status update

I don't want to be one of those people who only talks about the weather, but you guys, it's like a sauna out there. Seriously I broke a sweat just walking to yoga the other day. I really don't remember it being this hot and humid when I was a kid, but then again I spent the first 18 summers of my life at our local pool, first as a pool rat then as an actual lifeguard. So it's entirely possible that it was this hot but masked by my ability to jump in freezing cold water whenever I wanted. Since this adult life of mine does not have such easy access to a cool body of water (note to self: become friends with someone who has a rooftop pool), I instead have been obsessively watching every moment of the Olympics while setting a personal best record for ice cream eating. Those athletes are working so hard down there, it's only right that someone compensates for all their burned calories, right? Here's to Team USA!

*Read this, watch that
*Be still, my fabric-loving heart
*This sparked a fantastic brunchtime conversation
*Just in case you forgot
*Method man
*The darkest of comedies (but still so funny)
*every.single.one
*"...Leona Watson Chalmers would cite those grueling six-day weeks of theater life as the inspiration for the Tassette, the first commercial menstrual cup."

(new year's res) Roll of Film #2

Even though I try my hardest not to keep too much unnecessary "stuff" around the apartment (small-space living ftw!), I have been slowly collecting film cameras over the years. The most recent edition (given to me for my birthday by my most lovely fiancé) is a Lomography La Sardinia, a wide-angle 35mm no-frills camera. I loaded it up with a roll of film as soon as I took it out of the box but as it is wont to do, life got in the way and it took me a few months to shoot the entire roll. Nevertheless, I'm pretty happy with the new camera. It didn't handle shadows very well and a few pictures I took around dusk were so grainy and distorted that the subjects are barely identifiable, but shooting in bright daylight produced some vibrant colors and even few fun light leaks. I'd been toying with the idea of bringing a film camera on our upcoming honeymoon (does one person really need to bring three cameras on vacation?) and based on this first roll, I think I'm going to do it.

Film: FujiColor - ISO 400
Camera: La Sardinia 35mm
Photo locations: Central Park, Jones Beach, Coney Island, Astoria Park

summer in the city

It's been a strange summer. I haven't been stuck in a theater like I normally am this time of year and the surplus of free time threw me for a loop. Instead of plowing through my usual "Summer To-Do List," I instead have been greeting each day with an odd amount of disengagement and ennui. The world also seems to be going to hell in a proverbial hand basket and more times than I can count I've forced myself to turn off the news and go for a walk. We're also less than two months away from the Big Day (!) and since it's been a fairly pricy couple of months (understatement of the year), we've been making a decent effort to curb unnecessary spending - which means no weekend getaways, lavish dinners, or any big purchases not related to the wedding.

This city, however, is at it's best in the summer. Or maybe I'm just such a hot-weather person that I put on my rose-colored sunglasses sometime around Memorial Day and actively ignore the hot-garbage smell that emits from nearly every New York street. Regardless, I've managed to fill a few of those endlessly vacant days with some lovely walks around my neighborhood, walks around Central Park, walks through the greenmarket, and even a trip down to Coney Island to (finally!) see the Cyclones play.

August has arrived, and while some argue for getting rid of it I for one am excited. I'm having not one but two bachelorette parties (because why not?), hopefully going to the US Open trials once and for all, and planting myself in front of the television to watch every second of the Olympics while audibly disagreeing with all scores given by the Russian judges. Happy summer, everyone ;)

1.) Summer veggies at the greenmarket
2.) Long Island City rooftop
3.) Astoria Pool
4.) Cyclones game in Coney Island
5.) More veggies
6.) Sunset over the East River
7.) Jones Beach
8.) View from the newly-opened Hallet Nature Sanctuary in Central Park
9.) Sunset walk through Astoria Park