Quaint

town | snowy central park

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

when i look back on photos of snow, the atmosphere seems so lovely. a sublime blend of tranquility and fun. but, at the time they're being taken, i'm encouraging scott to hang in there as we seem to be walking for miles while thinking 'just get this over with'. the problem with that is snow is so damn photogenic, especially in b&w, so we miss it when it's gone.

this weekend we hope to see gallery shows featuring photos by vivian maier, flickr friend trish mayo, and check-up on what charlie & his home health aide, shakira, have been up to. enjoy your weekend!

xo, cindy

life | good news

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:10:00 +0000

thank you so much for your caring & encouraging comments and emails regarding charlie! they made us feel so good, especially scott who now has a heightened sense of awareness of the importance of taking care of ourselves, too.

scott took charlie to the geriatric psychiatrist on thursday who gave him a test and he did really well. he answered 24 out of 26 questions correctly (not sure we could) and the doctor said many people in their 80s develop symptoms of dementia. the doctor prescribed two medications for charlie, and so far, he is a different person! it's like night & day talking with him, and thank god (and i do mean god) for the giants winning the game because he loves football.

so, onward on upward as we go. there was a small snowstorm this weekend and fortunately charlie lives near central park so we got to trapse around in it. today, it's in the 50s and the snow is all but forgotten.

xo, cindy

ps just as i figured out how to add the white frames to my photos really easily in lightroom, i decided not to use them at all. oy!

life | up in the air

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:15:00 +0000

scott's dad charlie was just diagnosed with dementia and i feel like our blog should take a break because it's overwhelming. i wrote a post about it, but can't press 'publish post' because the thought of not having this space makes me even more sad. so for now, even though i might only be around sporadically, it's all just up in the air and i'll see you when i see you.

xo, cindy

ps we walked past this wonderful installation hypergraphia: the cup drawings studio in the prow by gwyneth leech quite a few times without paying too much attention before aimee mentioned it on her blog. so glad she did because it is very cool.

life | bits & bobs

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:10:00 +0000

it's a nice day when i take a few minutes to make a proper cup of tea in the spirit of downton abbey (are you watching?). my favorite these days is the little dickens blend from bellocq with milk & honey.

i think my dentist & his wife are lonely because they keep having me come back for the slightest thing. it's trouble because on the way home i always stop to get something at a bakery like this chocolate peppermint cupcake from sprinkles.

brooklyn art library is so tempting for a collector who loves office supplies like this irresistible scotch tape dispenser, which seems right at home with our collection of red & white smalls.

enjoy the day!

xo, cindy

ps i've been meeting so many people who have known scott's father charlie for years and they all tell me what a great man he is. it's been tough going with him lately, so that's pretty awesome.

home | calendar display

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:49:00 +0000

i saw this idea in the january 2012 issue of martha stewart living and thought is was brilliant.

the aluminum ledge is a ticket holder used in restaurants by chefs to keep track of checks. marbles inside the track grab onto the notes (our stamp collection) without pins and the top is a perfect ledge for other things (the 2012 calendar i made on pinhole press). i bought mine from restaurant equipment solutions for a mere $7.50.

xo, cindy

ps thanks to asiye i'm starting a new 365-photo project where you post just one photo a week in this flickr group. here's my first one and it is bold. they also give weekly themes, but you only have until the end of january to join if you're interested.

life | focus, focus, focus

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

joy tanksley is a life coach and i really enjoy her inspirational monday morning spark videos. with the start of a new year, joy has a free audio download available where she shares her thoughts on the openness of intentions vs. the strictness of goals and i think it's great. she also discusses the difference between the things we can control vs. our power.

i don't really create resolutions, but for 2012 my intention is to improve my focus and i've put-up a reminder to keep that in mind. i won't get it right immediately, but improving the discipline of focus is something i can work on as my new 365-project.

xo, cindy

ps i wish dominique browning's post go where the love is was written years ago. her words are so true.

