mid-week music moment & home again!

I was lucky enough to have my parents finally come visit me out here this past weekend. It was a trip almost two years coming - and I can't express how excited I was to show them around my New York and see them for the first time since Christmas.

We had a great weekend - a perfect balance of their uptown, upscale Manhattan of past visits, and my downtown day-to-day life. All the things we did piece together like a pretty great guide to wining and dining with a dash of culture and shopping from Soho to the Upper East Side:


{We dined.}

• Gotham Grill: White table clothes, amazing seafood and a very 90s New York vibe, like Gramercy Tavern and totally delicious (the seafood salad is unreal)
• The Modern: minimalist, fancy and contemporary - just like the museum (amazing duck confit)
• db Bistro Moderne: fancy and delicious
  
• The Standard Grill: great spot for an early breakfast al fresco
  
• Public: trendy, brunch-y, delicious lentil salad and great drinks
• La Piscine: on the roof of Hotel Americano; lots of delicious fried seafood with a side of DJ
  
• Brasserie Julienne: cute little french joint on 2nd Ave in the 80s, live jazz with your moules frites
  
• Morandi: loud, busy and seriously great Italian fare on Waverly and 7th Ave
  

{We drank.}

• La Piscine: Before dinner every night we had cocktails on the roof with an amazing view of the city
  
• Kingswood: After dinner at db, I brought my parents to meet up with friends and see one of my favorite West Village bars
  
• Public: a dirty martini for Mom, a bourbon iced tea for me and the Bloody Maria for Dad
  

{We saw.}

• The MoMA:the Cindy Sherman exhibit was cool and creepy, but the permanent exhibits are always refreshing and unmissable
  
• The East River Ferry: A fun and unique way to get between Manhattan and Brooklyn - especially on a warm day; we took it to and from 34th street to the flea market 
• Brooklyn Flea (Williamsburg): people watching, antique-ing and artisianal everything - of course
  
• The Met: My favorite museum in Manhattan, and the Steins Collection and Shiaparelli and Prada exhibit were crowded but truly wonderful (unfortunately the Cloud City exhibit on the roof was closed for weather)

{We shopped.}

• Uniqlo @ 53rd & 5th: picked up 4 shirts for my dad, but the crazy atmosphere and sheer amount of clothes is a little too much
  
• Treasure & Bond: cool, well-curated jewelry, gifts and apparel on lower West Broadway in Soho
  
• MoMA Design Store: so many unique and useful knick-knacks, and perfectly sized art prints for $10

fiesta, fiesta...

I was lucky enough to have my parents finally come visit me out here this past weekend. It was a trip almost two years coming - and I can't express how excited I was to show them around my New York and see them for the first time since Christmas.

We had a great weekend - a perfect balance of their uptown, upscale Manhattan of past visits, and my downtown day-to-day life. All the things we did piece together like a pretty great guide to wining and dining with a dash of culture and shopping from Soho to the Upper East Side:


{We dined.}

• Gotham Grill: White table clothes, amazing seafood and a very 90s New York vibe, like Gramercy Tavern and totally delicious (the seafood salad is unreal)
• The Modern: minimalist, fancy and contemporary - just like the museum (amazing duck confit)
• db Bistro Moderne: fancy and delicious
  
• The Standard Grill: great spot for an early breakfast al fresco
  
• Public: trendy, brunch-y, delicious lentil salad and great drinks
• La Piscine: on the roof of Hotel Americano; lots of delicious fried seafood with a side of DJ
  
• Brasserie Julienne: cute little french joint on 2nd Ave in the 80s, live jazz with your moules frites
  
• Morandi: loud, busy and seriously great Italian fare on Waverly and 7th Ave
  

{We drank.}

• La Piscine: Before dinner every night we had cocktails on the roof with an amazing view of the city
  
• Kingswood: After dinner at db, I brought my parents to meet up with friends and see one of my favorite West Village bars
  
• Public: a dirty martini for Mom, a bourbon iced tea for me and the Bloody Maria for Dad
  

