Tea Time.

THIS FOLDEDMIND on the many virtues of tea:

Perfect for a day like today - we're expecting rain and thunder storms non-stop here in NYC. My favorite kind of weather! Wishing you all a very happy weekend. 

PS: My brilliant friend, Liz Moody, asked me to contribute to the "Point of Writing" series on her blog recently, and the post went live today. Check it out, here. Thanks, Liz!

9 Eyes.

Loving this collection of Google Street View captures, curated by artist Jon Rafman on the website 9 Eyes. When putting together this post, I pulled a few of my favorites; only when I uploaded them to the blog did I realize they all featured animals. Figures.

Images via 9 Eyes. Thank you to the lovely Zivar for the introduction.

One of Those Moments.

This week on the Equals Record: thoughts on the tiny moments that often comprise our most beloved memories. Of the posts I've written so far for my column, this is one of the most meaningful to me, in many ways.

An excerpt from the new post: "One of the best gifts I’ve ever received was a stack of paper about an inch thick, held together with a large metal clip and titled 'Me, Hallucinating All Night Long.' It was a book, written by my dad, presented to my brother and me one year for Christmas. It was the story of the first forty years of his life, he explained, but it was written in the form of a list. More specifically, it was a collection of captions to photographs that had never been taken—an autobiography made up of small moments."

See the rest on the Equals Record, here, and past entries from my column, Looking Forward, here. Thank you so much for your kindness and support.

Top photo from Joseph Gordon-Levitt's The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories. Bottom photo by Max Wanger via Instagram.

Mel Scouts.

I don't shop for jewelry often - most of what I wear are family heirlooms - but I do love perusing flea markets and vintage stores when I can. So does Northern California-based Melody Yip, whose Etsy shop Mel Scouts is equal parts cute and quirky. And I love the oddball names (including the one given to this leather wallet: "Let Them Have Triple Decker Black Forest Cake").

A few favorite items: a charm bracelet commemorating the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle, a grouse bird print silk scarf, and a gold cocktail ring riddled with holes. See more at Mel Scouts, here.

Also, I had the pleasure of submitting a travel-related guest blog post to Natalie's beautiful blog, which you can find here (if you're not already sick of hearing me talk about milking goats).

Happy Tuesday!

Terrible.

Much to my embarrassment, I dissolved into an alarmingly loud fit of laughter in the middle of a (very) quiet coffee shop last week when I spotted these paintings, both part of a collection of work done by The Royal Art Lodge. Turns out, the site's archives are brimming with gems that are at once strange, dark, poignant, and, evidently, laugh-out-loud funny. Check it out for yourself, here.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! 

Cookie Crescents.

Because today is the last day of summer, I was going to try to come up with something clever for today's post about the changing of the seasons. When it came down to it, though, I ended up scrapping everything I wrote. Really, I just wanted an excuse to post a photo of Oreo cookies manipulated to resemble the phases of the moon.

So here it is. (Admit it: there's something oddly beautiful about this, right?)

Any exciting plans this weekend? I'll be going to the Turkish baths (one of my favorite New York activities in the fall), seeing a friend's band, and paying a visit to the Brooklyn Flea (I'm on the look-out for a new desk). Whatever you're doing and wherever you are, have a wonderful weekend - and happy fall! 

Image via Huffpost Women.

Writers, Directors, & Krazy Kats.

Curiosities worth sharing this sunny Thursday morning: writers, caught in various stages of undress,

clayboard coasters of famous directors,

and these cooler-than-cool photos of the Krazy Kat Club, a 1920s bohemian (treetop!) speakeasy.

Wishing you a wonderful day! I'm counting down the minutes to the weekend...

Writer photos, clockwise from top left: William S. Burroughs by Allen Ginsberg; Ray Bradbury by Baron Wolman; Ernest Hemingway and Jean Patchett: unknown. Krazy Kat Club photos: National Photo Company. Found via Wolf Eyebrows.

Wondrous Words.

