5 Shops to Bookmark ASAP

1. Made In Design - They've got everything, and everything is cute.

2. Alder & Co. - Sweet Frenchy-like home and style items.

3. Design Delicatessan - Can't read a thing on the site, but the wares look wonderful.

4. The Vitrine - Another shop dedicated to small production and handmade products. (I never get tired of these!)

5. Warby Parker - SO inspired by the mission of this company. For every pair of glasses + lenses they sell (all are just $95 each), they deliver one pair of glasses to someone in need. (Plus, their vintage-inspired frames are super-hot.) Go go go!

Image sources: Artecnica - Themis Quintet Mobile from Design Delicatessan; Felt Key Chains from Alder & Co.; OMHU Canes from The Vitrine

Limelight Marketplace

So I am going to say it: I was disappointed in my first visit to the Limelight Marketplace in Chelsea.

It's strange because I was fully ready to dig this place. It has all the makings of the Amy-approved: it has smaller, more local-ish brands; the venue is a quirky old church-turned-nightclub-turned shopping space; there's cuteness everywhere; food is involved.

But one thing bothered me: polish.

It's a little slick. It has a slight (SLIGHT) corporate feel. The walls are a monotonous shade of white. And some of the shops (SOME) could easily be found in a kiosk at a mall.

It doesn't have that, say, interesting "rough-around-the-edges" feel that a place like the Brooklyn Flea has, especially when it's held at Sklylight One Hanson. It's also a tight, darker-than-it-should-be space that doesn't showcase its cool windows as much as it could.

I didn't feel as inspired as I hoped to. I think you can even see it in my photographs. I couldn't focus; couldn't find anything I wanted to capture except a few stained-glass nuggets and the chocolate at Maribelle (shocker).

The older I get, the more I find that I prefer the weird nooks and crannies; the authentic details; the evidence of personality. Polish is too safe. Imperfection is so much more interesting. And the Limelight felt too perfect.

But whatever. I am sure I'll be back. After all, it's a church chock full of chocolate. Limelight Marketplace, Sixth Avenue and 20th Street, NYC

Weekend at Murray’s

Remember those old Scrooge McDuck cartoons, when Scrooge would gleefully dive into his beloved piles of gold coins and swim? That became my secret wish after I visited Murray's Cheese Shop with a girlfriend over the weekend. If was big-time Scrooge rich, I would have bought all the wonderful fromage in the store, taken it home, piled it high in my huge custom-made refrigerator room, and jumped in and flapped about in a giddy McDuckian manner. Because that is exactly how much this lady loves her cheese.