a new year

i hope everyone has a very happy new year! and a fine time ringing it in tonight. 

emily and i stumbled upon this nyu project yesterday in washington square park. 

i am very grateful for many, many things that have happened this year. there really is so much to be thankful for. but, simply, i wrote that i am thankful for sunshine. emily chose her job. 

happy two thousand and ten.

almost

it snowed and snowed in vermont. but on days that it didn't, it was usually sunny. it was still freezing like you have never experienced, but the sun was out and shining. this naturally caused the snow to melt. especially all that had accumulated on the rooftops. and the snow on the rooftops was multiple feet deep. sometimes we'd hear a jarring crash when we were inside of our house, only for it to be the snow melting just so - that it fell in an avalanche below. on three separate occasions in the winter of 2008, i had missed, by mere seconds and steps, being hit by a massive amount of snow falling from our roof. it never happened to me before, in my four years of living in vermont, and wasn't common amongst any of my friends.

i am sure it was a sign of something. though i still have absolutely no idea of what.

fashion institute

i have been doing research at the FIT library and the only thing more exciting than flipping through countless (and stunning) editions of vogue from the 1940s, are the fashion students conversations in the elevators.

a favorite was on a slow trip down from the 5th floor with a man lively debating with a friend whether or not he should put horsehair on a corset he was constructing.

hardcover

as soon as i get a hardcover book, i tear off the outer cover paper. it always reveals a beautifully bound treasure, a little more classic and fancy.

superstition

i am really superstitious. but only when there is positivity involved. i only believe in good luck. i will open an umbrella indoors and i do not think twice about friday the thirteenth. i don't bother believing in things that stem from negativity. cynicism is boring.

i love to find pennies on the street and i save them all. i hold on to trinkets that will bring me good fortune. i throw coins in fountains. i wish on dandelions and stars in the sky.

a few years ago, annie told me she wishes at 11:11, 12:12, 1:01, 2:02 (and so forth). i told her that was too many times. as soon as i said that, i immediately retracted that statement. more times to wish are more wishes to come true. i always wish at 11:11 and now if i look at the clock at 11:12 (which some would consider very unlucky) i think of it as an extra good fortune. it's more fun to make up your own rules, i can't think of a reason not to.

but (and maybe best of all) wishes and instances of luck are wildly subjective. i wish for happiness and intense bursts of creativity. i think being able to witness a stranger going out of her way to be kind to someone is a fortuitous occurrence. i think seeing a dog in a sweater is a lucky treat or finding treasures or seeing a pleasant street sign.

anything that puts a smile on my face reminds me that i am fortunate to experience it.

on weekend time

i love when weekends are not on any sort of time schedule. when i can wake up without an alarm. i can slow down and enjoy life at my own pace. i may rush during the weekdays (especially to get out of bed and make it to work at a reasonable time) but the weekends are for me. 

i have lived with emily for three years. we have spent countless saturday mornings doing as we did this past, watching one of our favorite movies, peggy sue got married. but now it's even better. now we can order the best bagels in america right to our apartment door. so after a sufficient amount of time being rather languid, we strolled along (and shopped) the streets of soho and braved the first snow of the season (to which everyone but us tough girls complained of - the direct result of going to college in vermont.) all to end the night with seeing a friend perform in a clever play in a covert theater and then dashing off to a holiday party!

this weekend was a delight. 

vermont literature

towards the end of our time living in vermont, annie received a book from the whimsical woman that owned a vintage store in burlington. this book came at just the right time for her, and as soon as she finished it, it vanished. completely. or she lost it, we were packing up a three story house. anyway, as she was reading it, synchronicity upon synchronicity appeared, as was the point of the book. manifest your heart’s desire by uvm sociology professor fred fengler and electrical engineer todd varnum. annie and i liked that one of the authors was an engineer. that adds to the appeal. this is a good supplemental book when beginning to look into the concept of bringing thoughts and ideas into your real and physical life. concept, evidence, confirmation. voila.

what i also like about this book are the unapologetic references to burlington. our beloved city market and church street are used freely. without any explanation as to what they are, for the people who have not had the pleasure of visiting. though people who are not familiar would have absolutely no issue getting passed these locations and could probably just guess that one is a popular street and the other is a grocery store. it just makes the book a bit more personal.

i brought this up with annie tonight. she said at the time of her reading this book in the city of subject, the burlington references didn't even phase her. she thought of them as rather standard. a localized book! a wonderful read, regardless if one has ever been to the magical city far up north.

embroidery

and what did i do this lovely tuesday night? i practiced calligraphy and then started my very first embroidery project, of course. emily bought me a hoop (thank you!) and i bought thread this weekend. i am officially balancing a (relatively) fast-paced city lifestyle and one that is more fitting to the nineteenth century. but, as my mother always says, "you must have a balance!" and you really must.

i love being so intensely immersed in a project that i look up at the clock and suddenly it's hours later.