{We saw.}

• The MoMA:the Cindy Sherman exhibit was cool and creepy, but the permanent exhibits are always refreshing and unmissable
  
• The East River Ferry: A fun and unique way to get between Manhattan and Brooklyn - especially on a warm day; we took it to and from 34th street to the flea market 
• Brooklyn Flea (Williamsburg): people watching, antique-ing and artisianal everything - of course
  
• The Met: My favorite museum in Manhattan, and the Steins Collection and Shiaparelli and Prada exhibit were crowded but truly wonderful (unfortunately the Cloud City exhibit on the roof was closed for weather)

{We shopped.}

• Uniqlo @ 53rd & 5th: picked up 4 shirts for my dad, but the crazy atmosphere and sheer amount of clothes is a little too much
  
• Treasure & Bond: cool, well-curated jewelry, gifts and apparel on lower West Broadway in Soho
  
• MoMA Design Store: so many unique and useful knick-knacks, and perfectly sized art prints for $10

dispatch from Sun Valley...

Hi everyone, I'm alive! I know you were worried. As we speak I am cozy in our little condo as the fire blazes, warming my weary muscles from two days of downhill and cross-country skiing. Sun Valley is just as I remembered it, bustling, beautiful, busy, and completely covered in snow. I'll have full posts about all the fun I'm having after I return, but I just wanted to check in and say hello. I hope you are all having a nice, relaxing week before NYE, and hopefully not stuck at an airport somewhere trying to get back to New York. (The photos are from the top of Baldy and Kelly, Carly, myself and Caitlin getting ready to XC ski today - all in Ray Bans.)

{SUILTSOY presents} the best posts of 2010...

...As chosen by, you guessed it, me! It's been a big year for me, and for SUILTSOY. I really can't say enough thanks to all of you whom I know and whom I don't, who take a few moments out of your day or your week to read this little blog of mine. I try my best to keep it fresh and interesting, and I hope to only get better in 2011!

This year was incredible for many reasons (readership growth, an award, New York Fashion Week shows, photoshoots, a certain striped shirt that just wouldn't go away, for starters!) and I owe it all to you, my darling readers. So join me won't you, in a look back at the best of SUILTSOY, 2010:

 

Digging for Treasure at Forever 21

wish u were @ Bryant Park for #NYFW?

How Do I love Thee? Let me Wear the Ways: The Week of the Striped Shirt

{how to} shop like you mean it...

10 things you need for spring...

b2b Tik Tok dance party @ Alamo Square

Bay. To. Breakers.

San Fran part 1: the outfits

First day in New York...

SUILTSOY won it's first award!

RIP: Ray Ban aviators

Bonjour again, Gossip Girl

{NYFW} a little post show action @ Lincoln Center...

{birthday week} 25 things for my 25th year...

FabSugar + Elizabeth & James party gallery

{photoshoot} Sunday in the park

Do you think I missed one? If you have a favorite post from the year, I'd love to know what it was because a) compliments make me feel special and b) then I can do more posts like it to keep bringing you back!

Just a little FYI, I'm heading back to Seattle tomorrow! Woopee! There will be some serious R & R, tons of family time and home-cooked meals, reunions with friends, beers at the Duchess, perhaps a lap around Candy Cane Lane, and as much time behind the wheel of a car as I can manage. After Christmas, I'm off to Sun Valley, Idaho for a week of skiing and apres skiing, more family time, and more skiing. Hopefully, it wont leave much time for blogging. I hope that during this little hiatus, you'll also be busy spending face time with friends and family, and give the ol' computer a couple days off. It's good for your brain, trust me.

There may be a post here and there, but you can look forward to the triumfant, full-force return of SUILTSOY in 2011, with outfits and adventures and perhaps a couple of new secret projects I may have in the works.

Happy, merry, cheerful, joyous, delicous and fabulous holidays to you and yours!

xoxo, SUILTSOY, aka me,Taylor