Signs of Spring

they seemed to bloom overnight. all of the sudden.
*these, too.

i walked down the street towards my office building this morning...
and there they were.


green little guys everywhere.
*then i turned the corner and saw this...

seriously, that wasn't there yesterday. was it?

Just Another Tuesday.

lone umbrella at the Lincoln Center fountain
It was another rainy, cold, gross, windy, messy mess of a day. Blah. No need to repeat myself, just go here or here and you'll get the picture.

There were two surprise gifts, however, that made the day a little brighter. 1) I got to leave work early, thanks to the bosses and 2) I got two free tickets to the Opera! (again, thanks to one of my bosses who wasn't able to use his row 3 orchestra seats to Hamlet. amazing).

It was totally worth trudging through the rain to see and experience the beauty of the Metropolitan Opera House. And Hamlet? Definitely the best opera I've ever seen.

So what started out as a very gray & wet New York day turned into a very lovely and magical evening. Thanks, bosses.

Dream Meeting.

Dan & I at my new favorite New York hangout: Alice's Tea Cup
I've walked past Alice's Tea Cup many, many times on both the East Side & the West, but have never gone in. Even though it is dripping with magic & charm & seems to call to me as I walk by, I just never had a reason or opportunity.

Well, that all changed yesterday. Dan & I decided to have a little 'dream meeting' (meaning, we intentionally set aside time to talk about dreams, plans, jobs, ideas, life, etc.) and I thought, what better place to talk dreams than Alice's Tea Cup? Even though there was an hour wait, it was so worth it. The tea & scones were delish and it was the perfect setting to get us inspired.

This dream meeting was inspired by a couple of things. Well, first off, it's fun (you should try it :), but we've also been experiencing a wee bit of (job related) discontentedness lately and are just feeling like we want to live life to the fullest, starting NOW, you know? And then the clincher was stumbling upon this fascinating story over the weekend, which really inspired & sparked the dream conversation. It's the story of this adventuresome couple from Kentucky who are traveling across the country on a 5-seat tandem bicycle with their three children ages 7, 5 and 3. (!!) (here is their blog). They've literally gone coast to coast and will end up in Alaska where they plan to settle for at least a year. Some people might think that's crazy but I, personally, think it's AWESOME. Here is a clip from the news:


Stories like this really resonate with us (not that we've ever specifically dreamed of biking cross-country -- though it *does* sound fun, doesn't it?). But we've long talked about living a life "outside the box," full of adventure & travels and fun. That was one of the things that initially drew us to one another (he had me at "I want to travel the world by sailboat one day" ... ummm, that's been a secret dream of mine for YEARS!!!). And though it's easy to look at all the traveling and risk-taking we're NOT doing at the moment and get discouraged, I think it's fair to say that for the amount of time we've been in each other's lives (almost three years now) we've accomplished quite a bit: marriage, living in a city that we love, little getaways to different cities, etc.

And I don't want this to sound like I am not grateful for where we are right now, or that our lives don't feel rich. I feel incredibly blessed at the moment, and think it's so important to savor all of life's moments, large and small. But I still dream of that sailing trip. Of gondola rides through the canals of Venice. Of studying painting in the South of France. And swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. Of owning a winery in Virginia one day. Or California. Or Italy (why not?).

We've filled pages in a notebook with dreams like these. Mostly involving travel but some not. Some are career & family focused (ie: do missions work together. build an awesome treehouse one day (for our kids...and for me. an art studio in the trees would be pretty fab, right?). work together in some capacity someday. write a book. go to seminary, etc.).

Our dream meeting yesterday stirred up some new ideas but also landed us back to old dreams, as well. We don't have all the logistics worked out (2 rules of a dream meeting: 1) nothing is too crazy or out of reach & 2) there is no pressure to make it happen NOW), so there is nothing at all set in stone. But I believe that the more we talk about these ideas, the more likely it is that we will actually put some of them into motion one day (like the cycling family did). Because life is too short to not embrace all of our beautiful, crazy dreams, right?

