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Weekends in New York kind of look like this:
All pictures taken by me.
Until next weekend, lots of love from the East Village.
♥♥♥
Just a little collection of some of the cool stuff I see every time I look up at the sky.
The Flatiron: definitely my favorite building in the city. I can’t help smiling every time I look at it. It’s so gorgeous.
The stairs to my apartment. Very “Rosemary’s baby” inspired. I love it.
Amazing murals at the Rockefeller Center.
Oh, the Chrysler… Yeah, I lied, THIS is my favorite building in the city. I can see it from my house.
Williamsburg bridge, Brooklyn.
New York is tall, stunning and endless. A good pair of shades and a strong upper body is definitely a must.
Lots of love from the East Village.
♥♥♥
♥ The Wives of Eldridge are the two most wonderful people I have met so far in this city: my two roommates from New Zealand, Geri and Debbie.
From left to right: me, Geri and Debbie at Fontana’s.
In between drinking Bloody Marys all night, brunching on Sundays, making videos that make no sense at all, laughing our heads off and sharing our love for New York City, I’ve had the best time with these ladies!
Unfortunately, I had to leave them and the Lower East Side behind. Jonathan (also from New Zealand) has replaced me. It was all pre-arranged before I came to town so I already knew that I only had one month with the girls. I still hate him though! (Not really. I could never hate him. He is lovely).
Here are some of our best moments:
This is Gangster! He is Geri’s puppy and I love him so much, I actually considered stealing him. Still considering it really…
Hot Rabbit is a Friday night party in the East Village that plays the best music! Debbie and I met this random gay guy at the bar and had the best interaction with him. It went something like this:
Random gay guy at the bar: “Are you girls a couple?”
Debbie and I: “Oh… No. We’re straight. We’re just hanging out.”
Random gay guy at the bar: “Oh really? Oh my God, you’re so beautiful! I bet straight men can’t appreciate just how gorgeous you are!”
Debbie and I (laughing and very much agreeing with him): “Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! Yeah…That’s so sweet!”
Random gay guy at the bar: “Don’t worry, you will be safe here. No one is gonna try to grab your butt!”
Debbie and I: “Er… Okay….”
Random gay guy at the bar: “Mind you… I might try to grab your butt later on!”
He was a hilarious human being.
That’s Debbie and I at Hot Rabbit. And no, no one tried to grab our butts.
I am not a whisky drinker at all, and I never thought I would say this, but this NY shot has grown on me: Jameson and Pickle Juice. Despite my initial reluctance, Geri managed to get me to try it. It’s pretty yummy. Thanks Geri!
This is us having a drink at Welcome to the Johnson’s. (Good thing that we lived just across from all these cool bars. Crawling home afterwards was never a problem!)
Good bye, wives! I loved being your roommate. Thank you for making my first month in New York so amazing. You guys rock! Good thing I’m only moving a few blocks up. Otherwise I would miss you too much.
♥ So, to start a new chapter in my New York story, I have moved to the East Village. More specifically, to St. Mark’s Place, which is just as cool as the Lower East Side. Photos, information and recommendations will be posted very soon. Stay tuned.
Lots of love from the East Village.
♥♥♥
Apart from the few times a year when I go back to London, I usually spend quite a long time without going to an art gallery. Lisbon has a few nice spots but I guess I’m often a little too lazy to go and check them out. That’s my own fault, of course. So when I arrived over here I spoke to a few people and quickly found out that for everything cutting edge and modern in the art world, Chelsea is the place to go. So I went.
Now, I wasn’t aware of just how many galleries I was going to visit. There are literally more than 200 gallery spaces in Chelsea! I actually counted 218 names in the Gallery Guide, but there are probably more. I must have visited, I don’t know, 15 galleries? 20 at most? I was so exhausted/exhilarated in the end that I decided to give it a rest and come back again some other time. My mum is coming to visit me at some point so I’ll take her there. It’ll give me an excuse to go back (not that I need any).
Here are a few pieces that caught my eye:
♥ Real sized sculptures made of magazine pages by Will Kurtz
This one was my favorite piece in the show. Stunning work.
♥ Very cool black and white paintings. Artist: can’t remember, for the life of me.
♥ Loved this series of photographs of the back of birds’ heads.
Artist: can’t remember either (note to self: start writing these things down otherwise blog post is gonna suck).
♥ Portraits by Shirin Neshat – This was by far the most popular show I saw. It was crammed with people.
