Friday is for Sharing

So I have finally found this commercial on youtube that I can share with everyone. I am not promoting this business/firm; however, I see this commercial about 15 times a day during work and I so love it. It just always makes me smile... hope you get a little happy too. Happy Friday!

"A faithful friend is the medicine of life."

~ Apocrypha

Rooftop Summers ~ When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

This summer I have been taking full advantage of my rooftop and here are a few random snapshots that came out when having fun with the camera. Also my title is quoted from Hunter S. Thompson - love him - and recently a fellow blogger had the same title. Sorry to be be taking it right after but thanks for reminding me and I had been wanting to use it forever. Besides things can get a little weird on the NYC rooftops in the summer...

Bergdorf Morning ~ I guess it's pretty lucky neither of us is rich, huh

I love the mornings when there are not too many people on the streets yet and I can take my time admiring the Bergdorf windows without worrying if someone will knock be down trying to walk down 5th Ave. I have to comment on one of their most recent displays because I absolutely LOVE this outfit. H&M had a similar dress that I wanted about a month ago but all the stores sold out so quickly. Now seeing it put together like this - I want it even more. H&M: please restock because I can't afford this one.

My Momma-Terry

It's her Birthday today!! and I hope she has the Best day! Since she is in SC and I'm in NYC, I decided to theme my music post today for her - so we can listen to the songs together and pretend we are dancing around the living room to the music... enjoy Momma-Terry! Love you.

Sunny Weekend

Finally a weekend of nothing but laying in the park and soaking up some sun. Wish I could've been somewhere with waves like this, though I'm not complaining.

The weekend was: new bars - homemade quesadillas - some new mojito mix with fresca and fresh lime - more Entourage - sunny days in the park - caramel ice cream cones.

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On Sunday ~ Wrap your arms around me...

and never leave...

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Friday Night ~ Sparkle in my Eye

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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Live from your heart, you will be most effective

Oh, how I wish I could be somewhere in Italy this weekend doing nothing but lounging around, taking baths and drinking lots of wine. Here are a few pics from Stealing Beauty - my favorite movie.

image credit {1- with words 2- in the bath 3&4 - movie stills}

Music for the Afternoon ~ every beauty needs to go out with an idiot

Check a little new U2 - I've been singing along...

Summer Days in Central Park

A couple Saturdays ago my friends and I wandered around Central Park with my camera in tow - enjoyed the weather - watched the dancers - played catch and drank lots of Champagne. Gotta love summer in the City.

Little Black Butterflies

So I am well overdue for a post - the weekend was a full weekend of all emotions. Let's just say it was a weekend and I'll skip a recap and I'll get back to my regular postings.

Searching through random music yesterday, in need of a little inspiration, I stumbled upon Pixie Lott. This young, bubbly British youth that you could easily compare to England's own soulful Duffy. She has the most soothing voice. I think she's supposed to be a little more pop-like marketed but on YouTube there are some acoustic remake's that she has done and they are amazing. Hope you enjoy her too! I'm sure there will be more to come from this girl.

That Kind of Day

Ready for the weekend festivities to begin... Hope you all have a calm weekend... I know mine won't be...

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Random Inspiration

I realized I haven't posted many pics from my inspiration folder in awhile and it just felt fitting for today.

I do love cooking and I love the plate above but really I just loved the color palate. Imagine a kitchen or dining room filled with those colors. mmmm - love it.

We always need a little Depp in our lives. This is how I picture him spending a summer.

I wasn't too fond of the black kitchen but I love the chandelier and the British royalty feel with the crown and powder blue chair.

If I had the space in NYC I would love to have a room just like this to get ready in the morning or brush my hair at night. The lack of clutter would ease my mind when so much city clutter fills my day to day.

image credit {1- Plate Decor 2- Johnny 3- Gwyneth's home 4- Aerin's NY room}

"Just as I was reaching a point in my life where I was beginning to feel part of something, I've become restless for a new me. When you know who you are, new ideas are icing."

