Also, there was a fashion show of ’20s outfits:
And of ’20s swimwear:
There were also a bunch of old autos:
July 20, 2010
Sunday Lawn Party Adventure: Chapter 2
The Jazz Lawn Party was in a field in the middle of a ring of old houses and buildings. There was a big fence around the event, and tables of food and drinks and a dance floor and old cars, and stands with vintage clothes, and a lot of people camped out on the grass. Everyone looked really cool:
July 19, 2010
Sunday Lawn Party Adventure: Chapter 1
This past Sunday, my friends and I went to Governor’s Island for the 5th Bi-Annual Jazz Lawn Party. We had had a slumber party the night before, so we didn’t have flapper costumes and were all a little sleepy and hungover, but it was a gorgeous, sunny day.
To get to Governor’s Island, you have to take a ferry from Battery Park. It took us a little while to find the ferry.
Once we found the ferry, we boarded with a hoard of people, then quickly went to the back deck, where we found an empty bench.
H took advantage of the short ferry ride to french braid S’s hair:
The ferry had a lot of very well-dressed ’20s-style folk aboard.
Here are what the ferry slips look like from out on the water:
Once we got to Governor’s Island, we disembarked and walked around looking for the lawn party. Governor’s Island is a state-owned park that was a military base forever, back through the Civil War. More recently, it was used as a Coast Guard base, until the mid-90s when the government sold the island to New York State. Since then, there’ve been a number of large-scale art installations,attractions and programs on the island aimed at getting people to take advantage of the free ferry and enjoy the island. Currently, there’s free biking certain days of the week, and rental bikes the rest of the time. There’s a Civil War fort in the middle, and a number of lovely wood-and-brick homes and tree-lined avenues. There are also abandoned facilities – a library, a dental clinic, etc. – from the recent past.
Here are some photos of the houses and lawns:
But we had a party to attend . . .
July 16, 2010
Concert at the Seaport
Last Friday, there was a free concert at South Street Seaport. One of the many hipster bands with “Bear” in the name played, and it was very pleasant down there – not too crowded, and a good breeze coming off the water.
July 15, 2010
Rockaway Birthday
Recently, I turned 29, and my friend also turned a year older, so we all went to Rockaway Beach to celebrate.
But first, we got donuts.
Peter Pan donuts is a Greenpoint institution. The servers wear these kitschy outfits, and kitschy sour expressions, and there’s a little counter and everything.
The donuts fortified us for the hour-plus train ride down to Far Rockaway. When we got there, though, we needed lunch. We went to the best diner in Far Rockaway, according to the owner, who told us that several times, so I figure it must be true.
And then. . . beach! I’d never been to Rockaway beach before – it was really crowded, but nice. I even went swimming, which I almost never do at beaches off of large cities. My only bathing suit (which I bought at Old Navy five years ago for about $3 and wore all through five countries in all sorts of situations) had finally bit the dust, so I wore an old strapless bra. I don’t think anyone could tell the difference.
You’re not technically allowed to have beer on the beach, so we had to be really subtle with our bartending.
Some of us brought fancy cheese:
And some, less fancy cheese:
When you’re at the beach, you pretty much have to dig a giant hole at some point.
Some of my friends made this awesome happy birthday land shark!
Overall, a delightful birthday! (Well, until we tried to leave Rockaway and there was a track fire and no train service, and it ended up [for various reasons] taking us four and a half hours to get home . . . but other than that, a loverly day!)
Let’s all make sure to take advantage of whatever nearby seashores we have access to, before this wave rolls in:
June 29, 2010
Bunny Sitting
While I was out of town, my roommate was sweet enough to watch Thomasina for me!
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I don’t think I’ll ask her again…
June 27, 2010
In Which I Have a Haircut
I realized right before I left town for my camping trip that I’d forgotten to have my very long hair cut. It had gotten quite long:
Sure, long hair’s fun and all:
But it’s not so great for camping in hot weather.
Luckily, my roommate S thought she might like to try cutting it! This was a good plan, because it would be immediate and free. First, S sorted my hair into pigtails (btw, I don’t actually have any skin imperfections – I know that looks like a big zit, but it was probably something weird on my camera lens):
Next, she drew a line on my neck about where I wanted my hair to end up. See the line there? And then started to cut.
The cutting went on for a long time:
At one point, I looked at S, and she looked sort of crazy, or maybe like she wasn’t really so sure how to give a professional haircut:
I began to get a little worried and frightened:
And then, S got the scissors stuck in my hair and it took us awhile to pull them out.
But finally, the job was done:
The hair ended up pretty close to the line we’d drawn, and it was almost even on both sides! I was happy with the cut’s efficiency and freeness, and would turn to S again in a pinch.
