n*sync

on second avenue.

joy

when school officials ban certain toys (slap bracelets etc, and now the silly bandz that students bring in) because they are too distracting, i wonder if they consider waiting just a little bit longer so that these kids have just enough fun with it before ruining all of the joy!

generally speaking

• i miss hanging out in annie's room because of little details like the fish we painted on the walls and there always being a clipboard with a half-finished friendship bracelet attached to it.
• you just have to trust that when you don't have a dishwasher, everything that looks clean, is clean.
• there is such a distinct atmosphere in the produce section of a grocery store on a really hot day (the smell, the general chill).
• i forget how much i love museum gift shops (until i am in one). and i find i am always and oddly attracted to the items that are not location-related and that i can find practically anywhere.
• when some people are nervous/bored/uncomfortable and walking on the street alone, they call people on their cellphones. when i am walking on the street alone and need to make a phone call - i get uncomfortable thinking that other people will think i am nervous/bored and need someone to talk to.
  
• everyday on my trek down from work in midtown to my home in the lower east side (either by walking or taking the bus), my thoughts always go to the idea of a magic carpet.
  

color coded

wowza

i can't get over this dog! spotted on houston street, rather muppet-ish. he was scratching his neck mid-picture, but i think i captured his general delightfulness quite well.

ready

2008.

exactly two years ago.

i wasn't expecting that graduating from college would make me feel any different. sure, i was happy to be finished with classes, but i thought the graduation ceremony would be like any other day. instead, i felt remarkably proud and accomplished. annie and i sat next to each other during the ceremony. we were giddy the entire time. we sang along to the school song and took in every word from the guest speaker, julia alvarez. i got to walk into the ceremony holding the banner for my major (probably the last and best time that my last name (adams) would be used to put me in some sort of order). i had the silliest grin on my face the entire time, i was so excited. i had the same big and genuine smile that i had at my bat mitzvah, and surely will have at my wedding. a smile so constant and wide that it hurt.

liz made the class of 2008 graduation speech (clearly, i had very accomplished roommates.) for the weeks before the ceremony, trying to find the perfect words worried her. but, even more so, it also made things real. this was happening, we are graduating. are we ready? just imagine having that task! writing the speech made it more real for her and sooner than for the rest of us. we could all put off the inevitable just a bit longer. but she was great and poised and she captured the moment. liz and i were talking about it a few nights ago, how hard it was for her then and re-reading her speech on the internet, makes me teary. i so distinctly remember the afternoon of emily and i being lazy around the living room and liz sitting on the back of the couch asking us for our opinions. we mulled over which childhood snack she should mention in one of the beginning sentences. it feels like that was just a few weeks ago. anyway, she ended her speech with a thought that couldn't be more relevant to my daily life in manhattan.

"take UVM and vermont with you, by never failing to appreciate the seemingly ordinary, small things in life. spread the positive environment that you fell in love with at UVM in all that you do."

i like how liz said "uvm and vermont." because college was great, as i am sure it is for everyone who attends. but, i feel the experience of living in the green mountain state is unparalleled. and i probably sound like an annoying parent who brags about her children, but really, it was wonderful. my time in vermont prepared me for life outside of it. i learned so much from living in that beautiful state that i'm able to take with me everywhere i go.

toward the last day of classes, annie found a quote that she really connected to. bloom where you are planted. she googled the quote and found that it was in a unitarian universalist sermon. she read the sermon and really connected with it, too. she then looked into the beliefs of the universalists. again, she could relate.

in burlington, the main downtown street (filled with shops and restaurants) is called church street. and at the top of the street, is (but of course) a church. a unitarian universalist church. we knew we had to go. annie and i are both jewish. but we are open to learning about the principles of different religions and taking away their positive attributes. we are also both (perpetually) in the middle of reading huston smith's the world's religions.

so off we went to the salvation army in the north end that saturday and picked up some pretty fancy clothings (circa 1970) and went to church the next morning.

as we walked in on that sunshine-filled day, everyone was asked to write on a paper something they were either thankful for, or something/somebody they wanted people to pray for. they called it "joys and sorrows". i wrote that i was thankful for that morning's sun. annie wrote a rather lengthy message along the lines of being thankful for everyone being together that morning and how wonderful it is to celebrate life and the joy that it brings. we didn't realize they'd be read aloud. and when they were, the messages were pretty standard "pray for my sick uncle", "i'm thankful that the fundraiser was a success". so when they read annie's above-and-beyond letter of love, everyone giggled. and we did, too.

