Redecorating

Recently I've had the grown up itch to decorate. Inspiration came via a trip to San Francisco, the allure of the West Coast took me back to my childhood growing up in Seattle. You can take the girl away from the hippie's but you can't take the hippie out of the girl. It's great to discover yourself, your style and choose a home you want to spend time in. Here are some ideas.

 

I just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, a book I was given many years ago when I worked at a restaurant called Colors.  We had done off site catering for the book launch at a location on the Upper West Side, which in hindsight, having read the book makes sense being the neighborhood Oskar Schell lived, and our restaurant being owned by former Windows of the World workers. Which coincidently would have been Oskar's father's last meal. I became interested in the book due to a trailer for the upcoming movie...music U2's "Where the Streets have no name", actors Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks. The story line based on something I too lived through 10 years ago though not as personally as Oskar-the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center where Oskar's father perished. I remember the quiet that hit the city, posters wallpapered Union Square, bodega candles lighting up Broadway in Harlem and citizens with placards of support for volunteers and workers. We were hit, and it was bad.  Reading Foer who I know is personally married to Nicole Krauss an author herself. It is interesting to point out the resemblence and wanderings that both take to draw the reader through the historical lineage of their characters lives. Oskar searching for attention, dying to rid himself of a secret only in the end to find, much like sin, when brought to light is made less than the minds eye enlarges. No blame, but a great adventure such as those his father bequeathed upon him prior to his demise. Lines of loss, and words repressed, various interpretations of past and pain, and finally the true meaning of love, to want more for another than self. Hidden hopes and baited breath for what lock may unlatch with the key worn about young Oskar's neck. I was pleased with the close of the book although I more perplexed in want of more resolution. The portrait most relevantly conveyed was that of a city, it's boroughs, it's sadness, it's loss and eccentric personalities that make NY so beautiful.

Love binds the world

With My Brightest Diamond.
Shara Worden's voice is magnificent, and even more heartfelt is this song that I believe is for her son, who was born last year. She is currently touring the US and selected European cities, and will return to NYC to play with The National at Beacon Theater. Have to run for tickets and add to my ever growing calender of music this Fall and Winter.

Music Wonderland

Crosby, Stills & Nash @Beacon Theater November 6 and 7

 

 

Fall in the NYC is not only great for the fashion, but the music scene lights up as rockers get back from vacations and tours. My mus







 Martha Wainwright @City Winery November 11





















 Marketa Irglova @Bowery Ballroom November 30th










Ryan Adams @Carnegie Hall December 6th

 

Two weeks ago, I was perusing Zara's website thinking to myself that they really should have online shopping. Then, I received a package in the mail from Zara announcing there launch and ad campaign Dear America photo shots of all 50 states of America. I had fun guessing which photo went with which state, so I went online and chose my new winter jacket. I was thoroughly tired of my old one, so much so, that a charity box claimed it early spring. So this blue/green number will brighten my dreary winter blues and hopefully keep me warm enough.

Also on my list this month of gifts was a new kindle. I was deeply saddened by the demise of Borders, and had to search far for a book store within Manhattan. Thankfully Strand is such an institution it remains. However, for long days of shlepping and travels abroad where it isn't feasible to carry on the 3 books I read at a time, Kindle is magic. I just wish they could merge with public libraries to rent the books, and that everyone could get along enough to want to jointly sell there books at several sites. But you can't have it all, and Apple, no matter how much I love you, don't seem to want to share with others. New kindle arrived after a brief and lovely conversation with customer service at Amazon and I am happily reading Johnathan Franzen's Freedom, about a mid-western family whose rise and falls mimic what most people expect from American families. It is honest in it's betrayal, but the characters are lothsome at best, a fast read for 576 pages.

No Escape from NY

In July I used the last of my two weeks vacation. How in the world can a person exist with only two weeks a year I ask? You can't. Next year, I want to have one month where I sit on a beach and vacillate between sleeping and swimming. Till then I will have to make vacation here in this city.

August is spectacular here in NY, mostly because you can have gorgeous shiny days, or drenched evenings, where the torrents of rain lull into deep slumber. These past few months I have been awakening at 6:30 AM. I pull on my bike shorts and camelbak and head for loops around Prospect Park. My body had forgotten that long ago it was an athlete, but several weeks in it remembers, as the loops progress. I am happy.

Every Saturday in August, Summer Streets is in place. The route is off of Brooklyn Bridge, up Lafayette>Park..to 72nd Street and enters Central Park. Inadvertently I stumbled across this last Saturday. Fresh from a massage, I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear my vision imaging a mirage. But no, hundreds of pedestrians and bicyclists had taken back the street, and merrily shared.

Riding a bike is a survival skill, much like learning to start a fire, or what berries are good berries. Biking is a childs right of passage and first venture into independence. Your mother can't chase you on a bike...unless she is on the bike. But the likelihood of my mother riding a bike was small.

So off I go on this ride. I have gotten familiar with the dips in the road, stages, where the road climbs, and I too must dismount my seat and attack the hill. You see familiar faces, and watch runners vie for space on the path, or dance along singing and kicking balls up the route. There are packs of cyclists on Saturday mornings, where bike races are set up and where I have mistakenly almost killed a rider (stay away from the edge). There is a little old man who for weeks was riding a heavy decrepit old clunker up the hill, beating me mind you. Till the Monday after Father's day he rode with a shiny new bike and a smile upon his face. There are the runners training for NYC marathon and young children getting the fitness bug early. Prospect Park, I would not trade you for Central..any day you are more inviting, more at home with yourself in that I feel free, and for that, I am grateful.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/summerstreets/html/home/home.shtml

tea for two

As stated before I love tea...I literally drink 5-6 cups a day, and since I am on a no caffeine kick herbal infusions have become my new thing. The other day while walking in Soho, I stopped by MoMA store. The industrial designs are gorgeous, functional, and make you wonder "Why didn't I think of that". Some of my favorite tea designs were all about tea time. Take a look,


 


Tea Bag Infuser Claus Jensen and Henrik Holbaek


   

 Bird Mug Berra Alkan

   

Newspaper Coasters  Ela Cindoruk

   

Travel Infuser Mug Tyler Gilbert and Andrew Wahl

and here are some of my favorite no caffeine blends
 
 African Bush Tea with Vanilla

I'm a NW girl at heart...and this tea from my hometown is a winner.


 

Tabla Blend from T Salon 
a blend of Lemon Verbena, Egyptian Chamomile and Blood Orange
 
 
Two leaves and a bud Better Belly Blend
Settle your tummy with this blend of fennel, ginger, anise, mint and caraway.

 now time for my tea.