A Walk in the Park

Friday was my day off, and I took the opportunity to go on a romantic walk with myself through Central Park. It was a beautiful day  and I wanted to get pictures of lots of pretty things that I always see when I run but I never have my camera with me. First I got lunch and ate and read my book in Poet's Walk, which is a long alley surrounded by pretty elm trees with statues of famous poets along the sides. Tres romantique, non?

The romance continued at the Boat House, which is a famous restaurant on the water in the park, where people paddle boats around and make goo-goo eyes at each other like in the movies. 

I caught this one through the trees with a view of one of my favorite buildings, on the Upper West Side. 

I think even if I was in a paddle boat with Quasimodo I might have fallen in love with him with all this prettiness around me.

This is the little pond where people sail their little white sailboats...

And the Alice in Wonderland statue! 

I topped everything off with another popsicle on a bench on Fifth Ave, and this was my view.

Not too shabby, eh? 

The Voice of an Angel

I don't know why Erin is messing around with this Advertising internship. We all know her true calling is karaoke. This past Friday we sang our little hearts out at a random karaoke bar in midtown. Erin and I did a duet to "Meet Virginia," by Train, and then later she sang "I Want You Back" by The Jackson Five and brought the house down. She swears that one woman even rushed to the stage when she started singing.

Thank the lord, this picture is grainy and taken from far away, for everyone's sakes. 

Yankee Time

Last week Uncle Ed took Erin, Emilie, and I to a Yankee game. For those who don't know, Uncle Ed is a serious Yankee fan. Before the game I joked with him about how I like to show up to baseball games about four innings in, and he said he's the guy who shows up an hour early. Despite these difference in style, we had a great time, and one thing we did agree about was that constant eating is a requirement of baseball games. We started with footlong hotdogs, fries, beer for Ed, and the cheesy fries seen below. We later progressed to popcorn and then ice cream.

Uncle Ed is not kidding around at Yankees games. Example shown below...

The Yankees won big, too! 12-4 I believe. What with all the snacks and fun New Yorky-ness, I have to admit I am starting to like the Yankees. I even looked the part.

I was wearing this shirt (my new fave) in the elevator the other day and an old guy and I chatted it up about the Yankees. I like to think that this encounter makes it official that I don't look like a tourist anymore. Next thing you know I'll be shooting the bird at cab drivers and small children!

Darlin' I Love You But Give Me Park Avenue

Apart from becoming a connoisseur of street-vendor gyro wraps this summer, I’ve also managed to accomplish a few more of what you might call “high-brow” cultural activities as well (although I would still argue that the street gyro is an art in itself).

Aunt Sally, Erin, Emilie and I went to the MET a few weeks ago, which included several unexpectedly scary moments. We saw the Alexander McQueen "Savage Beauty" exhibit first, which featured pieces spanning from collections across the late McQueen’s lifetime. Aside from the clothes – which were striking on their own – the design of the exhibit was a work of art in itself! It was quite a transformation from the average museum scene as we wandered through a dreamy Tim Burton-esque maze of butterfly headpieces and McQueen’s signature skulls. I felt a little bittersweet as I moved through the exhibit because it was clear that McQueen was not only a remarkably gifted artist, but also a deeply troubled man.

When the group finally emerged at the exit my aunt exclaimed, “I thought I was going to be lost in there forever!” and I have to admit, I felt the same way. All in all, it was a good kind of scary though. Here's a taste of one of the tamer sights to see at the exhibit: 

...Probably from his ready-to-wear collection. 

After the McQueen exhibit's disturbing factor we were all famished, so we set off in search of food. Before we could find something to eat, however, we got trapped in another trippy exhibit called "Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective." Instead of turning around and running for our lives at the first sight of a huge canvas painted completely black, we decided in our hungry delirium to simply charge through the whole exhibit at a kind of gallop/run. We got lots of stares. While I enjoyed the McQueen "Savage Beauty" exhibit, I think it's safe to say that the full effect of Richard Serra’s drawings might have gone over my head.

Here is a shot of one room inside the Serra exhibit.

Does anyone get this? I’m open to an art lesson. Seriously.

