Awesome Days

I'm feeling significantly better today!  Huzzah!   I still have a bit of a lingering cough, and by that I mean every thirty minutes or so a sound comes out of my mouth that sounds like I'm strangling a kitten, but I feel great.  I have all kinds of energy, optimism, and enthusiasm.  My train completely screwed me out of getting to work on time this morning, but nothing shall get me down today! Today is an awesome day. I'm even going to be able to go back to martial arts tonight, which makes me stupidly happy.  I've missed beating the crap out of people on a daily basis.  That probably sounds insane, but don't worry, we're kind of padded, and taught how to dodge/ block/ parry/ run away screaming.  

Feeling better made me actually dress up today.  That's pretty normal, to be honest, but this past week, I just kind of grabbed stuff in an attempt to be as comfy as possible.  Also, to wake up as late as possible.  Putting together an outfit takes at least 5 minutes, if not up to 25, and when you're trying to get every available moment of sleep in order to heal, waking up at 7 when you have to leave by 8 sounds much less appealing than waking up at 7:30.  If you wake up at 7:30, you still have time to eat, clean yourself up, and get dressed, but not enough time to plan an excellently cohesive outfit.  But, today, I woke up early, and I tried.  

However, I didn't get any good photos of my outfit.  I wanted to.  I love looking at fashion blogs and Lookbook, seeing the beautiful girls and handsome guys wearing their best, appearing so attractive and cool.  Sometimes I wish that I could be like that.  I had a fashion blog briefly in college, and I loved it.  But, I feel way too weird about asking someone to photograph me.  My boyfriend works at night, so when I wake up in the morning, he's still asleep.  I'm not going to wake him up for the express purpose of taking my photo, because that is lame.  I'm also not going to set up my camera on a bench in the park, because I've tried that, and it takes far too much finagling.  Also, it makes me feel awkward.

Here is is the print of my dress.  There are horsies.

So, these are some awkward shots of parts of my outfit.  One day I'll grow a pair and feel confident enough to ask someone at work to take my photograph.  Right now, I still feel like that is something that only people who are stuck on themselves do.  And I have no interest in being that jerk of a person.  At least I allow myself to feel good about looking nice!  I feel proud of the fact that I put together a nice outfit today, but I don't want to ask anyone to document it.

 This is a blurry photo of my scarf and blazer.  My scarf is blue.  My blazer is brown.  

Also, I have hair.

This shyness really is a problem. However, I'm posting this to promise myself that I will overcome it.  I will start posting fashion photos sometimes because, well, I want to, and maybe it will make me feel even better about this new, more toned and thin body I'm sporting these days.  I promise that soon, I will get someone to take photos of me posing, and I will feel good about them.  I will feel good about my body and my face in them.  This will happen. 

In the meantime, here are my boots, tights and skirt, photographed as I was walking.  

Next time instead of posting a photo of me that looks like this, and screams, "Oh god look how artsy I am!  I mean, look at me, I'm just so, oooh.  Artsy," I will post a photo that is just, well, me.  Wearing clothes.  And, at least pretending to feel good about myself in them.  Eventually, I won't be pretending.  I'll be as proud of my body as I am of what I put on it.  

That is going to be an even more awesome day!

Until then... Aaaaaarrrrrrrtssssssyyyyyyyy......

Sundresses, Horses, Puppies, Balloons, Sunshine, Shakespeare, and Other Awesomeness

On nice days, you see a strange, wonderful migtation in New York City:  everyone emerges from their apartments, offices, and cracks in the sidewalk to hang out in the parks.  Park culture is amazing here in NYC.  Considering the majority of the limits are composed of a crazy concrete jungle, it's nice to get a little green in your life, instead of the concrete, asphault, brick and brownstone.  In some parks, including parts of Prospect Park, Van Cortland Park and Central Park, you actually cannot see any buildings.  This gives you the illusion that maybe you are actually in a forest, but really, you're smack dab in the middle of one of the world's largest cities. 

