Oscar & Lucinda

I watched this film last week and I fell in love. I loved the struggle between good and evil that the main characters share. This pair find everlasting love and friendship over their own sinful desire to gamble, especially with poker- a pair after my own heart! I am also totally obsessed with Lucinda's glass collection. I have always admired very old and thin glass, but now I am determined to find some of my own, in hopes of one day owning a collection as fine as this fictional heroine's. Young Cate Blanchett and handsome Ralph Fiennes (my mother's favorite!) are amongst the best of actors if you ask me. I found Oscar and Lucinda to be inspiring and magical, the props and costume alone are worth watching this movie for. Although, there is just one scene that involves an axe, that I really wish would have been left out- just remember to look away when the axe comes into the scene!

The photos of glass I have used above and below were found mostly in the V&A's online collections.

Baby Stumpy

Here is the little guy I conjured up yesterday, with the help of a very simple pattern I found in an old book from the 60's. I have blessed him with the name Stumpy, for he turned out with one hind leg slightly shorter than the other. This baby elephant is a gift for my aunt to give to a friend's baby girl. I will certainly be sewing up a few cousin's for Stumpy this holiday season. If you would like a stumpy-kind of your own, please contact me. I will be exploring a little more with materials, etc. The fabrics & wooden-buttons I used on this little guy are things that I have owned for quite sometime- just waiting to be put to use. I will post any new additions as they come. Happy Wednesday!!

Fantastic Mr. Windows

I had an early start to my day, beginning at the Post Office, where I went to send pen-pal notes to the other side of the earth and to collect a package full of beautiful ribbons, sent by my lovely mother, Ginger. Then I headed to the supermarket for the few things I forgot to pick up on yesterdays visit. At 11am my roommate Blake and I met Emily Uptown on the corner of 5th Ave and 58th Street for a sweet little surprise...
In the windows of Bergdorf-Goodman's Men's store is a sneak peek into the world of Fantastic Mr. Fox!! I can't wait to see the movie, and if these windows are only a peek into Wes Anderson's latest magic, then the movie must be a real visual thrill! After our visit with Mr. Fox and friends, Emily and I enjoyed lunch sitting in the sun in the middle of Bryant Park. I then came home to finish a little project that I will share later, a commissioned piece for my Aunt Carmen. It came together nicely. Today was a good day!
All of these great images from About.com, because I forgot my camera- again!!

A New York Kind of Weekend

This past weekend my Uncle Carl, a flutist and piccolo player, came to New York with The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to play at Carnegie Hall. The symphony played alongside Yo-Yo Ma for the opening piece of the evening, composed by Angel Lam and Stravinksy's opera, The Nightingale, followed. For the very first time I saw Carl in concert and it was so fascinating to watch him switch back and forth between flute and piccolo. Also, to see this massive group of musicians working together to create such a masterpiece. It was truly beautiful and mesmerizing! I only wish I had one one-hundredth of Carl's musical genius.

I spent Friday night at the Broadway showing of Mary Poppins with Carl and his friend Bob, which called for lots of time spent down at Times Square (not my favorite place on earth, but the buzz keeps you awake and warm!). It was a pleasure to meet Bob and to spend time with Carl. After the concert on Saturday evening, my friend Emily and I went for a late night snack at the New York Diner Applejack's. It was such a treat and it felt very New York!

Also, I might note that The Yankee's won the World Series (I know you are wondering why I am talking about baseball, I'm not even sure what a baseball looks like...), but it was an exciting win for the city that I currently populate and I wanted to point out the strange parallels that exist between my life and the World Series. You see, last year I was living in the city of Philadelphia during the Series and the Phillies played the Tampa Rays (my home town)- The Phils won and it was so much fun to be a part of the celebration, I must say that Philly takes the ticket as biggest supporters! This year, I am living in NYC and the Yankees played up against the Phils, NY won. Though I only heard one hoot in the streets of Brooklyn, I heard that in the city the fans were living it up, and the day of the parade, I knew that I was once again amongst some very happy fans, even though I was less than happy to be sharing a 45 min. subway ride with them- standing all the way! Do you see here the parallels? and do you agree that I just might be the good-luck charm for the series? I am almost certain.

I am really loving NYC.

Halloweenie 2009

Like always the fun in this years Halloween was the pre-party and the costume making just minutes before heading out the door! A few of my favorite people came in from Philly to celebrate with us here in NY and it was such a treat having them. By the time we actually made it anywhere, the majority of us were all tuckered out and ready to head back home, but the subway ride alone was enough fun to last me until next year. I love seeing everyone dressed up and so many people are more willing to talk and ask questions. My favorite costumes outside of our own group were Marge Simpson's sisters, Patty & Selma- (whose names I can never remember- thank you google), I wish I had pictures. Anyhow, here are some pics of the pre-party- enjoy!
above: chelsea as a sea witch, emily as a puppet
below: 1 haylie as a rat, halli as a band leader/ majorette &emily
2 murphy as a bat (awesome costume made from an umbrella)
3 maura as the owl from owl and the pussy cat, her cat stayed in philly:(
4 adam, not dressed & josh as a beat hockey player

Greetings at Greenwood Cemetery

This Halloween I met Ginny (a.k.a. Lynn Yeager) and Chelsea in Greenwood Cemetery of Brooklyn for a perfectly creepy morning! We couldn't have asked for anything more morbid, magical and spooky to start the day off right. Ginny brought pumpkins to leave for the dead and Chelsea greeted each of us with a mini harvest bouquet. We each left the cemetery rather satisfied. The only thing that could have made things a little scarier was my Ouija board, but I think most spirits were probably still in bed when we arrived there so bright and early!