Petal Pusher

Although we are still in the depths of winter, spring has sprung along Park Avenue. Artist Will Ryman has "planted" 38 of his rose sculptures along the centre of the avenue. Made of fiberglass, they are huge - up to 25 feet in height - and come resplendent with lady birds, ants and fallen petals. The jury is still out for me. But hey. Any color is good color in winter, right?

images: (1) new york times, (rest) mine

"A Shore Thing"

Love it or hate it, living here you can't get away from Jersey Shore. In fact, apparently it has "blown up" in Africa, Australia and the UK to name a few other devoted countries. "Snooki", Mike "The Situation", Vinny and other cast members have blasted their way into our lives and our living rooms and - God forbid - the front row of certain fashion shows, for the past year. Their antics fill the tabloids and the blogosphere, their language has entered the vernacular - badonk, guidettes and juiced-up - and now, in case you just can't get enough, there is a book by Snooki herself, to add to your book shelf.

A Shore Thing is a thinly veiled novel following the lives of friends and cousins Gia Spumanti and Bella Rizzoli - aka Snooki and J-WOWW - as they fill in life's hours on the Jersey Shore. And as expected, the airwaves are buzzing with Snooki-isms as she gets interviewed by Dave Letterman,  The Today Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Access Hollywood....the list is endless. I am not really sure if that says more about Snooki or the state of American talk shows.

But you have to hand it to the pint-sized guidette. She is now a huge household name, has a jewelry line, slippers range and a book, and plans on continuing to build the Snooki brand. For a 4'9" nobody, she has certainly taken that famous Warhol quote to heart and blown out her fame to well over 15 minutes.

images:  ny daily news, oh the scandal

When it Snows it Pours

OK, I know I continually say I love it when it snows in New York, but maybe not when it involves air travel.

I was supposed to leave for Barcelona last Wednesday night. But after Delta and Continental cancelled their flights due to a pending snowstorm, we wondered what American was going to do. Pigheadedly, they continued to say everything was ok. So off we traipsed to JFK for an 8:50pm flight.

After sitting in the plane on the tarmac for 2 hours waiting for the ice and sleet to turn to snow (who knew), then waiting another 30 minutes while the plane was de-iced (another learning for me), we slowly taxied to the runway. By this time it was snowing so heavily I could not see out the window and wondered who on earth the pilot thought he was. A Kamikaze fighter pilot? But then his voice came over the PA in that calm, assured, American pilot I-Am-Concerned-About-Your-Safety voice saying, "Well ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid there is already snow piling on the wings (really?) So we will have to go back to our gate and try again tomorrow."

That left a plane full of very sleepy and unhappy passengers tumbling back out into the departure lounge in all sorts of unattractive plane sleepwear, only to have to wait another 40 minutes before they told us our luggage could not be taken off the plane as the door to the hold had iced over!

Try getting back to Manhattan in the middle of the night, when the roads are so icy and laden with snow that only the bravest cabbie would be seen dead at the airport. 150 passengers and 5 yellow cabs? Recipe for disaster.  Airport hotels full? There is only one solution. Hail an illegal minivan cab, pay an extortionate price per head and place your own life along with 5 others into the hands of two black dudes from the Bronx.

Therein followed a hilarious if not terrifying 3 hour snail's pace trip back to the city. Have you seen the movie The Road? That's what the Long Island Expressway looked like. A scene from a post apocalyptic nightmare. 

Cars were abandoned along the sides of the highway, already invisible to the naked eye except for snowy mounds dotted along the way. Lone figures dressed in black suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, heading for God knows where. Trucks were reversing and turning in the middle of the highway only to drive back down the road the wrong way to find a better route. All street signs were so covered in snow that drivers did not know which turn to make. Our windscreen wipers kept icing over and the heating/air con didn't work, so our windows were open to clear the windscreen and freeze our bodies. The snow was coming down so heavily, it was impossible to differentiate the road from the dividing walls or the trees or sidestreet stores. All this just for a work trip!

Miraculously, we slithered our way into Manhattan after 3am only to find just as much snow and an eerie yellow light over everything.

Thursday dawned grey and uninviting. Central Park had seen 18 inches of snow. That night we turned around and made our way out to JFK again. This time our plane took off and we finally made it to sunny Barcelona.

images: telegraph, james carbone, new york daily news, dan nguyen

Traveling

And so it begins again. But I am not complaining. I'm off to Barcelona for 5 days and this is where I'm staying!

Faking It

Hilarious. It's minus 7 degrees celsius here today and I'm shielding myself against the brutal wind in Nolita, careful not to slip on the sidewalk ice. Amongst all the black asphalt and grey snow, my eye is suddenly drawn to a store window that is green and leafy! But wait, that's not a store, it's a park! Well, sort of. It's a "Pop Up Park".

