golden swan

golden swan garden, golden swan bicycle.

i always love the little things i see as i stroll around the city. 

ranunculus

it was slightly strange because i thought all friday about how nice a bouquet of ranunculuses would be on my windowsill. and i don't normally see them around, and maybe it was because they were on my mind, but there they were in the shop. i picked up the most lovely bunch. layer upon layer of soft and dainty petals. and they are nice sitting on my windowsill, just as i thought they would be. especially since i spent a lot of time in my apartment this weekend. i was not tough enough to face the chilly weather! i thought winter was over? 

chrysanthemum

what sweet beauty there is in my spider mum!

blue skies

the past few days have been wonderful. for many reasons. my best friend jenna came to new york and it was an absolute treat having her visit. we met when we were thirteen (we had the same bat mitzvah date) and we have been so close ever since. it's amazing to think of friends that you've had for over ten years. jenna is the kindest girl i know, she always makes people feel welcome and good about themselves. she is honest, hilarious and bursting with creativity. we have experienced everything together and it makes my heart smile.

it was the first weekend where a jacket was not required. the warmth of the sunshine and the blue sky. perfection. everyone was outside. my girlfriends and i traipsed all throughout downtown; brunched in the lower east side, shopped in the little nolita stores, ate dinner in chinatown and then spent the night dancing in tribeca. oh and i recently got the good news of two very close friends getting jobs and they will both be moving to NYC very soon, congratulations to miss liz and airlie!

weekends just keep getting better and better.

waking up to a sunny morning overwhelms me with happiness

wearing pretty and festive pastels to stroll in the sunshine

french fries and mayonnaise at brunch

rice puddin'

my bestest friend ever and i

natalie, me and jenna

lovely beatrice and emily

i found a rose when i hopped into a taxi and felt terribly lucky

perfection.

flora

the flora of new york city; sidewalk roses.

warm walks home

the weather has been so pleasant in new york these past few days, that i have been walking home from work. all forty-six blocks, from midtown to the lower east side. it's really been a treat. especially passing by the pretty cakes in the bakery windows down third avenue.

framed

above my bed was once a mirror, but it has since gone above my closet doors when i moved last month. i needed a change in this new apartment and then i needed something to fill the empty, white space.

strolling along on a saturday with friends, i spotted the most unusual picture frame at billy's antiques & props, an indoor/outdoor antique shop bursting with oddities on houston street. a frame that is violet, rose and cream; embroidered and with pom-poms. how bizarre and charming!

so i stapled a maroon and ivory fabric into the glassless frame.


and voila! just as i envisioned it, or even greater.

building

isn't this a lovely building? it is one of my favorites in all of new york. it's on the northeast corner of rivington and ludlow. (for some reason) it reminds me of ladurée, my favorite macaron shop in paris. j'adore.

beauty and truth

as much as i write about flowers, and as many photographs as i take of them, the truth is that they are never as beautiful as they actually are.

and i really appreciate that. flowers are something to be experienced. each time i get a new bouquet, i always take a flower out of its arrangement and just stare at it for a while and observe.

a happy weekend

this weekend was filled with beautiful weather and visits from my (even more beautiful) college friends. sunny strolls through soho, brunching and ballet flats (adios winter boots!), dinner in chinatown, fancy new dresses, iced coffee, reading old diaries and lounging around the new apartment, napping. a lovely weekend is good for the soul.

gretel , the pup

inside outside

in bloom

my godetias are in bloom and they are so lovely, i had to share.

calm

when i am home at night, i am most likely lying on my floor listening to classical music. my roommate emily can attest to this. music from either my records or from the radio station, WQXR. WQXR has recently become a public station and is in search for donations this week. i wholeheartedly know that when i have enough money to spare, i will send it all off to the arts, but for now - i listen with patience to them asking for donations, hope others are as generous as they are able to be and be pleased with the (charmingly humble?) two dollar contribution i made.

i immediately donated after hearing the woman on the radio say that "classical music is a beautiful way to calm yourself. to escape all of the bad news... there is so much bad news out there."

and there is. and it's really easy to only think of the awful, terrible, worrisome occurrences in the world, in your life. there are so many stressful situations i face as a new, new yorker (hello there, midtown manhattan - you and your concrete don't scare me anymore!). one of the hardest things i have gone through in life, so far, has been moving here. sure, finding an apartment was aggravating, finding a job was even more so. but nothing compared to actually living here after the dreaminess of actually living here wore off for me. at some point this summer, i realized new york city was not for me. it was a large, impersonal, unkind island and it was an absolute mental challenge that i was unable to get over. i felt like i was drowning. there were times visiting home in connecticut that i felt i couldn't get on a train back to the city. even with my incredible job, amazing friends and a lovely apartment - i still felt like the tiniest of ants. at one point i had all intentions of quitting my entire life here - move back to vermont and become a flower farmer. vermont is so comfortable, it really is perfection. and life would certainly be easy again.

but then this fall, i realized that i had to adapt. i didn't give myself the option to give up. i had come too far. and then i found the beauty, albeit, in a different way than i once did, of this glorious city. i have to seek it out and only participate in the things that i know will bring me happiness.

since then, i have completely steered my life in a different direction. i fast forward over the scary parts. i certainly know they are there, but i leap right over them. i was talking to a friend last week when i had a day completely free to myself (rare). she suggested i watch a documentary about factory farming and, frankly, this sounded utmost unpleasant. i took a college course solely on the ethical treatment of animals. i know and i am very aware. in college, i constantly exposed myself to the greater injustices of the world. but, that was when i lived in vermont, that was when i lived in a warm and snuggly blanket. it is so relative. and it is certainly not to say that i will never immerse myself in exploring not only the good, but the bad in life while living here in manhattan- but i just finally managed to get my head above water. and so i made a delicious vegetable soup instead.

my friend, mary, told me the other day at brunch, that she has completely stopped watching movies that are in any way distressing, i completely agreed with her. and emily is a very kind friend who tells me when i won't like a movie for this reason (thanks for looking out for me!). i am currently only looking to experience beauty and delight because that is what coincides with my life at this point. and so, i will continue to pick up lucky pennies off the sidewalk, buy pretty pastries, attend the ballet, practice calligraphy and enjoy weekend strolls. i will continue to listen to classical music and, of course, record it all on this blog.

deciding

last night, i couldn't decide between buying godetias,

or hydrangeas.

and so i got both.

beautiful, aren't they? the godetias are lovely already, but they will be even more so when they bloom and the hydrangeas are just perfect beside my bed. it is very, very important to me to have fresh flowers in my bedroom.

lavender

on sleepy days like this, i dream of the day i spent in a lavender field this summer in norfolk, england.

fields and fields of the most beautiful shade of purple. and, of course, the fragrance of the flowers! i took a few stalks of lavender and lavandin back to new york with me and they smell exactly how they did as when i gathered them in july.