Vacation with the family.
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been able to go on vacation with the family - living far away means that when I do take a trip it’s usually home to Chicago or Cleveland for a holiday, not to the beach. This year, though, I was able to meet up with my mom, dad and one of my little brothers (the other two are in college and have a different Spring Break, boo) in West Palm Beach, where we spent time with my grandma (who lives in Stuart) and some family friends who were also in the area for the week.
We spent most of our time on the beach and at our hotel pool — and due to accidentally using expired sunscreen, we all got burnt as lobsters (but it was worth it!). We also caught a spring training baseball game, spent lots of time walking around downtown Stuart and saw the Hunger Games. Plus, I was able to meet up with Robert, who works at a TV station in West Palm/Ft. Pierce. It was a great trip all around- relaxing, re-energizing, and a lot of great quality time with my family. Of course I’m read to go back already, but it was the perfect break and now I’m loving New York in spring and a lot of fun projects at work!
It’s been a busy few weeks— I’m starting a new role and finishing an old one at work, and that coupled with plenty of visits from family and friends, a little apartment redecoration and getting around to a lot of the personal, logistic and financial odds and ends has made for a summer defined by iced coffees (one after the other after the other). But no complaining here— while some people might be looking for the perfect slice of pizza or macaron or craft beer, I’m a coffee girl. I don’t know a lot about coffee, but I know that I like it and it’s something I want to start learning more about (which probably starts with ditching my one-cup Keurig, but we announced our engagement recently so that’s probably not happening any time soon).
Aside from buying lots and lots (and lots) of cups of coffee, I recently made my first “big girl” purchase— a new camera (a Canon 60D, in case you were curious). I’ve always had an interest in photography and though work and life have called for a lot of time behind the video camera, I’ve never spent much time on stills— and want to. At this point I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, to be honest… and one of my goals for this week is to actually read the manual that came with it… but this morning after work I let myself play with it a little bit, and I’m already in love. (Arnell, above, was patient and let me click away mid-conversation all morning.)
I also met Jessica (above) for coffee at the Art of Joe (hence the title) on 13th— one of my favorites in the city so far. She’s interning at MSNBC and is part of a fellowship program I was involved in last year, and is a rock star.
So far, it’s been a summer characterized by change, exploration and, as corny as this sounds, entering a new stage of my life— one where I’m starting to strike a balance between professional, personal and social spheres of life, and one where I’m starting to have time to explore interests I’ve had for awhile… and to actually take them on. And as I factor more cooking, dance (and soon, photography!) into my life, I’m finding that I’m better at work and better with family and friends. It’s something it took me awhile to learn, but it’s okay to spend time on projects and activities that don’t have a clearly defined purpose. In fact, it’s a good thing.
I think these are called “hobbies.” This may or may not be a gateway to stamp collecting and embroidering throw pillows… but I’ll take it.
Nothing beats a weekend with the family.
And nothing blows my mind more than the fact that my twin brothers — each a foot taller and four years older than when I’d see them for more than a few days at a time — are now high school graduates, headed off to college (which certainly doesn’t feel like long ago at all, for me…). When I think of what they’ve accomplished, how they’ve developed and what amazing, thoughtful, service-oriented, motivated and kind adults they’ve grown into, I can’t help but feel incredibly proud and blessed to call them family. I was lucky to be able to head home for the weekend to catch their graduation party and the ceremony and to catch up with much of our amazing extended family as well - it gets more and more fun every time.
Congratulations, Mario & Dominic!
UNITED FOR JOPLIN: KOMU 8 News Telethon Raises Over $1 Million
A beautiful, striking promo video prepped by newscast producer Robert Kessler for the telethon mid-Missouri NBC affiliate KOMU 8 News held today — a telethon that raised more than $1 million for residents of neighboring Joplin in wake of this week’s devastating tornadoes. It says something amazing about what the power of a group— however big or small — that is community-minded, service-oriented and motivated to effect positive change — can do. Having worked at KOMU TV-8 before moving to New York and knowing many of the current producers, anchors, reporters and staffers working there now, I know that their passion, sense of urgency, skills at passing on the word and drive to make a difference played a role in this (and it also says something touching and hope-inducing about the strength of a community and how even people outside that community can come together to help). I’m proud to know them and inspired by their work.
This is a beautiful example of how a local television station really is a cornerstone of the community — and how the work doesn’t end once you’ve wrapped a package and shown the damage air. This is true follow-through, and it’s inspiring.
Though this amount was raised through today’s telethon, KOMU is still collecting donations via their Web site, KOMU.com — or you can text JOPLIN to 864833.
I’m starting to post my TV/journalism related posts here, though some (like this one), I’ll probably reblog.
I can’t even start to say how proud I am of my friends at KOMU — and I know Joplin will still need help, far past today. Donating tonight, but looking to see if there’s anything else I can do, albeit remotely.
Iced coffee, floral dresses, bare legs & boat shoes: summer really is here. Love. (Taken with instagram)
On that note: floral dresses are my newest material, sartorial addiction; nothing feels more fitting given the sunshine. Is there anything wrong with dressing in blooms all summer long? I sure hope not.
