$2 paper cup therapy

I have coined a new concept - I call it "paper cup therapy." (Maybe I should trademark/copyright this?) My good friend Beau and I discovered this last year, when we were here in NY at the MAS Portfolio Review. We bought coffees at an outdoor vendor and strolled through Central Park - commenting on how there is just something comforting about holding a paper cup of hot beverage and walking along. The experience can happen anywhere, but it is especially comforting in New York. It just feels right.

This afternoon after treating myself to a manicure at Dashing Diva with Maia, and then a so-so massage, I topped off my pampering with a BOILING cup of tea. There is just something therapeutic about the hot cup and how it keeps your hand warm. Something soothing about sipping it while the steam curls up to your nose. It could be a rich hot chocolate, a deep black tea, or a mulled hot cider - anything. It just makes you feel at peace -- my $2 session of paper cup therapy.

cab driver wisdom

The best part of my day today was talking to the cab driver who drove me home at 12:15 AM, when I finally left the office. I wasn't really in the mood to talk (actually I was miserable), but he immediately got on my good side by asking if I was cold and then blasting the heat into the backseat for me when I said yes. Then he asked me if I worked in fashion? Nope, but he got bonus points for thinking that! He asked me a few other questions, and though I was not in the most conversational mood, I don't know how he did it, but he made me laugh. These were some the priceless bits of wisdom he shared with me:

- To find your spiritual partner, befriend the lonely. Because karma always comes back to you--and everyone in this big city is lonely or desperate or f'n strung out, so be kind.
- Care, but not too much. (He was referring to my job.) Don't do things to the point that you kill yourself... which led to his other point,
- Always be good to YOURself.

He went on a lot more about situational awareness, opening up fast-food restaurants and wanting customers who were f'n hungry, and about being a cabbie and getting to talk to f'n crazy people (including myself) in the city, but only for so long until they got out. He was this older, grizzled driver - who liberally dropped the f-bomb into every sentence, and kept taking his eyes off the road to glance at me in the rear view mirror (making me slightly nervous). But he was a careful driver, and so earnest, sincere, and slightly batty, that I couldn't help but feel my mood being lifted. So what if he was a stranger - I kind of felt like he cared about my wellbeing, if even for just ten minutes out of my lifetime.

Here's to you, Mark, my cab driver from Queens. You made my night.

option A or B?

Okay, art directors and visual people. Aesthetic opinions needed. This past weekend, I had to do an impromptu framing job for my sister. She had this cool illustrated poster of our hometown in lovely little Rhode Island, and wanted to get it framed for her new home. I have matted drawings and prints before for random informal things, but never had something professionally framed. So I hope I made the right choice. It was a bit tough to visualize what the entire poster would look like, since when you go to the frame shop, they only have a CORNER of a matte, and a corner of the moulding (I originally called the moulding the "frame" - geez, I'm SUCH an amateur.) for you to look at, and then you have to try to imagine the entire piece framed that way. Anyway, Daisy put me to the task, and now I am putting you all to the task. One thing to keep in mind -- our high school color was crimson, and so I wanted to incorporate that into the matte/framing somehow.

That being said, which matte option do you prefer?

Option A:



or Option B?



Please weigh in, and I will announce my decision in a subsequent post.

halloween along the east coast

So this is a bit tardy, but better late than never! Halloween this year was a lot of fun, beginning with a ghoulish bash thrown by some friends in the remote borough of Brooklyn. Our hosts, Edie Sedgwick and John Lennon graciously welcomed us into their home:



Here's one of America's favorite couples, Bridezilla and her hunky Hipster. Love the black nails!



The Bridezilla with Raggedy Anne and Military Girl:



Anonymous hipsters interacting:



After some time, we left the party to meet up with a friend at a bar in Nolita. Shortly thereafter, we ran into Britney Spears in rare form here. Gimme more! Note Raggedy Anne's receding hairline here - even dolls grow old and lose their hair, too.



After the weekend costume extravaganzas, there were work/office festivities, including a very competitive pumpkin carving contest. This was actually my very first time carving a pumpkin, believe it or not, so I was very excited. That meant I even managed to drag myself into work EARLY to get a jump on carving:



And the final result (thanks to Pete for the pic):



Okay, so you're probably wondering who the heck this pumpkin is supposed to be. Well, keep wondering. We liked our concept very much, but not that many others did. Hence, the lack of cheers during the shout-o-meter for our misunderstood pumpkin. The winning prize of Outback Steakhouse gift cards went to a bloodshot eyeball pumpkin (kind of like my eyes right after PRK), just because a girl standing next to the judges shrieked like a banshee. Just goes to show that no one understands creative genuis.

Then, on actual Halloween day, I headed down to PA to spend some time with my sister and brother-in-law. Trick-or-treating in the burbs! I got to give out candies to some nerds, a pirate girl, and some other goblins. Very cute, and very domestic. It reminded me of past Halloweens, going around neighborhoods with a group of friends, feeling your bag get heavier and heavier with each chocolate bar, and jostling with your friends to see who got to ring the doorbell at the next house. I love Halloween!

