Around Town: Pure Chocolate by Jinji

Hello everyone, long time no post. I am making my absence up to you by telling you about the greatest chocolate on Earth. Yes, seriously, pictured above is the GREATEST chocolate on Earth! It can be purchased at BELVEDERE SQUARE at PURE CHOCOLATE BY JINJI. The small store offers an array of healthy chocolate treats made from nutrient dense raw ingredients. The flavors of the items are bold, intricate, and very distinctive. I've tried many of their offerings and liked them all, but I'm particularly fond of the pots de creme. You must try it! For those of you in the DMV, visit Jinji's website to see where you can purchase her products in your area.

Around (Another) Town: Frugal in New York City

The other weekend the bungalow clan packed up and headed for a weekend trip to New York City. It's about a 3 hour ride from Baltimore, making it an ideal distance for a short stay. I've found in the past, even for a short trip though,  NYC can be very pricey. So I challenged myself to come up with ways to have frugal fun while there. We all had a great time....so I'm passing along a few budget friendly recommendations to you.

1) Eat at VIETNAAM. The hubs is an ardent lover of pho, so I suggested we give the Upper East Side restaurant VIETNAAM a try. The food and drinks (they have fantastic mocktails!) were absolutely delicious and extremely affordable. We will be back in the future for sure.

2) Visit Central Park. If you are looking for something romantic or family friendly to do, visit Central Park. The park is gorgeous and if you haven't seen it before you'll be thoroughly impressed. Try to catch some jazz in the park while you are there and grab some street food. If you have little ones, there's a nice play area just for toddlers.

3) Go thrifting. New York is a fabulous city filled with artsy, fashion forward, all around well-styled people. This makes for excellent thrifting. My personal favorite favorite place to thrift is HOUSING WORKS. They have multiple stores scattered throughout NYC, and offer a well curated selection of clothing, accessories, and housewares.

I like to visit multiple locations when possible. On this trip I went to four stores. Here are a few of the items I picked up:

There's lots more to do while on a budget in New York, but unfortunately we only had two days to explore, and spent much of our time visiting with friends. I can't wait to come back soon and visit the museums and see what other fun I can drum up. Do you have any recommendations for affordable things to do while in the Big Apple?