June 23, 2010
MTA Glamor Shots
Long subway rides are the perfect time to take some glamorous glamor shots!
__
(Thanks to my clever, clever roommate for thinking this up and making us do it, even though we were all tired and whiny! See also: this Improv Everywhere stunt. I don’t know if this is where S got the idea or if the subway just suggests such activities!)
May 21, 2010
In Which I Attend a Sports Game
Those of you who know me, hold on to your hats: recently, I went to a Mets game…and stayed for all nine innings! How was it? Well, it was cold. Like, really, really, really cold. But better than college games in that I did not have to smuggle in airplane bottles of liquor in my bra. I went with a bunch of writers – you can tell which one is the Mets fan by his hat, and by the fact that he’s the only one watching the game in all the photos. I enjoyed myself for awhile, and now, I can say that I have had this Mets experience (whereas, despite living four years in Chicago within walking distance of Wrigley field, I cannot truthfully say that I ever had the Cubs experience, unless the Cubs experience means navigating drunken throngs in order to get to ImprovOlympic).
Here’s proof that I went:
April 25, 2010
Hamptons Party V
This is the last of these, I promise. Taking photos is my newest hobby. It gives me something to do while socializing, and I love tinkering with the settings on my photo editing software, although I have no idea what I’m doing. For some reason, it’s satisfying to pick out my favorite shots and decide how I want them to look – green, blue, cartoonish or hazy, etc. It’s certainly a hell of a lot easier than coming up with amusing, intelligent things to say. I know this blog is particularly drifty and sparse lately, but, as most of you probably know, it’s because I’m attempting (however unsuccessfully) to spend my energy on more substantial writing.
April 14, 2010
Cookies
On Monday, I was very excited to see these two food trucks parked right by my office! They don’t usually park here.
March 30, 2010
Flowers In Spring
July 26, 2009
Two Weekends Ago
Two weekends ago, my friend and I were on our way into the city, when we saw lights in the distance from Bedfort Avenue (where we’d been eating Thai food). We walked down to the lights, and found a fairly large fair! I’d stumbled on this fair the year before, as well, but hadn’t known what it was. Apparently, it is the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and San Paolino, a 12-day festival that happens every July. That would explain all the Italians.
Entering the fair...
Crowds at the fair.
A pretty big fair, too - it spread off in all directions.
There was everything you look for in a fair…rides:
This ride spins everyone around very quickly.
…guys grilling meat…
Meat!
…women frying zeppole…
This lady was upset at me for taking her photo.
…patriotic frozen drinks…
Red, white and blotto!
…souvenirs…
Not sure what any of these are.
…tasteful novelty Ts for i bambini….
Pity the poor child.
…games, where you can win a half-dead goldfish in a Ziplock baggie…
Chuck's Live Fish
…firefighters, lest things get out of hand…
In addition to these firefighters, there were many groups of funny cops standing around, but they told me that if I took their picture, they would confiscate my camera.
…and garbage, without great piles of which no street fair in July in NYC would be complete…
Smells better than the zeppole!
…and finally, bizarre religious iconography!!
Giant, garish, totem-pole-like thing.
Man in a boat. (Don't be immature.)
Now, according to this video that my roommate found on Gothamist, these two religious icons are stars in a ceremony, in which they are lifted by gangs of fellows and danced toward each other, to the tunes of the Rocky soundtrack. Please watch the video – it is something else. Unfortunately, we did not witness this spectacle.
After exploring the street fair, we went out a-drinking in the East Village, after which we thought it would be good to get Pommes Frites. Apparently, everyone else thought so, too.
Mmmm...Belgian fries up ahead.
We couldn’t find a handy stoop to eat them on, but luckily the nearby Max Brenner’s was closed, and someone had left some of the tables out! We spread out our fare and felt very clever.
Sidewalk dining at 3:00a.m.! No wait.
The next night, I went to see Jigsaw Soul, a local band that always provides a giant, multi-media performance experience.
Jigsaw Soul
The audience.
The Jigsaw Soul dancers.
Shadow visuals.
Choreographed keg cup stacking.
One of several giant papier-mache bird heads.
More visuals.
After the show, we were famished. Time for shawarma and falafel!
Mmmm, gyro-loaf!
After that, it began pouring, so we went over to Washington Square Park to watch the band and friends play dodgeball in the fountain.
Rainy Washington Square Park.
Hipster swimming pool.
It's all fun and games till someone loses a contact.
The next day, I was pretty tired. I went for a long, lazy Sunday walk, over the nearly deserted Williamsburg bridge.
Bike and pedestrian lane.
After that, I ate a massive cup of ice cream, but I did not choose to document that with photographic evidence. A pretty good weekend, overall.