then they asked who was new to the congregation. and we were, so we raised our hands. and they made us both speak into a microphone about ourselves. and everyone applauded us as we told them that we both graduated the week before. and then we sang the beautiful hymns and listened to a truly superb sermon (coincidentally based on exploring what's out there) from their beloved minister (who was having her last sunday there). there was a lot of joy in that church and it was a feel-good day. it was the last sunday i spent as a resident of burlington.

around that time, we were sitting and watching a family of string-instrument players perform on church street. as we were enjoying, an old man was sitting on the bench with us and we all had a remarkably interesting chat for an hour about how many opportunities there are out there for us. how we have to experience everything we possibly can while we're young and to not get tied down by anything or anyone. how life is a chain-link fence and that everything leads to another and that we must experience and appreciate it all. everything we were feeling at the time, he reinforced.

i really felt that it was the beginning of a new period in my life. not just in an "oh, you graduated, welcome to the real world" way, but a deep, deep feeling of change. and i was excited. i felt mentally prepared for what was ahead of me and considerably different than i had arriving in vermont four years earlier. i was ready.

my good friend (hi, will! love you!) just graduated this sunday. i met him when he was a baby freshman and i was a junior. it's amazing to think that he is now finished with UVM. i'm really proud of him. he has changed from an overconfident freshman (haha) into a wonderful and true gentleman. i talked to him a few days before the ceremony, he said he didn't think he'd feel any different after officially graduating. but neither did i and i hope he did, too.

girl talk

ya, ya, it's important to have wonderful interesting/relevant/meaningful conversations. and often. but! it's also fun and indulgent not to. silly chats about more frivolous endeavors are awfully lovely. so here are a few things that i am thinking of:

• say what you will about starbucks, but that iced passion tea (with milk and sugar-in-the-raw) really makes mid-day in midtown a bit brighter.
• i'm really enjoying essie nail polish in haute as hello. coral. cool, festive.
• currently in the habit of nail-polishing only my left hand's thumb. other fingers blank.
  
• does everyone secretly enjoy watching the bachelor? and doesn't dare admit to it?
  
• i made awkward eye contact with kristin chenoweth on lexington avenue tonight.
• jurlique makes the best hand cream.
• how would you feel if you had a romance with someone who was wildly famous in japan but relatively unknown in the US?
• emily and i once got eyelash extensions. we felt extraordinarily fabulous for two weeks.
• i just realized my gym offers ballet classes developed by the new york city ballet.
• and speaking of which, i can't believe darci kistler's last performance is next month. and i am really glad i already have my ticket.
• had an a++++ meal at 'inoteca (on rivington) last week with the emilys. divine! a cured-meat lover's paradise.
• have you checked your horoscope yet? how do you feel about it?
• new metallicy-mesh purse from mint julep is one of my favorite purchases of 2010.
• and, bloom where you are planted.

tee

a good t-shirt is hard to find. i live in them on the weekends and after work and i buy shirt after shirt trying to find the perfect one. and the verdict: LA Made V pocket tee. emily discovered them at mint julep a few weeks ago and since then, we have collected every color. a perfectly cut slouchy shirt that is amazingly soft and strangely flattering. cool.

mint julep

173 ludlow street

(between houston and stanton)

new york, ny

10002

smile

it was the obvious decision: get the cookie cake.

weekend update

• first off, today is annie's twenty fourth birthday. really wish i was with her to celebrate and i hope she is having the happiest of days!
• also, happy mother's day, mom. you're the best! belated. hello, sorry.
• anyway, the weather was surprisingly good/fair all weekend.
• attended the dance parade on broadway saturday afternoon and saw so many wonderful styles of dancing. everything from hula dancers to people dancing on stilts. it's nice to think that people move to nyc and are able to pursue anything they want to.
• when the weekend plan included getting "marino's italian ices on saturday before the parade", it was rather coincidental that the cafe we were going to get them from stopped serving it (when they definitely still had it a few days before).
• on saturday i ate: a choco-taco (have one if you haven't in a while - they're divine!), a pizza bagel, a vanilla soft-serve ice cream cone, blue ribbon bakery bacon bread, a blue ribbon bakery chocolate chip cookie, jamba juice, cheese fries and wings. yum.
• love when pieces from past halloween costumes become part of my wardrobe.
• hebrew has so many more onomatopoeias than english.
  
• onomatopoeias are just logical.
• the sunlight in my bedroom amazes me every morning. i love weekends when i can enjoy it, especially.
• everyone who lives/enjoys/works in downtown manhattan has a sweet nothings necklace from in god we trust and i can't tell you how many times these past few weeks i've been involved in conversations of "what does your say?"
  
