Day 2 of New York and the "Hurricane" weekend

My first morning in Manhattan.

Woke up to this awesome view

You can see the Chrysler, and you can see the Empire State building.

Love that Trump is a glass building.

Hit the pool! To the health club..

It's an indoor pool, pretty logical because there're 4 seasons and no one would be able to swim during winter if outdoor (duh)

A short 2-lap pool. But it's enough.

Took a subway from Grand Central to Wall st all by myself (2nd day and already understood the subway system, sort of). Met G and got my nails done!

Okay I forgot what park this is, but it's so pretty!

Love the weather, love that it's not humid, love that there are no bugs whatsoever.

I could take a walk in a park everyday in this weather.

About to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

I can see me in the reflection on her sunglasses.

Lunch at Brooklyn Heights. G said it's one of her fav restaurants. She knows this area pretty well because she stayed at the international dorm here.

A garden omelette and a salad.

"you HAVE to try the belgian waffle"

I feel like such a fool for searching for the 'Best ice cream waffles' in Singapore.

I tasted the BEST on my first try in New York.

Pfft. SG just doesn't have the best.

It was a Friday, and Hurricane Irene was expected to hit Manhattan during the weekend.

Honestly, no one gave a shit. I didn't either. "Hurricane? oh. okay"

But not all hurricane kills. Death didn't cross my mind at all.

But by Fri, instructions were given to the people to evacuation certain areas (mostly downtown areas cos they're low-lying) and stock up on non-perishable food because the power may be out if the rain/wind is too strong, or if we get trapped in because of the flood.

Yeah, so rain boots were selling fast. Bought one! Quite pretty and pretty cheap ;)

Of course, supermarkets had long lines.

Such warnings just boost their sales eh.

Bread section was emptied within minutes. Okay la, not minutes. Idk how long but it was fast.

Couldn't get flashlights/batteries because they were all sold out. No kidding.

Shows how unprepared everyone was. Preparing last minute.

Charmaine jiejie was so sian.

Went back to cook ravioli for dinner! accompanied with wine.

C's boss offered her place to us cos it was in the safer zone away from Irene. Trump was sort of not in the danger zone, but it was all glass. Strong wind could/may smash em. Who knew? Couldn't take chances ya.

Saturday morning:

It was sort of a ghost town. Subways were shut down. Everyone was indoors. And it was misty.

Still pretty Manhattan tho lol.

Was kinda 'ughhhh' cos I had just unpacked the day before, and I had to pack everything again because of that bitch, Irene.

I wasn't bothered about the danger, I was more concerned if SoHo or Times Sq was gonna be flooded and ruined because I hadn't seen them yet. Forgive me for getting my priorities all mixed up, but that was what I was in New York for!

"Oh bother, all this trouble cos of Irene"

The Sovereign! :)

Pretty place.

Not grand. But really homely and cosy. Love it!!

We even had our own room.

Spent this period texting G a lot cos she was staying in as well.

LOL. This time, the parents weren't really worried/frantic.

My friends were the ones all worried. Got whatsapps/bbms/tweets asking if I was okay.

Felt so loved.

But honestly, I was kinda enjoying myself. I was in no danger.

The news is overly dramatic. It doesn't stretch the truth or anything, but it instills fear in people, making them think the worst of events.

SO annoying.

The entire world was scared of Irene, except the people in Manhattan itself!

People at the grocery stores were grumbling that their family members made them go out to the store to stock up. Overhead a woman at Duane Reade telling the cashier, 'I've got my beer and my wine. I'm gonna be fine'.

Oh yes, people were stocking up on beer as well. Very good...

Yeah so ANYWAY..

Wanted to head to Bloomingdale's after we 'moved in'.

But it was closed.

Bother.

Shops were closed!!

Oh, walked around, exploring uptown since it hadn't even start raining yet.

Go out as much as you can right? That was the plan.

So true, no?

3 of us had lunch at a bar. It was really crowded because there was a match being broadcasted. Liverpool and something... Oops.

Cmon! It's funny.

Went to another bar for pinball! I kinda rocked at it. Okay not really.

The good/bad thing about having dinner parties at your place is that you will always receive bottles of wine/champagne as house gifts!

Check out the uber long apartment. That's only the dining hall and living room. There are still 3 rooms (one turned into a den), a kitchen and laundry room.

It didn't pour on Saturday. There were on and off showers of rain though.

News reported that the storm was gonna start that night and last the ENTIRE Sunday.

That's right, ENTIRE SUNDAY. STORM.

I was like "Bring it".

Woke up at 5am (still had jetlag okay) and it was raining really heavily outside and there was occasional strong winds. Woah, that's Irene. But we felt really safe cos we know we're in the safe zone and windows in the apartment were small, unlike Trump.

Fell back to sleep.

Woke up at 12pm. I looked out the window and saw this:

Erm, is it over?! Is this it?

My friend back in Singapore asked 'How is Irene'. I sent her a photo

"LOL" was what I got.

G's text.

ALL THE BIG WHOOOHAAA FOR NOTHING.

Manhattan was spared!

Thank God

SoHo! Times Sq! 5th Ave! I was alive!!

However, the subway system that day was still closed and it was best to wait it out.

Kept myself busy.

Moved back to Trump before dinner.

Walked to K-town to have dinner. I had to go out.

It was really windy tho. Love it!!

Love the red blazer Jane lent me. Thanks babe! :D

Passed by some bars..

Yes, what hurricane?

Good marketing strategy.

"Hurricane shots"!!

Regretted not stepping in to try one.

Damn.

Oh well. *shrugs*

Next day: Monday, a brand new, non-Hurricane day.

G was supposed to start school that day but college classes were cancelled cos of the expected hurricane. Yay! Good things come out of hurricanes after all.

Met at SoHo :)

Downtown is kinda confusing, in my opinion. Cos the grid get smaller and streets are no longer just "3rd st and 5 ave". There's like Mercer st, Broome st, W Broadway, Broadway (apparently the last 2 are not the same and are a few blocks apart). Gosh.

Headed to Herald Sq and Times Sq later in the afternoon.

Gorgeous!

Got an email from C informing us of a Kooba sample sale.

Got a clutch and bag (thanks to G) for 20USD each!

Such a steal, you have no idea.

G got hobo/suede red tote which really suits her.

(Affordable) lunch near Times Sq

I love chipotle! And I love how I can have Guacamole and Chips on the side. I love Guacamole, I fell in love with it when I was there.

ahh...

Walked around fashion ave and stumbled upon this fabric store.

I was looking around and I was like.. this place looks so familiar.

Could it be...?

Yup! It was Mood. Where Project Runway contestants go to to shop and make their designs.

The lift is so cool! There had to be a lift man (idk the exact name of this occupation). A person had to stay in the lift and control the entire lift. He used those controls to go up or down. And he had to open lift doors manually.

It's such a claustrophobic job..