Vanillaxx

I will be going to New York in a couple of weeks and there I will be able to visit a lego store. I have a few questions that I hope you guys can help me out with: - Can I buy a brick separator there? My fingers are starting to hurt... -Is the 'pick a brick' wall worth the money? - If so, any things specifically you'd recommend? - Are there any items you can only buy in lego stores?

Hi all, I'm Kelly, a 21 y/o girl from the Netherlands. Since I spend so much time of my day behind a computer screen I was looking for a new 'offline' creative hobby. When I found my old lego boxes while cleaning I got excited and now I'm ready to build awesome stuff. I started following 'Luke Watkins Hutchinson' on flickr a while ago and fell in love with his creations. I would love to become that good but meanwhile I'm just looking to learn and collect a lot. So now I'm searching (hmm maybe this is an online hobby too?) for good building techniques and general tips. Also I need to collect some good parts since my lego is now about 35 years old and contains mostly very bright colored bricks. Also a lot of broken and discolored bricks. Is there a way to obtain loose parts? Can you buy these somewhere? I'd like to buy those parts that are flat on top, the ones that Luke on Flickr uses a lot. I bet these all have names but I'm still learning ;)