• mint julep (on ludlow street) is the best store in nyc. by far. and it's not just because the beautiful and beyond friendly owners are from vermont. emily and i spend hours here as if we're in our cool best friend's closet.
• and of course, brunch with girlfriends is always lovely.
• as are leisurely weekend-morning coffees.

super sassy.

things

if absolutely nothing else, i've acquired a rather pretty collection of dresses since moving to nyc.

there are so many beautiful things to have and to experience here. and i feel extremely fortunate that i'm able to surround myself with these things that i think are so lovely. to have the luxury of pretty treasures and wearing sparkly dresses and listening to classical music and having a subscription to ABT and going to see momix next week with emily. new york city has really taught me how to indulge in a certain type of beauty. i may not save a lot (or any) of my money, but i'm enjoying.

but i also know how to live very happily without all of these things, as and very well. the beautifully simple life in vermont, where days were endlessly spent on front porches with friends, countless trips to swimming holes and creative cooking with flowers, was beyond fulfilling.

there are so many ways to enjoy what you have around you.

not to brag or anything

but the young and charming bread-man at blue ribbon bakery today, when i was buying a piece of the divine bacon and carmelized onion bread, gave me a cookie "on the house". isn't that sweet and sunny? 

also, not to brag (kind of) but my last apartment was thirty feet from blue ribbon bakery. 

catamounts

all week, liz and i have been scheming and longing for a friday night in. we were roommates in college and were really lucky to experience the amazing local food from vermont. a lot of which, is sold at whole foods a few blocks away. we planned that we'd get a frozen american flatbread, ben & jerry's and some other goodies and spend the night noshing and relaxing from the week. when we met outside of the grocery store last night, we both showed up (almost identically) wearing vermont green (with gold accents). go cats go!

the secret garden

green space is, obviously, very limited in manhattan. so i was especially excited to see that there was a community garden near my new apartment. right on the corner of houston/bowery. it is surrounded by a tall iron fence and a few weeks ago, the gate was open when i passed by. so i stepped into the garden. magical! there were little pathways and hidden benches, hanging vines, chirping birds and bright colors. i am now imagining that there was a stream but i don't actually think that's possible? anyway, i read a sign saying that the garden is looking for volunteers to care for it and i vowed that i would be there in my overalls that saturday.

the next night, emily and i were strolling and i saw that the land was completely bulldozed. everything uprooted and only dirt remained. i was confused! outraged! sad! i felt this way for a while and told everyone i saw for the next few days how unfortunate this was.

but it turned out that i was mistaken. and that i was really looking at an identical (but empty) plot of land a block away on houston/2nd avenue. le sigh. always funny, the process of getting your bearings straight when you're living in a new neighborhood.

celebz

last night was the screening for a little film coming out called macgruber. it was around the block from me at the sunshine theater. a couple of times, i've walked home from work to see major movie premieres happening and super-super famous movie stars getting photographed. and it's kind of weird because i live right there. and then i think that when i'm in my apartment, most likely embroidering or eating crackers or whatever, fifty feet away are the celebz.

oh and i should note that cars with license plates like this were all over houston street:


vip limoz.

conversation on conversation

when annie visited a few months ago, we had one of those wonderful conversations that whips and whirls and lasts for hours. we have these chats pretty frequently and that's why i love her so much. she truly is an inspiring gal, with (many!) interesting things to say. she isn't the type to simply agree and she makes you question and form your own opinions, boldly. anyway, this particular conversation we had was based upon... really good conversation.

i bought a book a few years ago that i am just beginning to get into now and i am reading and rereading it. it was written in the 1930s on the proper etiquette in different social settings for young women (but raaaather brazenly). the book is a delight. it weaves you in and out of situations in the sharpest of ways. how to make everything more fascinating (for your own amusement and maybe for others, as well). it reminds you that there really isn't anything more enjoyable than a good conversation. not the internet, television, blackberries (whatever, etc).

i suppose a lot of it is about practicing language. to be able to lively, wittily and gracefully word your thoughts. to train your mind. to partake in daring adventures and read all that you can on interesting subjects. to develop your opinions, knowledge. to expand your vocabulary. an interesting chat is definitely a gift to give others. so often, people have become lazy with it. dull, disinterested. those situations make me want to pull my hair out. and they happen (unfortunately) too frequently.

everyday, communication is required but certainly not everyday you (or at least, i don't) have those extraordinary encounters with people who just shake up your view points and make you think long after you leave their presence. but, why not?

lindsey elizabeth

when i was in first or second grade, i wanted to legally change my name (lindsey) to my middle name (elizabeth). i thought it was more fancy. i remember my mom telling me that if i could spell 'elizabeth', than i could change my name to it.

