wawa

oh me, oh my

baby duff, all grown up

in a matter of months

puppies for comparison.

what not to wear

since i'll be hopping in and out of my new york apartment over the next few weeks (currently in connecticut for christmas), i already packed for my new years trip up to vermont. i have an odd appreciation for packing (mostly because i am an obsessive list-maker) but from the looks of it, my suitcase doesn't seem so entirely different from when i packed for the south of france this summer. except for the addition of multiple, multiple pairs of stockings.

five days in the green mountain state, i have packed three pairs of shorts, a tank dress and two pairs of 4-inch heels. annalise cohen needs to answer her phone and knock some sense into me.

wardrobe

and then i opened my drawers and realized, in the most peculiar and lovely way, that my wardrobe consists of (almost entirely) white tees.

as luck would have it

i wandered into the 99-cent store that i work above to pick up a bottle of nail polish remover and some cashews. they were having a raffle in 6 minutes for an iPad and i figured i would enter since i am usually pretty lucky.

as i went to hand in my name/address/number slip to the announcer on the podium (very serious!), he asked me if i wanted to choose the winner in 3 minutes. i agreed, of course and climbed up onto the podium with him. the countdown began (really!) and i was given a microphone. then in front of a strangely large crowd for a raffle-at-a-99-cent-store, i announced that joy martin had won. as i was making my way to the exit, everyone made little comments to me about how i should have chose them and then they wished me very happy holidays.

in retrospect, i should have just called my own name and made off with the iPad, but, to the point, do you know how peculiar it is to hold a microphone?

gingerbread man

holiday baking at beatrice's

santacon

saturday was santacon

starting from the lower east side,

up to central park and 

then down to the west village.

traipsing around manhattan with thousands of santas. 

all right. good and fun. 

N°5

what is more classic than advertising at a bus stop?

karen sue

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!


love you!

america's got ____

several weeks ago, a fairly famous actor (not a-list or anything, but he is a main character on gossip girl, so that must count for something) sat in my bed (along with britt and a friend of his) til 5 in the morning and played with a fortune teller that i had made. really crafty, with lovely illustrations and lovelier fortunes.

that was the first and last time we saw each other.
maybe because he thought/i am a bit/so weird.

just kidding! we saw each other a year and a half before at the grocery store. i bumped into him with my basket and didn't recognize it was him until emily pointed it out later on. i'm bad at celebz.

anyway, point of the story: i haven't had a full and entire night to my lonesome for weeks, and i subsequently haven't crafted. nor have i thought of a decent project since i tried quilling and bedazzling and i am just craving to do something creative. to just make something. even if it's as simple as a fortune teller. because i haven't in ages and i feel i'm losing my pep because of it. i also came to the realization that i potentially should focus in on one arts-and-craft project. this year alone, i've been briefly obsessed with calligraphy, chandelier-ing, paper people chains, embroidery, friendship bracelets and silhouetting and i think it's about time that i choose something and stick with it.
i need to get my act together!

more or less

last night's dinner

the heart wants what the heart wants.

hopes, dreams and regret

• since may, i've been on the hunt for a crisp-white umbrella. non-folding. have you seen one? i suppose i could search the internet for one, as they seem awfully rare, but that would take the fun out of it.
  
• my friend left her phone in a cab after we met for coffee last month. a man called me (as i was the last person that she had called) to say that he had it. we agreed to meet at a coffee shop in the east village and ended the conversation with "maybe we're soul mates!" i've dated boys that i met in the grocery store, sharing a taxi home, on the street─so it wouldn't be that far fetched and this very well could have been love. but it wasn't!
  
• my biggest regret of 2010: not bringing my camera to darci kistler's last performance. i bring my camera everywhere, but you're not allowed to photograph at the ballet. so i left it at home. at the very least, i'm happy that i wrote about it as soon as i got home.
  
• whenever i catch that woodstock: now and then documentary on tv, i have that same pang of "you're never going to be cool." nothing kills my self-esteem quicker than this doc. it's just uncomfortable, really.
• next weekend is santacon.
  