~ Quiksilver Ad

Childish Ways of the City

I thought High School ended over 10 years ago for me? So why am I finding myself in High School situations. I rarely use my blog to rant but today I feel it necessary. As adults, friendships are formed to enhance our lives and make it easier. When we are younger we are thrown together with people who we may not even share an ounce of common interest; however, as we grow older we tend to surround ourselves with people who enrich our lives or have similar likings of the world. Of course we all have one or two rather out there friends that you could never imagine being like but we all need that as well – someone we can live vicariously through, let’s say. So why do I find myself asking, when does high school behavior ever really end? As an adult if something isn’t making our life better and it’s more headache and work than it’s worth – we change that part in our life. Whether it’s changing a job or dropping a friend who really does make your life harder; so be it. When people carry-on this behavior as though they are still 16, it just makes life annoying and then when they involve my inner circle – it just makes them look silly. Maybe I look silly for even thinking to write such a high school thought but you know we all have to vent sometimes. An adult can still have kid-like fun and be grown up but seriously let us move on from your childish ways already.

Summer Drinks in NYC

I was trying to think of a way to post things about places I go in NYC and the theme that came up was drinking. Imagine that. No matter where we go, it is usually with a drink in hand. Here are some that I just pulled up from my snapshot folders from this year (I took a lot more photos by this time last year). I think I'm going to do a recap of 2008 soon but that will definitely take more time to go through the many snapshot folders ::sigh:: Until then - here are a few to get the idea flowing...

Let's paint the town ~ We'll shut it down

So much music has been running through my mind this week that I wasn't sure what to post until I first heard this new Black Eyed Peas song. The video of the week I wanted to post is I Gotta Feeling ~ click here to see it. I think this video is now in my favorite top 5 videos ever but it's disabled to post on blogs. So since I couldn't post that newbie (but you can still go see it on youtube) - I'm going to post one of my favorite and the video is amazing (the song and video are a little out of sync though so please disregard that - only copy I could find - sorry).

Lili Dances

So here a few shots from the shoot last Friday. I edited the colors because I really like that faded out look. I shot mostly with my digital this time but still waiting for the few film rolls to be developed. I'm not sure yet how I feel about them - I've never taken shots of someone I didn't know. This was a first. Any feedback or opinions are welcomed! Lili has her own dance company and she was looking to get some basic pictures to add to her portfolio/bio page. She has a lot of action shots for dancing - so my style was to add a different perspective for her website. I so need to learn photoshop just for the little things.

Red Scale Rocks My Camera

These shots came from the same day I did that second round of head shots for Hillary on the roof - I had this new film, red scale, that I wanted to try out and this was the outcome. Think I kind of like it. I didn't edit the color of the photos - this is what prints directly from the negative.

Hillary Hamilton

Never a Dull Weekend

Friday I had my first (unpaid) photo shoot but still it is practice and it was fun. I still need to work on giving direction though. We shot at Pier 96 over on West Side Highway and 55th St. and actually a really decent area minus crossing the loud highway to get there. Then quickly showered and headed to K Lounge for a friend of friends party. The crowd was a little random but the dancing was fun and the space for a private event was the cutest. They could’ve done with a couple more fans though – a little too hot inside. It’s summer in NYC and it was cooler outside than inside the lounge. After was another bar for a beer to end the night and then somehow finding myself in the ER with a friend who slipped in his kitchen and busted his chin. And so the night goes. Home asleep finally by 7am yet somehow up at 9:30am recapping the night of friend’s keys left in another friend’s purse that wasn’t to be found and then the car that had probably already been towed and having laughing fits of men in pleather pants. It was a night – time to go find a yummy mimosa. Riposo on 9th for brunch and so not impressed – the flat bread was flavorless and the eggs were cold. Maybe I’ll go back for a glass of wine but that’s about it - then two bottles of champagne and a camera in the park. Margaritas and Mexican food after watching MJ dancers, catching up with friends and playing catch in the park was supposed to be a good idea but the food was awful – great Margarita at least and home by a somewhat decent hour and found myself crashing by 12am. The feeling of sleeping in on Sunday is one of my most favorite things in the world. Up and ready to go by about 3pm. Walking around SoHo for the afternoon and the most delicious Italian meal I’ve had in awhile with a bottle of wine. The only annoying thing was to find out they didn’t take credit cards and I had to get up to find an ATM with my happy fuzzy feeling in tow. Bit of a buzz kill but at least the food was amazing. Now time to settle in and get some sleep to start the next work week in the morning.

Friday is for Fireworks

I am just getting around to posting my July 4th photos. I spent the day in Jersey and watched the amazing display of fireworks over the Hudson. It definitely was not to be missed! Here are a few of my favorite snapshots from the night. And what better way to celebrate a Friday than with pretty firework thoughts.

 

Hope your weekend is filled with sparks!

