New York à la Keiko

nykeiko travels: A day trip to Valensole

2019-10-08T16:35:00.001-04:00

Hi guys! It has been too long since I have had the chance to sit down and write a decent post. In fact, I am forcing myself to because I really want to write something about something and babble on and on! You probably thought that after all this time of inactivity, the blog is dead. Well, it is, but I have full intention of reviving it again one day. Maybe some time in the near future when I am on maternity leave or when the kids are off to college. Who knows! This was my outlet to post pictures and stories but with Instagram stories, this outlet seemed like too much work. However, unlike Instagram Stories, a blog post kind of stays forever.
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nykeiko travels and buys: Tokyo Japan shopping haul

2019-08-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

This is my food shopping haul from our not-so-recent trip to Tokyo, Japan back in May 2018 :/ I know, I am super guilty for not posting regularly on this blog. I have another post drafting about our trip to South of France from last month so I thought I should post this one before the other one goes live!

So we were in Japan for 5 days and four nights with the family. How fun! I've been to Japan before but I have always wanted to visit Tokyo and felt like I didn't visit Japan at all if I didn't visit Tokyo first. So now, I finally feel like I've been to Japan!

It was a beautiful trip and I loved every moment of it except sleeping in a double bed with a toddler sandwiched between us. That was lousy.

We visited Tsujiki market, Shibuya, Harakuju, a nice big shrine, the Imperial Palace and of course ate some local delicacies. We stayed in nice little hotel in the Ginza district and walked/metro just about everywhere. We even did a day trip to Mount Fuji plus strawberry picking which was the highlight of our trip.

Traveling with a 2 year old toddler and a 74 year old senior buddhist vegetarian (eggs allowed only) made this trip all kinds of challenging but we somehow managed to enjoy ourselves. I kept imagining how MUCH MORE I could have done, seen or eat if it wasn't for babysitting but thinking back, the goal was to spend time together as a family and that , we did!

Today's post, I wanted to share with you all the shit I bought. My rule was that it has to be MADE IN JAPAN or else there was no point of paying that $ for extra luggage. We flew budget airline SCOOT and there was a fee for checking in a bag which I made my dad pay so that I can fill it with good stuff. Scroll down...
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nykeiko buys: Holiday shopping is around the corner! Here is my shopping/wish list...

2018-12-14T16:11:00.004-05:00

Shop small first!

So, it's easy for me to shop small because in New york, I'm surrounded by awesome craft markets which explode in numbers during the holidays. So far, we have visited three markets-Renegade Craft Fair, Brooklyn Holiday Bazar hosted by Cut and Crafted (held in The Green Building) and Phoenicia Flea (held indoors at the Williamsburg Hotel). When you shop small business and local, prices are not going to be anything close to what you pay at Target or Walmart but that is because you're paying for items that artists spend years perfecting and give their blood, sweat and tears to creat something from scratch. We must show them some support even if it means digging dipper in your pockets.

Here are some of my recent finds/purchases:

Nykeiko shops: Sarah Flint Sample Sale August 2018 [NYC]

2018-11-14T21:07:00.000-05:00

Hi!

I wanted to document a sample sale I attended months ago in August. (You are now seeing the trend of me posting about things that happened months ago but at least it's slowly catching up to present date!)

The last Sarah Flint sample sale happened on August 1-3 and the sale usually happens twice a year. I want to write about it because when I was trying to find more info about pricing points, it was not possible to find anything about the sample sale. It's a small NY brand worn by a handful of celebrities (they dedicate a whole page about it here) but the person that is most photographed in them seems to be Meghan Markle at the moment and a bunch of influencers. I first spotted the Natalie shoes worn by Meghan and I looked up the brand (got to say, paying celeb to wear a brand works #ad!). The price point was not attractive but the make of the shoes is. Meghan appears to have a whole range of their collection which always makes me wonder if she was gifted them or she flat out (pun intended) likes them and purchases them herself (doubtful). We'll never know.