pps my tattly tattoo photo was featured as the daily click on shutter sisters and on tattly over the holidays. sweet!

life | it's a wrap

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:34:00 +0000

the only reason i was anxious to start 2012 was to finish up my 365-photo project and i did. for the last day, i wanted to take a special photo, but was not feeling well when i woke up - extreme dizziness, which did not seem to go away. but, it got better and through a bit of stumbling, which is totally acceptable on new year's eve, we had a nice brunch and later headed into the city.

we haven't been to the world trade center area since before 9/11/01 and when i saw the new building going up, 1 WTC, was adorned in holiday colors, i thought it would be a good time to see what's what. it is quite emotional going down there as it brings back the memories of the day, but sometimes you just have to deal with them. little did i imagine there would be such a beautiful sunset, too.

hope you had a great holiday!

xo, cindy

life | start again

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:50:00 +0000

wishing you a sparkly & safe new year, everyone. hope 2012 will be all you imagine and more!

xo, cindy

garden | choo choo!

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:15:00 +0000

i hope you all had a lovely holiday! on christmas eve we visited the new york botanical garden train show with my brother and it never fails to delight. enjoy the rest of the week and i'll be back with one more post to close-out the year.

xo, cindy

life | happy holidays!

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:39:00 +0000

festive wreaths provide a lovely display all over town. hope you have a wonderful holiday and a happy new year. thanks for visiting our neck of the woods this year and here's to a great 2012. personally, i've gotten a lot done this month and hope it carries forward.

xo, cindy

ps rachel platten is a new artist to me and her version of you're a mean one mr. grinch is really good.

town | lovely shops

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

clean, fresh home design can be found at save haven in soho.

the most fantastic mix of vintage & modern paper goods from brooklyn art libary in williamsburg, brooklyn. jen's book w o r d is for sale here and it is our new favorite store.

the sketchbook project is housed within brooklyn art library and erika will have a sketchbook included here, eventually. can't wait to see it.

although i think the mannequins could use some hair, the new orla kiely shop in soho is wonderful. can we move in?

a fine curated collection of paper goods & furniture can be found at top hat in the lower east side, which was recommended by jen. these are japanese pin cushions made with vintage kimono fabrics.

a rare photo from marimekko in chelsea because the second time we visited no photos were allowed.

feels like summer in france at les toiles du soleil in chelsea. awesome and i love the striped espadrilles.

we've done our fair share of shopping at big brand stores this season (the sales have been incredible), but visiting smaller shops & holiday boutiques were the shopping highlights of the season. hope your holiday prep is going well!

xo, cindy

work | convertible cart

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:28:00 +0000

back in november i got a cart to take shop orders to the post office, which is a mile round trip. it kind of makes me feel like a little old lady, but taking the bus is not an option because that would put our shop into the red and we want to have happy customers & be profitable. plus, the walk is good exercise.

the cart is also great for the 40 lbs of laundry we do each week (yes, i weighed it), especially if the laundry room is crowded and i have to go back later. i made the liner myself yesterday and it was fun to sew again, which is how i got started posting photos online in the first place.

today, i realized it's also perfect with the vintage mahogany tray we bought this summer placed on top as an impromptu table for still life photography. it's the simple things y'all. enjoy your weekend. hope it's good.

xo, cindy

ps have you seen the TED talk about gratitude by louie schwartzberg? it's terrific and the little girl about halfway through - awesome.

pps my brother told me about these cool personal greetings you can get from santa, himself. have you been naughty or nice? santa knows.

art | flaming cactus

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:11:00 +0000

my intention each weekend is to go around town and take some photos of the holiday decorations to share, but then i get distracted. isn't this flaming cactus installation cool? created by the animus arts collective in cooper square it was made by fastening 32,000 fluorescent-colored cable ties to 14 lampposts to show that anyone can make wonderful art using simple, everyday items.

