Spring in NYC! Walk through Soho, West Village, East Village and Chinatown - Featuring NYC Street Art

Walking in the City: 10/6/12

There is so much to see in this city, even on a simple trip to get pizza. That is one of my absolute favorite things about New York City: that no matter where you are going regardless of the time of day, you will undoubtably stumble upon some unique or crazy or beautiful things along the way. Below are some shots from a recent trip to John's on Bleecker, which incidentally may be the best pizza in New York City (at least the best I have had so far). The walk started on the Upper West Side, where we hopped on the train, then got off at Washington Square and walked to John's. Here are some beautiful shots from along the way.

 

Fun with the new Photoshop Express App on my new iPhone 5!

And these photos were taken with the old iPhone, can wait to start using the camera on my new one!

I'm Back (I think...)

While on vacation recently, I spent some time thinking about what I want to do with my life (I say that as I quickly approach 30), which in itself is a little daunting. While I didn't come to any specific conclusions, I realized that amongst the items on the long list of things I wish I was doing is blogging. I stopped blogging awhile back for many excuses reasons, none really good enough on their own. As such I have determined that I will start up again.

Part of this blogging attempt part two involves a name change. I chose the previous name, Dreams of Cezanne, because he is one of my favorite artists and I always imagined that his dreams would be filled with fabulous, colorful and energetic things and that he would see beauty everywhere he looked. That was a great way to describe what I wanted to feature on the blog - beauty and energy. But I found the name was hard for people to both spell and understand, unless they were well versed in art. It also left people somewhat confused as to the theme.

While the theme is going to remain the same (i.e.: there is no set theme), I am changing the name to Throwing Paint on it. This name is easier to understand and spell and it conjures up a carefree, creative feeling. So, that's it for now. To leave you with this evening, I will share some fantastic sunset photos from my recent vacation. Fittingly, these photos look like someone has thrown paint all over the sky. Stunning!

The Best Bagel in New York City?

On Saturday my husband and I went on a quest to get the best bagel in NYC. Ahead of time we had researched bagel places and chosen one that time and again came up towards the top of all of the "best of bagel" lists in NYC, Russ and Daughters in Soho. We left the house around 10am and did not arrive at the bagel place until about 11:15am, due to the subway ride and the decent walk from the stop in Soho to the bagel place. When we arrived, the place was really crowded but the food looked fantastic. My husband got the cream cheese and lox bagel sandwich, which came highly recommended on the review boards. Because I don't eat meat, I went with a whole wheat bagel with veggie cream cheese.

Verdict: My husband loved it! He thought it may have been the best bagel sandwich he has ever eaten. I thought it was just OK. A good bagel sandwich but not necessarily better than most NYC bagels and thus not really worth the subway ride. But the good part of our little adventure was that we got to explore Soho, the West Village and Chelsea (we did a lot of walking). Here are some photos from the jaunt.

My Week in Review (Cindy Sherman, A Quick Jaunt to Chicago, and My Lazy Cat)

I realize it has been a while since my last post. What can I say other than work has been really crazy. Here are a few photos from the past few weeks, which included a whirlwind week of traveling to Philadelphia and Chicago, a trip to the always inspiring Museum of Modern Art, and a narcoleptic cat.

This was the view out the plane window on my flight back from Chicago. I was literally in Chicago for 6 hours total - flew out at 6am and back that afternoon. I had to go give a last minute presentation for work, and to be honest I was a little nervous. I spent the entire plane ride there prepping for the presentation, but for the plane ride back I purchased Glamour and Rolling Stone magazines, some granola bars and coconut water, and spent the 2 hour flight alternating between reading articles on Jennifer Lawrence (I saw the Hunger Games and am now obsessed (and apparently so is every magazine)) and enjoying the view out the airplane window (I always try to get window seats so that I can do just that). One thing that will never cease to amaze me is the view out of plane windows. I've been flying my entire life so you would think that the novelty has worn off, but every time I look out the window and see the tops of the clouds, I can't help but be fascinated by the extreme beauty and grandeur. It really is amazing that we routinely fly above the clouds, having the opportunity to look down on the earth, and yet think nothing of it...

Changing gears a bit, last weekend my husband and I went to the MOMA to see the Cindy Sherman exhibit. Although the exhibit runs through June, I really wanted to go and we both have access to free MOMA tickets through work, so we took advantage of our empty schedules on Saturday afternoon to wander through the exhibit. Verdict: I was not really impressed. Now, in full disclosure I had not seen too many Cindy Sherman pieces prior to this exhibit. I knew about her mainly from my Art History courses in college, in which we looked at a few slides of her work, focusing mainly on this one where she photographed herself in a Caravaggio portrait.

The exhibit at the MOMA was quite extensive, featuring work of hers from the 70s through to 2008. Each room had a slightly different theme but all the pieces were tied together by the main feature of her work: they were self-portraits of the artist with over-exaggerated makeup and costumes, applied to make the viewer feel slightly uncomfortable and to make a statement on the roles of woman and the extreme lengths to which they will go for appearance. As I mentioned, I was not really impressed with the exhibit but I can't articulate one solid reason why. Her photos are slightly disturbing, and they're not anything I would ever look at and think "wow, I would love to own that and hang it on my wall." Additionally, I didn't feel like here statement was all that revolutionary, but I guess her place in photography, especially as a female photographer is quite impressive, so I have to give her that.

And lastly, I did a giant load of laundry on Sunday. This by itself is not noteworthy, but right after I folded the laundry and sorted it on the couch, I took the first portion into my room to put it away, and when I returned someone had decided that the pile of clean, nicely folded clothes made the perfect bed. The first photo was snapped while she was peacefully snoozing. The second one, where she is glaring at me, was snapped after I tried to gently wake her up so that I could put the rest of the laundry away...she was not amused.

Moon

Yep, I'd say the camera's zoom works pretty well...

Pewter Coffee Scoops and Mason Jar Wine Glasses

Here are some cute things that I came across while walking around in NC...

 Large painted slabs of broken stones propped against a tree base for decoration (also please note that the flowers are in full bloom down here in NC). 

 Pewter Coffee scoops. Amazon sells similar ones for $24.95.

 Rocky's Grill & Soda Shop.

Mason Jar Wine Glasses (I believe these are actually called Redneck Wine Glasses, but I refuse to refer to them as that)...they are also sold on Amazon - set of 4 for $26.84.

So true.