I’m having a good time with MJ. There’s no real agenda for this weekend – I’m just here to have fun in New York and spend some time catching up with my sister. Yesterday I went up to the fashion district and bought pieces of various fabrics at Mood: nothing too exotic this time, but some interesting, quality material I couldn’t find at home.

After dinner we went rambling around the lower east side and found a place called the Living Room, with a series of bands playing one-hour sets. The group playing when we walked in were a bunch of hilariously earnest music nerds – the front man played a banjo and some circuit-bent kid’s toy – so we didn’t expect much, but the next band was really surprisingly good. Called Feldberg, they are touring here from Iceland, and we’re going to go catch them again tonight in Brooklyn and bring some of MJ’s friends with us.

Today we visited the farmer’s market at Grand Army Plaza and bought some cheese and apple cider. Then we wandered around prospect park and poked our heads in various shops, stopped in at Press 195 for lunch, rode the subway, and wound up spending a couple hours in the Brooklyn Bead Box making stuff. I had just been looking for a couple split rings to repair a cuff link, but MJ got sucked into a Christmas-ornament project, and then I started making a braided wire-and-bead bracelet, and we had a great time hanging out chatting with the staff and working on our creations.

We’re off to dinner soon, then music and dancing and probably a fair amount of whiskey along the way. Should be a good night out!