Sitting here in the airport, I reflect on my quick trip to the east coast. The main focus of the trip was to get my only daughter safely delivered to The U. S. Military Academy at West Point, in New York. This a national treasure, nestled in the forest along the Hudson River. Right about now, she’s completing her second day of “Beast”, which is their name for boot camp. I’m sure she’s exhausted, but hopefully happy. She was born to attend this school, even though, Sunday night she was pretty tense.

Bright and early, Monday morning, we joined a very long line, at Eisenhower Hall, where parents and their children parted ways. I know she’s in good hands.

About everywhere you look, you’ll see that there’s been this 100 year old rivalry between Army and Navy. Since my son’s in the Navy, I have to remain unbiased!

If you were expecting this post to be all about design, I’m sorry to disappoint! I had expected to have a bit more time in NYC to scope out some home bling to fawn over.

The closest I got to anything home/collectables related, was the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, that got very favorable reviews, on-line. Maybe it was because we arrived at 2 p.m., (they open at 10). All the good stuff was gone? I have serious doubts, especially since they’re open til 6 and Sunday as well!

For some highlights, how about a little Elvis?

I hear antlers are/were hot? Just not these antlers?

I have a good friend who’d love these shoes! Darn! Wrong size!

My favorite (and only…believe it or not!) purchase, was on a China Town/Little Italy walking food tour. I admired a beaded stone bracelet in a deep coral red. On first glance, I raised my eyebrow at the $180 price. She gave me the exotic Chinese name of the stone, which I don’t remember, but which translates to red eagle stone. She said it was more rare than the other stones Uh huh! She then quickly lowered the price to $120. I admire it a bit more, while looking at other stones and end up looking at the red coral bracelet again. About this time, my shopping buddy’s patience is gone and suggests coming back later. All of the sudden, out comes the calculator and talk with the big boss…in Chinese, of course, and the price comes down to $80! I don’t know if it would have come down further, had I hung around longer, but a sale was made and I’m happy!

I’m excited about a design consultation, first thing tomorrow morning, so hopefully future posts will be more focused on interior design!
Happy Tuesday!