*And two (very different) books that I highly recommend reading for inspiration on living a life full of meaning and richness and all that good stuff: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years & Live What You Love.

Sunset in Brooklyn.

Sunset Park, Brooklyn
This is a picture of a sunset in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Pretty fun, huh? It was a delightful Friday evening of exploring a new New York 'hood & eating yummy authentic mexican food with friends (old & new).

{have a great weekend!}

hungarian pastries & peacocks, oh my.

Hungarian Pastry Shop at 110th
Today after work I headed up to Morningside Heights to meet JanineK for some sweets & hot tea (both of which are good for this ol' cold or bug or whateveritis I can't seem to shake) at the famed Hungarian Pastry Shop. And it was a very lovely & interesting evening indeed.

The pastries were just as yummy as I'd heard, and I really dug the young, hip Columbia vibe of the place. Very fun. But the best part came post-pastries. JanineK said she had earlier spotted an albino peacock(!) strutting its stuff across the street in the garden of St. John the Divine. So we set out in search of said peacock because I was incredibly intrigued (and also because I wanted nothing more than to snatch a quick pic to share with you all on this here bloggie). But, alas, it was quite dark out by this point and we saw no signs of the creature.

Then. Just as we were about to leave. A startling sound. Coming from above. Ka-KAW! Ka-KAW! (I gotta be honest -- I didn't even know peacocks made such noises). We looked up to where the sound was coming from, and there it was! In all its albino glory! Up in a TREE! (my knowledge of peacocks is embarrassing -- they can actually fly? Seriously, how'd it get way up in that tree?). It was amazing. A ginormous WHITE peacock grandly spreading its feathers all about. SO. COOL!

My camera could not capture the magic of moment (but as you'll see below, I really tried), so I had to steal someone else's image off the web (tip: if you google "albino peacock + manhattan" you'll see a whole lot of this little fella).

theirs (the people out there in cyberspace):
{source}
and...mine:

What? You can't see it? Click here for (not much) help.
{ooh, and I just found this: a whole webpage dedicated to pictures of our little friend}
The end.

Le Carrousel

Le Carrousel in Bryant Park
Today the sun was shining (there I go with my weather talk again) and I felt a smidge better (not 100% -- but better). But I still didn't take any pictures (sorry!). My head's been in a fog. But here is a happy little picture from last week to keep us going til the next one.

Did you know about this carousel in Bryant Park? It makes me happy. And also curious as to where else in the city one can find a good carousel ride. Apparently Central Park has one (really? never seen it) and so does Coney Island. Here is a full list of all the carousels in the area just in case you find yourself in the city and in need of a good Merry-Go-Round.

Saturday photos.

I am sick today (home from work kind of sick) (boo) and don't really have the energy for anything but napping, tv watching and a little photo-editing. So since I wasn't out today except for a quick trip to the doctor's (and it's gray & icky out there anyway) I will post the sunny, happy pictures from our day last Saturday when the sun was shining bright and I was healthy enough to walk at least ten blocks without needing to stop for a nap. (Those were the days).

Here we go...first we started out on a long walk up Broadway, and took in all the Upper West Side goodness.


Then we headed over to Riverside Park, where we sat on a bench and sufficiently soaked up the sun, while also occasionally taking silly photos.


Next we hit up the boat basin (we love boats) and took some pics of the sparkling water and (what else?) boats.





Finally we headed downtown to South Street Seaport for some food and a little Brooklyn Bridge gazing.




It was a good, good day. And now it's time for sleep.

Disappearing Empire.

Empire in the Clouds
Another rainy day in New York. I guess it's okay considering the amazing* weather we were spoiled with all weekend. But still, not my favorite way to start out the week (plus I am feeling a bit under the weather today, which is also not my favorite way to start out the week). On the bright side? Dancing with the Stars tonight and a new listing on Etsy.

Cheers.

