If you’ve seen the Will Smith movie, I am Legend, then this arch must look familiar to you:

This is the Washington Arch on Washington Square Park which is right outside Robert Neville’s townhouse! Yes, the same park infested by The Infected!

I think they just recreated these areas though and never really filmed on site! But it’s quite cool to see movie locations in real life!

If you look closely, it really is just a facade made of taurpaulin that had windows and doors printed on it!

What a creative way to hide a construction site, and at the same time, give passersby a glimpse of what’s to come!

This is still part of a series of photos taken from our New York City tour atop a double decker bus!

Garrett Popcorn was chosen twice by Oprah for inclusion in her exclusive 2002 and 2005 “Favorite Things” !

Since I was on a tour bus with my in-laws, we didn’t get to check it out personally! But I definitely will as soon as I pass by a Garrett Popcorn Shop next time!

Look at what I discovered inside Whole Foods!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to check out the price! Oh well!

If you haven’t heard of SIGG, well “SIGG combines 100 years of Swiss quality & craftsmanship with a fresh, fun perspective on contemporary style – delivering a water bottle with both function AND fashion!”

What’s better, using SIGG water bottles help reduce unnecessary environmental waste caused by plastic water bottles!

Guess that’s why I found a whole rack of these inside Whole Foods!

I took my mom and dad in-law on a tour of NYC atop a double decker bus the other day. I was able to take a couple of NYC points of interest, one of which is the world famous…

Here’s a brief history lesson from the official Empire State Building website for your info!

The Empire State Building is cemented in both New York and U.S. History. Built during the Depression, the building was the center of a competition between Walter Chrysler (Chrysler Corp.) and John Jakob Raskob (creator of General Motors) to see who could build the tallest building.

From the time the construction began on March 17, 1930, the building’s steel frame rose at an average rate of four and a half floors per week. To speed construction, the building’s posts, beams, windows and window frames were made in factories and put together on the site. 60,000 tons of steel was brought in from the steel mills in Pennsylvania, 310 miles away, by train, barges and trucks.

William Lamb, an architect at the firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, was chosen to design the Empire State Building. His design was influenced by the perpendicular style of another architect, Eliel Saarinen. He happened to base most of his design on a simple pencil. The clean, soaring lines inspired him, and he modeled the building after it. He also decided that the columns of stone would be easier to put up if they were separated from the windows with metal strips. The strips covered the stone’s edges, which meant the stone could be rough-cut at the quarry and then heaved into place without any final cutting or fitting, thus saving a great amount of time. The stonework began in June of 1930, and was completed in November. The windows were attached with metal brackets between the stone columns, with aluminum panels above and below each level.

By October 3, 1930, there were 88 floors finished and only 14 to go. These top floors took the form of a distinctive tower of glass, steel, and aluminum. The tower is about 200 ft. high and topped with a dome.

The building’s history is full of interesting facts and marvelous accomplishments that still intrigue men, women and children of the world.

Some Facts in History:

In 1945 at the end of World War II, an Army Air Corps B-25 twin-engine bomber plane crashed into the 79th floor of the building in dense fog.

From 1931 - present, the building acted as an “Ambassador to New York” to many of the world’s renowned political and entertainment figures, such as, Fidel Castro, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, The Duchess of York, Nikita Khrushchev, King of Siam and others.

The building’s dirigible mast (now the base of the TV tower) was originally designed as a mooring mast for Air blimps (unfortunately because of several unsuccessful attempts and the volatile wind conditions at 1,350 feet, the idea was ultimately abandoned).

Dear Hubby and I went to the christening of our godson Ethan a couple of Sundays ago in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was inside a chapel behind the main altar of the Cathedral, cordoned off from tourists, where cameras are not allowed! But because we were there for a christening, of course we were allowed to take photos!

It is such a gorgeous chapel and we were amazed by how serene and splendid it was!

I even managed to sneak in a photo of a wedding ongoing at the main altar! Not a clear shot though, ooops!

Well, it’s not exactly a dessert place like Pinkberry, but still, I found the name of this store so icky! But if we really think about it, the name makes sense. It’s on Mulberry Street near Canal Street in downtown Manhattan. Hence the name, CANALBERRY! Hahaha!

The days of the handbag may soon give way to the shoulder bag! Remember this 80s staple? Well, shoulder bags this F/W 2008 definitely come bigger, and you can say, all grown up! Just check out these babies from Hermès, Gucci and Luella Bartley!

(Photos from style.com)

Plaid is back! But not exactly in flannel, and not paired with Doc Martens and denims like in the 90s! It’s more sleek and polished as far as plaids can be! How to make the look fresher and very 2008? Mix and match multiple checks as seen on the Dolce & Gabbana F/W 2008 runway!!!

(Photos courtesy of style.com)

Spring and summer bring about these lovely blooms…

Sweet-scented lavanders…

and these i dunno whats, hehehe…

It’s also the perfect time to wear colorful crocs!

But because clunky shoes aren’t exactly my style, this pair, no matter how cute, isn’t mine…

See?

Heehee!