanks for playing today - i hope to have pics up tomorrow when i get back to maryland. New Jersey has been grand! see you tomorrow night!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, what fun! Mom and I saw Spamalot last year (and in a Joss Whedonesque coincidence, Alan Tudyk of "Firefly" and "Serenity" was playing Lancelot).

Looking forward to seeing at least part of your haul!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful day!

Tony LaRocca said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Tony LaRocca said...

Happy Birthday! Jen & I saw Spamalot, of course ;) I used to work in the building with the button/needle & sewing machine statues years ago. There's a great view from the roof!

Vivi said...

Happy Birthday!