*And by amazing I mean a-m-a-z-i-n-g. A perfect 10. I took lots of pictures as proof, which I do plan to post at some point this week when I have more time and my head doesn't feel like it's on the verge of imploding).

Oops.

Restore Gala at the Orensanz, Lower East Side
I know, I know....I missed a whole day on here (bad!). But I do have a good excuse. You see, I was at a gala last night (doesn't that sound so fancy & important? hehe :) and didn't get home until the wee hours of morning. And though it was in the back of my mind to just quickly stick a picture up here before heading to bed, my heavy eyelids and tired bones just wouldn't let me. Sorry! To make up for it, this will be an extra "full" post with lots of pics. K? :)

Back to the gala, though. It was a really lovely night for a very important cause at a BEAUTIFUL event space in the Lower East Side. And even better, the organization that was hosting the gala (Restore, a non-profit that provides long-term aftercare for international survivors of sex-trafficking -- read about their amazing work here) raised ALL of the money that they needed last night through ticket sales, auctioned items and donations and are now going to be able to build a safe house in the city for these women, something that is very much needed. Amazing!

In other news, the weather here has been out of control beautiful. Like, it feels as if we just fast-forwarded a few months to June weather. It's that gorgeous. 70 degrees, blue skies, sunshine. Perfect. (We so deserve this after last weekend, though, right, New York?). I went to Bryant Park during my lunch break yesterday, which was apparently everyone else's idea too, because it was absolutely packed with lunch-breakers happily eating, laughing & soaking up the sun. It was a beautiful sight.


And in more (happy) news....look who's back!!


Yay! After being gone ALL week on business, Dan finally returned this afternoon. Soooo happy :) And since I had today off, we were able to go out and do a little frolicking in the sunshine. Which made me very happy. Here are some pics from our time in Central Park today.




It really feels like Spring has finally come (though I'm trying not to get too used to this -- usually March is a beast of a month in New York. A girl can dream though!). Hope you have a lovely weekend and see you back here Monday.
~K

Happy St. Patty's!

Manhattan's shades of green

Blue Skies.

blue skies and almost 60 degree weather = lots of happy, smiling new yorkers
the sun was shining and i didn't need my rain parka (not that i own a rain parka) or my galoshes (don't have those either -- perhaps i need to go shopping), so it was a good, good day*. and it's supposed to continue all week!! hooray! (why am i talking about the weather so much, lately? life's been slow, i guess. but in my defense, city-livin' *does* make you much more weather-aware. when you're out there, in it, day in & day out, with no car to rush to for shelter, it's hard not to get a little obsessed).

*a good day except for the fact that this is Day No. 2 of being husband-less (dang business trip) and there are still THREE MORE DAYS TO GO!! boo. BOO.

NYC Weather (aka The Beast)

umbrella remnants, dead on the street (there were so many, they had to start bagging them)
Lest we forget that New York City really is a tough as nails, kick ya while you're down, umbrella-snapping kind of city, days like this come around every now and again to remind us who's boss. A little less magic & twinkle lights, a little more high wind & monsoon-like rain, says New York.

This was Day No. 4 of this kind of weather. As you can see from the photos above, there have been many casualties along the way. Almost including me and several of my fellow New Yorkers who literally had to dodge a giant plastic bag of trash that was being lifted up into the air by the freakishly powerful New York wind and tossed about like a rag doll on Columbus Avenue this evening. I kid you not. I managed to quickly take cover in the entrance to the Post Office, my dangling, pathetic umbrella in hand (broken umbrella No. 3 in 4 days) thus avoiding the trash-smackdown, but others were not so lucky. (I mean, imagine walking down the street, minding your own business -- you're just trying to escape the wind and rain, get home in time for Jeopardy or what have you -- then BAM! a giant bag of TRASH hits you in the leg!).

Here's hoping tomorrow brings a little less trash-flying, and a little more sunshine.

