Do the Right Thing 2009

Been a while - sorry to the fams.

Tuesday we shopped on 42nd, mostly for Victoria Secret. It was beautiful out so we chilled in Bryant park forever and had a wee nap on the lawn. we have friendship pictures of it. cute.

Wednesday I finally got to go to the boogie down Bronx. We took the train to Fordham and met up with Matt who we had met a couple weeks ago. He brought his adorable dog and gave us a tour of Fordham and then of what he called the realest little Italy. The little italy in Manhattan is 90% restaurants but this place seemed more like where the community is. there was all kind of markets and places called Tony's. We had the most delicious Pizza.
Then Matt grabbed his car and we went hunting for some rap spots i knew about. Most were a bust. I did see the ball court where the basketball/rap battle happens in WildStyle. Also, the place were Kool Herc grew up and the spot where Afrika Bam played his first house parties.
I was pretty excited. I wanted to find the band shell from the end of Wildstyle but dude didn't know where it was.
That night we went to our neighbourhood dive for a beer at the counter and a perogy snack.

Thursday was beautiful so we headed to central park for a hike and a picnic. We went to the great lawn, which reminded us of assiniboine park and then took some of the smaller trails, which were like a serious hike in the white shell or something - so crazy how the city just evaporates when you're in there.

there was a festival on this weekend celebrating Spike Lee and we went to a university campus on flatbush to hear a panel discussion on Spike Lee's impact on popular culture. Nelson George was one of the panelists - he's my favourite writer on rap culture. They also had this woman who was the style editor for Essence and I'd like to read everything she writes now - she was so funny and insightful, i wish i heard more of her.
The panel was awesome but way too short - i could have listened to it for another hour or more.
They also had red velvet cupcakes there which i guess are a big deal here too.

Friday we went to century 21, which is like winners but with crazy designers and brands all over the place. We were planning just to stop in and take a look but man that place is hectic. I also lost my purse - and then found it! and got some Ray Bans for 50 bucks! win!

That night we went to this show Sneaker Pimps which i guess was a celebration of sneaker? it was a rap show and skate demo with a whole wall of nice kicks displayed.
the line up was:
Wale
Cool Kids
Jada Kiss
Big Boi
Clipse
with Sean P and Buckshot doing a song or two because they were just hanging out. rad.
I didn't care so much about Jada Kiss but it was cool how everyone went crazy for him.
Clipse only did a few (of my favourite) songs but i couldn't stop smiling the whole time. They sound soooooo good and i love when siblings hang out.
The skate demo was on stage behind the rappers which looked awesome, eventually people were just hanging out on the ramp but it was behind a chain link fence so it just added to it. Man.....soooooo goooooooood.
There were these teenage girls beside me that were losing it the whole time - they were the cutest, baddest girls. They were def on some fly girl style and when they played the Michael Tribute set (which they do everyone all the time now - i love it) these girls knew every word. loved it.

Saturday i went to pen station to refund the train tickets we had and then met up with Alysha in Bryant park, like we just live in the city and met up to chill together that day. we found this whole strip of bead shops and spent a lot of time in there. we also checked out this street fair that was happening close to Times Square.
Then we headed to Chinatown for dinner, it was delicious and afterwards we walked through little Italy a bit which seems to turn into a street fair on all the weekend nights.
We also walked down to Soho to check out this paper shop. it was closed but instead we went to a sneaker store and bought a couple pairs. random.
Then we headed home and were planning to take it easy before we caught a second wind. see below.

love to fam and friends, miss you and see you soon

extra love to nieces.

xo
e.