Lately I’ve been waking up at 4:30 in the morning and still finding myself running late, all the time (I haven’t been late to work, but I’ve been guilty of hailing couple cab rides, which I don’t like to do) because I can’t tear my eyes away from the videos and images and stories that have been happening everywhere this year. Life’s been nonstop news media consumption (with a dose of work and intermittent sprinkles of friends and coffee and sleep tossed in) with music to “palette cleanse,” or something. That comes across wrong, and I obviously don’t need to palette cleanse — honestly I still feel like I’m not consuming or doing even close to what I should be doing — but what I’m trying to say is that Bear Hands is one of those bands where no matter what I’m reading or watching or trying to understand — no matter how much it’s making me want to learn more and read more and understand more — this song zones me out for a second.
Crime Pays, Bear Hands
fashion don’t?: necessary glasses for life’s awkward moments
Whether you’re a micro-celebrity on the run from paparazzi… or (more likely) want to avoid the embarrassment of trip-and-fall, bad hair day, unattractive-cupcake-eating pictures on Facebook… or worse… it’s now possible.
(Did I legitimately buy these $12 glasses because I think I will need them frequently? Yes, yes I did. But hey, you can’t tell who’s in this picture, now, can you?)
White lace, royal pink pants- obviously we’re dressed for the Royal Wedding. (Taken with Instagram at NBC Universal)
I know I probably sound a little saccharine lately, but it’s hard not to feel like I’m walking on clouds. The weather in New York is to die for and life as of lately has been a whirlwind of amazing little moments. Today: breakfast with a friend, walking to work again (!!!), and then out on a shoot before outdoor drinks with friends.
The shoot was with Darius Rucker & his manager, and we stayed to shoot (and watch) the show he was doing at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. It reminded me of just how much I love country music. I was trying to explain to someone today why I like country — because it isn’t really the music itself, always, though the stories are a huge part of why I’m drawn to certain artists — and he said I liked it because it was “experiential.” I suppose you could say that about any kind of music, but when it comes to country, I absolutely listen to it “experientially.” It’s a mindset. Country can make me smile, country can make me cry, but country always brings me back down to Earth. There’s a song by Brad Paisley that kind of sums it up — life in a song.
So often, too, when I get into my country music phases, I miss driving and family and another kind of “lifestyle” — and, once in a blue moon, it makes me question whether I have my priorities straight and my heart in the right place. But hey, as Darius Rucker (above in the viewfinder) would say, every stoplight I didn’t make…
(Snagged this picture from Ziad, who snapped & instagr.am’d via Twitter while we were at the shoot.)
It all led me here to this.
The New York Times says “spring’s” been here for weeks, and maybe it has. But somehow it hasn’t felt like Spring (despite the scattered 70 degree days and light showers and new beginnings) until today.
Spring is raindrops caught on tulips, humid air dead still, wispy curls stuck in the beads on the nape of your neck because it’s too early to plug in a fan, waking up to sunshine and stretching your legs on the sidewalk between long swigs of water. Picnics at parks with spritzers in coolers and pastries in dollar-store-doilies and music from an old-school boombox, red wine with new friends in a brownstone with a backyard, red wine with an old friend and frosting on a fork, Lily Allen loud in your headphones on the dark deserted walk home, and eating sticky raspberries and blueberries with your fingers kicking boat shoes against the side of a bridge, staring out at the river and the city and the rest of the world, pressing ice cold Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper bottles against the back of each other’s necks to keep awake and feeling like you could really do anything, because at 1 am on Sunday night in New York City at the edge of the river, it just feels that way.
For fifteen years, September was always the “start of the year.” It was the clean break, the fresh start, the chance to do it all again differently and to make this one “the year.” But now September’s just another month and new beginnings come all the time and there’s no reason to buy number two pencils or make a trip to the mall come fall — instead, spring is the beginning of something, of everything. Of new shift dresses and weekly at-home pedicures and barely worn bathing suits and brunches outside, again, finally.
And it’s here.
Bunnies, (Ingrid Michaelson’s You & I snazzed up this summer by Greg) because it screams spring and in light of his newest project, a mash-up that says something (that someone wittier than I will probably remark) about 2010… Waiting for him to send me the MP3 which I’ll post, but check out the YouTube version now.
Capping off a perfect Sunday —sleeping in until a more-than-reasonable hour, Grey Dog coffee & some park-bench-magazine catchup, a healthy amount of retail therapy, Jack’s Stir Brew iced coffee (in the running for my favorite) & a much needed walk & talk reunion with a close & missed friend, and experimenting with a return to church (after “an unholy amount of time away,” according to my mom) — with salsa & gossip at Cilantro (the UWS one this Sunday, as opposed to last) with one of my favorite people. Now pilates, cleaning & prepping for this week — and, possibly, even more coffee.
The past few weeks have been absolutely nonstop — in a really great way! I’ve been busy at work, at home, out & about and in general, and loving every minute of it. This weekend, a visit from Stephanie capped off the madness of this March, and it was great to catch up big-time over multiple brunches, West Village window-shopping and a mid-afternoon cupcake break.
Now I feel like I’m finally catching up, and trying to get back into the swing of things — developing a better routine, getting dance & pilates back into my mornings, and better keeping up with what’s new and what’s news. Here’s to the start of spring (which also means, this week, spring cleaning — my apartment & life in general).