For more unfortunate weather/umbrella-related freak accidents, see: "Monday"

Happy Friday!

a scene from Central Park (taken last weekend)
It's a bit dreary & ugly out there today. But it's okay -- it's FRIDAY! This makes me very happy for a number of reasons (the most obvious being that it is the start of the weekend & OH how I love weekends!). But also because:

~I had today off (new work schedule)(YAY) and therefore was able to accomplish quite a bit of art related tasks. Like new Etsy activity! I've just listed these very fun, super city-chic bracelets. Carry a little piece of New York magic around with you everyday :)


~today is our six month anniversary! I can't believe its been six months already! My how times flies. Feels like our wedding was just last week in some ways. Sigh, what an incredible day that was :) We are going out to dinner at Greenwich Village's Bobo to celebrate. Yay!


Have a lovely weekend.

Thursday.

Park Avenue
Only one more day 'til Friday. Whew.

Bethesda Terrace

bethesda terrace ~ central park
a little whimsy and romance for us on this chilly wednesday evening. central park always fills my heart with such good stuff: peace. magic. hope. loveliness. you catch my drift.

and this particular spot *really* fills my heart with those things. bethesda terrace, where the beautiful 'angel of the waters' fountain resides. on any given saturday, when the sun is shining brightly, you can find bethesda terrace overflowing with puppies and balloons and chubby toddlers and ice cream cones and just an overall sense of aliveness & joy. it's straight out of a movie, i tell ya.

you can also now find images of bethesda terrace and the angel fountain in these really interesting, handmade new york-themed bowls found here. (like that subtle plug? hehe :)

you might also like this post: central park love

The Magical Glass Cube

(aka The Fifth Avenue Apple Store)
The Fifth Avenue Apple Store: still one of my favorite spots in the city. I mean, it has a lot going for it. It sits right at the base of the best park in the world, has pretty, well-lit fountains and nice twinkly lighting, and...yeah, it's just really beautiful. A big glass cube. Sitting grandly on Fifth. All aglow.

Even my crappy phone camera was able to capture it's twinkly magical-ness the other night. (Oh, and there are some pretty neat things inside the glass cube, too, I guess).

Monday (is here again).

Central Park
Happy Monday, folks. Here's a pretty shot from our stroll through Central Park on Saturday. The weather has been GORGEOUS here lately (and is supposed to continue all week long! YAY!) and we got plenty of sunshine-filled walks in over the weekend.

It was a bit of a stressful & busy day at work, but tonight a couple of friends came over for some much needed girl-time, complete with red wine, take-out & more 'Bachelor' ridiculousness (Molly & Jason's Wedding ~ which included, of course, old clips of all the past drama as well as former bachelor & bachelorette 'where-are-they-now' footage). I know. I KNOW! It's ridiculous & I am ashamed to admit even watching it. But don't worry, there was plenty of mocking commentary and trash talking throughout, which is an absolute must when watching such a cheesy spectacle.

So yeah, a good start to the week, I gotta say :)

{PS - be on the lookout for more Etsy listings this week!}

*Etsy Grand Opening!*

It's here! It's here! It's finally here!!
After many, many missed (self-imposed) deadlines, and many, many hours spent working & tweaking, the time has finally come: City Girl Designs has opened it's doors!!

Only a few pieces up so far, but more to come from here on out! Thanks for being so patient :)

Dreams.

more magical-ness from the very magical Bryant Park
Never been so happy to see a Friday, people! After a *very* long week (and a lot of late nights), this has been a pretty amazing & lovely Friday night of no plans, a homemade dinner and mindless TV watching. Perfect!

It was so difficult to come off the high of last night's performance that I couldn't sleep at all (which made for a pretty rough day, today). But it's okay -- it was totally worth it! It was probably one of my favorite shows to date. There was this incredible energy in the room, we had a great turn-out, and it was so amazing to finally have other musicians to collaborate with again. It was definitely one of those nights that remind me of Dreams realized.

