look a little closer blog

Sometimes life is crazy, but with all the upcoming weddings (Brittanie!) and engagements (AJ!), I’m finding that love is in the air. And it’s made it’s way to the city! Last night I went walking and thought about how lucky I am to have so many awesome people in my life!

These photos are for all of you and how you remind me that all you need is love.

Thank you.

I <3 you all!

**
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if traffic looked like this?

Stop! In the name of love…

or…walk to it!

I am in a city connected by bridges
I wish they all had lights of hearts…

Where will this path of hearts take me?

Maybe people would like Shell more if they were filled with hearts…

For those that love getting their nails done…

I wish the subway always greeted me with hearts!

Even Times Square felt the love…

So did the theatre!

Have a lovely day.

Coming from the landlocked states, I love being by water! This summer, I’ve been going to the beach a bunch! Especially considering that the weather has been great – much better to last summers non-stop rain!

Last weekend, we went to Long Beach.
It has a fun boardwalk which happened to have an art festival!

There were lots of colorful things to look at!

Stands that reminded me of my grandmother’s house…

and lemonade.

I was having fun using my sunglasses as a filter.

The beach was nice and there were many friendly seagulls!

Oh wish I could fly!

There were  many colorful umbrellas…

Walking back we saw lots of flowers.

I stubbed my toe walking and taking this photo!

And I imagined living in this pretty house by the sea.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Birthdays are the best.

Haven’t you noticed how everyone is nice to you on a birthday? Birthdays always put me in a good mood!

This has been a nightmare-of-a-week, but today is Friday – which means I survived – and it was an office birthday!

Much like the show ~ everyone in our office gets a cake/treat of choice for their birthday. I often help with the cake and song. It’s always fun to find out what people like. My friend, Julian, was creative for his birthday and asked for flan – of which the leftovers ended locked in an apartment for a week with Hayden’s keys… long and funny story.

Anyway, we’ve been prepping for a photoshoot, so the camera was out and the designers had a little bit of fun.

(p.s. Can you guess which one is me?)

This definitely brightened my day!

Have a great weekend!

- go ahead -

pretend it’s your birthday!

I took the day off to do some art -

And it’s hotter than heck…which means hair is going up! You can’t tell, but this is a seriously crazy hair do!

Oh painting makes me happy!

I took a break from painting, and learned something new about this apartment –

Apparently, we have a rooster!

I don’t think he liked me…

But he didn’t want to go where the cleaning supplies were!

Oh, did I mention we have a backyard?
Well, my neighbors do…

I’ll be moving out in September, but I think I’ll miss Mr. Rooster!
**
anyway, back to my painting!

….flock together…

like all of my awesome, colorful friends; I like eclectic, colorful birds!

did i mention swamp birds are my favorite? ~ especially the snowy egret.

I’m pretty sure in another life, I was a bird.

i love all animals and nature.
this weekend i saw lots of both!

**
saturday morning i was greeted by a pigeon and squirrel..

a really curious one.

i think he strayed from his friends.
there were so many squirrels – they must have been having a nut gathering.

i saw some fun shadows on my walk to meet amy.

we met up and went to the park…
where she told me the names of the different types of birds.

hello mr. bluejay!

and ms. chickadee! (there were lots of people out resting!)

ms. chickadee decided to say hello to the red wing blackbird…
or maybe she was saying bye bye blackbird…;)

this little birdy said hello while i rested on the bench.
(we didn’t know what kind he was…)

maybe he wanted to say hello to the bird on my bag.

after we watched the birds, we decided to walk around.
but not before i pointed some love to the trees…

we walked in the Shakespeare garden…

…and by the castle..

where we saw mother goose protecting her eggs.

**
it was a beautiful day!
it was so colorful and bright..
almost like the Columbus circle station.

hope you had a lovely, beautiful, bright, colorful holiday weekend!!

The weather has been perfect. Weather.com said this weekend would have “abundant sunshine”.
Awesome.