When I saw that the shoes have wide toe box design to ease crowding, my heart fluttered. Due to my painful bunions, I have been avoiding wearing any type of heels because pinching my toes together in pain is just not worth the glam. I started researching and boy did I want to get my hands on a pair but at over $300 a pair, I could not do because I knew I wouldn't be wearing heels daily and they would only be worn on special occasions (although going to Trader Joe's by myself is a special occasion for me). I was also looking at their flats but I do not want to risk hating a $300 pair of shoes. I prefer my Birkenstocks more than any shoes I own but when you have an event to attend and want to be comfortable on your heels, the Birks must stay at home.

So because of the price point, I decided I would wait for a sample sale and also a chance to try the shoes on in person since they do not have a stand alone store yet. Well, I didn't end up seeing Perfect Pumps nor Natalie at the sample sale but I did get a pair of Roann heeled sandals which was not my intention but they looked so good! I asked another girl in front of me in line to pair up to get the "Buy 2, Get 1 at 1/2 off " deal but alas, she didn't use Paypal, Venmo or any other useful payment method so that we could split the cost. We both didn't carry any cash either. Her lost!

Side note: Last month, my sister and I each won a $400 gift cards from Sarah Flint via an Instagram contest. I thought I'd pick up the Perfect Pumps but we decided to go with shoes we would wear on the daily instead. Will review those in a later post (hopefully not next year!) My sister picked the Cindy Crawford X Sarah Flint jet set flats and I went with two sneakers. The Andrea and the Perfect Sneakers. I end up paying a little extra for taxes but I was able to use $25 off first order and received $24 in cashback via ebates. Please use my referral link if interested! Click here.

(See pictures from the sale after the jump!)
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nykeiko travels: San Antonio Texas! Work travel diary...

2018-11-13T17:14:00.000-05:00

Earlier this year in March (happened this year so still relevant), I went to San Antonio Texas to speak at a conference for work. Yes, a speaker! I've done a few scientific poster presentations here and there but never an oral presentation on a non-scientific topic in front of an audience. When given the opportunity to give a talk about my department within the first year of my new job, I was like HELL YES! I was craving a challenge and this was it.

So this is not a typical travel post because it was not a vacation. In fact, I have been to a few places last year and this year and have yet to write about it (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Tokyo, San Francisco...). I went to San Antonio for work and barely had time to do any sightseeing. The only free time I gained happened to be when my flight back to NYC was cancelled due to a snowstorm so I had an extra day in San Antonio to enjoy.
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nykeiko shops: Rodarte Sample Sale in NYC , September 2018

2018-11-04T22:11:00.002-05:00

Oops, another late post. Meant to publish this in September when I went to the sale on September 15th 2018.

Rodarte NYC sample sale September 2018

As you may have noticed, I do not go to as many samples sales as I have done in the past. Lately, I just go to the ones where I know I can score nice deals or just to pick up some closet staples. I haven't been to a Rodarte SS in a while but that one time I did, I picked up $10 collab shoes (which I wore once and resold for $75, super soft tees I also resold and a hoodie I still wear to this day. They host a sale once a year and skipped one last year I believe. As always, you have to RSVP and then they tell you the location of the sale via email. This year, I was aiming to arrive an hour before the sale started at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning. In the past, the lines were long and painstaking long. You also want to be one of the first ones to enter so you can find the limited deals.

I arrived maybe around 9:15 a.m. and to my surprise, I was first in line. There were only 3 of us when doors opened at 10 a.m.. This sale definitely lost its popularity.

nykeiko plays: ON THE RUN II concert with Beyonce and Jay Z worst concert experience of my life thus far

2018-11-01T17:30:00.003-04:00

Hi

It has been so long. I feel like I owe this space a nice long post and some TLC. Yesterday on my way back from a work trip, I thought I would have some time to do some writing on the train but the ride was so vomit-inducing, I could not do it. Instead, I was on my phone and watched Instagram stories for way too long. My total screentime was 7h+ yesterday!

Back in August, we attended our first Beyonce+Jay Z "On The Run" concert and naturally, I was very,very excited to booty shake all night long to my Queen B.
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nykeiko eats: Los Tacos No.1 at Chelsea Market

2018-06-19T17:17:00.000-04:00

~~A few weeks ago~~ (so this post has been sitting in draft since March 2017!), I took a day off to take my daughter for a checkup and then got the rest of the day to enjoy. My plan was to check out the Story sample sale which I wrote about here. But before I got there, I wandered around. First, I got free coffee from Terremoto. I got out the subway and was attracted to floating gold balloons outside their coffee shop. I go in and notice no prices so I ask, how much is a latte? To my surprise, the barista says that everything was free for the day because they were celebrating their one year anniversary! The balloons outside spelled "Free Coffee" but because of the wind, it was just jibberish. One latte to go please! What a great start. I then wandered into Chelsea market looking for food. I tried these popular tacos from Los Tacos No. 1 and got some vegan sushi from Beyond Sushi for the little one.

