happy friday!

Photo by Elisa Mendes, from her New York Lovers series


I've now been living in New York City for just over two months, so how about some thoughts on this city?


Have you seen Metropolitan Diary? My cousin Scott enlightened me a couple of weeks ago. How fun.
Joanna Goddard's guide to NYC
heroes
New York Times candle
one of my favorite NYC movies
Bush & Obama, shoulder to shoulder at Ground Zero
the 9/11 glossary
an organization with which I really want to work

solitaires

Could living alone lead to dancing with a hatstand?

Thanks to Devices of Wonder, to which I have been contributing as part of a class project, I just found this 2008 New York magazine article about loneliness (& lack thereof) in New York City. It's stellar! And such a sweet love letter to this beautiful city.

Photo of Mel Gibson from What Women Want found on MySpace

exploring nyc: nice matin

Photo courtesy of Grub Street New York

One thing that's thrilling about New York City is the endless string of opportunities to discover new people, places, things. Like lots of freelancers, I'm drawn to cafes where I can connect to WiFi, have a cup of tea and not get dirty looks for sitting with my laptop open in front of me. As a server myself, I'm particularly cautious to not overstay my welcome. I like to sit at bars so I'm not occupying tables, and I try to order something every hour and leave a nice tip. (What goes around comes around, right?)

My newest haunt is just two blocks from my temporary home on the Upper West Side. It's Nice Matin on West 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, located below the Lucerne Hotel. It's been a great atmosphere for writing and editing— perfectly my style. Located on the corner, it has huge windows along its peninsular walls, offering wonderful perspective on the gorgeous Upper West Side. The light inside, supplied largely by naked bulbs, is bright and golden, making it feel warm and cozy, but its sweeping, curved bar, high ceilings and sprawling dining room, along with those windows, keep it from feeling stuffy or cramped. The playlist is a healthy mix of French and instrumental jazz (I love Shazaming the stuff I don't know). The clientele are chatty but not distractingly loud.

In summary, it's fabulous. I highly recommend it.

Where the guy in the black is sitting is exactly where I've been parking with my laptop this week. It's a great stool :)

Photo courtesy of Centsational Girl

saturday night in chicago

This past weekend, Maria & I took a really wonderful trip to Chicago where we visited my totally awesome cousin Tim & his completely lovable girlfriend Sarah. Here's a little recap:

Saturday morning on the road, the weather started off mild & the sky pearly gray, though it wasn't long before it developed into rain that followed us all the way into the city. Driving into Chicago from the south means paying lots of tolls. Maria is so funny. When we hit construction, she said, "What? They're making us pay to drive on this road?!" 

the endless toll booths!

Wow— the skyline was deep in fog... this was our view as we approached the city!

beautiful Chicago!

Once we arrived in Chicago, we met up with a high school friend, Zach, and took the El downtown to do some shopping. It was Maria's first time on an underground train! We discussed what underground trains are called in different cities (the Subway in New York City, the Metro in Paris, the Underground in London... etc.) and wondered how fast the train was moving (no idea).

Maria's first time on an underground train! Zach was less excited. =)

After shopping, Maria, Tim, Sarah & I walked to dinner at Dee's. We enjoyed lots of great conversation with the staff, several of whom know Tim and Sarah from their weekly visits. Our bartender (also named Tim) showed us some hilariously cute photos of his high-maintenance Miniature Schnauzers who won't nap without pillows!

Our sushi was seriously awesome. My Fashion Maki had spinach, salmon, masago, yellowtail, tuna and cucumber. So good. We finished with delicious hot sake, which had a really nice anise flavor. And then Tim-the-bartender treated us with complimentary shots of bright blue & tropical-flavored Malibu... something.

delicious sushi & sake at Dee's (left to right right: Tim, Sarah, me, Maria)

After Dee's, we took a cab downtown to the Trump Chicago Hotel to drink cosmos at Rebar on the second floor. It had floor-to-ceiling windows looking over the Chicago River, which was just beautiful at night.

