My mother is the sort of person who starts asking what I want for Christmas on September 1st, so it wasn’t that surprising that 6 months ago she told me that she wanted to do something special for my birthday and why don’t the two of us take a trip to New York City? My birthday is in December, so this was definitely advanced planning, even for her. But I didn’t really want to go to New York City in December as a birthday trip (not because it wouldn’t be beautiful, I hear it’s magical in December)  because I didn’t want to spend the trip holiday shopping for everyone on my list instead of taking some time for me and my mom. So somehow, through some conversational sleight-of-hand on my mother’s part, we ended up going to New York city on her birthday. But for my birthday. It was confusing even for us.

Have you ever taken a trip with your mom, as an adult? This was my first time, and it was incredible. We talked about things we never have a chance to really talk about, do the deep dive that you can only do when you are able to talk for hours alone. My mom is so much funnier than I realized, and also has amazing stamina when it comes to walking all over NYC.  She would be the first to tell you that she is ‘no good at taking photos’, but on the flight over I walked her through some of the basics of using my smartphone, including one of my favourite tricks- always take at least 5 photos of the subject, that way one of them is bound to work out. I helped set up shots when I could, like putting it into portrait mode before handing it over or explaining what else should be in the shot (composition).

I pride myself on being a great traveler – I pack very lightly, am very flexible with itineraries or things to do, and can find fun just about anywhere. I usually only have 2 or 3 things that I’m really aiming for, and for this trip one of my targets was to attend were to go to an interior design talk with Joanna Goddard from A Cup of Jo and the Hovey Design sisters at the MOMA Design Store.

It was fantastic, there were savoury cookies that tasted like pizza and free wine. And design tips, of course!

I also got tickets for my mom and I to go to the Color Factory interactive art gallery, and it was SO fun. Really one of the highlights of the whole trip, and brilliantly executed – all the exhibits are interactive in some form or another, and they really control the number of people in any of the rooms at a given time so it never feels crowded, which is perfect for having a really immersive experience. They give you a card that has a QR code and you tether it to your email. Then in a few of the exhibits, you scan the card and it does a count down and takes photos for you, then emails them. Those exhibits were clearly sponsored by various companies, who then had the pleasure of having their logo on your emailed photos. But hey, no such thing as a free lunch, so I get it.

There were also a series of cafes and restaurants I wanted to try, but I’m not a great food photographer  so there aren’t a lot of photos of that. Usually I’m so excited to get the food I just start eating immediately and forget that cameras even exist. This means I’m especially dazzled by great food photography, not only because it looks so appealing, but because they had the restraint to not eat anything for at least 3 minutes. I can only manage that during cocktails.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw that we found an alpaca themed cafe not far from Times Square – it was amazing! Everything was incredibly delicious, and very alpaca-themed. I’m a sucker for stuff that is super-niche.  Themes make things more fun, I think.

I know you are wondering- but what about Purl Soho? I did go! I had to go, actually. I had a needle disaster on my flight out – the cord of my bamboo needles dislodged from the needle. I stuffed it back in and taped it together, but it would only hold if I was veeeery gentle with the needle, which meant knitting slowly. This really cut into all the subway knitting time I thought I would have!

I went to Purl Soho and got a replacement needle, and was very happy with it. I have the worst luck travelling with bamboo needles, they always seem to break on me the second I take them anywhere out of my area code.

But you know what’s odd? I was underwhelmed with the store in person. I love their patterns, their Instagram aesthetic, they do so many lovely things…. but the store felt bland to me. I only bought the needles that I needed and nothing else, because nothing seemed to insist it had to go home with me.  I’m sure the staff was friendly enough, but other than saying hi when I walked in, no one asked me if I was looking for anything, or if I was interested in any particular craft. I would have happily told them I was visiting New York, and this was my first time in their shop- which then they could have showed me some of whatever they have that is special and unique to them and told me about why it was awesome. Maybe I caught them at an off time. But we had so much fun everywhere we went, Purl Soho being underwhelming wasn’t a big deal at all.

Of course, somewhere during the trip my mom turns to me and says, “So what are your plans for James’s birthday? I want to come into town for that.” His birthday is December 1st, and my subsequent stammering clearly indicated that moment was the very first time this calendar year I was thinking about what to do for his birthday. Although I suppose I should be thankful she didn’t ask me in August what I had planned. Spoiler alert- I have nothing planned. But I’m sure I’ll figure it out before December 1st.