A couple of weeks ago, we visited Chelsea Market during the weekend and it was very packed, as usual. I noticed a long line of people waiting for something and I naturally wanted to jump in but due to time restraint, I didn't do it. Dave informed me it was for tacos. Tacos?! I don't love tacos so I wasn't too bummed about missing out. Well, on a week day, there was barely a line. I waited five minutes and was able to order. My credit card was declined so I was distracted with fixing my declined credit card that I missed the instruction from the cashier telling me that I had to give my ticket to the kitchen staff for my order. It was not until I saw others bring their tickets did I realize I needed to do the same in order to be fed. Soon after I handed my ticket, picked flour or corn tacos (the guy said corn was better so I went with corn), choose the garnish, I received my tacos. I ordered the Adomada (marinated pork) and the Carne Asada (beef). Both were very good and I think I could have ate more! I think this is the only time I ever enjoyed tacos. I don't know if it tasted good because I had a day off but I bet it had something to do with it. Food always tastes better when you don't have a toddler to worry about.

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Dear daughter post #3, Swimming

2018-06-18T10:51:00.000-04:00

Dear daughter,

I wanted to talk about your love for the pool.

I swam with you when you were still inside the womb. I did my best to swim at least 1-2 times a week and felt really good about the pregnancy the whole time. I want to say that it helped with the quick almost perfect delivery we experienced.

When you were about 4 months old and got all your shots, I decided to introduce you to the pool for the first time.

May 2016

Dear daughter post #2, Bronx Zoo

2018-06-17T00:30:00.000-04:00

This post is dedicated to my baby daddy! Happy Father's day. Dave asked me last week if I was ever going to blog again. Well, I mentioned how hard it was to blog if it wasn't about the person I spend the most time with (other than him) so I've decided that I'll do a couple of these posts for memory safe keeping and go back to no blogging at all. I've also decided to show some pictures of my daughter but with her face partially hidden. She may or may not appreciate this when she's able to read one day. Since I'm a morbid person, this is what I am thinking now to justify sharing a glimpse of her on the internet. If something were to happen to me today (or any day now), then these would be the only words she will see from mama about you to remember by! Then you will be thankful I wrote this after all versus embarrassing you. Hashtag time: #lifeisshort #shithappens #thankful

Actually, now I remember that we have been sending her emails which we will give her access to when she will appreciate it (post teen?) but it has been a while since I last wrote to her! This post will be sent to her as well. Phew xoxHappy Father's day!

Dear daughter,

You are almost 2.5 and I love you more and more every day.

I am at work and I am surrounded by your pictures yet I still look for more pictures of you on my phone whenever I get the chance. Today is Monday and I'm looking at pictures of our weekend together. I try to capture you in as many pictures as possible because you are growing up so fast and I have a hard time savoring moments when I am with you because I'm thinking about a hundred random things (did you pee, did you eat, did you snack, did you nap, did you put sunscreen, did we bring back up clothes...). As I scroll through my albums, week after week, you look just a little bit different and it's always bittersweet to say goodbye to yesterday's you. Every day you pop a new word and I am so impressed by every little thing you learn and do. Yesterday, I put you in Time Out but when I gave you the ultimatum to continue your Time Out or leave but get no cake, you choose to go back into Time Out so you can get a piece of cake. I was surprised you understood me but I shouldn't have been. You know way more than I give you credit for. When you came out, you refused the cake and ate banana instead. You just keep surprising us in good and bad ways.

This weekend, we brought you to the Bronx zoo and I hope you got something out of seeing the animals you read about, in real life. You don't know now but some of these animals are incredibly endangered and you may or may not have the chance to ever see them in the wild one day. In fact, mommy and daddy has not seen most of the animals we met at the zoo in real life. We are seriously worried about the fate of our planet.