so here it is! my first. attempt. ever. at being an embroiderer:

i may not be as skilled as my nana was at age eight, but it was certainly pleasant and a simple way to relax this evening.

santacon

living in new york city, there is never a shortage of fun. this weekend was epic. my friends and i participated in santacon, an all day gathering to celebrate mr. claus. of course. throughout the day, the event took place at various locations that hundreds upon hundreds of santas trooped to. the streets were filled with red and white. absolutely everyone wore the full suit and we were all in the jolliest of moods. it was a day of silly fun. the subways were packed with caroling santas and it was nothing short of wildly merry. it started at 10am and lasted all day. my friends and i made it until 2:30 before we needed to go home and nap.

allison made us a breakfast at 8am and then it was off to brooklyn!

flooding the streets of williamsburg

santa twister in the park

taking over brooklyn bowl

allison claus!

anni claus!

i can not wait for next year.

festival of lights

and now, as sundown is approaching on this chilly night, i'd like to wish everyone a very happy hanukkah.

fir

every few blocks up sixth avenue, christmas trees are being sold on the sidewalk. i love walking through these fifteen feet of temporary city-forests. that smell of balsam. brisk, sparkling, winter. i have a perpetual soundtrack of bing crosby holiday songs gliding through my mind.

and though my new york apartment seems far too small for even the smallest of trees, i will always remember my house in vermont with my lovely friends, and how each year we had our own beautifully decorated tree in our living room, fondly.

to my mama!

dear mom,

you are the best. i hope you have the happiest birthday.

love,

lins

i heart ny

i have been having a rather new york week.

wednesday, my friends and i braved the torrential rain to see the rockefeller tree lighting. of course, we didn't get there three hours before, as we should have if we actually wanted to see it being first lit, but we saw it eventually! nonetheless, we had an adventure, saw the saks fifth avenue window display and got a hot dog. holiday cheer was everywhere. christmas time in the city is the greatest. i wouldn't want to be anywhere else (except maybe at home in connecticut getting and decorating our christmas tree!)

the gorgeous tree came from connecticut and has over five miles of led lights decorating it.

the next night, my mom took emily and me to see wicked for emily's birthday. i had the slightest idea of what the musical was about and was happily surprised. emily has been singing ever since.

and if you wanted to know what the new 2010 new year glasses look like, voila!

but what will they do for 2011? it must take a year to figure that one out!

oh! and of course, there were chestnuts roasting on an "open fire" (on the side of the hot dog stand).

this weekend brought many lively adventures with new and dear friends and also hours upon hours of lounging around my apartment catching up on sleep. it ended with dinner, a movie and hot chocolate in lovely company. oh and buying santa suits. more on that another time.

the best cookies

if you are searching for a simple cookie recipe, look no further. these cookies are the best, by far. i could eat an entire plate of them. oatmeal and m&m.

who prefers a raisin to an m&m? not i.

oatmeal m&m cookies

mix together:

• 1 cup of butter
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 eggs

then (slowly) mix in:

• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1.5 teaspoons of salt
• 2 cups of flour
• 3 cups of oatmeal
• 1.5 cups of m&ms (or more, if you please!)

bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

et voila! scrumptious.

silhouette

my latest craft project is making silhouette profile portraits. trust me, this is not as easy as it looks. especially with the dull scissors i’ve been using. just give me a few more days of practice and i bet i can snip you out of the paper, if you please.

surprises

i absolutely love surprises. when i turned sixteen, my dear friends threw a party for me. i had absolutely no idea. i came back from vacation and thought i was going over to ashley's house and surprise! all of my friends were there to celebrate. i've had many surprises since then, but i think that was the sweetest sixteen and will always take the cake.

but, there is a certain type of surprise, that may always be problematic for me, of the hoilday sort.

examples:
sixth grade: final two presents left. me and classmate must choose. i got to go first, i pick the bigger box, and simply for that fact. i got puzzle. she got a gift certificate to super-fabulous claire's accessories. just as i was discovering tacky late-90s jewelry. i was angry. stupid puzzle. (note: i would love a puzzle now)
eighth grade: spanish class secret santa. my santa secreto left my present at her casa. received two weeks later after winter vacation. christmas themed lip glosses. after christmas. of course, i was no longer in the spirit.
ninth grade cheerleading secret santa: "i accidentally left your present at home." surprise never received.

but these instances don't even compare to the frustration felt at my dad's dental office's holiday party '08.

emily was staying with me in connecticut at the time and i convinced her to go to the holiday office party. just a luncheon. no big deal. but there was going to be a grab bag.

now i must say, emily has had awful grab bag experiences, as well. she had to participate in two grab bags our senior year, leaving our house with nice, thoughtful gifts. what she had received was less than desired. for the first exchange, she came home with two packs of axe body spray playing cards. the next time didn't go much better, she received a paper bag filled with magic hat bottle caps and a single peacock feather.

yikes.