Tim took this picture, in which he says Maria looks like Margaret from HBO's Boardwalk Empire (played by Kelly Macdonald.) I actually see it. What do you think?

weird cantaloupe-textured columns at Rebar

happy happy

After Rebar, Tim had another location (name long-forgotten)  in mind. We began to walk there, but before we arrived, we came upon Fadó Irish Pub. Sarah commented that she had celebrated her 21st birthday there, and for kicks, we decided to step in. Upstairs, we found a totally awesome party in full-swing. Selective Recall was on-stage playing Tommy Tutone's "867-5309 Jenny" & everyone was dancing. The atmosphere was laid-back but high-energy. We ordered drinks and danced to all these fabulous classics, & Maria & I danced on stage with the lead (who looked strikingly like Richard Simmons)! We ended up sticking around until 2 a.m., when Selective Recall called it a night.

my goodness. how beautiful!

Maria with her new bestie, Richard Simmons!

We finished up the night with great music at  The Redhead, a really fun piano bar. Of course, there was lots of Billy Joel: "Piano Man," which we sang along to, but also "Half a Mile Away" and one of my personal favorites, "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." Additionally, though, the performer played Coldplay's "Yellow," Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" and John Mayer's "No Such Thing" (a Studio B favorite). It was a really nice mix of music to wind up the night.

awesome cousin!

silly & lovable!

cutest couple!!

Sunday morning, we were sad to say goodbye and head back to normal life... But it was a perfect day for driving, despite the scary semis on the interstate. =)

master navigator

also, just because the northern Indiana windmills are so beautiful:  

They go on for miles and are completely mesmerizing. For more wind energy love, see this video via A Cup of Jo.

happy friday!

Portrait of Lucy Liu by Annie Leibovitz

This weekend I'll be checking out the city, as per usual these days. My friends Pippa, Lizzy and I want to go see Reflecting the Stars. It's supposed to be just cool enough and gray, which is my favorite weather. Woohoo! It's October in New York City.

intoxicatingly lovely layered lace

I want to use this app for my next party

newsprint candle

ancient bones, reunited

fake subway advisory

Check out this fake advisory designed by some snarky, clever, creative and disgruntled New York City commuters. Kinda cute, huh?

via Matador Network

woody allen on making movies in nyc

In anticipation of Sunday 84th Academy Awards, I'd like to share this awesome video of my beloved Woody Allen's appearance at the 2002 Oscars, where he made a plea for filmmakers' continuing to make their art in New York City. It's also very funny. I would love if he showed up Sunday evening.

P.S. Here's the montage, if you're interested.

woody allen on a rainy day

New York City is moving into fall...

photo credits unknown

more on Woody Allen

sculptures at the met

New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art is easily one of my favorite museums in the world. Jamie over at From Me To You recently put up a gorgeous collection of photos that she took of the statues at the Met. There's so much emotion and her photos really do justice to the beauty and skill of these pieces.

All photos are by and courtesy of Jamie at From Me To You

Thanks, Joanna, for the tip!

between the moon and new york city

I just stumbled across this endearing watercolor yesterday. It's by Shirley at Paper and Threads.

happy friday!

Whee! I'm excited for this weekend. I'm going to a party for my dear friend Peter, who has successfully completed his six months of chemotherapy and is returning to his old self with gusto. Additionally, one of my best friends from high school, Will (see above photos), is coming to town. Will and I have been friends since we were fifteen, which isn't really that long, but I feel like I've known him forever. For the past few years Will's been going to school in New York City (he's a painter), so we haven't gotten to spend much time together. It was actually a year ago this week that I saw him last, when I was in NYC last summer.

So what do you have going on this weekend?

Here's some fun from around the web...


Disney princesses in historically-accurate costumes


rad striped backpacks


if you haven't yet, be sure to check out Jay-Z's website, Life+Times


Joanna's husband Alex wrote this fun piece about beards (what it feels like for a guy)

Joianne Bittle: Preserving Mass Extinction

Joianne Bittle, apart from being a dear friend and wife to my dear cousin Nicholas Knight, is a fantastic New York City-based artist. She's an accomplished painter and for the past several years has constructed dioramas for the American Museum of Natural History. Recently, she took her diorama skills to the gallery, where she constructed "Portable Landscape: Preserving Mass Extinction."