Normally I go to the gym for lunch, but since it’s so nice I’ve been spending my break going to Central Park soaking in the sun and taking photos.

Here are some things I saw yesterday.

Abundant sunshine!

And people enjoying it while I hid behind this tree trunk!

Fallen leaves that look like little islands…

View from my camera while I was walking.

I wanted to sit on this bench, but I had to get back…

I still kept snapping photos and noticing cool things..

like the details from this statue…

and this bee getting some lunch!

Escalators kind of make me dizzy..

As I waited for the train, I left reminders of love.

Above ground, I saw another person’s message to the world.
(p.s. this was right in front of the NY Times building)

But the flowers at my corner bodega always make me smile!

And so does the guy selling them!

Here’s a little boquet for all of my faraway friends!

Don’t forget to take a moment to smell the flowers!

xo

Last night was exciting! We went to see the new cast of RACE on Broadway by David Mamet. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a fantastic show! To me, it’s a drama-mystery with some dark comedy moments and Mamet is brilliant. The female lead is my roommate, Afton Williamson and she KILLS it. The show runs until August 21 and the new cast is great.

Congratulations to all of you!

RACE at sunset.

Saying hello after a great show!

Peeking into dressing room mirror.

Afton meets her fans!

Congratulatory hugs!

and friends chat about the show.

So exciting!

New cast of RACE~

Celebrating with new friends….

And old friends

and looking sharp with my best friend!

Congrats everyone!

this weekend i…

…had some dinner with friends.

…walked through the meat packing district.

and saw many interesting things in Tompkins square park in the east village~

…pretty trees…

…bushy tails.

…squirrels carrying bagels half their size!

…birds in flight…

…and these guys posing.

on my way home the sun set through the streets.

and fireflies hung out on these blue flowers…

i came home and looked at another painting in progress.

hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

I can’t believe how fast this year is going!
Here’s how I spent my first weekend in June.

Amy and I took a walk along the Riverside park.
We had to walk under a big bridge to get there.

And I found some pretty rust.

Along the river, I noticed lots of trash…

…styrofoam that kind of looked like a fossil…

…abandoned stick forts…

…trunks of spilling amber…

…and the cutest family in the world!

This little guy wanted to spread his wings~

…while these guys wanted to rest…

…mommy and daddy supervised!
‘

I’m also pretty sure that we found the lochness monster.

But there were much prettier things to look at…
…like sparkly rocks and clovers..

…trees full of berries.

…and lots of flowers!

Actually, this city is full of flowers.
From the Upper West Side…

To Queens..

And on 23 Street.

**
On Sunday, Julian and I went to the Brooklyn Flea at this old bank.

We watched one of my favorite bands, Camera Obscura in a vault…

…with pretty light!

The show was awesome!!!
After the show, we walked around the flea, looked at jewelry, and had ice cream.

When I got home, I played around with a new watercolor.

It was a great weekend!
Hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

Once a week, I volunteer with the blind creating art projects and I’m constantly amazed at their talent! We set these projects up so mostly everything is done by the student. The point is to make them feel successful in the art that they are making and let their creativity speak. Last semester we worked on a mural and it turned out great. I still have to post the final photos!

This semester we’ve been working in clay, basket making (kind of hard~actually), and decorating hats.

I am working with a new student and she is amazing! We sing Italian arias to each other, she teaches me words in the five languages she knows, and I watch in awe as she skillfully molds clay into birds.

This is actually our second bird. The first bird was too wet, the wings broke, and we had to start over. I think this bird is even prettier than the first, as we’re really working together to create patterns for the feathers (made from beads). She creates the pattern on one side and I mirror it — all while singing.

She inspired me to set up a singing program for the Greenwich Village Singers to come in and do some volunteer singing. I told her we’d be performing this summer and she was thrilled!

**
Do you ever have those moments where you realize how BIG the world is?
And how each person has their own story?

I do, and I love hearing other people’s!
And of course, sharing my experience from their stories.