Birthday Adventures

Hello! Nik and I went on a little adventure yesterday, birthday adventures to be exact! We took the tram (!) over to Roosevelt Island, and spent a few hours wandering the island. It's mostly residential with parks, and an abandoned, kinda-spooky old smallpox hospital. Fun! Spring finally showed it's face, so it was nice soaking up some sunshine. 

Nik took me to Hangawi for dinner afterwards, and we splurged for the Emperor's Tasting Menu. Insanity! Course after course came out and it was so fun. It's not a super-fancy place, but they have so many subtle, nice touches to everything and the food was just so PRETTY (and super-delicious!) He, of course, embarrassed me by having the staff come out and sing "happy birthday" to me, complete with a big gong. My face was bright red and the whole restaurant was singing, clapping, and staring. Just wait until his birthday, I say...

Queens

Obligatory selfie on the tram crossing over to the island.

Pretty floating candles outside Hangawi

Pretty chocolate-y things from Lagusta's Luscious that Nik got me. Berry box is ceramic!

Birthday brunch. 

Weekend Snapshots

This weekend was a doozy in terms of heat and sun, but Nik and I were determined to not hibernate in the AC...so we took the longest walk ever instead!  Saturday was my 10-year anniversary of living in NYC. Like, WHOA. Ten years ago I moved here with a car-load of my things. I was dropped off in the deep Polish section of Greenpoint, Brooklyn to sublet a room with an acquaintance of mine, whom I barely knew.  No job, not much money in my bank account, no friends here, and absolutely no clue how to get around in NYC by myself. My new roommate went on a month-long work trip to China two days after I arrived, so I was completely and utterly alone in this foreign city. I took small walks around the neighborhood, learning my way around, and worked my way up to trying out the bus and the subway to explore different parts. I would camp out in coffee shops in Greenpoint and Williamsburg during the day, sketching and dreaming and scouring Craigslist for jobs.  I found a job finally, when I had $50 to my name, and it was the start of a long journey to where I am now. This neighborhood and the city has changed so much over the last decade, and has shaped who I am and what I do today. I don't know how much longer I will stay here, probably not that long at all, but I have been making it a point lately to try to enjoy it as much as possible in the now. Brooklyn love!

Thus, a very long walk! 7 miles according to my Moves app on my phone! These photos are taken from Manhattan, on the eastern park, looking out under the Williamsburg Bridge towards Brooklyn.

Bad instax snapshot. We are hot and sweaty, lovely!

VeganMOFO: Post-Hurricane Sandy

East River is relatively back to normal today.

Hello! Checking in to say I'm okay. We were with the lucky few that didn't lose power and didn't suffer any damage to our property or to ourselves. We lost internet/cable, but that was no big deal in the grand scheme of things. It got a bit scary last night in the peak of the storm, with the wind and all the sirens and the smell of fire in the air. So many folks without power or shelter today. It was pretty heartbreaking to read the news last night and this morning... 

Nik and I took a walk around our neighborhood this afternoon, to survey the damage, and just to get out of the house for a bit. Our area did okay during the storm, save for some fallen trees and some construction zone flooding and lots of debris.  Some photos on our walk:

Tree in the local McCarren Park

See those big flood lights standing up? Now the one laying down...

Construction site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

This water is not supposed to be here...Construction zone right by the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Vinnie's was open today, so I had a vegan eggplant parm slice.

Reflecting and Rain

New photo for the front of my website; you like?

So, this past monday was the two year anniversary of when I quit my day job and I'm kinda in disbelief on how fast time has flown since I left my old job. I mean, I still feel like I am getting the hang of things and learning every day, doing things on my own and running my own business (which I guess is a good thing!) I'm still not where I want to be, but I'm still proud of how far I've come and things that I have accomplished. It's pretty awesome that I get to make art everyday and make a living off of it, and I'm super-grateful I can do that. I'm not saying it isn't hard and that I don't struggle, but it does make me happy. Here's to many more years!

behind the scenes photo shoot

on the boat on Governors Island, heading back to Manhattan

It's been raining like crazy here. I could never live in the Pacific Northwest, I'd miss the sun too much! Props to people that can handle so much rain!

This little guy is still on the road to recovery with his diabetes. Slowly but surely his high blood glucose levels are dropping. I'll write more about that later.

Playing with new photo app on my phone, Photo Toaster. Kinda oversaturated, but I dig. 

Where did all the trees go? (Queue Tegan and Sara...)

Every year, right after Christmas in the park near where I live, there starts a mass tree grave that just grows and grows every time I pass by. People just bring their Christmas trees here to discard. It is so sad looking!

I took a nice long walk around the neighborhood today, enjoying the oddly-warm-for-December temperature and sunshine, while taking some photos. 

Irene

So Hurricane Irene rolled through town this weekend, and thankfully spared my neighborhood and myself.  We didn't even have any leaks or lose power or anything.  Nik and I were pretty super nervous peeking outside every once and awhile all night, but we kept ourselves occupied with some Sons of Anarchy and some cinnamon buns that I baked (recipe from Vegan Brunch).  There were quite a few downed trees and lots of branches and leaves scattered about the next day (and it was still SUPER windy afterwards).  I've never been through a hurricane before, and it's just awful looking at some of the photos from North Carolina or other places with severe flooding and wind damage. Not something you expect, living in the Northeast, to have an earthquake AND a hurricane in the same week...

Governors Island Pop-up Shop

     Happy Monday!  I wanted to tell you about a pop-up shop that I'm a part of for the whole summer at Governors Island.  Put together by Better Than Jam Handmade Co-op and made up of members of The {NewNew} Etsy team, it is quite the the lovely little shop set up in one of the old historic houses on the Island.  Governors Island is such a happy place to begin with and the shop is super-cute!  I worked a shift out there this past weekend and will be out there occasionally throughout the summer.  Here are some pictures I snapped of inside the house (and here are some better pro photos at this link):

Oh hey, look at me!

Super-dee-duper Mailing List time!

Mailing List Signup!

Hello!  Happy Monday!  Thank you for all the birthday wishes last week! 

They made me feel all warm and fuzzy. :)

 I hope your weekend was swell!  Mine was nice and cozy, with a huge thunderstorm Saturday night and a gorgeous day on Sunday.  I love wandering around in the Springtime, taking photos, people-watching, and running into all the things that I love about NYC. There are a lot of things that I hate about it, but the good parts are what keep me here.  I guess it evens out?

So, I started a mailing list a few weeks back and quietly put up a signup on my sidebar here on the blog.  I'm a little touchy about receiving mailing lists myself, so I'm going to keep mine super-special and fun.  Like only sending them out 4-6 times a year.  I'm going to include little freebies and downloadables,  along with market schedules and news, and super-special sneak-peeks and sale coupons (for newsletter subscribers only.)  Anyways, I hope you will sign up!   xo, Michelle

NYC can be perrrty! View from Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Grate at Highline Park

Windows at Highline Park

I never understand the shoes on the line thing.  Nice (and expensive!) shoes too! Found in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.