Needless to say, we finally found the cafeteria, and I got a real Coke (none of that Pepsi stuff), and soon all was well in the world. I loved the MET, and I’ve decided to go back in a few weeks and skip the big exhibits to make sure I see everything they have in their permanent galleries. For now, I’ll have to stick with my current view of the museum, which is from the backside, on my runs through Central Park. Tough life, I know!

That's me! This is on the roof of the MET, looking over Central Park.

When Courtney came to visit, we took a trip to the MoMA, which had far fewer scary moments in store for us than the MET. This also could have to do with the fact that we didn't repeat the mistake of entering a museum on an empty stomach, but instead we stuffed ourselves with pints of banana pudding from the Magnolia Bakery on the way there. I even showed Courtney my habit of eating it out of the carton with a spoon as we walked down the street. You can’t pass that place without getting something! I swear they pump delectable air out to the street to ensnare innocent passers-by…

But I digress. The MoMA is a nice short walk from the apartment, and it is small enough that exploring the museum is completely doable in one day. We saw Starry Night and many other famous pieces, which is always neat, but one of my favorite parts was actually the current exhibit, "German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse." When I walked in the room, I was immediately drawn to Otto Dix's 1923 Nocturnal Apparition, shown below. Something about the contrast of the woman’s gaunt, haunting face and her disturbingly jovial hat initially caught my eye. On the surface, the piece symbolizes a post-war German society, yet it also includes an interesting side-profile portrait of Dix on the left. 


My visit to the MoMA made me realize the extent to which everyone experiences art differently. Our group dispersed almost instantly as we walked in the door, and when we left everyone had their own impression of what they found most interesting; I practically walked right by Starry Night without even noticing it, yet for some reason I walked straight up to Dix’s piece without missing a beat.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for a post about my first trip to Yankee stadium! 

-Laura

Fast Forward

Hello Dear Readers! (Mom, Dad and Mary...)

In my typical fashion, I have let four weeks go by before I have started blogging about my New York adventures like I was supposed to. I already can't really remember in exquisite detail all the things I have done since I've landed in ye big apple, so I'll give you an on-crack version of the past few weeks' highlights. (Do not be alarmed by the crack comment . . . I haven't picked up that habit yet from my New York peers, just lots of coffee-drinking.)

First, I said hellogoodbye to Atlanta before zipping off to Philly. Wild horses couldn't drag me away before taking my traditional airplane picture!

Sigh...

Anywho . . . after arriving in Philly, the Nort women (Aunt Sally, Erin, my mom and I) completed all the usual requirements for a visit to the Clancy 'hood, including breakfast at Nudy's, Capri for custardy deliciousness, and shopping at Anthropologie, all topped off with a trip to see the movie Bridesmaids, during which I'm pretty sure my mom had a mild seizure (she was doing the move where she laughs so hard she has to rest her head on the seat in front of her. Very alarming for fellow movie-goers not accustomed to her intense laughing style) and I peed my pants a little bit.

Next stop was the big city, where my sad little self had to be alone for a week or so to start work. Cousins Katie and Ann were nice enough to hang out with me and introduce me to all of their drunk happy friends, and we had a fun weekend in their hood in Nolita and in the West Village (Dad, I've decided I want to live there someday. Better start saving up now for my rent! After that weekend I felt slightly like I had been run over by a train a couple of times. I really need to do some conditioning to keep up with these people.

Then the gang of apartment 20-I (Sally, Ed, Erin, Emilie) was reunited once more and all was well with the world. The next event of note was that we went to see "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," the musical starring Daniel Radcliffe, aka the Boy who lived, aka The Chosen One (Erin got all embarrassed when I said this at the musical, I don't know why), aka Mister Potter, aka Harry Potter for all you noobs who haven't gotten it yet. It was so good! We think he even made eye contact with us a couple of times . . .

. . . Who are these goobers?
The only problem with this magical evening was that Mr. Potter is very short and thus this is the best stalkerazzi picture that I managed to get of him.

THAT'S THE BACK OF HARRY POTTER'S NECK!!!

Well that's all for the recap folks, miss you all!

-Laura