Close up Round two

A couple of shots from my digital SLR that I took last Sunday... I played with the colors a little and somewhat happy how they turned out! I'm learning...

Hillary Hamilton

my devil's on speed dial

M.I.A is a must have in all music collections - enjoy her thoughts for the day. She's actually pretty amazing.

fall seven times - stand up eight

My title is a Japanese proverb themed for my list of eights - today my post was inspired by Modern Marie - I've never participated in one of the many blog tags that I see but was at a loss for what to post today so here's my first... now you can get to know me a little better too!

8 Things I did yesterday
1. Uploaded pics from the weekend
2. Cooked Pasta for dinner
3. Went to the store to pick up regular necessities
4. Read so many blogs
5. Bought a bottle of wine
6. Watched How I Met Your Mother for the first time and laughed hysterically
7. Listened to MIA on my walk to & from work
8. Decided what song of the week I want to post on Wednesday

8 Things I Wish I could do (& will do!)
1. Travel more – anywhere & everywhere
2. Be a better photographer
3. Play the Guitar (same as MM)
4. Put up with the people in the City with a little more patience
5. Love my job everyday (instead of only most days)
6. Sleep next to someone every night
7. Take at least a year off to experience the world
8. Volunteer more but I just keep putting it off

8 Things I watched recently
1. Public Enemies
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Rugby
4. Random Videos on you-tube
5. What Not To Wear
6. The Proposal
7. The Hangover - twice
8. CSI

8 Things I Love
1. Sleeping in as late as I want
2. Summer rain storms in the South
3. Sunny, Hot Weather
4. Inspiring Photographs
5. My Family
6. Wine
7. My Friends
8. Wearing a bathing suit all day long

I'm on a Boat

Friday night was a boat cruise on the Hudson. Lots of fun with lots of friends. We left a little later than we should have and they still got us back on time. Less time out but it was still worth it. Drinks, dancing and getting to blame the stumbling on the swaying of the boat - perfect night out.

Long, Sunny Weekend

The weather finally couldn't have been better for this past weekend in the city. Most people head to the beach but this year I stayed in the city. Friday kicked off the long weekend and it was a day of sleeping in and shopping. Friday night a harbor boat cruise was on the agenda for a friends 30th Birthday and not a cloud in sight! The boat was docked back by midnight and out to the next stop since we were back on land – G and G’s and then Mean Fiddler. I had given up on Mean Fiddler but this night was different; I had never heard a place play so much Irish music and have most of the bar dance the Irish jig along with it. Turned out to be an OK place to end the night. Saturday didn’t allow for enough time to sleep in – had to make it to Jersey before the buses stopped running to where I needed to be and still had to cook my veggie sloppy joe's and make the party punch. A friends house for a housewarming and BBQ in Weehawken. Music, friends, fun laughs and great food made for the perfect day. Fireworks on the Hudson at 9:20pm was perfect. Finally home by 1am and passed out until about 1pm the next day – I love sleeping in and as beautiful a day it was- I just couldn't make it to the park – sometimes those lazy days at home are a necessity. Instead, Sunday was filled with BBQ leftovers and more napping. At sunset I took a friends headshots again and her upcoming B’day invite shot and I think they turned out even better this time – will post some soon. Sunday night was sushi and seeing Public Enemies just to round out the perfect long weekend.

Dance All Day

So ready for the long weekend - Enjoy the 4th and have some fun in the sun!

East Village Girls, 2009

A Room Service Kinda Birthday

Last night I dined at Room Service, a Thai restaurant on 9th Ave near 48th St, for a friend’s Birthday. Drinks, yummy food and good conversation – we always have a great time out together. I have been there a couple times before and have always enjoyed it – it has that easy, comfy feel while still allowing you to feel a touch of glamour when dining out. The service is efficient and friendly (they even indulge in our request to take the group photo) and the décor is perfect. Grey walls with white painted Victorian frames mounted everywhere and mirrors glued to the ceiling in more bronzed Victorian frames. Buddha statues add to the Thai appeal and they have a great drink menu for something different and a little fun. Day-Glo green chopsticks add the perfect touch to break up all the grey and white. Also the staff add whimsical details to their uniform with vintage mesh hats or Day-Glo makeup with feathers. Simply fun and the music is just right for dinner convo; never to loud or annoying. The dessert – mostly at $5 a plate finish up the night sweetly.

It's My Destiny

East Village, 2009

Music for the day: we all need a little Misfits in our life