• and it being december 1, i am officially and exclusively listening to bing crosby (holiday) on pandora.

i love you, i love you

if i had a few hundred dollars kicking around, i would buy up every copy of i love you (at the friendly favorite magazine cafe on west 37th street) and give them to my loveliest friends.

tonight, i've been: unpacking from a weekend in connecticut, hanging a divinely dreadful fabric to the wall behind my dresser (thanks nana!), lighting candles, going over which ballets i want to see for city ballet's winter season, occasionally munching on seaweed, listening to tchaikovsky's sleeping beauty from a crackly old record (again, thanks nana!) and have been just mesmerized by i love you and the general scene of the evening.

a perfect welcome-back to new york.

power wheels

let's be honest.
this is all i ever really wanted for christmas.

happy thanksgiving!

sally

something is awfully sweet about this signature in cement.

adventure

after a divine vegan dinner at counter in the east village, katy and i had an epic kmart adventure. a quick look for ugly sweaters turned into an hour and a half of debating purchases of cotton candy machines, easy-bake-ovens, play dough, friendship necklaces and sequined purses.

i left with blue christmas lights, glow in the dark ceiling stars and a twizzler-scented candle. success!

charm and luck

i found a copy of daily front row at the bus stop and a heads-up penny today. lucky moi!

feels it

it's almost 1:30 and i am still in bed. the sun has been shining through my windows, i'm reading elizabeth taylor's my love affair with jewelry and it feels like a sunday.

faux

sometimes i forget to explore the different neighborhoods of new york and i woke up this morning realizing that i hadn't been to chinatown lately, a quick five blocks away. i was also in desperate need of a little present for myself. i tried to find a statue or some stickers or a key chain, but all i came across was fairly expensive jewelry and knock-off perfumes. so i picked up some seriously charming faux roses for $1.08, a perfect addition to my bedpost!

surprises

• the exact moment when miranda (at bridges) puts together the pieces of who this "mrs. doubtfire" really is.
  
• after having a massive crush on a boy (and approaching the fizzling stages of their romance), my friend opened up our school newspaper (the cynic) only to find that he wrote an article about the signs of a guy "not being into you." hilarious now, heartbreaking then.
  
• every creak i hear from the apartment above, i always expect a clawfoot bathtub to instantaneously fall into my bedroom. with someone in it looking confused, lots of dust, etc.
  
• evolving friendships.
  
• sometimes when i walk into my apartment, i smell how it did when i first moved in. infrequently and brief.
• i giggle and chat with my friends during ballet class in the same way that i did when i was eight.
  
• it makes me happy just to have ballet friends still...
  
• and the end-of-class bows are my favorite part, as they always have been. fancy!
  
• i went to glamour's women of the year awards on monday night at carnegie hall and i still can't wrap my head around all of the amazingly courageous and kind-hearted activists, athletes and celebrities that i was in the same room with. (celebz included julia roberts, cher, oprah, donatella versace, kelly osbourne, fergie, kate hudson, hilary swank, mia hamm... TAVI!)
  

emily is twenty five

emily turned twenty five on saturday! we've lived together since we celebrated her twenty first and it's wild to think how quickly time flies. hayley came to stay with us for the weekend and we went to see blues traveler on friday night (part of emily's birthday present to me!) and we all danced and danced. kara and emily came on saturday and we (and justin!) spent the day at an outdoor market in brooklyn and then had a delicious brunch at the general greene (their french fries are divine). we celebrated at night with friends at elsa in the east village and i think it's safe to say that it's a new favorite. friendly and charming, they treated the birthday girl like a queen. we had the entire back area all to ourselves and it was the perfect evening. happy birthday, em!

twenty five!

my new emerald ring from saturday's market

emily and justin

hello, hayley

richard!

also, it's fun to watch emily's birthday video from last year at sweetiepie.

station wagon

i always loved being driven around by my friends' parents who had those station wagons with the backwards-facing seats in the third row. is there anything better (to an 8 year old in a car) than making faces (etc.) at the other drivers? though i suppose it seems very obvious why they don't make those anymore.

princess tam tam

the bedroom chandelier

in the royal plaza suite at the plaza

BOW

i am completely in love with my new bow ring.

aren't you?

my darling silver bow is the perfect statement piece.

every time i look down at my hand, i admire.

it's either outrageous or understated. i haven't decided yet.

and i haven't taken the pretty little thing off since i got it. love!

from:

dope's bow collection
www.dopenyc.com

that's right

i knew it all along

first street

east village

spin art

katy has spin art on her fridge.

me likey!

dreamcatcher

how long, do you suppose, does it take to know somebody, until they regularly appear in your dreams?

wishy

darling, don't you see the appeal of the floral embroidery sewn into the mattresses?

catalogos

combining my love for receiving mail and daft visuals, i sent away for about thirty mail order catalogs. quinceanera dresses, film memorabilia, furniture for XL living (yes), assorted kitsch, dance costumes, bridal favors. and though i placed my requests almost two weeks ago, i haven't received a single copy but now have an insane amount of spam in my email account.

dazzla

mademoiselle

it just seems so glamorous to have a lipstick-stained coffee cup.

margaretha

escada margaretha ley

i found the bottle today at housing works on crosby street. regal, no?  empty. another jewel for my vanity.

maui wowie

polaroid

i went to a fragrance launch party last night at the gansevoort park avenue and they doled out polaroid cameras to have a bit of fun with.


brilliant!