What I bought in NYC: Books, stationery, postcards

It's true what people say about New York City: it's the city that never sleeps, even when you so desperately want to. When I arrived in NYC late last Saturday night, I just wanted to throw myself into my hotel bed and sleep off the stressful flight from Toronto. But I learned quickly New York is very noisy, very busy, at all times. When I realized I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a while, I turned the TV on to see Bright Lights, the HBO documentary about Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, playing on the screen. I knew then to give up any hope of sleeping.

Found this candle while browsing The Strand

The next morning I got up early to make sure I had time to figure out the subway system and visit The Strand, a famous book store which is "the home to 18 miles of books." Yes, you read that correctly. I only had an hour to spend in The Strand and the majority of that time was spent looking at the front knick-knack section of the store! I barely got to the books, but I made sure to look at their table of feminist titles. They had a few copies of Roxane Gay's latest book, Difficult Women, but I decided to buy it when I was back in Canada.

Eighteen miles of books—this is just a dent!

I probably would have bought this Stranger Things card if it didn't cost $5...

From a cool range of book cover pins.

Piles upon piles of tote bags!

Ahem...

After The Strand I visited Forbidden Planet, a really cool comics and collectibles store. I didn't end up buying anything there (it was pretty expensive for stuff you could easily get in Canada if you wanted.)

The rest of the week went by fairly quickly. I attended classes each day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but by the time class was over, I was usually too tired to go out. I was still able to do some sightseeing and a bit of shopping.

I walked around Times Square for a while to look at all the "lights" (let's be real—they're just giant advertisements!)

Overall I had a great trip, but I was excited to be back home. I picked up a few things to remember my trip by. Here are some of the cool things I picked up in NYC!

Orphan Black Vol. 1

I love the show Orphan Black so much, I jumped on the opportunity to read it in graphic novel form. I found this over at a comic book shop called Midtown Comics. I looked everywhere for Orphan Black Funko Pops, but I didn't have any luck.

Postcards

I bought some postcards from The Strand for $1 each. I was really attracted to these for their matte finish—they aren't glossy like postcards typically are. I plan to frame the Amy Winehouse photo in my new picture frame...

Picture frame

There's a story behind this picture frame. Last year, my mom and I looked everywhere for a picture frame like this one. I thought they were really unique and would look cool in my room, so I was disappointed when we couldn't find any. I was delighted when I found this one by chance at Target for just $5! It was a great find and I think it will look nice in my reading corner. I was so nervous about it breaking during the flight, but it came back with me in perfect shape.

Heart-shaped pin board

There's also a story behind this pin board! I saw a photo of this pin board on Instagram and fell in love with it. Again, I thought it would look nice in my room. I was momentarily sad when I discovered it was sold in Target, a store we no longer have in Canada—then I realized I just happened to be in the U.S. at the time! I bought this striped-patterned pin board along with a plain white one. I've started laying out my (small) pin collection on the boards, but I'll probably show the finished result in a later post.

Stationery & Stamps

The $1 section at Target got me. But in my defense, I really was looking for new stickies to write notes in my books (one of my reading goals for 2017, which you can read all about here.) I also use stamps a lot to make homemade cards.

Edward Scissorhands Vinyl 

Edward Scissorhands is my favourite movie ever, of all time, so this collectible was exciting to find. These surprise boxes are usually such a gamble, so I was so happy when I found out I picked the ice sculpture Edward carves during my favourite part of the movie.

I hope you enjoyed this post. On a personal note, I've read my four books for the month of January already, but I plan to read a few more. I picked up a few books this week from the library. Thanks for reading!