In Preserving Mass Extinction, Joi reconstructed Texas' Permian Basin as it might have been 250-290 million years ago. This project required significant research and bringing together her skills as a diorama artist, where she's mastered her skills as a translator of scientific knowledge to the rest of us. She casted molds of the plants, animals, and earth formations that might have been found in this area, which was, at the time, covered in a shallow sea. She painted the figures and assembled the entire diorama in the back of a UHAUL trailer. You can see the whole thing at Eugene Binder Gallery in Marfa, TX through March 31, 2011.

Read a bit of her publicity here, and view more photos here.

Here's Joi with Portable Landscape.

Photos courtesy of Joianne Bittle

happy friday!

raining on the tennis courts... via The Steward


So, talking about what we're doing this weekend, I have some kind of big plans... I'm moving to New York City! Yes, I am. I can barely believe it. All day today, Lynn, Makensie and I are driving East. It's a big deal. What about you? Weekend plans?


an ah-mazing breakdown of how to think from Martha Beck... a leap from fear to faith
"if your hair had a horoscope, what would it be?" life's persistent questions answered over at Refinery 29, with fantastic hairstyles to observe and maybe even imitate

writing in the new year

photo of me by my friend Griffin Norman, September 2012
earrings and necklace by the excellent Laine Benthall, tee by Everlane

It's now been more than a year since I graduated from Indiana University and effectively stopped blogging. They tell you that it will be, but it doesn't make graduating from college any less of a doozy of a transition.

A few months, I had the great privilege of being able to meet, in the flesh, for the first time ever, one of my greatest inspirations, Ms. Joanna Goddard of A Cup of Jo. I met Joanna, and also Sharon of NYC Taught Me, at the bake sale they hosted at Dwell Studio in SoHo to benefit recovery efforts for Hurricane Sandy. It was a positively gorgeous day— the sun shone so warm I took off my sweater and frolicked around Lower Manhattan (which finally had electricity again, thank God) in my tshirt. As if that feeling of liberty weren't inspiring enough, Sharon and Joanna offered me encouragement to start blogging again, and, heartened by their kind words and sweet smiles, I'm back to blog.

Here's where I am:

I am 23. I surf sofas in the center of the world. I serve tables in the West Village and struggle to pay my bills. I'm a photographer without a camera, a worker without sleep, and I feel as though I have barely a friend in this massive city.

Month by month, it gets better. I find my footing more sure, even as my direction still seems vague. One of the more exciting projects of this past year has been the Stringer. the Stringer is an online literary magazine that my friends Jami and Julia and I started as our writing group faded and our mutual interests in creative careers joined forces for something bigger. In December of last year, I was in a funk, and Julia practically dragged me to join her writing group. I was reluctant. I didn't like the idea of pressure to write or sharing my writing with strangers. But somehow, one evening, I found myself parked in the Starbucks cafe in the Barnes and Noble in Evansville, Indiana, with my laptop in front of me and surrounded by four women, only one with whom I had any personal relationship whatsoever. I began, for the first time since that past summer, to really write. I began to write about my three months in New York, interning for Glamour magazine, living in the West Village. The group dwindled and swelled over the winter and spring months, but, ultimately, by June, our six was three: Jami, Julia and me. Throughout those summer months, the three of us met, sharing what we knew and what we didn't know, on paper and, often, in uproarious conversation, during which our laughter bounced off the various cafe tables under our coffee cups, ricocheted off the ceilings and filled the venues we frequented. We vented about men, jobs, futures and pasts. We laughed a lot, but we also cried.

As I return to blogging, I'm making a resolution. I resolve to live in the moment, to experience each moment, and let it be. From what I've heard, it's worth a shot.

sex and the city 2

The DVD release is today!! So tell me— did you see this movie in theatres? What did you think? Are you going to buy the DVD?

Aww cute! Photo courtesy of New York Magazine.