Day 57

I just watched TV. all. day. Some girls from the fellowship group were supposed to meet up and make dinner at someone’s house but it all got confused and miscommunicated so nothing happened.

Day 56

Had to go in today to let Julie, the accountant in. Got home about three and took a nap, you know, the usual.

Day 55

After work today Erica and I decided to get a bite to eat and then go to The New Museum. Even though it was nasty and raining outside we had to go since this was the free night at the museum. We went to Artichoke (again, SO GOOD!) for a slice. Then went to The Lite Choice for some vanilla and lemon meringue soft serve. We found a birthday card for Erica’s little brother. Yes, it was raining all this time. We decided to take the bus down to where the museum is. We went in and wandered around the shop since it wasn’t 6 yet, then noticed that there was hardly anyone there. We got one of the info sheets and found out that it wasn’t free until 7. I could have sworn I saw 6, but I guess not. So we walked back up a few blocks since we had seen a small gallery with some colorful pieces. TRASHION was the name of the show, and multiple artists had pieces made with trash. Some pieces still looked like trash, but there were a few artists who I really liked. One took colorful plastic pieces and created these half orbs to hang on the wall which were really terrific and colorful. Another had steel panels and had somehow painted them with something to make it rust. The colors and shapes were really stunning. There was another who made chair cushions from ties that she sewed together. I wanted to take photos but I felt weird about asking.

We still had half an hour or so to wait before 7 so we sat at McDonald’s for a bit out of the rain. When we started to walk back I took some photos of Cooper Union, who is building a new building across the street from its original place. I don’t know anything about it except that it looks really cool and they both say Cooper Union.

Once we got back to the New Museum we got our tickets and headed upstairs. That place is really big, like 7 floors but only 3.25 actually are gallery space. There were only 3 exhibitions going on and none were particularly inspiring for me. On the ground floor was a gallery full of stylized images of men and women nude, and I’ll leave it at that. One was about Black Panther. The other main one was a photographer who has been photographing South Africa since the 1960s. So a lot of it was about the conflict of the white supremicists with the rest of the people. Other images were just about the landscape. While the content did not particularly inspire me, I was inspired to go photograph. So I thought I would try to walk home all the way up 3rd ave. and document it as I went. I walked about 17 blocks before my flip flopped feet decided they wanted a break. I hopped on the bus and then got off again at 32nd and then walked to 42nd, then got back on the bus the rest of the way but opened up a window and took pictures from the bus. I got a couple interesting ones (to me, at least) and they’ll probably go on facebook soon.

Day 54

I cancelled the hard drive order, but now the orders is pending on my bank account again. Grr.

Ariella was back today but really tired. We got everything ready ship! Erica’s new boy picked her up from work today. He works at the same shop she does. He seems nice, but not the type I expected her to like. People will always surprise you I suppose.

I went to the “Advanced Fashion Photo Retouching” class @ Noble Desktop. It was good and I’m glad I went but I wish I could have been at the fellowship group again this week. I learned a totally different way of masking and color correcting and sharpening. Hopefully I’ll be able to make good use of it.

Day 53

Stupid ProVantage keeps taking the money for the hard drive I ordered (two weeks ago and still have no word on when it will ship) and then putting it back so I can never tell how much money I actually have.

It was just Erica and I in the office. I mostly just finished up the label resticking and rolled carpets to ship.

Day 52

I was in the office by myself all day today. But it was kind of nice! I sang along to my music resticking labels all day — why? Well, apparently the labels I stuck on all the cans last week were only supposed to go on one kind. I was unaware. So I meticulously removed and reaffixed the labels to the correct cans. (No wonder I ran out not even halfway through when I was sticking them on to begin with.)

Afterward, I went to the “What’s New in Illustrator CS4?” seminar at Noble Desktop. I learned some good tricks to use even in CS3 that I still have.

On my way home I stopped at a diner called “East Here Now.” Mostly because of the name but I also really like the typeface they use for their logo and neon sign. It was really empty but I had a good cheeseburger and fries and heard the loudest laugh in all of NY. Well, probably not, but this girl was laughing SO LOUD at her friend and it was seriously hurting my ears. Maybe it was so loud because it was already so quiet in there anyway.

