Anime Marathons, Brunch + Shopping: A Day Out in New Jersey

The last time I posted about a day out, I was with my best friend Bianca and sister Mel in New York City. Well, this time around, I was with Rachel as I visited her in New Jersey! It’s been a while since I’ve really spent some time in Jersey, but it was a welcome reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the city for sure.

On Friday, upon arriving in New Jersey, Rachel and I picked up some pizza and yogurt for dinner and dessert. We then headed back to her place, where we relaxed on the couch and had a Fushigi Yuugi (look out for a special anime-related feature next month!) marathon (I think we may have watched 8 episodes or so?). It was a quiet Friday night in, but the company was awesome + it felt like a sleepover!

HELLO TAMAHOME <3

The next morning, we were up and at it early because we had very fun plans ahead of us (which you’ll find out about in another post – one that’ll be up on August 4!). We managed to have some coffee + watch another episode of Fushigi Yuugi before we left that day.

breakfast of champions: PopTarts, coffee + Tamahome

After our morning adventure, we set off to find some food. Rachel took me to one of her favorite brunch spots, Red Eye Café. We had some amazing Intelligentsia coffee (NYC friends, you can grab some at the coffee shop next to the new Urban Outfitters in Herald Square!), and shared the Sunrise quesadilla + the Double Happiness waffle. (Can anyone tell me the book reference there?) Everything was so good, and it was just nice to chat and relax and eat. 

What book cover does my look remind you of?

mmm, breakfast!

Double Happiness waffle

After we had brunch, we hopped into her car again and headed on over to a little outdoor plaza/center in Montclair for some shopping! We popped into a couple of clothing boutiques (where I successfully picked up two adorable dresses), before grabbing something cold to drink at Starbucks and checking out the beauty products at Blue Mercury. 

Then, Rachel had the brilliant plan of going to the used bookstore she knew in the area. The instant I spotted Blue-Eyed Devil in hardcover on the book rack outside, I knew it would be an epic bookish spot. And it really was! We spent almost two hours wandering up and down the aisles, finding familiar titles and authors, and discovering interesting new ones we might never have heard of. There was a lot of debate for us both on what we should buy, but in the end, we walked out with some really awesome books (and inexpensive too)! I’m definitely planning on convincing Rachel to go back sometime.

There's the bookstore! :)

look at all the books!

We stopped by for some gelato, to rest our weary feet, before popping into a couple more places and then heading back to Rachel’s… where we proceeded to sit and watch a few more episodes of Fushigi Yuugi. Predictable, yes, but we just can’t stay away from this show! An hour or two later, I bid Rachel goodbye and took a bus ride back to the City.

shopping haul + shoes

Every single screen shot of the show has Tamahome, and I love it.

It was definitely a very fun day, and just the perfect summer weekend adventure. I’m super grateful to Rachel for having me over, and definitely can’t wait until we do it again!