We saw a lot of cool rare animals such as a sloth, rhinos, ferrec fox, an ant eater, spider monkeys, a kiwi bird!, flamingos, a snow leopard, pelicans and lots more. Basically every animal we love to watch on Planet Earth.

One memorable event was when we said Goodbye to the brown bears. You said "Bye bye Brown Bear" and continued "Brown Bear , What do you see.."

Rhinocerus pee pee, splash, water, niao niao -you said when you saw the rhino pee

Daddy and mommy did have the great opportunity to travel to South America to see penguins in Punto Tombo and also see flamingos in the wild. We've also seen real puffins in Iceland which was exciting. We hope for you to have the same adventures when you grow up. We hope that all the glaciers will stick around long enough for you to hike them and of course, see as many animals in the wild as possible. It saddened me that the only way for us to see these exquisite animals are in a zoo but it also reminded me how important it is for us to protect them in the wild by doing our part every day.

I think you had a pretty good day at the zoo. During lunch time, you turned to me and said " Mommy, I like the zoo". Although I was convinced it was because we were letting you munch on french fries and hot dogs, I hope deep inside it is because you were really have a nice time with us.

Your curiosity is so precious to me. I love to see the world through your eyes even though it means the chickens and ducks from the children's zoo made you most excited.

Happy Father's day!

2018-06-17T00:00:00.002-04:00

Surprise! I am blogging and it is to write about how great my baby daddy is.

Dear Dave,

I have also written a few posts which will follow this post and they are dedicated to you but written as letters for our daughter.

I wish I can write down every little quirky thing she says but that would mean I need to invest time that I do not have. I know you don't want me sharing pictures of her on the internet but I really wanted to write down some anecdotes and stories you can smile about.

So this is your third father's day! How do you feel so far? Do you feel like an expert parent that can give good advices to other daddies out there? Do you love this second job you have? Is it getting easier? Do you want a second kid? Do you want to do more? Do less?

Here's what I have to say to you:

1. Thank you for always being a little more strict than I am with her. You remind me that I cannot always let her get away with shit.
2. Thank you for reinforcing the usage of cloth diapers. I think we have saved a lot of money and the planet in general for using cloth diapers for this long.
3. Thank you for always getting up early to play with her so that I can sleep in a little more but can you keep the noise down please?
4. Thank you for brushing her teeth at times even though you really don't want to.
5. Thank you for bringing her to so many museums around the city so that I can have some mommy time.
6. Thank you for taking great pictures of me and her. You have a good eye and the gift for taking 100 pics with one being great enough for Instagram!
7. Thank you for carrying the stroller up and down the stairs in subways. MTA sucks.
8. Thank you for cleaning up her pee on the floor during potty training.
9. Thank you for jumping into germ infested ball pits with her.
10. Thank you for making sure she always gets some time with your mom and dad who love her to bits.

Here are some things we can do today:
1. Let's go eat some fried chicken
2. Let's go eat some fried chicken
3. Let's go eat some fried chicken

Dear daughter post #1, Taiwan and Tokyo

2018-06-17T00:00:00.001-04:00

Another post for father's day...

Tokyo, May 2018

Dear daughter,

Remember our last trip to Taiwan and Japan? Hopefully yes since it is only about a month ago. I make you look at pictures all the time from our trips hoping it always stays a not so distant memory each time.

You like to point out to the pictures with the strawberries which might indicate that it is your favorite fruit or the most memorable part of your trip to Japan (certainly was for me!).

But first, let's do a really quick recap of Taiwan.
Here are some picture from our day trip to Wulai (about an hour from Taipei) taken by grandpa who tries very hard not to capture people/buildings in his nature shots. Daddy has not seen these so I hope he likes it too.

I want to feed the koi fishes

Jiu Fen was pretty nice too. Daddy has always wanted to visit this place so I'm glad we made it happen. We made a day trip out of it. We took the MRT and bus straight there. You were a trooper on the bus and didn't mind the long ride.

