governor's island - photo diary

in

last weekend, thomas and I went to governor’s island for a little day trip. and lucky for us, the ferry runs from brooklyn at pier 6 on weekends! otherwise, it runs from manhattan, at the battery maritime building. check out the schedule here! the ferries run about every 45 minutes, and $3 dollars round trip! even with our bikes, which I highly recommend bringing your bike or easily renting from the citi bike stands that are on the island.

there’s plenty to explore on the island - food vendors, art, large grass lawns, and learning centers. it’s such a great mini escape from the city, almost blissful feeling. riding our bikes through the island (tons of bike lanes!) wind in my hair, no worries of downtown cars and crazy pedestrians in our way. my favorite moment was when we enjoyed our piece of chocolate on the grassy lawns with each other. these are the weekends and times I live for. enjoy some snapshots from our day out!

amazing weekend with my lovey, until next time.

xoxo,

j

another birthday *~nyc edition*~ →

Whitney Museum
in

jess here, just spent another birthday! with my love! with, new york city!

took the day off and went to the whitney museum, thanks rolo for the little hookup! if you’re a fan of andy warhol - this is a must see! we browsed through the museum pretty quickly, I think my favorite moment there was enjoying a ham and cheese croissant and cookie at the studio cafe on the 8th floor with thomas. afterwards thomas went to run some “work errands” and we went to soju haus, ate pig’s feet and got druunk off green grape soju. fell asleep at 8PM. best day ever.

then thomas hosted a low country boil and invited friends over! we stuffed our face silly with seafood (see food diet) and sang happy birthday to me over the most decadent chocolate cake of chocolate chocolate cakes. does anyone else feel the happy birthday song is about 20 seconds too long? thanks everyone for the birthday love.

xoxo, j

another weekend - rockaway beach

in

took a weekend away from the city to rockaway beach. just about an hour away from brooklyn or about 1.5 hour from manhattan. coming from brooklyn, I hopped onto the L train to broadway-junction and transferred to the A train to rockaway park station - beach 116 street (last stop). just about 3 blocks away from the airbnb I am staying at. I love it here! being just 50 steps away from the beach, I've gone to the beach basically everyday since i've been here. reading eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert and snacking away while sitting on the sands and listening to the constant crash of the atlantic waves. I definitely suggest and would recommend rockaway beach as a get-a-away from the city. what other beaches within the NY area do you know of and suggest? brighton beach? manhattan beach? let a california beach girl know! 

places to eat at;

things to do;

  • rockaway! - art installation by MOMA PS1, free but donations welcomed

  • go to the beach, keep going to the beach

  • walk along the boardwalk! so many kitschy beach stores, but I love it. wish I was able to find a postcard at these stores to send to friends back home.

will definitely be back, try staying the weekend if time permits, but if not - a day trip away from the city works also! 

xoxo, j

japan diaries - fukuoka edition

in

second time I've visited japan and it's just as magical and amazing as the first. I visited a couple new cities, fukuoka being one of them here. it's a much quieter city comparatively to tokyo, but just as lively in its own way. the two days was actually not enough for the amount of activities I wanted to check off my list! fukuoka is most definitely a city I would want to come back to explore more of.     

logistics

  • flight from taipei, taiwan (TAOYUAN - TPE) to fukuoka, japan (FUKUOKA - FUK) $88 one way flight in may 2018
  • we took a complimentary shuttle bus from fuk airport to hakata station (main station) and simply walked to our airbnb location in the nearby area of canal city/hakata. it was already quite late at night (9PM), I did not feel any danger walking through the streets.
  • a pocket wifi is a must have in my opinion, some airbnbs throughout japan are kind enough to offer, but I liked having one with me at all times, in between airbnb accommodations. I got mine here with japan rail pass, the customer service is quite exceptional! (I had some issues with pickup but it was easily resolved with a email to customer service)

10 must see and do in fukuoka (only in fukuoka)

  1. having traditional hakata style ramen at a night stand (yatai)
  2. visit ACROS and enjoy a breakfast picnic or lunch in the park
  3. check out the rooftop garden of hakata station, I read that the 9th floor of the station is also home to a food court with a beautiful tiling! I am a sucker for artsy tiles
  4. watch a water/anime show at canal city hakata - similar to the world of color at disneyland 
  5. have coffee at manu coffee for views of the canal, specifically the yanagibashi location
  6. visit daimyo shopping district
  7. explore fukuoka castle and find a high point to see the city skylines
  8. visit the fukuoka asian art museum 
  9. tenjin underground mall for souvenirs! 
  10. walk, walk everywhere - through small streets, on big streets etc!

want to hear more about fukuoka? ask away in the comments below! happy to share my adventures! stay tuned for japan diaries, naoshima, osaka, kyoto/nara, and tokyo edition.

xoxo, j

on a mission, in the mission

Mission Pie
in

following hayes valley, there's the mission. drastically different, but just as rich in culture and things to do (and places to eat). two main streets off the mission, mission and valencia. hang out along the mission for the grit and culture. cross over one block to valencia for hip and millennials galore. definitely check it out! we went to plenty of plant stores and clarion alley. last leg of the day was at mission pie, where we actually saw someone eat the entire insides of the chicken pot pie, then..... brace yourself... threw out the remainder of the crust!!! how outrageous, crust is the best part. but that's just my opinion, we definitely finished ours.

ps. the coolest spot we stumbled upon, was a laundromat/cafe work place!!! called laundre. which actually pancakestacker a local blogger in the city did a fun little interview with the owner! read about it more, here

xoxo, j