vintage

Phoenicia flea and the catskills

Sometimes you just gotta get out. I am lucky enough to have a vehicle to take me where I want to go. This Sunday my friend Victoria and I decided we needed to get some fresh air and admire the lush green wilderness in the Catskill mountains. And, we heard there was a flea market! We left bright and early and had a few must see/do's on our list, farm stand and flea market, with the hopes of an estate sale or junk shop. Well as soon as we passed Kingston we found ourselves a farm stand. I bought a quart of beautiful and delicious strawberries. And Vic got herself some tomatoes and eggplant. None of the strawberries made it back to Brooklyn by the way. Yum.

As we continued on our journey we saw the sign! And we turned, and we drove a long way down a country road and then we saw another sign!

Then we turned and drove a long way down another country road and then we saw the Phoenicia Flea! It wasn't big, but it was beautiful. There were about 12 vendors arranged in a half circle around a little fire with picnic blankets laying about if you wanted to take a load off.

This week the flea was hosted by The Spruceton Inn (they rotate the location to different venues in the area). Spruceton is a small 10 room inn that is well off the beaten path and a great place to unplug for a spell. The decor is lovely as is the little bar which flanks one end of the inn. We did have extra incetives to visit the Flea as our friend Maresa, of Dusty Rose Vintage  based here in Greenpoint, was a vendor.

Speaking of vendors, everyone at the Flea was absolutely lovely. Small Room Collective was there, a husband and wife team that travel the country in their airstream trailer selling a beautifully curated collection of vintage and design items.

I also had the pleasure to meet Paul Lowe of Sweet Paul Magazine, whose publication I have admired for quite a while. If you have not picked up a copy yet, make sure that you do. The photography is top notch and it's full of fantastic recipes, information about designers and decor and my favorite, crafting how to's. It's $18 an issue, but it's printed on high quality paper and reads more like a mini book than a magazine. I bought the Summer 2015 issue and am loving it!

My other notable purchase of the day was this AMAZING scarf. It's vintage wool in really fantastic condition. I plan to use it as a table runner instead of a scarf. I'm sure you will see it again soon!

After a few hours chatting and browsing we headed into downtown Phoenicia, which consists of one street with about 4 restaurants and several shops. We found a cute little place for lunch had a bite and then hit "The Mystery Spot" vintage store. They had a great space with lots of fun things to check out. We wandered around downtown and then hit the road heading towards Kingston. We stopped at a store called Scandinavian Gracewhich which sold, you guessed it, Scandinavian products (which I absolutely love). They had a lovely assortment of Ittalia glassware, Marimekko pillows and a display of Kingston, NY artist Andrew Molleur's ceramics, who also happens to be profiled in the Summer 2015 issue of Sweet Paul Magazine! His porcelain bowls and vases at that location are in vibrant orange and beautiful soft greys. Loved it all, wish I could have brought a bowl home with me.

Next we moved on to Kingston, which would be the final stop of the day before heading back to Brooklyn. It was a cute town, much larger than I expected. The downtown area felt more like a small city than a town. There were lots of cute little stores and eateries and I bet it's a nice place to live. Because it was Sunday most everything was closed up tight, so we just did a drive by and then hit the road. We followed the Hudson down south through Westchester County, which soon became the Bronx, then Queens and finally Brooklyn. We were happy to be home, but hope to visit again soon. Maybe even in August, as the Phoenicia Flea will be making another appearance this summer on August 15th and 16th this time at the Westfield Orchard, details available at www.phoeniciaflea.com.

If you need inspiration of your own to get out of the city for the weekend and live in the NY area Escape Brooklyn is an excellent resource. Even if you don't live in the area, their site is worth a look!

new site, new blog, new post

I am so excited to finally have updated my website. It has been on my to do list for about a year and life kept getting in the way! In the past when I redid my site it was a huge pain. I had to resize and reformat every picture. Write tons of copy to explain everything, but this time it was easy. I used a template from squarespace and 24hrs later here you have it. I even integrated my blog.

Speaking of blogs... that's why you're here.

Today I want to share with you my adventure on Governor's Island from this past weekend. We picked the most humid day of July for our trip, but I'm glad we suffered through the weather because we had a blast. If you live in Brooklyn like I do you'll be happy to know that the East River Ferry runs from Greenpoint (and all the other stops along the way) directly to GI on the weekends. The return ferry stops running around 6:30 though, so make sure you head to the Island early so you don't feel rushed to make it back by then. I am a sucker for a good ferry ride, so that alone made the day great.

Photo by Paulo Dias (@goldisthenewblack)

When we arrived on the island we were greeted by food trucks galore. It's like a mini Smorgasburg. Paulo and I had eaten earlier, but couldn't resist the Waffles & Dinges truck. After our nutella waffle we headed towards the beer garden and ended up in a little village  (Colonels Row) of wood sided homes that reminded me of something I would have seen in New England where I grew up. I wanted to claim one for my own and never leave! But alas, we had to meet up with some friends so we headed towards Little Eva's for some frozen lemonades (with vodka, ha, so refreshing) it is one of 2 places allowed to serve alcohol on the island.

Unbelievable this is in NYC!

After a couple of hours relaxing in the shade we decided we had to rent one of those 4 seater bikes (aka Surrey). We were a group of 10 + baby so we had to rent 2 4 seaters and a 2 seater. We pedaled around the island trying to avoid all the pedestrians (we should not have let the men drive...) and took in the views. Finally we took a break at the hammocks. We parked our surreys and returned to find someone was pedaling off in one. The guys ran after them and it turned out the capers were three 12 year old girls... HA HA. They claimed they though they were free to take, we're going to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one. Also we had to catch our ferry back to Brooklyn. We caught it with 5 minutes to spare!

Photo by Kathy Monahan (@vivalakathyyy)

All in all it was a great day. Next time I go I think I will go earlier in the morning, choose a cooler less humid day and bring my own bike as I think it is a great place to just go for a ride!