Sometimes you purposely don't look at the camera knowing we are taking a pic

Right on top of the steps, you spent countless minutes staring at the mist maker.
You were most mystified by this mist maker and didn't want to budge at all. Maybe we should consider buying you this for Christmas or something.

mystified by the mist maker

I even brought you to eat where grandma always took us to eat when we visited Jiu Fen together. A-Gang Yi Yu Yuan. The taro balls was one of her favorite snacks and I'm sure she would have brought you if she was with us today. You liked the big red beans best. You did not care about the taro balls.

Do you remember this trip to Fuji fishing port just north of Danshui?
You were napping for most of it but when you woke up, we showed you a lot of fishes you can eat except for the blowfish which was for show.

After a week in Taiwan, we flew to Tokyo for a quick 5 days 4 nights trip along with grandpa. We were there during Golden Week which meant that some restaurants/stores were closed but since we stayed in the heart of Ginza, everything was most definitely open. The day we arrived, the street was closed to traffic and we got to walk down Ginza's main shopping road which was neat.

Here you are crying and disturbing the peace because I wouldn't carry you.

Your first meal in Japan. Ikura!

You get your own little plate of Ikura

Here you are, not crying, picking up some pebbles from the gravel path leading to Meiji Shrine.

Visiting the Meiji Jingu shrine

We did a day tour outside of Tokyo to visit Mount Fiji and its surroundings.

At Shiba Sakura festival near Mount Fuji

You learned about a variation of purple and pink colors that day.

Lake Kawaguchiko I think

First sight of Mount Fuji from afar. You kept grandpa quite busy during the two hour long bus rides.

Back to Tokyo, we visited the gardens of the Imperial Palace. We tried to visit the palace on a Tuesday which was the only day the gardens were closed.

The gardens at the Imperial Palaces

You love ramen

One day, we were on our way to the imperial palace and we passed some food truck event at the Tokyo International forum. I got this rice don covered with Hokkaido baby fish and shrimps and you ate up all the fish. You are the ONLY human I do not mind sharing my food with.

We brought you to the Tsujiki fish market and you stared a tunas worth hundreds of dollars. We made sure to visit the market since it is suppose to move for the Tokyo olympics. Therefore, you might never see these sights again in person one day.

Look at those old vintage signs

I have a lot more pictures but I wanted to post the more candid ones which will spark great memories of our trip when we look back at this post.

------

You have penned in 6 countries already in your passport which is pretty good for your little age. We don't bring you to many playdates or pay for kids gym, sports or dance classes but we hope we make up for it by taking you on our travel adventures.

Reasons why we're okay not paying for ballet or music classes:

1. You petted a wild Icelandic pony > Petting zoo animals (both cool)
2. Hearing French speakers in Montreal > Language classes (actually, you don't even know how to say Bonjour!)
3. Hot spring bath in Iceland > Pool (although you probably prefer the swimming pool).
4. Visiting Paddington station in London > Reading stories about paddington bear being found in paddington station
5. Visiting Mount Fiji > Eating Fiji apples (you really love your apples though)
6. Traveling in a plane, train, bus > Playing with toy cars (You always ask to go on a 'fei ji')
7. Visiting Jiu Fen in Taiwan >Watching Miyazaki movies (We will wait a little while before introducing you to 'Spirited Away')
7. Visiting Taiwan 3 times = Meeting grandpa every time (Worth that 15 hour + flight to Asia)
8. Seeing a beluga in Mystic > Singing baby beluga (although I like that song)
9. Strawberry picking in Japan > Eating Whole Foods organic strawberries
10. Being with mommy and daddy 24/7

Another pic taken by grandpa and we had no idea!

You have been the best travel companion. You don't mind being thrown off your routine (we think) and adjust pretty well to new environments. As long as you have carbs on your plate, you don't tend to skip meals and you're okay with trying new food. You can sleep on the plane, bus, and even sandwiched between mommy and daddy on a tiny double bed in Japan. I mean, you probably hated it which you made clear when you tried to me push me or baba off. Yes there are times you are a monster but we can easily coax you with snacks or distract you with street pigeons. You still love front facing on the carrier which makes traveling with you easy even without a stroller. You're much more vocal now about what you want and where you want to go. So even when you're in the carrier and you are totally controlled by me, you will definitely kick and scream when you want me to 'Go outside' (if I'm looking at something too long) or 'Go off the bus' (if we go on a bus) or 'Get up' (when I sit down to rest)! Every time we travel, we come home very exhausted but the memories we had make up for it.