so off shopping we went! we purchased wonderfully generic gifts, and thought, if it comes down to it, we would take our own presents if they were not chosen at that point. we may both have had awful experiences in the past when it came to this holiday tradition, but this year, we had a plan.

we came home and had shown my parents what we were going to be giving. great. my mom had also bought gifts for this. she showed them to us and then we all wrapped them up together. perfect. i am really excited at this point to get my surprise tomorrow at the holiday lunch.

holiday lunch 2008: it's time. i start getting anxious. i step up to the gift table. i have five presents left to choose from. it is obvious that three are bottles of wine. one is emily's gift but i wanted the mystery. i was really excited for this surprise. i quickly grabbed the fifth present. and as i opened up my gift, i realized that i had taken the present my mom had contributed. agghhh. emily laughed at me and thought that i had known the whole time. in reality, i was too flustered to make the connection that this is what we had wrapped the night before. i was under too much pressure! it was too much to process! my mom gave a wonderful tea set that i would have been happy with in any other situation. very thoughtfully, emily traded with me. but it wasn't about the gift, it was all about the surprise.

and there you have it.
lindsey adams is good at many things, but one is not the grab bag.

hail to the chief

i dared jenna to wear this headress to a party. she didn't take it off all summer. in the car, on the beach, off to parties. she was the chief.

opening night

last night, i attended the opening night performance of the new york city ballet. it was magical. truly. going to the ballet is so romantic. a luminous celebration of art and beauty. everyone dressed for the evening. ladies and gentlemen. the feel of it all. one of my favorite ballerinas came as a guest dancer from the paris opera ballet, aurelie dupont. seeing her perform was indescribable. her artistry, energy, grace.

i managed to sneak a quick picture of the delicious jewel of a chandelier.

but, as i don't have any other pictures of the evening, i have this. here i am at age seven. in stravinsky's the firebird. yes, the one in the center, smiling with her eyes closed and completely out of the elaborate (and somewhat symmetrical) pose, is yours truly. precious and clever.

calligraphy

for the past four months, i have been teaching myself calligraphy. it's enjoyable to just scribble little, frivolous words in my sketchpad. practice, practice. it's all rather fancy.

midtown

(i never thought i'd say this)

and maybe it is because the weather is changing and the holiday spirit is starting to sweep across the city,

midtown manhattan seems rather beautiful lately.

on pups

dogs bring a little extra joy to the streets of new york. i've actually never owned one but i had frequented the benches outside of the washington square dog park when the weather was a bit warmer. unfortunately, "no people without dogs, no dogs without people," so i watched a bit from afar. but it truly was such a delight.

furthermore, nothing makes this girl's heart smile more than seeing a pup in clothing. sweaters, shoes. all terribly silly looking.

last april, i saw a dog in front of whole foods. a golden retriever. it's owner had drawn on thick, black eyebrows. it was rather batty. i wish i had a picture.

beatrice

november brings many birthdays for the people that i love! in college, three out of seven of my roommate's birthdays were evenly spaced out over a twenty day period. luckily, everyone was in new york to celebrate this as we usually would, beatrice even had three cakes for her, emily and natalie!

we spent saturday evening celebrating beatrice in a rather stately city apartment. elegantly decorated with muted colors and row upon row of books. a gathering of delightful friends and a birthday girl who looked like a delectable piece of cake!

happy birthday!

and happy birthday to my nana!

times square

fall in love with new york! travel to times square! in the simplest of ways, coming to this rather absurd part of the city makes me feel like a kid again. absolute astonishment. looking up and in one million directions. lights so bright you always think it's daytime. signs for broadway shows, chain restaurants with everything fried and delicious on their menus, the double-decker sightseeing buses. oversized and over-the-top. tourists from everywhere taking pictures of each other. smiling. new york city. feel the energy.

sometimes i think that no matter how sleepy my little west village street is, forty six blocks away, there it is. times square. it seems as though it is a different world.

i've only lived in manhattan for (almost) a year, but i hope that for how ever long i am here, times square will always give me the same feeling it did visiting when i was nine years old. glamour. excitement. magic. and i hope and hope that even the most supercilious of new yorkers feel the same.

la danse

last night, i went to see la danse: le ballet de l'opéra de paris at film forum. it was a two and a half hour glorious journey behind-the-scenes of the paris opera ballet. i had waited and waited for this film. and it certainly lived up to everything that i had dreamed of. they said that the ballet is a present to the audience. and everything that leads up to that fanciful gift was shown in this film; the costumes being sewn, the props constructed, the music being practiced, the meetings with the artistic director, the endless, endless rehearsals.

they quoted maurice béjart saying that a dancer is "half nun. half boxer." that is the perfect description. so much work goes into each performance. so much thought. dedication. diligence. to result in effortless beauty.

oh and the film even showed the beekeeping above the palais garnier.

annie rescued a heap of old photographs out of a trash can in uruguay. she let me take these two home. love!

hannukah/christmas gift this year: a 2010 abt subscription? i can not think of anything that i would greater adore.