Run by an English major (and a girl after my own heart), Otherwordly is a site that pays homage to "strange and lovely" words. For example, did you know that "jentacular" is an adjective meaning "relating to breakfast"? (I have a feeling that's one I could use in my day-to-day life.) Or that "apodyopsis" 'is "the act of mentally undressing someone"? You learn something new every day.

Below, a few more of my favorites.

Visit Otherwordly, here. Found via Jessica Comingore.

Oh, Freddie.

I know it's Monday. I know it's early. I know many of you are at your desks at work. But if you have a spare moment at any point today (or tomorrow, or the next day, or this week), you must watch Queen's performance of "Somebody to Love" from the excellent concert film Queen: Rock Montreal. I promise you, you will love it.

Have you ever played the "fantasy dinner party" game, where you're asked to name who you'd invite to dinner if you could choose anyone, dead or alive? I could go on for days with my list, but it'd definitely be musician-heavy: Patti Smith, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, Bob Dylan - and, of course, this guy below. Who's on your list?

  

You can watch Queen: Rock Montreal, streaming on Netflix or on iTunes. Big thanks to my parents for clueing me in! Happy Monday, everyone.

Photos by Neal Preston/Queen Productions Ltd.

Pink Hair.

A few days ago, I popped in to a midtown beauty supply store with a friend and spent the better portion of an hour trying on wigs. (Why hadn't I thought to do this sooner? We had so much fun. Here I am as a blonde.) Though I don't think I'm ready to go platinum just yet, I do like the idea of a little unexpected color. Pink streaks? I'm tempted.

Have a wonderful weekend! And if you have a moment, hop on over to Akiko's blog to check out a little Q&A we did about this lovely illustration. Thank you again, Akiko! 

NOTE: I'm having a very hard time sourcing these images, which were all found via Pinterest. If anyone can help me out, any info on original sources would be much appreciated. I'd love to be able to credit properly.

Daré alla Lucé.

Daré all a Lucé is an Italian phrase meaning "to give birth." It's also the name of a photography series by Amy Friend. On her website, Amy writes, "Through small deliberate interventions, I altered these vintage images, allowing light to pass through them. (After all, photographs are made possible with light.) In a literal and somewhat playful manner, I aimed to give the photographs back to the light."  Beautiful.

 

See more from Amy Friend, here; the entire series is incredible. Found thanks (again) to My Modern Met.

Second Chances.

I often forget that just after college - before I lived in Brooklyn and long before I started my freelance career - I lived in a tiny apartment in Manhattan and worked as an intern at a fashion design studio. I was twenty-two, thrilled to be in the city, and more than ready to call myself a New Yorker. But, much to my dismay at the time, things didn't quite work out according to plan. More on my false start, this week on the Equals Record. 

Here's a bit from the new post: "When people ask how long I’ve lived in New York, invariably, my answer is, I moved here in 2009. This is, in fact, true, but - I have to admit – it isn’t the whole truth. I moved to New York for the first time the winter after graduating college - in large part, because my boyfriend at the time was finishing his last year at Columbia, and I was eager to close what had been a very challenging long-distance chapter of our relationship. Until then, I’d never lived outside California (as an adult, anyway), and like many recent college graduates, I’d never had to think about things like finding my own apartment or paying my own bills. I arrived in January 2008, suitcases in tow, ready to move in to a Morningside Heights apartment I’d never seen before. I had no plan for finding a job, and no savings. But, I reassured myself, this is what one does after college – moves away, starts a new life. I was nervous, but I was thrilled at the thought of becoming a New Yorker. I lasted just under six months."

You can see the rest at the Equals Record, here, and find past entries from my column, Looking Forward, here. I can't thank you enough for reading; your kindness, encouragement, and support each week really means the world.

Photo from my Instagram. 

Homes On High.

A bit of daydream fodder for your Tuesday morning (since it seems I'm not the only one with my head in the clouds these days): Laurent Chehere's photo series "Flying Houses" takes homes off the streets of France and re-imagines them airborne. See you later, world.

Visit Laurent Chehere's website, here, and see more from the series, here. Have a wonderful day!

Found via Honestly WTF.

Adventurous Souls/Laughing Hearts.

Below, a quote, a poem (love Bukowski), and a photo, all too good not to share. 

