and this is why...

i love this city. 

so much.

(photos of twin and me by our friend daisy.)

the lowline.

can you imagine a place where you could frequent with your friends and family, a place you could bring a picnic and a good book, a place that serves as a little escape from all this city madness, if you will?

now... could you imagine this place being completely underground? 

that's exactly what two very talented men are trying to create. the lowline will be an underground 1.5 acre park beneath manhattan's lower east side, located in an old trolley terminal that has been untouched since the 1940s. but the team hasn't stopped at that. these imagineers have come up with a genius concept (and mockup of a device) that would bring plant life and sunlight underground, too. through a mechanism that gathers and shoots the sun's energy, photosynthesis would be able to occur, allowing vegetation to grow. (i know, my mind was blown too.) 

the exhibit, located at the essex street warehouse, is adjacent to the old trolley terminal where this concept will hopefully come to life someday. you can almost feel the magic and reality of this future park, with audio of children laughing and birds chirping coming from nearby speakers. the sunlights and windows of the space have also been blocked out to better create the feeling of being subsurface. 

GSAPP Columbia graduates have also contributed impressive projects to the exhibit, one of which is a grid of manhattan projecting the flows of motion throughout the city. whether it be buses, tunnels, bike lanes, ferries, bridges, or subways...this projection symbolizes these modes of transportation all coming together to form one mass of constant movement. it's quite the thing to see. if you're from the area, i highly, highly recommend checking out this exhibit before it's gone. this is the (green) future. and it's incredible.

so...can you imagine this future park?

also, have you checked out the highline?

a wondrous evening in williamsburg.

after visiting the lowline exhibit in manhattan's lower east side (post coming soon), my friend hilary and i thought it would be silly to pass up a trip to brooklyn, considering the williamsburg bridge was steps away. the next thing we knew, we were surrounded by bikers, runners, and mesmerizing graffiti as we walked what felt like 10,000 steps to cross that thing. but those were some really happy 10,000 steps. the sun was setting, the manhattan and brooklyn bridges were glistening in the distance, and i felt my heart settle into a warm place that it hasn't in a while. 

because i wished you could have been there, twin.

we explored bedford ave, found an awe-inspiring repurposing store (with the cutest baby clothes, i might add), browsed bakeries, perused second-hand clothing shops, and enjoyed a couple crif dogs before grabbing the L train home. 

i've told myself that my next move once i graduate will be to move to brooklyn. the culture, the livelihood, the aesthetic, the uniqueness... there are too many wonderful words to describe this place. i absolutely love it.

all in all, my affair with brooklyn is becoming a dangerous one. i just can't stay away. (and don't plan to.)

a little italian reminder...

i was so excited when my friend hilary (and fellow european classmate/traveler) pointed this out to twin and me. this photo is one of my favorites from our time in florence, and i think it's a perfect depiction of just how much we enjoyed our semester abroad. when students are considering the program, and see this photo...
well, i hope it's what pushes them to go.

photo by daisy.

a few of my favorite posts from italy: here, here, and here.

serendipity.

the word serendipity was created by an 18th century wordsmith, meaning: the art of finding the pleasantly unexpected by chance. twin, our good friend hilary and myself ended last week with a much awaited trip to this famous little east side gem. the first time i saw the movie was just earlier this year, on a quiet night in italy when hilary insisted if laura and i saw it, it would instantly be our favorite movie. and boy, was she right. the love story is one that i dream of, and the fact that it all takes place in nyc? well...that just about did it for me. that made it real. 

we ordered frozen hot chocolates, and slurped them down under the low-hanging tiffany lamps, surrounded by the eclecticism of such a classic, cultured, magical place. before we left, we asked to see upstairs, where the scene in the movie was filmed. the waiter was nice enough to point out the very table, nestled next to a cozy fireplace. the vision of kate beckinsale and john cusack came right back to me, and i was a bit awe-struck in that moment.

when we left, we decided to walk over to park avenue and wandered home slowly, rather than taking the subway. that was when we serendipitously came upon the waldorf astoria, where the terribly romantic elevator scene in the movie was filmed.

