spring! at the farmer's market

I love spring. I love saturdays. I love Union Square's Greenmarket.

music underground

Back in February, Christian came up with a brilliant date night idea. He had been talking about these really great musicians that camp out in the west 4th street station and decided we should make a night out of going to see them play. So we roped in our friends Steve and Allie and set off on an underground music tour. We made stops at union square, grand central, 34th street, and west 4th. Some of the bands were AWESOME. I've always wanted to try my hand at some subway music making. That might have to be our next underground date.

p.s. Stay tuned for a video addition. It's in the works.

a winter escape

I had the week off of school so Christian planned a short trip to a cabin in Hillsdale. We rented a car with our friends Steve and Allie and drove about three hours north of the city. It was the perfect little getaway. Fresh air and trees and nothing to do. The place was absolutely beautiful. It snowed off and on the whole time we were there and I loved watching the snowflakes flutter down outside the window while reading my book next to the fire. Of course, the boys did some snow adventuring, but I was content to just take a few pictures of them shoveling and crawling around. Snow is pretty but it's cold. And wet.

the neighborhood

We've been living on 36th Street for a year and a half now. It's funny the way a place slowly becomes home and slowly you stop noticing the things around you. But then every once in a while I'm walking up 34th to go to the post office and the empire state is framed perfectly by brick buildings. Or early in the morning I turn the corner at 42nd and 3rd avenue and the Chrysler is just there: sparkling, stunning, magnificent. The city is sometimes too much. It's loud. It smells like cigarettes and underground steam and dirty snow. When it's cloudy and I'm tired, It seems like the buildings are crowding closer, closer. But when I stop to recognize its beauty I find that I actually love it. The energy of it. The craziness. The history.

Here's just a glimpse at some of the things we see almost every day. A few of the places I love most in our neighborhood. The gated alley across the street lined with 1850s carriage houses. The rooftops we look across at from our window. The 33rd street subway station. The empire state building seen from lexington avenue. And a look at 36th street from our balcony.

London

E. at Portobello Road and the ever-beautiful Westminster Abbey

Queen Victoria ruling over London and my grandparents at Haworth Village

Beatrix Potter's Hilltop Farm and the magical Yew tree at Skipton Castle

Twins.

View from the hill behind Dove Cottage

Arches upon arches at the Natural History Museum and the dog that lives in Garden Gate pub

I recently got back from a week-long trip to London (with an excursion to Chorley and the Lake District to visit my grandparents). I was visiting my friend Elizabeth, who is the absolute best, and it was basically the loveliest trip ever. We walked around and saw lots of London and spent some good time in museum shops (which are my favorite). We also attended a lomography workshop at the National Portrait Gallery and saw the musical "Once" which was just breathtakingly beautiful. I might have cried a little. Also, I bought a Cambridge satchel in Navy blue and adore it. Thank you, E. for showing me around London and adventuring in the Lake District with me. And speaking of the Lake District, I told Christian that we should probably just plan on retiring to the English countryside. Anyone is welcome to join us.

peek into an nyc shop: whisk

I found the prettiest little kitchen shop while out running errands the other day.

Isn't it charming and perfect?

the cave

It was actually a cold night. And phenomenally dark with the moon nowhere in sight. And despite the fact that we were all literally glowing with an array of glowthings: glow wands and glow sticks and glow bracelets and glow masks, we couldn’t see anything in front of us. But we trekked out anyways across fields of fragmented lava rock.

The cave looked like a doughnut: a swirly dark hole in front of us. We carefully climbed down its edges, circling and clinging desperately to lava rock, wondering how a cave could form this way. Air bubbles? Whirlpools?

We crouched down in parts, creeping through tight spaces with our glow around us, protecting us from the fear of whatever lived in there. But it was dry, dusty. Not the place for creepy crawling things anyways.

After what seemed like hours, the cave opened up into a dark cavern. We stopped. We looked around. We spread out into the space. And then someone said, “Well?” And someone else, “Grab a rock.”

We crushed our glowthings with rocks and they sprayed light onto our fingers. We flung the light at the walls and the floor, splattering every surface with stars. We created worlds. Galaxies. And the hum of the light filled the enormous space with a warmth and electricity entirely palpable and real. We leaned against the walls and disappeared into them, the specks of light on our clothing and skin making us part of the rock itself. I never imagined that such an unnatural light could be so beautiful. 

When the neon flecks started to dim, we crawled out of the cave into the black night, unaccompanied by the glow of the things we’d left behind. But we didn’t care. We were gods of creation. Immortal glow-spotted beings. And we laughed and stumbled back to the road as the fluorescent stars in the cave behind us melted into nonexistence.

1. pom pom hat | 2. cambridge satchel | 3. color-weave crew | 4. shearwater boot
5. enamel locket | 6. sheep print scarf

from chinatown

kaua'i

Here are some photos of our vacation in lovely Kaua'i with Christian's parents. It was so pretty and so warm and we soaked up every second of sun and ocean. With the weather we've had in the city lately I'm definitely wishing we could be back there right now!