It might be the changing of the seasons, but I've been feeling especially reflective lately. And I've become very absent-minded because of it. Twice this weekend, I missed my stop on the train - or got on the wrong one altogether - because I was so caught up in daydreams. Oh, well. There are worse things, right?

(Oh, and speaking of adventure, I know it's been a long time since I did one of these. I've got a couple of posts in the works - really looking forward to sharing them soon!)

Happy Monday!

Image 1: Shahir Zag. Image 2: via Every Day is Garbage Day. Image 3: "Swimming in the Rain" by Camila Massu.

Page Turners.

Everything about Prudie Sept's Pinterest board "Shh...Reading" makes me smile, especially that image at bottom left. Bathtub reading is the best.

Images, clockwise from top left: from Desperately Seeking Susan; Esther Haase via Le Figaro; Edouard Boubat; via This Recording (photographer unknown; please share if you know!); Imperial War Museum London; unknown (again, please share); Iban Barrenetxea. 

What are your plans this weekend? I've got a busy one ahead of me: I'll be grabbing dinner in Williamsburg with these beautiful girls, heading to the spa on Saturday with a couple of my closest friends, attending a football season kick-off party (stranger things have happened), and, somehow, squeezing in some work (I've got two deadlines on Sunday). Whew.

Wishing you all the happiest weekend, in the meantime. See you Monday!

Mining the Man Cave .

I've been a fan of the Etsy shop This Charming Man Cave for a long time. Brilliantly curated by Minnesotan Jeff Ibling, it's "a place to find vintage items that are strong enough for a woman, but made for a man." I love the books, grouped and sold by color,

the vintage records,

and all the various other odds and ends, including ice tongs from the 1930s, PBR salt and pepper shakers, a Rita Hayworth studio portrait, and a set of vintage archery arrows.

Charming (and yet, still manly), indeed. Great if you find yourself stumped - as I often do - when it comes to buying gifts for guys. See more, here.

Have a wonderful Thursday and a happy Fashion's Night Out!

Forms of Courage.

I'll be honest with you: submitting this week's Equals Record post made me incredibly nervous - It's never easy to admit when you don't do something well. In my case, I've always prided myself on being an optimist, but I've realized recently that when it comes to dealing with the harder things in life, I've got some work to do.

As always, an excerpt from the new post: "For a span of several months, I had a Holbrook Jackson quote as the wallpaper on my computer screen. Happiness is a form of courage, it read. I remember reading this for the first time, years ago, and feeling electrified. I found it so empowering. Every day, we’re confronted with a myriad of reasons to be angry, bitter, disappointed, discouraged, worried, frightened. People get sick. Friends move away. Relationships fall apart. We lose jobs, miss trains, trip on the stairs. We say things we don’t mean. Do things we wish we could take back. Take risks that lead us nowhere. To choose to celebrate the good in life in spite of all of this - to focus on the positive when really, it’s the last thing we want to do - is a beautiful thing. I believe this wholeheartedly. But. I’ve learned a curious thing recently."

Read more at the Equals Record, here. You can find past entries from my column, Looking Forward, here. Thank you so much for reading - I appreciate your support!

Image: Kogtev via this isn't happiness.  

Sweet Thing: Bakeri.

It's both a blessing and a curse to live within blocks of Bakeri. It's the kind of place you'd imagine might exist in the pages of a book, or in a romantic comedy, or in some lovely corner of an adorable Parisian neighborhood (this is coming from someone who's never been to Paris). Its excellent coffee, charming backyard, and cheerful staff (you can purchase the powder-blue jumpsuits they wear) make it one of my most beloved Brooklyn haunts. 

What's best, and also most dangerous: its glass cases are stocked daily with an abundance of alluring treats like this one, the curiously-named skolebrød (Norwegian for "school bread"). Pillow-soft, with a shower of sweet coconut and a velvety vanilla custard center, it is, dare I say, even better than a doughnut. And true to its name, it's also the perfect pastry to ring in September, a month I'll always associate with the buzz of going back to school. 

I'll take another, please.

Top two photos by Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times.