Day 51

I still didn’t do my laundry. But at least I saw Sharon and Jen from the fellowship group at church today. I made Chicken and Rice for dinner… boy, am I rusty!

Day 50

Today I met Kate for lunch at a Thai place around the corner. That girl is so sweet! She will be a sophomore at U. Conn. this coming year. Her pad thai tasted a little fishy so she decided to save most of it for later, but my fried rice (HA) was pretty good. We talked for a while and then split up and I headed on my museum journey. I went to the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. I went here because I learned over the last year that they have the largest collection of wallpapers in the world and I am really fascinated by old wallpaper. However, there were only 2 exhibits up and neither was about wallpaper. Fashioning Felt was really interesting but all the things they made of felt were meant to be used, touched, or worn and you can’t do anything with or to them in the museum, no photographs were even allowed. The other exhibit was Design for a Living World, which was an exhibit that had designers take a specific sustainable material and make it into something useful, beautiful, and sustainable. There was someone who made a whole set of living room furniture out of raw bamboo. There were “totems” that made shelves, hangers, a bar, and even speakers. then a chaisse made of the bamboo cross cuts and suspended on metal bars. Then there was something by Isaac Mizrahi making pailletes (sequins) from salmon leather. Another made a cacao coffee stirrer, then there was vegetable ivory, and even something to do with certain kinds of wood by Kate Spade. The garden in the back of the museum reminded me of Trinity College in Oxford but not nearly as big.

Then I headed to Queens to go to the P.S. 1 which is the contemporary extension of the MoMA. When you bring your ticket from MoMA within 30 days you get in free. However, you cannot get in free on Warm Up days which is their fundraising event. It sounded and looked like going to a museum with loud music and lots of beer around. As you may have already realized I accidently went on the Warm Up day. So it was going to cost $10, which isn’t terrible but since I already spent $10 on the NDM and I expected this to be. My ticket also expired today so I’ll have to go back to MoMA on a free day to try again! I couldn’t justify it so I walked the 6 blocks back to the subway to go back to Manhattan.

On my way home I stopped at Crumbs again (TROUBLE) and got 2 more cupcakes to try. Pink Lemonade — lemon cake with creme in the middle and thick pink icing, and Cosmo — pink cake (don’t know what flavor, haha) with green lime flavored icing. After I ate the pink lemonade one while talking to mom I didn’t feel so well so I took a nap. That nap was trouble because I accidentally slept from 6 until midnight. It took me till 4 am to get back to sleep.

Day 49

So today, on the bus, a man named Eddie, told me I was very cute and gave me his card to add him on Facebook. 0.0 Then when he got off the bus he waved to me as we drove away. Interesting. I came into work today (even though I normally don’t work Fridays). I helped put together some packages for a test we are running, I guess you could say. Mary Helen is going to be gone for the week to visit her family in Georgia, and Ariella is going to nanny for a friend for a weekend. So we needed to make sure I (or the rest of the interns) knew what to do to make sure they are ready to send when Ariella gets back.

Had a microwavable hamburger helper for dinner and a strawberry pure fruit popsicle, yum. I must say I am craving a cupcake!

Day 48

After work, I took some time for myself that I’m trying not to be guilty for. I am alone most of the time wishing I was with other people. Today I was consciously intentionally alone. I went to Artichoke — the place Brandy told me about. It has a thicker crust woth alfredo sauce, spinach, and artichokes — so good (and $4)! But definitely a jaw workout. Then I hopped on the bus instead of walking the 6 blocks west to my destination and then saw The Light Choice and got some soft serve ($4 too). I walked the 3 blocks left and saw Kate’s Paperie and went in — I definitely have to apply there if/when I come back. They even do invites — so, work in a paper store and design? umm… I think so! Even after all that I was an hour early for my movie. I really like the union square/east village/lower east side areas. I went to the Quad theatre to see I Hate Valentine’s Day with Nia Vardalos and John Corbett (love him). I can see why it got bad reviews but it was totally my kind of movie. It was really cool seeing the Promenade and the Brooklyn Bridge from the same angle that I have seen it. It’s about a girl who believes in love and loves romance but doesn’t believe in relationships because her father cheated on her mom. She only has 5 dates with a guy and then it’s over, that way she never gets hurt. It was cheesy and magical!

I wrote a ton more in my journal of self reflections so I’ll leave that out of here.