I love the parks, and on nice days, I especially love people watching in them.  There is this fantastic phenomenon that my boyfriend and some of the guys he works with have dubbed "sundress day".  It's basically a holiday, and like Easter, it floats.  Sundress Day is the first gorgeous, warm, and not windy day of spring, when all of the women of New York whip out their favourite sundress, be it new or the one they have been dreaming about repeating since last September.  Then, they all sit in the park and flaunt how awesome they feel in said sundress.  Guys all over the city then also flock to the park, and try to look as excellent as possible to impress all of the fabulously dressed ladies.  It is quite a show, and in smaller parks like Union Square and Washington Square, it can actually be difficult to get a bench seat. 

These photos were not taken on sundress day- I was unfortunately working when it happened.  But, they were all taken during sundress season- the week or so after sundress day when all the girls are still excited, and wearing summery stuff.  And, all of them are from Central Park!

First, we have the delightfully chill hipster chick, relaxing on a bench with her banana snack, looking like she just doesn't care.  Hip- like a hipster.

Then, we have this criminally adorable little puppy.  Going to the park does NOT help my dog-lust.  Ever.  Parks are fully of dogs, and I want a dog so badly... and that's bad.  I can't care for a dog right now- I have no backyard and barely any budget.  Plus, I'm thinking about going to grad school in a different country.  It's not time for a dog... but this one is so cute!

I titled this photograph "The Horse and His Boy".  It seems to make sense to me.  The horse and his carriage driver look like they are having a conversation to me.  The horse is asking for something, and his bowler-becked buddy is saying "Whadya want?" in a stereotypical Brooklyn awesome accent.  The horse sounds like Mr. Ed, because he is the only talking horse from pop culture that comes to mind at the moment.

This photograph is titled "Think True Love Acted Simple Modesty," which is a quote from one of Juliet's monologues in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  This statue is in front of the Delacorte Theatre, where Shakespeare in the Park is performed.  My boyfriend is working on the shows this year, so hopefully, I'll be around there quite a bit.  I love the area surrounding the theatre- the statues of the Shakespeare characters, the Shakespeare Garden, full of beautiful flowers and plaques with quotes from the Bard's plays and sonnets, the Belvedere Castle atop the cliff.  It's gorgeous. I'm not sure if this statue is meant to be Romeo and Juliet... I'll have to read the plaque another time.  But, the quote seemed to fit.  This dip is so elegantly romantic, I feel a bit swoony.  In a great kind of way. 

This next photograph makes me giggle.  This man was making and selling balloon animals and swords for children outside of the Central Park zoo.  However, at this moment, his placement of some of the swords is, well, kind of hilariously awesome.

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

A Reading Romp

 No, not Reading like a book.

 Reading, Pennsylvania!

Get it?  You're reading... at a library... in Reading...

And here we have probably the most fabulous play on Alice in Wonderland that I have ever seen.  Quite possibly the best grafitti I've seen in a while.  This was right across the street from the library too.

You may have noticed that the photos in this post are very dark lighting-wise and have an ethereal, slightly out-of-focus feel.  This is me being "artistic" and trying new tactics.

Alright... that's half true.  These photos are dark because, well, it was really dark that day, and they are blurrly because they were taken out of the window of my car. I was on my way to Kutztown, to visit Jenny and Donna.  There was a lot of stop and go traffic through downtown, so I took the opportunity to get some photographs!

Reading, Pennsylvania, USA

Horse and Carriage Parking Only

Oxford is the town next to West Grove, where I grew up.  My area was fairly rural- some of my friends don't really grasp what it was like growing up in a town with one stoplight, cornfields, and Amish buggies.  Driving in my area was always tricky- many of the roads were so old, that two normal sized cars cannot pass one another very easily, especially around twists and turns in the woods.  Lines in the middle of the road are few and far between, and shoulders and sidewalks are distant dreams.  Some roads aren't even paved.  Going around the turns becomes even more difficult when there is an Amish buggy.

If that depiction didn't give you an idea, I think that this photograph captures it pretty brilliantly.  

And to top it off, this parking spot was at the DMV.  Amazing. 

Oxford, Pennsylvania, USA

My High Horse

Statue in the Garden of Grasalkovičov Palac, The Presidential Palace

Bratislava, Slovakia

Like this?  Then you will probably like Enchantment and The Actor.