first blush

So a while back, May to be exact, I was published in Joie magazine! Here's me...

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

Let me tell you about this shoot. The theme of the issue was "In Bloom" and I had this mood board put together with photos of girls in fields of flowers, lush forests, and there was colour everywhere. Guess what happened on the 17th of April, the Sunday before the shoot? It snowed. Not only did it snow, it snowed, rained and hailed. Needless to say, nothing was in bloom on the day of the shoot and it was cold and windy. Regardless, I decided to try to shoot outside anyway and things were not going the way there were supposed to. The girls were freezing, the creative team was freezing, and it looked like it was going to rain any second. So we had to switch gears and headed back to the apartment, touched up hair and makeup and went in a completely different direction. On the fly.

Here are a few that didn't make it in:

break

"I have to be alone very often. I'd be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That's how I refuel."
— Audrey Hepburn

reading, walking, and breathing

I don't know if this is good thing to admit or not, but I've been reading a lot these past few days. I finished two books and I'm 3/4 of the way through a third. Considering the fact that I barely read a book last month, this is not a bad thing. There's just a huge gap in my 2011 book list. Other than reading, I've been walking a lot. I walked from one tourist attraction to the subway, then to another tourist attraction, then back to the subway, and so on. Considering the fact that my parents are here and I haven't seen them since January, I figure it wouldn't kill me to go to all the tourist things they want to see. Speaking of parents, happy mother's day!

pictures of things regularly seen on postcards

I've been a lot of places, but I haven't had a lot of adventures worth mentioning. If they even are adventures. So here are some pictures.

everything is beautiful

On Thursday I had the privilege of going to Savage Beauty. I say privilege because whilst it is an open exhibit, I certainly felt very privileged to be so close to the work of a master. Photographs weren't allowed and while there was definitely a lot of sneak photography going on, I didn't participate. I went through the entire exhibit twice. The first time was to take it all in and be completely blown away by the entire experience, the second was to stand and contemplate. I have to say, it was a little frustrating to hear some of the comments made by other people - "That's cool", "I wouldn't wear that", "Ew women wouldn't like the hips on that." Some people are just lacking in the brain department. That being said, I hope that many left the exhibit with a deeper understanding of fashion - that it's more than just clothes.

If I could only do one activity for the rest of my time in New York, it would be spending time at Savage Beauty. It was like being in the presence of a deity. McQueen and his work pretty much encapsulate all the reasons I love fashion. I can only hope that one day, my own work can reach his level of creativity and beauty. I left the exhibit completely inspired and headed to Alice's Tea Cup to write pages and pages in my journal. I plan to be back at Savage Beauty least once more.

eating things and seeing things

I'm really tired. I haven't really done anything for the last two days. I know I'm in New York and there are so many things to see and do, but I am tired. If I didn't relax for a couple days, I'm pretty sure my feet would have rebelled and left my body to fend for itself somewhere in the middle of Manhattan. I also haven't gotten a lot of sleep for whatever reason. My body insists on waking up every morning at the ungodly hour of 7 despite the fact that sometimes I don't get to sleep until 3. A phenomenon I will never understand. So I spent the last two days recouping because I know I'll be busy every day for the next two weeks.

Monday was Brittany's last day in New York, so we decided to do lots of touristy things. And eat lots of things. We were up bright and early for breakfast at Moonrock Diner Cafe, which was conveniently located right next to the MoMA. I don't know how I feel about the MoMA, I guess it's alright. It was cool to see all the artworks that I had to learn about in Art History but I think I prefer the Met. That being said, I'm also not really a modern art kind of person so perhaps my opinion doesn't count. Whilst I enjoyed it, I'd take Chiaroscuro and Sfumato any day over art installations. Unless they're old kitchens and kitchen things. I was definitely all over that exhibit. Although I have to say, I have a new found appreciation for cubism.

After the MoMA, it was basically food, food, food. We wandered down to Little Italy where we had lunch at this cute Italian place then walked down the street to a coffee shop. Our adventures then took us to Chinatown where we bought "I ♥ New York" shirts. We're tourists, what do you want from us? Since it was still a little early to be going to Times Square, we went to Magnolia for cupcakes, then Pink Berry for frozen yogurt.

Am I fat and happy? You bet.