Because there was a time when I didn't live in New York -- I barely dared to dream it -- and the idea of standing on a stage in this city before a live audience definitely terrified the pants off me. But somehow I did dare to dream. And Caffe Vivaldi was one of the first "New York gems" I discovered upon landing here.

It was the winter of '05 and I was living in Jersey but coming into the city every chance I could get to check out open mics and scout out live music venues. I stopped by Vivaldi on a Monday night and sat in a window seat by myself, nursing a hot apple cider. As I sat there listening to various singer-songwriters do their thing -- the thing I so wanted to be doing -- I remember it started to snow. And it was just so perfect. So beautiful. Such a classic New York scene that made my heart swell. Here I was, a wannabe musician, a wannabe New Yorker, sitting alone in a candlelit cafe in the heart of the Village. And I decided right then and there that a) I would live in Manhattan, by golly, and b) I would play a show at Caffe Vivaldi one day. It took a little while but I was in Manhattan by summer of '06 and playing regular shows at Vivaldi by '08. (!!) And now I've played so many shows there that it feels familiar. Comfortable.

After the show was over last night, I sat at a table in the back by the fireplace along with Dan and all of my lovely, supportive friends who had come out, and it really struck me: this is it. My dreams playing out, right here, right now! And I don't just mean musically. I think about that girl sitting alone in the window seat five years ago, and then look around at all of the people & love surrounding me. Such support. So many dreams come true. It is amazing (truly amazing!) to think of all that has happened in five years. I am so grateful to New York for being everything I thought it could be (and more), but even more grateful to God for making it all happen. Last night really brought that realization home: dreams can sometimes take a little while, but [insert cliché phrase here, ie: they're worth the wait! ... they really DO come true! ... we can make it happen!]. I think you know what I mean. :)

You might also like: My New York Story

Music.

Caffe Vivaldi
It's waaaay too late to be writing on this here blog right now. Just three words: awesome. show. tonight.

We had a blast! More details tomorrow.

Night.

The day (not much to say).

Bryant Park fountain
a long, long day. very, very tired. that's about it. (ooh, highlight of the day though: getting pictures of erin's baby girl who was born march 1st. so. cute. can't stop looking at her!).

Ooh, and one more thing: don't forget to stop by Caffe Vivaldi tomorrow night at 9:30 for some good, live music (by me! and aimee!).

An especially lovely Tuesday.

Bryant Park/NYC Public Library
it is late & i am too tired to formulate coherent sentences. but i will just say that it was an especially lovely tuesday. okay, well maybe i'm not too tired to make a little list of the loveliness :) here we go:

~more sunshine this morning (hooray!).
~a good, long chat on the phone with a good, good friend.
~the very happy news that another dear friend had a healthy baby girl (ok, so that was yesterday, but i forgot to mention it on here. it still made me feel happy today, so therefore it gets to be on the list of loveliness).
~a lovely stroll through bryant park after work tonight.
~a birthday dinner for a good friend at a charming little italian restaurant.
~lots of catching up with fun friends from the off-broadway show at aforementioned birthday dinner.

see? a very lovely day.

Hello, sun!

Empire State Building ~ this might be a familiar shot by now, but it's the view I see everyday while waiting for the elevator at my office building (sorry for the dirty window :)
It was a bright & sunshiny day here in New York City (thank goodness - I've missed the sun!). This is going to be a busy & packed week, and so I was glad to have a little down time tonight to eat take-out (mmm, pineapple fried rice) and indulge in a little reality tv cheese (the Bachelor Finale, people!) (anyone else watch? thoughts? I was disappointed but not surprised. watching 'After the Final Rose' now, & ugh! It's just oozing cheese!).

Still plugging away on my Etsy store though, even while "relaxing." Man this stuff is time-consuming! I'm making progress though, and the shop *will* be opening soon. Promise!

Also this week: a gig! If you find yourself in the New York area this Thursday night, come on by the Village. I'll be performing with talented songstress Aimee Bayles at Caffe Vivaldi, 9:30 p.m.!

That's all for now....