blogger in the big apple

here i am in brooklyn heights, once again wishing that i was as cool as everyone around me. i'm now convinced that no matter who you and where you're from, you always feel like a dork when you're in new york (i really wish that didn't rhyme that way). people in this town just look better, wear better clothes, hang out in better bars, have a better assortment of deep fried foods at their neighborhood festivals.
transiently, at least, i've felt like i was getting the hang of it (or that it was just rubbing off). after a satisfying day of wandering around the city, my friend mbk and i met my brother at an unbelievably cute bar in the village (exposed brick, good music, waitress that was so pretty and stylish that i couldn't stop staring at her- although that may have been because she'd apparently forgotten to wear pants). even my brother has become trendy- i'm not clear on how he's making his hair do that or how he's pulling off such a vintage-y look when i know that he only shops the clearance rack at old navy. we had dinner at a vietnamese restaurant in chinatown (somehow i've randomly ended at the same vietnamese restaurant in chinatown three times) and, with weird fried sesame rice dough balls stuffed with red bean paste in hand, dove headfirst into the mayhem that was the 78th annual san genarro festival in little italy. the streets were lined with all sorts of interesting vendors- rosaries, fried oreos, pope figurines, fried twinkies, faux-lv purses, sweet breads. we were very disappointed by the much-anticipated "shoot the freak" game, which turned out to be a stationary guy in a protective suit getting paint-balled by little kids. equally dissappointing were the world's smallest woman and the world's smallest horse.
i'm leaving new york with one of those uber-stylish necklaces bought from a street vendor in times square (that's remarkably similar to something my grandmother wears) and a $16 shiseido eyelash curler (bought at the shiseido outlet in chinatown- it should have been $25). that i'm making these kinds of purchases suggests to me that i've crossed some sort of line into fashion-land. the lessons i've learned are these: 1) it's all about accessories and 2) i shouldn't be allowed to buy anything within 2 weeks of meticulously pouring through the harper's bazaar fall fashion double-issue.