There was a rumor going around that the photographer was going to show up later that day, but I didn’t hang around to find out. There was something else I wanted to check out:
♥ The spot collection by Damien Hirst
I love this collection for two reasons:
1) Because it’s Damien Hirst. He went to Goldsmiths College, the same art school I went to, and I have loved him since my early teenage years in London, when I saw his work in the Sensations Exhibition. He can do no wrong in my eyes. I’m his groupie.
2) There is something really cool going on involving this particular collection. It’s called the Damien Hirst Spot Challenge. It goes like this: whoever manages to see the complete series of spot paintings (we’re talking 1986-2011. That’s a lot of paintings!) wins one of the pieces. You have this card and you get a stamp for every spot show you go to (very much like a supermarket discount/point card, really). There are 11 exhibitions in total, all over the world. I actually met a girl who is doing the challenge with her boyfriend. They just came back from Hong Kong and were on their way to Europe, for the remaining shows. Fun stuff.
I would definitely do this if there was any way I could be certain that I was going to get one of the big paintings. I would be extremely pissed off if all I got was a little postcard with a dot on it, but hey, that’s just me being heartless and insensitive.
Yay! Lower East Side babe, out on the town. :0) – That’s me, photographed by Dom, my friend from London who’s over here too.
That’s it from Chelsea so far. Highly recommended. Make sure you get there nice and early and be prepared to spend the whole day on your feet, walking from one gallery to the next (wear comfortable shoes. No high heels, for God’s sake).
To be honest, no matter what exhibitions are on, chances are, you will see something cool. The quantity is overwhelming but there’s good quality on show too. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be leaving the galleries feeling excited and inspired to try out a few projects. Seeing art is so important. It fuels the brain and puts your mind in a different gear. You don’t actually have to go all the way to Chelsea to see art though. You can always go online, on www.mfadegree.net, to find out about art programs in your area. Beauty and inspiration are always within easy reach. Never forget that.
Next time I go to Chelsea (I still have 200 galleries to visit, after all. Easy peasy!) I promise to take better pictures and to make a note of the names of my favorite artists. Maybe that way, I might actually remember them as well, instead of just going: “oh, look at the pretty picture by what’s his name…” That’s just terrible!
In the meantime, stay tuned for more NY updates.
Lots of love from the Lower East Side.
♥♥♥
The happy New Yorker :0)
I have been living in NYC for exactly one week today.
Having never been here before, I simply can’t help falling in love with this city. It is everything I imagined it to be and more. Here are a few thoughts:
♥ Hello, new neighborhood.
I’ve been living in the Lower East side, in a wonderful (and huge!) apartment just blocks away from… er… absolutely everything! All things fun, trendy and gorgeous are walking distance from where I am sitting right now, writing on my laptop. I still pinch myself in the mornings, every time I leave the building and spot the Chrysler from my doorstep. Amazing!
♥ Hello, new roommates.
I am sharing my wonderful (and huge!) apartment with two lovely girls from New Zealand: Geri and Debbie. Not only are they nice and incredibly helpful, they are also fun, talented and gorgeous! I haven’t had a roommate since my university years and was very lucky to find them. These chicks rock!
This is my other roommate: Gangster. He is one very classy, sophisticated and well-behaved New Yorker. (I might steal him when I leave, actually. He’s just too cute.)
♥ Hello, walking boots.
I have been walking absolutely everywhere since I got here. The subway is pretty straight forward and the taxis are not expensive at all, but walking is by far the best way to get around. Manhattan is completely flat, which makes everything that much easier. Note to self: consider getting a bicycle at some point. Just for the fun of it.
♥ Hello, Yummy.
This is Katz’s, Anthony Bourdain‘s favourite New York spot and one of my local restaurants. Yes, I tried the classic pastrami sandwich and yes it is AMAZING (and I’m not even that much into red meat). I heard that one can actually LEARN how to make these things! Incredible as it sounds (for I am terrible int he kitchen), I wouldn’t mind knowing how to cook some of these classics. I might take an online cooking class or something for I am way too embarrassed to cook in front of strangers. This site will definitely have some good options for this type of thing. Who knows? Anthony Bourdain might come and eat at my house one day! :0)
♥ Hello, cool stuff.
Every corner I turn there are vintage shops to be browsed through, gorgeous restaurants and cafés to be tested and art to be seen. One cannot be bored in New York City. It’s simply impossible.
And that’s it for now, folks!
These are only my initial thoughts on this fantastic city. I just started an illustration course at the School of Visual Arts and will be here for the next 3 months, living as an art student in the Lower East Side. Life, my friends, cannot get more exciting than this.
Stay tuned for pictures, illustrations and LOTS of tips as I’ll be collecting information and writing as much as possible about this side of the world.
Lots of love from NYC.
♥♥♥