Yesterday you build a lego plane and said "Zhuo fei ji (Take the plane) to Taiwan" which answers my question about if you remember our travels.

And to daddy, mommy's partner, who makes traveling a lot better by doing the heavy lifting and watching you while I go pee/poop.

An update!

2018-02-09T09:41:00.000-05:00

Glimpse of my life right now...

Oh phew! They did not shut down my blog for lack of interesting posts.
It's 2018 and I haven't written anything meaningful since my last holiday shopping post and that was not deep content. Not that I post anything deep anyway. I have been really bad these couple of years and definitely a record for me from the first time I started blogging in 2010. Gulp...8 years ago?

I let two years go by trying to blame my kid for the lack of posts but it is all on me. She turned two last month and all I can say is, what?! Two?!! How did we do it? By the way, I'm typing this on the bus.

The hardest thing about blogging when you have a kid is not being able to blog about her. I choose not to share her with the world through this medium and well, it's hurting my content. I spend 100% of my time with her so it is hard to write or talk about something that does not involve her. And you know how I like to share pictures so, not willing to share pictures of her makes it even harder! If the internet was not so freaky and filled with creeps, I would be posting a ton of picture of my daughter and blogging about our daily adventures. Daily adventures as in, how did I get her to brush her teeth or finally convince her to use the potty (that's unsuccessful by the way).

The challenge would be for me to tell stories perhaps sans pictures but then would my readers be really interested in this? I'm not sure. I personally like to see more pictures than words sometimes.

Also, my previous postings about sample sales have also died down. I rarely go to sales anymore except the ones where I know what I am looking for. So, nothing about sales. Now what? Is this the end of my blogging days? I hope not. I'll have to try to find a theme one day and stick with it. Until then, random posts all around! I do have many drafts of my travel stories from London, Iceland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Patagonia...oh my gosh. I am definitely a procrastinator!

Love,

HcKeiko

nykeiko shops: Holiday Gift Guide for HER- 2017 Edition

2017-12-22T10:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry for posting this list a tad late. Most of you probably got all your holiday shopping down since we're just a couple of days away from Christmas. So maybe you can now treat this list as your post-holiday shopping list (when good sales happen!) or for ways to spend your bonus and splurge! Also, there's a special discount code for my readers for one of the products on the list so keep on reading!

Every year I try to do a gift guide/holiday wishlist but it's more like a list of things I already bought or want to buy for myself. I don't like recommending things I haven't tried or at least have read good reviews about.

Let's start with some clothing!

nykeiko travels: Hiking to Iceland's tallest (second tallest?) waterfall with a baby- Glymur

2017-12-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

Nope that's the wrong way!

OH HELLO! I'm alive! Yes, yes. New job, semi-new baby and life is getting in the way of me posting a proper blog post here. Not yet ready to share a glimpse of my daughter's life makes it very difficult to blog about anything at all since she is 100% part of my life now. She just turned 16 months (December update: she is now 23 months. This is a very late post) and I am finally in love with her cuteness, personality and quirky personality. It is hard not to find a picture without her in it on my phone. I could blog about her all day (not really, because I don't have time for that anymore!. Don't ask me where I'm writing this at the moment. Could be on the poop bowl, on the bus, lunch time, in bed...).

I am determined to write at least one blog post about our Iceland trip and it's going to be about the time we went for a hike to find Iceland's tallest waterfall and got lost one too many times (with a baby in tow!).

Here is what we wanted to achieve on our 7-day trip in Iceland:

nykeiko plays: Dia:Beacon, NY

2017-09-07T19:11:00.000-04:00

Now that my baby girl is entering toddlerhood, I savor the time I get to spend time with her on weekends. She likes to be out of our small apartment and explore so we always make an effort to take her somewhere fun on the weekends. We also enjoy exploring the city with her. She's very acquainted with all the parks we visit, she loves to point at every pigeon in sight and practices her barking at dog parks. She can nap through loud subway trains and honking cars. Swings are always a highlight and water sprinklers are never to be missed. It's not possible for us to sleep in on the weekends anymore so it is easy for us to get out of the house early and be home for dinner. I think we're better at packing on the fly and taking less time to finally leave the house. We might always forget a thing or two but as long as we have her diapers and wipes, everything else doesn't seem to matter. Okay, I lie, we need to bring a bunch of crap like sun lotion, water bottle, hat, extra change of clothes, bib, snacks and more!

