Brooklyn Bites

***This will be my final post on Bklynstitch but you can now follow me on my new and approved blog Bow & Arrow.***

Before we left, I wanted to share my favorite restaurants in Brooklyn. With thousands and thousands of restaurants to choose from it's hard to name all of my favorites but here are my top ten.

If you're looking for a strong cocktail paired with a really tasty cheese and meat plate, Hotel Delmano in Williamsburg is a great place to go. 

Have a hangover? Brunch at Lodge in Williamsburg is the perfect cure. Get the Egg Sandwich that comes with a fried heirloom tomato and cliantro-cashew pesto. It's amazing.

Ok, so this isn't a restaurant but there was no way I was going to do a whole post of my favorite places to eat in Brooklyn and not mention Choice in Clinton Hill. It's a French market filled with amazing looking pastries and made to order sandwiches. I never leave without getting a chocolate croissant...or two.

Diner in Williamsburg is another go to brunch spot for us. Their menu changes daily so I can't recommend an exact dish but anything I've ever had there was pretty amazing.

Again this isn't a restaurant but I had to mention it. The Brooklyn Flea has so many amazing vendors but our favorite is Asia Dog. They serve Asian inspired hot dogs that make for a perfect lunch. My favorite? The Sidney which is Thai style and comes with relish with mango, cucumber, red onion, cilantro + crushed peanuts and fish sauce. Makes the usual hotdog with ketchup and mustard look pretty boring huh? 

 

This is a horrible picture but I couldn't leave Traif in Williamsburg off the list. The first time we went there, they served us a shot of bacon broth and were sold. If you like bacon, you're going to love this place. Trust me.

Other favorites are Olea and The Smoke Joint in Fort Greene and Caracas and Carino in Williamsburg.

What I'll Miss About NY

**For the next few days I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there!

Although I'm extremely excited to be moving someplace new, there are so many things that I will really miss about the place I've called home for the past 8 years. Most importantly, I'll miss being on the same coast as our families and our friends that have become like family. I'll miss the amazing food that is always just a few steps away, the culture, and being able to walk absolutely everywhere. I'll miss our apartment and even our cute, little doorman who's greeted me home every night. I'll miss the Sunday night dinners that Brett and I have with our greatest of all friends, Dave. And before I get too teary eyed I'll let the following photos do the rest of the talking...

Brooklyn has been so good to us and I feel pretty damn lucky to have lived here for as long as I did. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly things I won't miss but I think the good out-way the bad too much to list those. I've been looking at our move not as if we're leaving New York but as we're just talking a break from it. It's pretty exhausting living here and sometimes you need to leave in order to really appreciate it.

With that said, the next few days will be spent packing up the rest of our things and saying "goodbye" to our friends so that we can leave super early this Sunday.
And because this town has spoiled me with good food, I will be posting a few of my favorite restaurants. Stay tuned!

Looking Forward To

**For the next week I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there!

1. Our New Home

2. Being Organized. After this move, I think I'm going to try to be as organized as possible. Any tips?
3. Working From Home
4. Weekend Trips to Yosemite National Park, Napa, Lake Tahoe, Big Sur
5. Growing a Garden
6. Exploring a Whole New City - What should we check out first?


Top Left // Top Right // Middle Left // Middle Right // Bottom Left // Bottom Right

We're Moving!

**For the next week I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there!

After almost three years of talking about living someplace new, we've finally decided to move. We've spent the past few months trying to decide where our new home should be. We thought about Asheville, North Carolina, we looked at L.A., we even thought about Burlington, Vermont. But none of these places seemed to feel right for us. We finally came to a decision two weeks ago. (Nothing like last minute huh?)

Starting February 1st, Brett and I and all of our things will be driving across the country to our new home, San Francisco! I'm excited, I'm nervous, happy and the tiniest bit sad. But we're mostly excited to explore a whole new city and everything San Francisco and it's surroundings have to offer. 

I spent the past weekend packing up box after box and getting rid of so many things that I didn't even know we had. It's really hard getting rid of all the stuff that you've accumulated over the years but when you only have a little car and trailer to carry all your things in, it's pretty important to only take the things you love.

When we leave in two weeks, I hope to share photos and the progress of our travels across the country here on my blog. Hopefully the internet will allow for that... And as for saying goodbye to Brooklyn, ya, I'm not quite ready for that yet.

P.S. Speaking of getting rid of some of our things - I'll be selling my Gocco Printer on ebay this week in case anyone is interested. Feel free to email me at bowarrowdesigns@gmail.com for more details.  

(Photos from our California Trip in 2010.)