e-l-i-z-a-b-e-t-h.

but i couldn't. yikes. so lindsey, it is!

lady

lady

second avenue
east village

treats

weekends are for treating yourself, and so, i did. pretty pastries and multiple trips to blick art shop. long, long afternoons spent in the park with foreign fashion magazines. meeting sweet dogs and thinking about how lovely the city is. the sun was shining bright.

jessie, a dog destined for hollywood

and naturally, strolling and strolling

mags

the massive magazine shop on 40th street between 5th and 6th has the distinct smell of the scholastic book-fair that used to pop up in my elementary school each year. + all of the excitement.

starling

"in 1890, a wealthy eccentric named eugene schieffelin collected every bird ever mentioned by shakespeare and released them into central park. the only one to survive in the new world was the european starling, now among the commonest - and most despised - birds in america."+

literaturo

books on a shelf always seem to photograph just so.

 

cocoa cookies

picked up this sweet mirror/comb disguised as a plastic oreo at babel fair in nolita a few weeks ago. haven't used it for the intended purpose yet, but the text really appeals to me.

bombshell

for years i searched for the one thing that i was really good at. i learned what it was a few months ago. i have a knack for cutting out fairly accurate silhouettes. and of all things, i'm really proud that this is my secret talent.

factual

hierarchy within the frito-lay variety box from costco:

cooler ranch doritos > regular doritos > cheetos 

and then

ruffles > lays > fritos

blegh, fritos.

get it together

hear ye! hear ye! it's the darling and delite clementines!

but really

when does martha stewart find the time to cook and craft?

american girl

there has to be some study out there that has researched who your friends are as an adult compared to which american girl doll you had when you were growing up. except for a few mollys (and one or two samanthas), all my friends and i had felicity. even though felicity isn't the obvious choice (samantha was the prettiest and she was rich=!!!!), something drew us all to the spunky red-headed gal who grew up in colonial williamsburg. something? and for the same reasons why i am friends with them all now? much to think about.

christmas 1995.
look! me and felicity have not only same nightgown/bear/bear in same nightgown, but we also have the same teeth! ah ah ah.

customarily

this is how the conversation always goes, "ahhh, mr. so-and-so. i've heard a lot about you" and then the reply is, "oh, i hope only good things!", followed by the, "oh! but of course! only good things!". and then they both laugh.

coffee

every morning i drink three or four cups of coffee with a droplet of milk until the thought and smell of coffee repulses me so much that i can't bear to have another cup until tomorrow morning.

el silencio es golden

when you host a party and everyone leaves and then the quiet sweeps over. and when you leave your cell phone on all-alerts-off mode for a few weeks. and when you're in a big group and suddenly you remember that in a few hours you'll be alone again and be able to think in peace. and when you live in manhattan and you go to your parent's house in connecticut for a few days and you don't hear constant noise for the first time in a while.

hair

significant cuts and styles.
(traumatic and otherwise)

1. see age four. thanks for the pigtails/glasses combo, ma. real cute.
2. age five. thought it would look nice to cut off the entire left side of my hair and leave the other side long. hairdresser would not go for it, as much as i tried to convince.
   
3. age six. visiting my grandma in brooklyn and went for a hair cut. the hairdresser said that i had fine hair. i said "thank you". years later realized it was not meant to be a compliment.
   
4. age ten. by myself, i cut my very long, curly, beautiful hair to my chin. i look fabulous! i think. my mom is angry/shocked/upset. i tell her that i should now become a model. she said no. well then, how about a beauty pageant? no. fill out beauty pageant application regardless.
   
5. age twelve. cut my own bangs after seeing lindsay lohan cut lindsay lohan's (?) hair in the parent trap, you know, so they could pass as themselves/each other and visit their mother/father. scraggly bangs for the next four months.
   
6. age thirteen. received my first hair straightener for christmas. hours before midnight on new years eve, i straighten my hair because if y2k really brought on a power outage, my hair would have to be straight.
   
7. age seventeen. cut off entire ponytail on a whim at jenna's house. lookin' good.
   
8. age nineteen. long, long, long hair cut to above my shoulders without my knowledge while going for a "trim". cry and cry. accuse hairdresser of ruining my life. on purpose. sob for three days after, seriously consider hair extensions but settle for blond highlights and a spray tan. sophomore in college, clearly very stable. hair will grow. will now laugh/cringe when thinking back to this.
   