To celebrate the end of Summer, we have been setting out doing mini getaways outside the city.

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nykeiko shops: MM Lafleur two-day sale at Franklin Showroom [With pictures]

2017-06-27T15:53:00.001-04:00

MM Lafleur Super Secret showroom sale, everything is 60% off

The MM Lafleur sale is happening today and tomorrow but be quick if you want to pick up some of your favorite styles at discounted prices (everything is 60% off). All faithful MM Lafleur customers were sent an email a few days ago titled "Super Secret Sale". The email went something like this:

"Some pieces are one-of-a-kind, others are gently-loved, and the best part: everything is 60% off. We almost never do this, so you’ll want to run (nay, sprint) to nab these deals. Here are the details:

Dates: Tuesday 6/27- Wednesday 6/28
Location: Franklin St. Showroom (lower level): 87 Franklin Street, between Broadway and Church St."

Pictures of the sale below! (Some pictures had to be removed due to shoppers undressing in the middle of the showroom!)

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nykeiko shops: Bonpoint sample sale! [May 2017 NYC sample sale]

2017-05-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

Hi!
Here's a sample sale I haven't shared before! Since before I was pregnant, I have attended this sample sale in hopes of picking up tiny gifts for expecting mothers. It was always so sweet to pick up tiny adult outfits and picturing it on a little human body. Now that I have my own baby girl, it's time to dress her up and the Bonpoint sample sale is a good place to pick up something special for your little one. Here, you'll find Spring/Summer collections up to 60% off. There's always a line for this sale so we suggest to leave the strollers (they are not allowed anyway) or simply leave your kids out of this and shop in peace!

The sample sale is happening tomorrow and runs through Thursday at the Metropolitain Pavilion.

nykeiko shops: Aquatalia sample sale [NYC sample sale 2016]

2017-03-09T21:42:00.002-05:00

Update: Sale is now additional 50$ off all styles of shoes (March 10 2017).

Oh hello! It's me and alive!

Oh you know, just busy with the usual stuff..baby, work and being lazy (but forcibly can't be lazy because I have a baby, work, adult responsibilities). I have been doing some shopping for my new job and I want to share my purchases with you soon. My go-to have been Everlane, Kit and Ace and now looking at MM Lafleur. I honestly rarely buy clothes at full price but I did it this time because I was very particular about my new work wardrobe.

It's been a while but I wanted to write about the Aquatalia sample sale before it ends (ends this Sunday). I attended the sale on the first day so stock was a plenty. As time is now of an essence, I knit pick which sales I go to and I did not want to miss this one. I believe it's the first Aquatalia sample sale in NYC, that I know of anyway.
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nykeiko shops: 'Story' sample sale, NYC

2017-01-20T23:21:00.001-05:00

Hey! A new sample sale post! So rare now but I had to shop this one because it's my favorite "sample sale" ever. It's not a real sample sale though. Story is a retail concept store that sells merchandise through evolving themes every month or two; so they load off an enormous amount of inventory during these sample sales and people go crazy for it. I was surprised when I got an email about it because I thought we would have to wait another year before their next one. The other surprise was also they were doing it at their store location and not in their office which was a pain to get to. The sale is usually 50% off everything with some 'as marked' items as well. Keep reading for pictures!
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nykeiko shops: Kit and Ace holiday promo!

2016-12-29T16:25:00.000-05:00

Around this time of the year (well, more the time right before Christmas), there are good holiday shopping promotions floating around where the usual suspects offer mild discounts to get people to buy. That is the time most people shop for others but if you want to shop for yourself, you would want to wait until after Christmas to get the best deals.

