garden | peony love

i love peonies, but not enough to get up close & personal as one photographer at the new york botanical garden this weekend. i've seen this woman before and i'm pretty sure she does this for the entire row, which is at least 25' long. hope you had a nice weekend. it's hot, hot, hot here.

xo, cindy

art | krypton neon

i always look in the window at krypton neon in long island city because i think it's so cool & mysterious. last weekend they had an open studio and we were able to go inside. oh boy! it's still cool & mysterious, but would have been even more so with the lights turned off. but, then again, we'd probably end up on the floor because there was a lot of stuff in there y'all. enjoy your weekend!

xo, cindy

ps i haven't had any new music, lately. i'm trying to get used to not listening to the radio non-stop as some sort of noise has kept me company since i was a kid. in the afternoon, i listen to the street noise - cars going by, birds, leaves in the trees, people talking outside our window, and the cutest little girl across the street even though i don't understand a word she says, although i do understand when she's not happy.

garden | come on people

i'm no bill cunningham when it comes to street photography, but sometimes people 'step into my shot' and i get lucky. it's supposed to be fun though, right?

well, see the last photo? aren't those ladies who look like sisters cute? i saw them and hurried to the end of the path to take a photo as they walked towards me. then, that guy came along. man! in my head i'm like - get out of my shot! - until i realized he was with them, so i probably ruined his shot.

i promptly skedaddled and realized at that moment i'd forgotten to have fun. i mean, if i'm not getting paid for this stuff, i better at least be having some fun. so, to the nice ladies & their friend, i'm sorry. my bad.

xo, cindy

ps the documentary about bill cunningham is fabulous. it's the best movie we've seen all year & it is fun because he is.

shop | chance

i've mentioned the fashion line founded by julia leach called chance several times before and was lucky to visit the pop-up shop this weekend (open may + june). julia was the creative director at kate spade for more than a decade and her attention to detail is impeccable. with a nod to the beach, the line features wonderful striped t-shirts, dresses, button downs (my favorite) and hats in a classic, modern vibe, together with julia's carefully curated collection of bags, jewelry, scarves, art and even soap from other wonderful creatives. they were really nice (thanks for letting me snap some pics) and i hope chance will give their shop a chance & stick around.

xo, cindy

ps i always find the best music recommendations on chance, including the new one from fleet foxes - grown oceans.

life | get on board

fujifilm instax | a couple more of the bus in full here

when i was in brooklyn with jen, we came upon the one million acts of kindness bus. have you heard about this before? after 9/11/01 and the shootings at virginia tech, bob decided he had enough of the violence and was going to do something. he bought a bus on craigslist, had his friends & family paint it and is spending 10 years traveling around the country with his dog bogart spreading the word. the goal of the project is to encourage each person to perform one million acts of kindness in their lifetime and that sounds good to me.

something else that sounds good to me is the italian band - il volo. i saw them on american idol this week and at first was amused because they don't really sing in a style i usually like - kind of old-fashioned. but, after listening to them for a while, i think they're great. and, the dude in the red glasses is so cute. listen to the girls squeal when he sings, but that's not me. really ;). enjoy your weekend!

xo, cindy

flowers | sweet peas

as much as i love pink roses, i love sweet peas even more. they are hard for me to grow and when i do find a bunch in the farmer's market they're not inexpensive. these were $20 and only lasted a few days, but sometimes you just have to splurge, a bit. well, scott does :).

turns out, the hardest part was taking a photo of me holding them even with scott's help. i set up the camera on the tripod, so all i had to do was get centered and it should be no big deal, right? not! i couldn't hold them straight or get my fingers not to look all weird, plus i could see the entire camera move when scott pressed the shutter. every time. dude, gently! so, i got out the wireless remote control, which he pressed while sitting on the couch. oy!

xo, cindy

ps michelle of blue moss has a lovely post today about our vintage shop. thank you, michelle!

brooklyn | rainy days

brooklyn bridge | manhattan bridge

jen is in town to attend the national stationery show and took some time to hang out with me, yesterday. i had a whole itinerary planned because i don't like out of towners to miss doing things they enjoy, but the weather can't be scheduled. it's been raining quite a bit, and although a trip on the staten island ferry was scrapped, a walk over the brooklyn bridge wasn't. it was chilly, but bridges do look cool through the fog and in photos.

xo, cindy

ps batches of locks are scattered here & there on the brooklyn bridge and i wish i had one to leave, myself.

flowers | aging with grace

recently, i was lucky to receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers created by nicollete camille who said the coral peony was her favorite flower because as it ages the colors change. she was right and this transformation seemed to happen overnight. now, if only i could age as gracefully. enjoy your weekend!

xo, cindy

ps i also just got a copy of the new photography book plate to pixel by helene dujardin from the wonderful blog tartlette. even though i don't photograph food that much, this book is chock full of great information for styled photography and the pics are gorgeous.

garden | azaleas

we went to the opening of the new azalea garden at the new york botanical garden this weekend and not only did my fuji instax like all the bright colors, so did we. those pink fluffs remind me of cotton candy.

xo, cindy

color | pink in short

yellow is swell, but i do like my pink. i used to be so self-conscious about the long posts i would write and really tried to get to the point and shorten them. but, at the rate i'm going, i think the next post might be -

.

happy mother's day to all the moms and to anyone who acts like one from time to time. enjoy your weekend :)!

xo, cindy

color | bits of yellow

although pink seems to be the color of choice for spring, i do love the yellows whether on a sunny day or through the fog. i'm sorry i've been mia, but this shop business takes a lot of time. how do people sustain personal relationships, blog, tweet, facebook, flickr, create, have a shop and/or another job and sleep? i really don't know!

xo, cindy

ps sometimes, i learn about wonderful bands on twitter and the walla recovery is one of 'em. i love their cello-folk sound and they're giving away a free download.