Meanwhile, back in RI, my poor Mom had a different experience a few days prior to Halloween when she got GHOSTED. Luckily, my halloween-savvy brother was able to explain to my mom that this was not a hate crime, but rather -- a new tradition of ghosting, where you ring someone's doorbell and leave them candies and treats with a chain letter. She was about to have the candies tested for traces of arsenic, but I think she's going to hold off on that now. If anyone would like to ghost ME by leaving candies, baubles and diamonds at my doorstep, I'll readily provide my address.

All in all, a very fun-filled week of festivities. I've always loved the last 3 months of the year, beginning with Halloween, as it marks the start of the holiday season, in my calendar. Now it's on to Thanksgiving!

the most hilarious e-cards i have ever seen

Today my friend sent me a link to an e-cards site that has instantaneously VAULTED up to the top of my list of ALL-TIME FAVORITE sites ever.

These cards are so obnoxious - yet so incredibly true. For example, check out this card. Don't you wish you could have sent that the last time you accidentally sent an email to the wrong person?



Or how about this one, friends? Expect this in your inbox from me in the next five minutes...



I couldn't stop looking at all these cards. Good stuff. Enjoy, and feel free to send me a completely stupid e-card.

the important things

This is going to have to be a quick one. It's late, I only got back from work about an hour ago, and we have a big presentation tomorrow morning. My eyes were really blurry today, and I'm sure staring at a computer screen for 12+ hours doesn't help. I'm worried that my eyes may not get much better than this, and I think I am only at about 20/40, if even.

But the high point of my day came at the very end, when my friend surprised me with a really thoughtful little pick-me-up and card:



It's a cooling eye mask, to soothe my dry, red eyes after a long day. Oooh, fun and relaxing! More than that though, the gift and card was a reminder to me that sometimes, some of the most important things in life -- friendship and kindness -- cannot be seen, only felt. Thank you.

it's my life...and it's now or never

Tonight was Bon Jovi's opening night at the all-new Prudential Center in Newark, NJ!! For now, some pix - more details later - now it's time for bed!



Verizon let you text messages that would be displayed on a scrolling ticker... check out this cute message from my favorite little brother:





And here's a special close up of JBJ for my BFF, H-M, who sadly could not make it tonight:



This was my first concert with the new eyes, and I have to say, I wasn't seeing all that much - there were lots of blurry halos and glares. And no, it wasn't the watered-down Budlights and Stellas....!

sesame street in the bronx

Saturday, October 20 was the big mural painting day! As part of the annual NYCares Volunteer Day, hundreds of volunteers take to the schools and parks in the 5 boroughs to clean, paint, garden and just improve the spaces overall. I decided to volunteer my artistic skills to mural painting, and I recruited Anna to help out too. So, Saturday morning - bright and early - Anna and I hopped on a 6 train toward Pelham Bay Park, and settled in for the long ride deep into the Bronx to PS 47x, an elementary school where we would be sketching out the mural for volunteers to paint.




I had already met with Tom & Steve a week earlier, the Principal and Asst Principal, and visited the school to get a sense of what they wanted done. I knew they had already started a Sesame Street mural on the back wall of the school, and wanted to add 2 new characters this year, as well as pull the mural together with a sky, clouds, etc. Tom, the Principal, was this energetic, young-ish guy who actually used to be an Art Director at Print magazine for 6 years until he burned out and left the industry to be an art teacher -- and eventually become the principal of PS 47x. The entire school was filled with fun, cheery characters and wall paintings, and it made me want to contribute even more to the overall creative feel of the school.




So this is how the day unfolded. First, Anna and I scoped out graffiti-tagged spaces on the wall where we would add the new characters, Kermit the Frog and Zoe (note: Zoe is apparently a relative newcomer to the Sesame Street 'hood.)




Then we drew the lifesize characters onto the wall using black charcoal. We also added big, playful clouds and blades of grass to the entire stretch of wall.

Here is Anna's Kermit:


and my Zoe:


By 9:30 AM, the playground was mobbed with ready volunteers, anxious to get painting. They staked out territories where they would paint, and it was actually pretty cool that we were "The Artists" that everyone came to with questions. Anna and I both suffered a little bit of "art director's angst" - where you worry that what you draw will not be accurately re-created by others, but hey, it's a mural, and a community effort, and you have to let go. We jumped in where there were gaps in painters, we re-drew some guidelines where necessary, and directed people overall. We also overheard some people complaining about our designs -- and how the grass was too long, or the clouds were too low... tough critics! But it just goes to show that you can't please everyone.







Ta da! The finished results, by 3 PM Saturday afternoon:








All in all, it was an incredibly rewarding day, and an amazing experience for me. I actually helped create an entire mural in a school in the Bronx! And I'd like to think that that made a little bit of a difference out there.