9. age twenty three. annie is visiting and she gives me a haircut at one in the morning. at least four inches shorter. just for fun and i love it! it was genius! feel like a new woman.

aloha

the sheet cake from my bat mitzvah
party theme: lindsey's luau
date: august 28th, 1999

romantical

blurry but, the man-on-the-bus' shirt says "i don't need an encyclopedia MY WIFE knows it all."
thoughts?

side note: how have i made roughly 150 blog posts and not one is titled romantical yet? saved for this moment.

oh my goodness gracious

do mcChickens already have their own fan club? do you think they need someone to start one?

sparkle motion

i will probably wear this magnificent dress everyday.

crossing over

gray area between soho and noho. let's get out of here before something else happens.

woooopy

when you think of your memories, do you think of yourself in the third person, seeing it all happen from above? or, from first person and you're there again, back in the action?

i always see it in third.

look into my crystal ball

39th and lex.
i'd rather not know.

four

this is me when i was four.


good-lookin'.

sunglasses

i had an intention of buying a pair of sunglasses a la carrie donovan, but when the time came, i was rushing and i didn't give it enough thought. and this really did require thought (and thoughts). the glasses are too big, maybe just by an inch. they feel like they are trying very hard to be "big sunglasses" and i feel really wonky whenever i put them on. more so depending on time of day. and i can't/won't (morally) buy a new pair until i lose or break these, but i can't seem to do either.

sorority

this picture is my official sorority picture from 2005. i look so young and wholesome. precious. i remember waking up fifteen minutes before i had to get it taken. i barely brushed my hair, threw on mascara, a black shirt and ran down the campus green with my girlfriends to be photographed. somehow i managed to look fairly resplendent and perhaps everything was at that point. but things were certainly about to be shaken up only a few days after this was taken.

i pledged the spring of my freshman year. and i loved it. i loved all of my new friends, i loved the history and traditions, the parties, having a house and a house-mom, mingling with fraternity boys, wearing my flip-flops with our letters on them around campus. i even enjoyed the weekly meetings and always having to wear my pledge pin. truly everything. it was just the college experience i was looking for.

and then towards the end of the semester, rather swiftly, the sorority was shut down by the national headquarters. after being on our campus for over one hundred and twenty years, we got the boot. i cried for days afterward. i wept in my dorm room, i sniffled through my classes. i remember waiting for the campus bus during a downpour (in pink rain boots) as tears streamed down my face. a kindhearted girl came up to me and put her umbrella over my head until the bus came. it was out of a movie, it was so sweetly pitiful.

but then the sun came out and i realized that i had all of these new friends. and they were wonderful and great and they didn't go anywhere. and i even lived with a whole bunch of them my junior and senior year. and i still even live with one (hi emily)!

college continued on. my interests expanded and i challenged myself to become immersed in new adventures. i joined a feminist group on campus and i volunteered nine hours every week at the homeless shelter in burlington babysitting the sweet, sweet children. i'm not sure if i'd have these same experiences had i been in the sorority. i'm not sure i'd have the time to juggle everything. or even the desire or need to branch out.

it's amusing to think of what my college experience would have been like had the sorority remained on campus. but i will never know. what i do know is that my experience at vermont still turned out to be wonderful. it was one of the first times i realized that life can change in the most unexpected of ways, but never without reason or purpose. who even knows if i would have the wonderful job that i do now, as there were so many twists and turns that led me here? it is all just part of the fun and i'm thankful.

jenna jean

jenna came to visit for the weekend and we had such a lovely time. 

i can go on and on about how much i love jenna.

but i believe i already have!
so i will tell a few fun facts about her.

1. she somehow knows every lyric to every song (and she has a cousin who wrote the 80's hit 'tell it to my heart').
2. she charms babies, old people and animals.
3. she's really, really creative and truly could be the next lisa frank (she can draw unicorns better than anyone i know).
4. she has a pet snake named iris (and she sadly escaped this weekend while jenna was away in nyc so let's all think good thoughts on her safe return!)
5. her middle name is my first! so we're obviously meant to be.

saturday was one of the first days of intense summery heat and the perfect day to wear my rainbow trina turk dress that i bought last summer (and couldn't find an occasion to wear!) i am glad that i saved it for saturday. the first hot and sunny day is definitely worth celebrating in a pretty frock. we strolled through soho and chinatown. spent the night on a rooftop overlooking the beautiful city. danced and danced until (literally) the sun came up and the birds were chirping. thai food and cat naps, smoothies and street fairs, cheese fries and friendship rings. oh and playing a round of dream phone. seriously the best 90's board game. who, who, who has a crush on you?

we brunched at spitzer's, a nearby favorite. 

french fries with mayonnaise (of course) and panko-crusted poached eggs and spinach ricotta terrine, divine!

jenna charms the pup (see?)

heartschallenger, we meet again (and i adore you).

love and love