Weekly Picks

**For the next two weeks I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there!

A few things that caught my eye this week...

1. Vamoose has a new collection coming out soon and from the looks of it, it's going to be goood.

2. Doesn't this afternoon snack of a croissant, ricotta, honey and fig sound amazing? 

My love for croissants was renewed after our trip to Greece. We had one every morning.

3. What I wouldn't give to hear all the amazing speakers at ALT summit next week. Maybe next year...

4. Rifle Paper's new Valentine's Day cards are too cute.

5. Loving the Year in Review design by Amanda Jane Jones.

6. My sister turned me on to Jetsetter and now all I want to do is go on vacation.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Cabin Fever

**For the next two weeks I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there

 

By Peterssen/Keller Architecture.

Dear Future Apartment

**For the next two weeks I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there! 

One  // Two  // Three  // Four

Only 21 days til we move!

Two Weeks Notice

**For the next two weeks I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there!

Today I quit my job...for the past 4.5-5 years I've been working as a graphic designer in a big advertising agency in Manhattan.

I've had a job ever since it was legal to start working (13 in NY). I've worked in many restaurants, babysat, worked on a farm, tried my hand in retail (totally not for me) and had design internships all throughout college. I'm very thankful for being as lucky as I have been with getting work but now it's time to make some changes.

For the past two years, I've gone to work everyday and then went home to work on my etsy work. It wasn't easy but because I did, I can now do what I love to do full time. In two weeks, I'm trading in the steady paycheck, paid vacation days and amazing health benefits to be my own boss. It's time. I know it's not going to be easy but I feel prepared. Well, as prepared as I possibly can be. My website is up, my inventory of envelopes is ridiculous and my sketchbook is full of new designs for the shop.

So when I said that 2012 was going to be all about changes, I meant it.

Oh, and there's one more crazy change that's happening in my life but I'll tell you more about that another time...thanks for reading! (Image Source)

Flecks of Gold

**For the next two weeks I'll be blogging both here and on my new blog. I hope you'll follow me there! 

1. Baby Moccasins  // 2. Mousepad  // 3. Venice Sign  // 4. Gnome  // 5. Wristlet  // 6. Sweater

We've Moved!

Well, it's that time my friends! Bklynstitch has been very good to me but now it's time to move on to bigger and better things. Introducing the new Bow & Arrow blog. It's a work in progress but I hope you'll follow me there. Thanks for reading!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday friends! I know I mentioned that I would be announcing the new blog today but that will have to wait til Monday. It's been quite the week. Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments about my new shop! Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Amazing workspace found here.

A Roxbury Barn

This Dutch-style barn turned second home is pretty amazing if you ask me. It's really close to where a few friends and I brought in the New Year. More on that later. You can read more about this home here.

All images are from the NY Times.

Moving Out

This morning while brushing my teeth, I realized that we only have 28 days until our lease is up. We have renewed our lease 3 years in a row now and every time we've been on the edge about leaving but this time we're actually going to be moving out. I'm super pumped to be leaving our cramped apartment and can't wait to have a fresh start someplace new. Now the question is where should we move?

I love Dabito's apartment in Los Angeles and will be sure to use his blog as inspiration when decorating our new place.

A Christmas Gift

For Christmas we gave both of our parents our wedding photo album. We ended up using the photo book template from Pinhole Press. They took quite a while to put together but I was really happy with the results. Now we just have to make our own wedding album and we'll be set!

Introducing Bow & Arrow

 

After two years in the making, I am very proud to announce my new shop, Bow & Arrow. Ever since designing my sister's wedding stationery back in 2006, I fell in love with designing weddings. For the past few years, my dream has been to open my own stationery shop and now it's finally happened.

I want to send a huge thank you to my amazing husband, Brett, who helped every step of the way. From the design stages, to the photography, to designing the website and for encouraging me when I completely doubted this whole thing. He's helped me through it all and I certainly could not have done it without him. I also want to thank my family and friends who've been behind me 100%. 

So to all you brides and grooms out there looking for unique wedding stationery, I'm your gal! You can view the new website here! 

P.s. I'll be announcing the new blog at the end of the week...stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

2011 was an amazing year. I saw my little sis graduate college, surprised my mom for Mother's Day in North Carolina, saw my older sister marry her best friend in Nantucket, planned a wedding, found out I was going to become an Aunt (again!), became a "Mrs." and honeymooned in Greece. It's hard to believe that all of that happened in one year.

So now it's a new year and with that some changes - a new blog (that I will announce on Friday), a career change and hopefully a new place to call home. I have some big plans for 2012. So here's to hoping! What are your plans for the new year?
 

Design found here.