it is so interesting to see & touch, and if you try real hard, the cacti kind of resemble {very thin} christmas trees, especially if you live in the desert. read more about the project here.

xo, cindy

ps claudia's idea for beautifying her ugly christmas tree stand is very clever.

town | last days of fall

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:28:00 +0000

dear fall:

how about you stick around just a little bit longer? whaddya say?

xo, cindy

ps love this new song by surfer blood. seems like summertime in their world all of the time.

town | weekend beauty

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:11:00 +0000

the weather was beautiful this weekend & we've been lucky to have a true fall season this year.

there were romantics leaving lovely messages on construction sites.

cool ironwork outside a tattoo parlor in brooklyn.

a color coordinated shrine.

a very inventive bench in long island city.

and a shadow poser with a lot of patience - over to the right, raise your arm up, higher, no lower :).

thanks for the well wishes everyone! i fell off the face of the earth for a bit, but thanks to some tlc and scott airing me out like a hot house plant over the weekend (vitamin d from the sun), i'm just about all better. last week i also finished my accounting class (a+), ordered a 2012 calendar from pinhole press and our 2010 blurb book, so things are getting back on track and i hope to do the same on this old blog by creating a schedule of sorts for the rest of the year.

hope your holiday activities are going well. we've got our cards & the stamps!

xo, cindy

ps have you seen the summary of the most powerful photos of 2011? so good!

life | family treasures

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:46:00 +0000

over the thanksgiving holiday, my brother gave me a small photo album that gives me just what i need to prove (to scott) that i was a domestic diva and quite stylish as a kid. he was also quite stylish with his pinky ring and our mom in her confirmation dress - beautiful.

i genuinely loved that pretend vacuum cleaner, which made the hum sound, and also enjoyed wearing pretty dresses with hats and gloves. nowadays, i'll pass on the vacuuming, but a pretty dress every now and then might be nice.

xo, cindy

ps today i have such a bad cold and really miss my mom's tlc. things i didn't care for at all as a kid like soft-boiled eggs with toast and vicks vapor rub would be so welcome right about now.

life | giving thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:02:00 +0000

we'll be celebrating thanksgiving here in the us tomorrow and the holiday makes us think about what's good in our lives. even though there's a tendency to harp on the bad stuff, in many ways it's the small gestures of kindness that make it all worth it.

take my email inbox for instance. i have a folder containing all of the blog comments we've received over the years and as of today it has over 8,900 emails. wow, that's a lot of nice notes of encouragement about us, charlie, someplace we went, or whatever was up that day. it's pretty awesome, so thank you for being awesome and making us feel that way, too.

have a lovely holiday if you celebrate and a good weekend!

xo, cindy

ps isn't that birdhouse the coolest? it's about 20' high in gramercy park, which is a private park except for those of us looking over the fence and the birds.

town | art out & about

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:15:00 +0000

one of the greatest things about living in this town is finding a vast variety of art, including work like this mural in williamsburg, brooklyn. it's definitely kind of scary, but interesting just the same.

i never realized this love sculpture by robert indiana was located just a few steps away from the hotel where scott & i had our wedding reception. maybe that's the reason why we've lasted so long as a couple :)?

i learned about the paintings by mark nilsson from jen who had one created of herself on her last trip to nyc. she posed for him just outside the museum of modern art for an hour and i give her all the credit in the world for doing so because it is hectic.

the last photo was taken by ms. artsyville herself and features me (on the left) and aimee (on the right) who recently moved from kansas to new jersey. this sunday, aimee spent her sunday morning with me at the museum of modern art (see her wonderful photos here) and meeting someone in person you've come to know online is such a special treat.

one of the highlights of blogging by far is getting to know smart, creative folks from around the world who enrich our lives in so many ways. and, it's funny, when you actually meet you seem to know so much about each other, but not quite all the details and nuances.

