garden | fall in wave hill

somehow, i go it into my head yesterday that all the photos on our computer had to be re-organized, immediately. i thought i was pretty systematic with my image-handling, but they are all over the place - iphoto, lightroom, my photos, pictures, back-ups - oy!

i've already deleted 3,000+ and i bet there are at least that many more headed for the trash. i just hope i don't delete something 'important' in my haste, but fortunately, these three from wave hill are safe and sound online.

although it's a smaller botanical garden, wave hill always has the most wonderful art installations and the current exhibit is about the hive culture of honeybees. my favorite images were the bittersweet & delicate photos of bees by talia greene, which you can see online.

xo, cindy

fun | artsy-style

over the years, i've made a lot of dear blogging friends through aimee's artysville blog and found endless inspiration from her creativity. right about now she's probably super busy (tearing her hair out) as she gets her family ready to move to the nyc area for a new chapter in their lives. i pulled together some artsy-style photos in order to reassure aimee that one thing she doesn't have to worry about is finding plenty of doodle-worthy inspiration this side of the mississippi.

xo, cindy

ps speaking of inspiring, our charlie is on pictory, today!

fun | smallwoods guest post

thank you for all the nice words about the last post & our charlie boy. if you get a chance, please join me over at tamara's place for a guest post about some of my favorite things. i'm not sure you'll find any surprises, but you will see a photo of me, sort of :).

xo, cindy

life | real man

when scott called charlie on friday to check in and mentioned we wouldn't be visiting him this weekend, charlie said he would miss us. so, we felt bad and told him saturday night that we would come on sunday and take him out to lunch.

well, when we got there charlie had 'just' decided he wanted to go someplace else and it was for old people. translation, not with us. we usually go with the flow, but it was a beautiful day and we changed our plans for him. we were furious and said so.

after a rather loud discussion and in an effort to move on, which charlie mentioned several times, he told us he had gotten a manicure & pedicure earlier that week. we all laughed so hard at the thought of it and i don't think his nails have ever looked better. i think he's going to do it, again.

xo, cindy

ps for our new readers, charlie is scott's father and ever since scott's mom, helen, passed away a couple of years ago, he's become kind of like our son.

garden | flowers abound

overnight, it's gotten quite chilly around here, and although we're happy to turn off the a/c, we're not ready to turn on the heat. last weekend we didn't know what to do with ourselves, so we visited the new york botanical garden and found plenty of late summer flowers still in bloom - hurray! enjoy your weekend.

xo, cindy

project | the 365-continues

the view from charlie's 11th floor terrace is interesting & scary if you're afraid of heights. i'm kind of on the fence.

the coolest snail mail from jen.

an interesting way to recycle bottles.

joe mcnally's photography exhibit, faces of ground zero, featured photos of heroes taken ten years ago & now. his work is beautiful, but the incredible stories of survival were what made them speak to us.

today is the 256th day of the year and my 365-photography project is still going. although i don't want to count down the days of my life and hurry them along, i'll be happy when this project is finished. maybe it's me, but didn't this summer seem to fly?

xo, cindy

ps i'm too indecisive to get a permanent tattoo, but these temporary tattly's look fun.

life | summer's end

as everyone knows, this weekend marks the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. in some ways, it seems like yesterday. in others, it feels like a lifetime ago. there's a new terror threat here, which means people with machine guns in public places, bag checks and lots of added commotion. it's unnerving as most people are just regular folks who enjoy picnics, ice cream, roses and bicycles. where's the harm in those things?

we'll probably go look at the tribute in lights, but i don't think i can take a better photo than this one from last year and that's fine with me. enjoy your weekend.

xo, cindy

ps the empire state of mind version by alicia keys is my favorite new york-inspired song, but you don't have to live here to feel that way or even have visited. new york is a state of mind.

travel | bartlett house inn

when we visited greenport on the north shore of long island, we stayed at the bartlett house inn on the recommendation of a friend. it is a beautifully restored victorian b&b enhanced with every modern day convenience, but the thing that stood out most to us was the hospitality of the innkeepers, jack & diane. reminds me of the song now that i think about it - wonder how many times they're heard that one?

we were supposed to go on a friday for the weekend, but scott's dad, charlie, wasn't feeling well and had an appointment with the doctor. we thought scott should go with him and called the inn to let them know we wouldn't be arriving that day. we expected to lose our money, but diane was so understanding and able to book the room for the night on super short notice making us really happy about doing the right thing.

the inn is very photogenic (beautiful light) and diane would leave the doors open to some of the unoccupied guest rooms making it easy to snoop. we didn't have enough time in greenpoint and will definitely being going back. not sure when, but we know where we'll stay.

xo, cindy

travel | north shore

a couple of weeks ago, prior to the hurricane, we went to the north shore of long island (greenport) instead of the south shore (hamptons). it is so pretty there and not as flashy. beaches, flower farms, tons of vineyards, bicycles, a vintage diner and more, so cool. i took about 200 photos in two days, so i'm afraid i'll have a second batch next week, including the pretty bed & breakfast where we stayed. enjoy your weekend!

xo, cindy

ps aren't those light fixtures in the diner the coolest?