Brooklyn On My Mind

Brooklyn. An hour or so train ride from the Upper West Side, just one easy subway transfer thanks to Embark, the best transit app ever. How I wish I had this back when I was modeling and dealing with fold out subway maps and not very clear agency directions for castings, all while listening to my walkman and trying to somehow manage to look cute upon arrival. Now, you just click on your destination and BOOM, step by step instructions, train times and all, like magic. I feel like an old fogey being impressed by this, but, really, it is pretty magical. (I'm not so concerned these days with looking cute, although a simple dress, some lip gloss and a fresh haircut never hurts!)

Back to Brooklyn. Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights on a weekday, overrun with white babies in expensive strollers pushed by bored Caribbean nannies. (Really, there's even a book about it.) Tree lined streets opening up to the promenade with its spectacular views of Manhattan, brownstones with window boxes so perfect I had to sidle up close to see if they were real (they were), little shops to explore, a florist with a hand lettered sign on the gate cautioning you about the puppy inside. Lunch at Brooklyn's first destination restaurant, al di la Trattoria, rapture right there on the white plate in their spring vegetable salad with shaved pecorino cheese.  And an adorable pack of city dogs with their walkers, who were kind enough to let me take a picture of them, even though their annoyance with the whole idea was pretty apparent. A book on my Kindle, my tote bag over my shoulder, happiness in a flood of light around my heart.

Luscious Brownstone

Brooklyn Heights beckons

Brooklyn Heights Promenade

A Much Better Photo Than I Took | Paul Stein

Park Slope strollers

Florist bounty

HAD to go in with this on the gate!

A sleeping puppy, and these buckets full of gorgeousness too.

Just in case you are needing some Super Hero supplies...

I cannot even describe how delicious this was.

The dogs are happier in Brooklyn

Right?

Real, I promise.

Just pretty

Seriously, I could just meander around neighborhoods every day and be quite happy with life.

Farmer's Market | Elk Grove

Our Elk Grove farmer's market is small, yes, but it is also lovely and a true "farmers only" affair. It's here, rain or shine, every Saturday, all year long. Love.

It's good to be home.

Some Lowbrow NYC Culture: Madame Tussauds

There are a slew of amazing museums in New York, but sometimes you just need a little mindless fun. Enter Madame Tussauds. Where else can you have photo ops with Pablo Picasso, Beyonce, and Ironman, all in one place?  Not to mention get scared half to death by zombies? Score.

The Obamas send their love. Bo rocks. Wish you were here:)

Exploring Chelsea & The High Line

Got to indulge in one of my favorite pastimes today...wandering around exploring a city. Time to just go wherever my feet take me, finding little treasures to take pictures of. Today, New York. Bliss, right?

Started out on Columbus Avenue only to be greeted by this group of exuberant poetry wielding kids...who could possibly pass up Free Poetry? My gift, this:

Jellybeans Up Your Nose

Johnny stuck jellybeans up his nose,
That’s a pretty dumb thing to do.
But the other kids said, “Hey Johnny’s real cool!
Let’s put beans in our noses too.”

Well, a kid can’t breathe with beans up his nose,
‘Cause they get all stuck inside.
So Johnny and the kids, well, I hate to say it,
But they coughed and they choked and they died.

That’s a pretty grim tale, I must admit,
And it may not all be true.
Still when somebody cool does something dumb.
You don’t have to do it too.

Columbus Avenue Poets

With some welcome assistance from my favorite book in a box, City Walks New York, I set off for the High Line. I wanted to take this walk last summer but never made it; this time it was first on my list. Free time? High Line. If you don't know about the High Line, it's a public park project sailing above the streets on Manhattan's West Side, seemingly magically built on an historic freight rail line. You get gorgeous perennial beds, benches, views into penthouse apartments and garbage cans, and so many people happy to be out on a gorgeous day, smiling.

High Line Entrance, 23rd Street

Many groups of school children on field trips, but these two little girls holding hands were the highlight. They walked along, arms swinging in unison, singing "I just wanna feel this moment, whoa, whoa, whoa" in the sweetest little voices.

Feeling the moment.

So much to take in.

Sit a spell.

Rail tracks gone perennial.

The view up wasn't bad either.

Al Anatsui, Broken Bridge II

Next, The Meatpacking District and Chelsea. Lunch on the shaded patio at The Park, with my Kindle. A little slice of Nirvana. And tuna.

It wouldn't be New York without models. Felt right at home, watching these two beauties teetering in their sky high heels, on cobblestones!

Then, The Chelsea Market.

And swoonworthy Chelsea streets.

Finished up with public art and, of course, a dog hanging out under a restaurant patio table. Because what is New York, or anywhere for that matter, without dogs?

What a treat this day was.