 i honestly couldn't think of a better word in the english language. what could be better than unexpectedly falling into something so beautiful, that it could change your life?

a day with daisy.

 yesterday, twin and i had the joy of meeting up with our lovely friend daisy, who we haven't seen since italy. (she is just as sweet as her name hints!) we met up in k-town, where she brought us to tous les jours for some bubble tea and macarons. then we ventured over to jersey city so she could show us her new home...we were blown away. it's unbelievably pretty over there. and so quiet! yet so, so close to the city. it basically felt like coming up for air for a few hours...a nice little break from our hectic lives across the river. i really don't know why i haven't heard of it sooner, or why more people don't consider living there instead. (we're thinking about it...) 

loving life on this side of the hudson.

a gradient manicure, love daisy.

isn't her desk just darling? her room was worthy of a magazine spread. 

a new perspective. 

thank you again daisy, for a wonderful day outside the city! we'll be back very soon ;)

tea time.

over the weekend, my friend meaghan stopped by my room and brought a selection of tea.

i chose pomegranate green.

we talked for what seemed like hours.
school. our careers. our dreams. love... it all came up. 

meaghan, please stop by for tea time again soon! 

and bring more of that pomegranate green ;)

a 'sweet' little surprise.

could you imagine the excitement of opening your door after a long day of monday classes

 and finding THIS on your kitchen table?

thank you so much, twin.

really, you're too sweet ;)

so i've sort of been in a funk lately and i don't really know why.

i'm not sure if it's the expenses of this city, the uncertainty of my career path which has lead to a quarter life crisis, or that i'm in dire need of some organizational help over here...but i just haven't been overly joyed as of late. twin has noticed, and nicely pointed out that i just got a job so i should be more than pleased with myself...and don't get me wrong, i'm proud of that and everything, but i feel like my life is literally in a bunch of bits, and i've been trying desperately to gather them all into a nice little orderly basket which i just can't seem to do.

i just don't get how some people do it...how they have it all together, all the time. and i worry that i won't ever be able to accomplish that. seriously, if any one wants to give me a tip or two, i'd really appreciate it. 

but it's sort of hitting me that i can't be this hard on myself. i just got back here two weeks ago...i don't have to have everything all perfect and pretty just yet. also, twin just called to tell me she walked past a homeless man, collapsed on the sidewalk. she told me i need to realize how lucky i am. 

she's right.

fashion week.

i had the lucky privilege of attending the lela rose spring 2013 fashion show this morning at lincoln center. (thank you, marisa!) i had volunteered to help out at shows in the past, but this was the first time that i was able to experience the "other side" of the magic, having my very own seat! (which was a wonderful seat, i might add.) notables in the industry, such as louise roe (elle uk, the city), lauren conrad, and mandy moore sat directly across from me, and shared wide-eyed expressions and the occasional, "i love that!" as the stunning, dainty, oh-so-feminine lela pieces graced the runway. there were a few dresses that i wouldn't mind stealing for a springtime enchanted tea party... ;)

cute bun, LC! 

and thank you again, marisa :)

life in the city. (and fno)

even though this is (technically) our third year in nyc now, by no means are we experts on life here. just ask the countless people who saw us struggling on our walk back from whole foods today, having to stop just about every twelve feet. (what can we say, we like fresh veggies even if they are three blocks away!) i can't say that things have gone as smoothly as planned (or hoped) this far, but we're doing our best, and that's what matters...right? ;)

if we are being honest here, i'm sort of terrified i'm not going to find a job. and classes are proving to be a little more work than i expected for my senior year. and the city seems even more expensive than i remembered. but i've been trying to tell myself to just live life, day by day. everything will work out. everything will find it's place. in time. 

we caught the tail-end of fashion's night out last night, due to evening math class. (boo!) but we actually had tons of fun, exploring fifth avenue with sips of sparking wine here and there ;) next year, i want to check out soho or maybe brooklyn. 

side note: i'm ready for fall. i can't stand this heat any longer. it makes everything in the city so much less enjoyable. 

happy side note: have a wonderful, glamorous, happy weekend!