This year Kit and Ace shared something pretty good that you didn't want to pass on. Over the holdiays, Kit and Ace offered a special $40 promotion via their newsletter and Instagram Stories to spend in stores only. All you needed to say was the secret word "Mistletoe" to get the offer.
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nykeiko buys: Post Christmas shopping at Anthropologie

2016-12-28T14:54:00.004-05:00

I took advantage of Anthropologie's post Christmas Tag sale (happening right now!) where you can take an additional 40% off sale items. I think the sales section is the only place I ever shop at Anthropologie and always when there are additional markdowns too.
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nykeiko eats: Curry Ya in Harlem

2016-12-27T11:23:00.001-05:00

Harlem has been sprouting new Japanese restaurants since we last moved here a couple of years ago and we love it. I used to make Japanese curry at home all the time. I stock up on a variety of curry flavors (from milk to spicy) when I visit H Mart or Mitsuwa. It's really simple to make. Just mix it in in water with pieces of chicken, potatoes, onions and carrots to make a quick delicious comfort meal.

We visited Curry Ya in Harlem (there's one in the East village) this past Summer and I finally found time to put up a couple of pictures of our meal. Curry Ya is right beside Rai Rai Ken which opened earlier and the original outpost is also in the East Village.

The restaurant is small and charming and we went on a quiet afternoon. Actually, it was quite empty and we were the only ones there. We admired all the little decor details and the ability to see the whole kitchen through a large glass pane.

I found the curry to be quite good and it really hit the spot for something hardy.

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Merry Christmas!

2016-12-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

This year, I felt like I needed some intense Christmas spirits to make up for last year's lack of. I thought the best way to achieve that was to get a Christmas tree. I don't normally care for this stuff but now that there is a child involved, I needed to find more excuses to take more pictures. Baby and tree = cuteness!
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nykeiko eats: Lots of udon options at TsuruTonTan Udon

2016-12-20T22:19:00.000-05:00

Dave has taken a particular liking to udon lately. Sometimes, it is all he seeks to eat. A few weeks ago, when we were walking around Union Square and walked by TsuruTonTan, He read about this place opening a few months ago and was eager to try their their daily made in-house udon. Dave got all excited when he saw there was no line to eat. We got a table right away and marveled at the large selection of udon dishes. You can get your udon with or without soup. You can get curry udon or topped with fancy toppings like caviar or uni. They also offer appetizers and donburi if you're not here for their homemade udons. On the menu, it says you can supersize your udon serving to large at no charge. The waiter warned that we cannot bring leftovers home but wouldn't get charged for not finishing the noodles. We skipped the appetizers and got the large. We were pretty confident we would finish it all. I got a sizzling sukiyaki udon because I read that was pretty decent. Dave got the tempura one. The udon was very good but we don't know if it is worth the price. It was good to try and definitely hit the spot for udon craving. I admit it was a struggle to finish the large bowl but had help from a third little mouth to feed but next time, maybe we won't both get large. We don't like to waste food!

New York à la Keiko

nykeiko travels: A day trip to Valensole

nykeiko travels and buys: Tokyo Japan shopping haul

nykeiko buys: Holiday shopping is around the corner! Here is my shopping/wish list...

Nykeiko shops: Sarah Flint Sample Sale August 2018 [NYC]

nykeiko travels: San Antonio Texas! Work travel diary...

nykeiko shops: Rodarte Sample Sale in NYC , September 2018

nykeiko plays: ON THE RUN II concert with Beyonce and Jay Z *worst concert experience of my life thus far*

nykeiko eats: Los Tacos No.1 at Chelsea Market

Dear daughter post #3, Swimming

Dear daughter post #2, Bronx Zoo

Happy Father's day!

Dear daughter post #1, Taiwan and Tokyo

An update!

nykeiko shops: Holiday Gift Guide for HER- 2017 Edition

nykeiko travels: Hiking to Iceland's tallest (second tallest?) waterfall with a baby- Glymur

nykeiko plays: Dia:Beacon, NY

nykeiko shops: MM Lafleur two-day sale at Franklin Showroom [With pictures]

nykeiko shops: Bonpoint sample sale! [May 2017 NYC sample sale]

nykeiko shops: Aquatalia sample sale [NYC sample sale 2016]

nykeiko shops: 'Story' sample sale, NYC

nykeiko shops: Kit and Ace holiday promo!

nykeiko buys: Post Christmas shopping at Anthropologie

nykeiko eats: Curry Ya in Harlem

Merry Christmas!

nykeiko eats: Lots of udon options at TsuruTonTan Udon

nykeiko plays: ON THE RUN II concert with Beyonce and Jay Z worst concert experience of my life thus far