Filed under: love but don't need, new york city, random | Tags: city, decorative tape, drawings, neighborhood, outline
I must admit. I bought this off Etsy:
Was really just too cute to pass up. I’ll use it enough. And I really love building outline drawings/products lately.
Like these:
My latest time-wasting tactic involves doodling my favorite NYC building along the bottom of my notebook page.
Filed under: new york city, photography, travel | Tags: photography, places I love, travel
My spirit is always uplifted by being at a place I love. There are some I frequent and some I can only hope I’ll get the chance to visit again. Here are several:
Mont St. Michel in Normandy, France:
by Sofia Ajram on Flickr
the bandshell in Ames:
my little bed at school:
Pike’s Place in Seattle:
by Sam Brosnan on Flickr
Greenacre Park in New York City:
in my car:
Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast:
by ginger limeade on Flickr
Brooklyn Bridge in New York City:
by Sonny & Stella on Flickr
One regret from the summer = having not visited the 9/11 tiles along the fence in Greenwich
Filed under: christian spirituality, new york city, work | Tags: new york city, summer, what I learned
I learned some new things this summer. And I was reminded of some things I knew. Here they are.
____________________________________
Loft beds are never enjoyable to sleep in.
A tiny kitchen is better than no kitchen.
Reading an interesting book on the subway makes it likely people will talk to you.
There are many times you will be the minority in New York City.
The Brooklyn Bridge is great to walk across. Even greater is the park near it on the Brooklyn side, Empire Fulton Ferry State Park. I hope someone proposes to me there some day.
Free events are in abundance — just know where to look.
God is the light in this darkness, the hope to the hopeless and the peace to the restless.
Smile.
Make friends at work quickly. Days will go by more quickly.
If you think to yourself, “don’t forget this cell phone/shopping bag/umbrella/jacket you are setting down,” it is inevitable that you will leave it behind.
Do work you really care about.
Walking to and from work is a good time for prayer, thinking and music-listening.
Not deciding what you want to do in the future is so freeing.
Spend money to make memories, not on clothes.
Times Square will always be crowded.
Be strong and courageous. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Filed under: new york city
I’ve been waiting to write about my last day with the Washington Heights kids until I got my pictures back.
Guess where we are.
Columbia University.
Forty-some middle-schoolers to the subway station, onto the subway, off the subway and around a large campus. They pushed each other into bushes, they said “hi” to EVERYONE, and they laughed uncontrollably at the mention of Columbia accepting homosexuals.
But I really did learn to love those kids. And as the tour guide told them about the sort of grades you need to get into Columbia, I started questioning how many of them would make it to college at all. Finding the actual stats for that was difficult — less than 18 percent of Washington Heights teenagers will graduate college. Not too hopeful. I wish all of them could come to Iowa State.
So, on this day that I’m moving back to Ames for my senior year of college, I am reminded to be thankful for my college eduction.
Highlight of my last day at Operation Exodus: After the tour, we had time to kill, so we walked to the nearby New York Public Library branch. One of the tutors told the kids to get books to read quietly. One of the girls found Romeo & Juliet and brought it to show me. She’d read it before, she said, and started to read quietly to me. She read every line smoothly and laughed at Shakespeare’s humor. Smart girl. Fun little moment.
Two events I know I’ll love very close to each other this summer.
Tomorrow: Next to Normal.
Friday: Ben Sollee at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. (free!)
goals accomplished:
+ be a regular somewhere
+ go to places no tourists go
+ find a good local band
+ unselfishly volunteer time
+ see “indie” movies
+ find a church
will be accomplished before leaving:
+ hang out at the park by the Brooklyn Bridge
+ attend a concert at a hip venue
+ go to MoMA
unaccomplished:
+ go to a poetry slam
+ go to the Central Park Zoo
Still saving money…
originally: $69
on sale: $9.99
with discount: $7.49
originally: $39
on sale: $9.99
with discount: $7.49
I tried on both of these shirts at the beginning of the summer, but deemed them much, much more expensive than what they’re worth. Went back on Friday — patience has paid off. I win.
Filed under: new york city, photography | Tags: lomo lc-a+, lomography, photography
a huge movie ad
Coney Island from the pier
a homeless woman playing hymns on a harmonica
a fountain perfect for playing in
Jones Street Station and Diane Birch in concert
Brooklyn from a ferry
House Beautiful’s biggest event is Kitchen of the Year. I spent my morning “assisting” (watching) video shoots with the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten (she looks strikingly similar to my mom!), whose kitchen was recreated on the Plaza at Rockefeller Center. I didn’t make it early enough to see her give Al Roker the tour.
Beyond Ina introducing herself to me, a highlight included capturing a moth that had made its way into the kitchen. I think my boss said something like, “Now that’s a Midwest girl.”
I’m going to a “gala” at the kitchen on Wednesday night. Not sure what that will hold for me.
Also, Oprah was in the cafe at work today! I conveniently took my lunch break right when I heard she was down there.
