Velvet Dress, Spontaneous Tattoo, and more
1. Velvet Wrap Dress: John and I went to Brooklyn for his company’s holiday party on Monday. I packed a dress but wanted to browse some boutiques in case I found something I liked better. And I did! At Pinkyotto I bought this beautiful emerald green velvet wrap dress. The dress was a little long since I was wearing flats (stupid feet!), but the party was in our hotel so I didn’t need to set foot outside. It didn’t even occur to me when I first tried the dress on, but when I got dressed for the party I realized why I liked it so much. I LOVED the velvet robes that Olivia wore on The Haunting of Hill House…and this dress reminded me so much of her robes! I now want to live in this dress.
2. My New Tattoo! John’s office holiday party included a super fun surprise: a tattoo artist. Yes, there was a guy giving free REAL tattoos (find him on Instagram @theweddingtattooer). He had a book of designs to choose from, and I decided almost immediately to get one. I had had two sips of wine when I made the decision, so I can’t blame it on the booze. 😛 I picked basically the smallest design option, a couple of cute little stars, and had the artist tattoo them on my right ankle. It only took about two minutes and hardly hurt at all. I made sure to tip—it’s rude not to, especially when you’re getting a tattoo for free. This is my second tattoo and I am not regretting it one bit so far. When in Brooklyn…
3. The Hoxton: we stayed at a new boutique hotel in Williamsburg, so our commute to the holiday party was an elevator ride downstairs. This is a cool hotel with a beautiful lobby. The rooms are tiny, which is to be expected in NYC, but they’re well appointed. The place has a rooftop bar, which we didn’t get to try because it was cold out, and there are even some heated igloo-yurt-hybrid thingies in the courtyard. The event venue, called The Apartment, was great as well. I would totally stay at this hotel again.
4. NYC Bagels: man, I miss New York bagels. Aside from my friends in NY, they’re the one thing I truly miss about living there. You just can’t get bagels like this in DC. The morning after the party I strolled over to Bagelsmith on Bedford and order my usual: a whole wheat everything toasted with two eggs and Swiss. And it was glorious.
5. Sunrise over Brooklyn: our hotel room had an east-facing Brooklyn view, so on our final morning in town this is what we saw upon waking. Not too shabby, Brooklyn.