The current resident of the store, Openhouse Gallery is an exhibition and pop up retail location. "Park Here" has been installed for the pleasure of New Yorkers during the chilly month of January. The once basic white space has been converted into a warm and green fake park, resplendent with faux grass, evergreens, a pond, benches, a see-saw and trilling bird sounds. There is even "sunlight" and heat to overcome your seasonal affective disorder! And a little wooden stand where you can buy steaming hot coffee and cookies. And like every type of park in Manhattan, it was full of people and dogs lying about. Whoever said New Yorkers were a superficial lot! So long as it is warm and green, they will come.....

Images:  (1, 3, 5-7) openhouse gallery, (2) green design hq,  (4) ny curbed

Snow by the Sea

We went for a walk on the weekend to Greenwich Point Park. It was a perfect winter's day; very cold, deep blue sky, no wind and a perfectly still Long Island Sound. The best part? I saw snow right next to the sea for the first time ever! Pure, white, crunchy, deep snow. So much more beautiful than the snow that falls in Manhattan. And all touching the water's edge! The only colors in the whole landscape were blue, white and brown. It was amazing. And silent.

Happy MLK Day

A Hearth in Winter

When the thermometer refuses to budge above zero, the city is covered in snow and you are trudging through this every day,

All you really want to do is sit in front of this:

My favorite of favorite places here in winter is the lobby of the Bowery Hotel. It has the feeling of an old hunting lodge and is perfect for a weekend afternoon tea or drinks. It is full of persian rugs, oak chairs with tapestry seats, sofas that you sit back in and never want to extricate yourself from and huge roaring fires framed by marble mantlepieces.

The wood paneled ceilings and wrought iron lighting help lend a middle aged feeling. I keep expecting Aragorn to walk through the door.

Although I think this interior is too heavy for spring/ summer, they do have a lovely outdoor area with wicker furniture under a glass roof, overlooking fruit trees and grass on a vacant block behind.

And if you get sleepy and decide to stay, check out one of these rooms that have featured in numerous movies. Sleep soundly under Frette sheets and dream of your favorite Lord of the Rings character.

images: (1-2) mine, (3) elle decor, (4) hotels.com, (5) agent smith, (6) hotel chatter  (7) cool gadget concepts, (8) flixster, (9) bowery hotel

Shack

'Shack' Def: A roughly built hut or cabin (Oxford dictionary)

A girlfriend and I were discussing the power of positive thinking last night. She is skeptical to a degree, whereas I am totally into putting what you want out into the universe. Case in point: When I was pounding the sidewalks of New York in high summer trying to determine where I wanted to live before I moved here, I arrived at a certain street in the West Village and said aloud, "this is where I want to live". I can't explain why I chose that particular place. It just called to me. So 3 months later when I finally moved here, where was the first apartment the agent showed me? Directly across the street from where I had made my proclamation! Needless to say I am still in the same apartment 3 years down the track.

Some people use positive thinking to get better or feel better or to try and articulate what they really want in life. I know one girl who made a scrapbook of happy family clippings because she was channeling this dream for herself. That was a few years ago and I think she is still going, so I'm not suggesting the universe works quickly. (I have to admit here that I actually also started one of these scrapbooks but only got as far as a John Frieda ad with 2 older looking adults and one child. At least I can say I got the grey-haired partner.)

Anyway, the point of all this is that this year, I am going to put into the universe my desire to find a shack. I have always wanted a simply built place somewhere in the country and this dream was cemented when I saw recently in Oz the beautiful new book by Simon Griffiths called Shack; in praise of an Australian Icon.

I wish I could show you some of my favorite shacks featured, because you would definitely hear the magpies and smell the eucalyptus and feel the fresh country air, but alas there are limited shots on line so far.  Here are a couple anyway, to get a taste:

So all I have to do now is start looking at realty websites, visit quaint towns in upstate New York and keep thinking positively that I will find a little piece of land somewhere with a ramshackle hut that has a fireplace and good bones. And one day, I know I will find it.

images: (1-2) penguin, (3-4) flotsam friends, (5) simon griffiths

New Year begins in snow

Brrrrr. I arrived back from sunny Melbourne on Friday night, landing at JFK airport to find a world of white. I thought I had missed the snow storms, but it seems the flakes keep falling. Not that I am complaining, because my philosopy is if it's going to be cold, it may as well snow! But it was a shock to my suntanned system to see the rubbish piled up and the Christmas trees discarded on the side of the icy streets. 

In light of this I am already dreaming of blue sky, beach and a piece of Slim Aarons lifestyle. I must book a long weekend to Palm Beach in Feb.

images: (1-4) mine, (5) heartthrobs and villains, (6) fad website (7) photographer's gallery