Ekovaruhuset (House of Organic)

Sunday morning my friend and I visited this shop in the Lower East Side - Ekovaruhuset which means House of Organic. So lovely! The woman in the shop told us lots of the products come from her friend who has a bunny farm and every 3 months she cuts the bunny hair and spins it into yarn and makes beautiful hats & scarves. The third picture down is an example. 

Valentine's Day

Better late than never right? Brunch at  Spitzer's - an old favorite in the Lower East Side, and then just wandered around the East Village, enjoying a Sunday in the city. 

Tompkins Square Park at dusk:

The Red Shoes

Just saw the beautiful film, The Red Shoes, tonight at the Film Forum. A dancer has to chose between dance & love - what a woe, what's a girl to do?! Such a delightful pleasure for my eyes - such rich, saturated colors, and over 20 minutes of the film devoted to ballet... sooo lovely! I wish I could find stills that give the film justice, but these from a quick google search will have to do.

Grateful

Wow what a Sunday! Right after I woke up I was thrilled with good news about my dear friend's birth of a beautiful baby girl. I went to a new-to-me Episcopal church in Brooklyn Heights then met a friend for brunch in the city. We wandered around a bit and then I headed uptown to the MoMA to meet a friend of a friend to watch a series of documentaries about Eastern Kentucky & the Appalachian culture.  


At the end of the night, I had dinner alone at an old favorite - Grey Dog Cafe, and enjoyed the quiet time to myself to reflect.I just finished reading the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and a large theme of the book is the injustice & poverty in the Congo and various parts of Africa.  I gave up bread & sweets for Lent, and also am aiming for a diet rich in vegetables and it occurred to me, wow - how lucky that I even have a choice to do this. I am so blessed! 


Now for some pretty photos, these pink roses somehow are refusing to wilt away & die. They have dried quite nicely - probably because they are right by radiator. I found this stick with a little nut hanging from it on the street & I quite like it. What do you think?

Judit Garcia-Talavera

Yesterday we had a rep from Jed Root Agency visit our office to show the work of their illustrators. I was familiar with a few, but delighted to be exposed to some new artists. I love the work of  Judit Garcia-Talavera. I'm always drawn to ink drawings with a bright splash of watercolor. 

Seasonal Food Calendar

In doing intensive design/typography research for work today, I stumbled across these beautiful little calendars by Joel Richardson on Typography Served. Of course I love the hand-made element, but also the reminder to eat what is in season.

Tie-Pography

hehe I love a good word pun, check it out: TIE-pography :)

(by Ed Nacional)

Iris Cafe

After a crazy week at work it was so nice to sleep in Saturday morning. I got up and strolled through Brooklyn Heights toward the new Iris Café. Lots of snow still on the ground, and the grey skies seemed to enhance all the colors around me. I had the BEST oatmeal ever - spiced apples, a drizzle of caramel, and steamed milk. 

Everyone loves puppies

While people have varying opinions about Valentines day, I think its pretty safe to bet that everyone LOVES puppies. Here is Zeke, my parent's dog at only a few months. Happy Valentines Day! Go celebrate love, whatever it means to you :)

Pre-work coffee at Peddlar

(Let's just pretend this was posted Wednesday afternoon because that was the intention). 


After hearing about all the blizzards in DC & Baltimore in previous weeks, it was finally NYC's turn to get in on the drama. Imagine a heavy summer rainstorm - now imagine that instead of rain pounding down by the bucket, that its snow - that was what we experienced all day Wednesday. However, this didn't stop Ashley & I from enjoying a pre-work coffee at Cafe Peddlar in Cobble Hill. This place has become my new obsession, despite taking a good 10-15 minutes to walk down there, order my coffee, and then 10-15 back to the subway.. nothing can keep me from Cafe Peddlar's Stumptown Americanos!

(bottom 2 photos by Ashley Norton)

MQ

So sorry for being MIA this week. Ironically I've been super busy working on the spring fashion issue so I was especially shocked & saddened at the news about Alexander McQueen's death today. While I can't claim to have much knowledge about fashion, I have appreciated McQueen's work as an artist. To me, his vision soared beyond the high fashion world. So, so tragic..

photo by Marcio Madeira on style.com

Lovely Weekend

Saturday I completed the 2nd part of my calligraphy workshop - I liked it even more than the previous Saturday since I actually had somewhat of an inclination of  how to hold my pen a bit better this time. GinnyBranch and I had a lovely time getting to know each other over many coffees & cappuccinos at the ACE hotel. Heading toward the subway I saw this beautiful sunset - pretty amazing considering its the dead middle of February and usually only grey skies. 

I went to a friends for brunch Sunday morning which was so nice - I love shared meals at home! Breakfast burrito & smoothies were served, and of course my prop-stylist friend made it beautiful! 

J.D. Salinger

Love this illustration done by Scott Laumann for New York Magazine. 

I equally love this article done by the Onion. What an appropriate way to commemorate him! 
Bunch Of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger

CORNISH, NH—In this big dramatic production that didn't do anyone any good (and was pretty embarrassing, really, if you think about it), thousands upon thousands of phonies across the country mourned the death of author J.D. Salinger, who was 91 years old for crying out loud. "He had a real impact on the literary world and on millions of readers," said hot-shot English professor David Clarke, who is just like the rest of them, and even works at one of those crumby schools that rich people send their kids to so they don't have to look at them for four years. "There will never be another voice like his." Which is exactly the lousy kind of goddamn thing that people say, because really it could mean lots of things, or nothing at all even, and it's just a perfect example of why you should never tell anybody anything.

Shana Tabor of "In God We Trust"

So funny, my friend was just talking about the boutique In God We Trust and today my Brooklyn Based email included an interview with the owner, Shana Tabor. She just opened a shop in Manhattan in addition to her 2 other successful shops in Brooklyn. Super inspiring - read it here.


Love the artwork on the homepage of In God We Trust:

Type Nerds!

(the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog)

from here

Argyle Asp

If i had a snake, I would want him to be argyle. From Grayhood.

One of my favorite photographs.

Conyers, GA. Spring 2004.