life | family treasures

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 :)?