Mermaid Parade, Coney Island, 2010

yesterday Dillon, Alana and I drove to Coney Island to attend the Mermaid Parade (10th year, i believe). all i can say is WOW! we really had a great time. got some sun, had some fun and saw some spectacular costumes. some of the costumes were quite elaborate and impressive. there were all sorts of folks participating as well. The colors were amazing, some groups played music and danced, some were marching bands, lots of people on stilts. and the backdrop of Coney Island couldn't have been any better. i heard there was upwards to 40,000 people there.

if you want to see the individual pictures, from the event, you can see them here on flickr.

into the city today

today i went in to NYC with Mary Ellen. We had a really nice time. the city was fairly quiet, not too hectic and traffic wasn't bad. our first stop was in Soho for lunch at a place called "Hampton Chutney Co.". they serve indian food and i ordered a wonderful wrap -ish type meal that was served on "sada". it had turkey, melted jack cheese, marinated red onion and avacado and it came with a side of DELICIOUS AND SPICEY mango chutney. when i picked up my lunch, i was in awe of how big it was! (but i still managed to eat most of it)

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next we walked a little ways until we came to Dean & Deluca. Dean & Deluca is a gourmet food marketplace with cheese, meat, fish, imported food, coffee bar, fresh flowers and produce. Oh and they had the prettiest cupcakes i've ever seen.

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we walked a little ways further to stop by the make up store "Face". While we were waiting for it to open, i spied this little guy (name's Chili) and took a pic of myself through the store window looking in a mirror inside the store.

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From there we made our way over to Pearl River Mart. I made a pit stop at H&M and bought a cute skirt that reminds me of something from the 50's. i love that the skirt has pockets.

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Next stop, Pearl River Mart! wow, talk about eye candy. i didn't take any pictures inside though as i wasn't sure if they'd appreciate it and i didn't feel like asking. there was so much to see and look at that i spent most of my time doing just that! there are 3 levels and we only made it to two of them. i bought Dillon's girlfriend a bag, some Asian treats for Dillon. here's me in front of the store (and i am wearing one of my cool doll necklaces) and an awesome Bloomingdale's window displaying celebrating "cirque du soleil".

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from there we headed to midtown to hit a couple of bead stores. we stopped at M&J trimming and New York beads, which i loved.

thanks for a great day Mary Ellen!