xo, cindy

garden | shades of red

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:41:00 +0000

we also saw some bits of red at the new york botanical garden this weekend (i should really work there, already), including a lovely red rose. it's hard to believe thanksgiving is next week and how this year seems to be flying, or is it me? starting a new year means starting a new calendar and jen has a nice wrap-up of some beauties, which reminds me to get busy on ours.

xo, cindy

garden | yellow & gold

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:30:00 +0000

although we didn't get to do everything we planned this weekend, we did get to enjoy some fall color at the new york botanical garden and it was golden. the bee is what got me and i thank it for posing.

xo, cindy

pics | afternoon light

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:00:00 +0000

i'm taking an accounting class on mondays and one benefit is being out during sunset. the other is the work-out i get from carrying the text books because they weigh almost 10 pounds!

taking on a 365-project of any sort is likely to push you outside your comfort zone. for me, photographing in low light vs. the bright white i'm usually drawn to has been the biggest challenge.

korean photographer ahae has taken an ongoing photography project to the next level by capturing over one million photos over a two-year period from the same window. some of them were on display in the 'through my window' exhibit at grand central station recently and the way the photos were illuminated almost made them come to life.

catskill comfort in jack's stir brew coffee in amagansett looks beautiful in the afternoon light. probably tastes good, too.

the weather has been beautiful lately, unseasonably warm with the prettiest colored skies.

xo, cindy

ps i meant to post photos from the new york city marathon, but fell behind this week. there are a few over on flickr if you want to see them. it's one of those events you don't really want to go to without knowing someone in the race, but once you get there it's so much fun.

trip | the beach

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:06:00 +0000

fortunately, we went to east hampton the weekend before the snowstorm. it was beautiful.

we love the french restaurant pierre's for breakfast, lunch or dinner even though it makes use a little nervous to eat there. the menu is in french, so we feel kind of dopey ordering by pointing. c'est la vie (such is life).

scott found this vintage oil painting in sage street antiques in sag harbor. it's a painting of a local scene so we took it over there to compare. yep, well done and a special find as we love both places.

this recently restored victorian is so pretty.

the pond is on a busy road, but tranquil anyway.

scott loves to say the name of this shop when he speaks italian, which is rare unless he's ordering italian food. we're trying to learn italian and have been stuck on 'beige' and 'il ketchup' for the longest time. questa e la vita (such is life).

the american hotel in sag harbor looks so nice.

early morning light reveals cool shadows and wet slippers from the morning dew. such is life :).

xo, cindy

ps i just learned about the band lord huron and love their sound. they make me want to hop on a plane and fly off to somewhere warm.

town | snowstorm

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:28:00 +0000

we knew snow was expected on saturday, but not until the evening. i suppose it was evening someplace at 11 am when we saw it change from rain to snow while on the subway heading to the museum of modern art for the de kooning exhibit.

although it's unusual to have snow this early, what really struck us was the weight of it on our umbrellas and the trees. so many trees have been lost and my brother in new jersey hasn't had power since saturday. we didn' lose power, but being cold & wet make us feel old. we couldn't get home fast enough that day.

xo, cindy

ps see anything strange in the second photo :)?

fun | pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:57:00 +0000

i really don't like looking at those monsters too much, pumpkins are much nicer. have a happy halloween & weekend. next week we'll have some snaps from the beach!

xo, cindy

ps surfer blood has a new album out and it is really good. we're expecting some snow this weekend (ugh!) and plan to ignore it by listening to their beachy-sound.

life | oh rats, dentist!

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:52:00 +0000

i had to go to the dentist, today. i felt a tooth ache might be coming on. i kind of felt like this. no, i felt like this!

on the way i passed this trapped rat, which scared me to death when it started to move. nice. good morning to you, too!

my dentist is really nice and it wasn't as bad as i expected, so how about a hug? i kid. maybe it's me, but halloween decorations are sure getting scary these days. what happened to the cute pumpkin people? zombies!

xo, cindy