Summer Vacation, or Poor Excuses for Lazy Blogging

Admittedly I just got over the whole blogging thing for a while. I've mostly been working and doing last-minute loan applications for grad school. But I did have 10 solid days of minimal internet access, let alone any mental capacity to do anything besides sleep. I think we can fairly say that extends to the past week as well, after arriving back from Israel with a limp and quite possibly a parasite.

That is not to say it was not awesome, because it was. It's just that the Birthright trip aims to get as much of the country in as possible, which means waking up at 3 a.m. to hike Masada followed by a delightful hike through the desert and finally the Dead Sea before going to bed at, say, midnight, and waking up again at 6:30 a.m. Nevertheless, it was worth it, and politics aside (although I feel much more knowledgeable and understanding of the country's predicament/existence), Israel is an absolutely beautiful country.

 

Now that I'm back, instead of writing poetry (which I should probably be doing, considering I'm wasting thousands of dollars to go to school for poetry), I've been getting that crafting itch, so the shop is up and running. Expect new additions in the next few weeks, and maybe some semi-regular blogging (wishful thinking?)

Santa Cruz

I'm back in New York after a lovely vacation that I wish didn't have to end! As much as I love the city, it's hard to come back after being in California. My mom and I walked down to the coast everyday, which meant braving a monstrous hill back up to my aunt and uncle's house. I snapped these pics one afternoon on the way home.

This picture doesn't do the hill justice. It's a steep one, trust me.

The Poetry Festival of New York

This weekend I was a stage manager for one of the three stages at the Poetry Festival of New York. On Saturday I took the 7 a.m. ferry to Governors Island (not so much an attestation to my commitment as to my guilt for having missed the last meeting). Needless to say I'm exhausted. But it was worth it to hang out with a bunch of poets in the park as they pranced and somersaulted around the grass.

 

It was my first time to Governors Island, and it's gorgeous in that not only is it reminiscent of Colonial Williamsburg but that it's so anti-New York City. It's like a normal park in a normal city plopped onto an island in the East River. I am now even more excited to go to the Jazz Age Lawn Party in August!

Dorothea Lasky!

I felt totally out of my element as a stage manager, but luckily I got into the swing of things after being yelled at by strangers all morning about the sound being too loud or too quiet. Once the circuit breaker was fixed and the sound came back on, day two went much more smoothly.

Home Sweet Home

Next week I'm going on a trip to see my friends and family (hence my absence for the next couple of weeks, apologies!). First I'm going to Santa Cruz for a week to visit my grandma and my cousins, and my mom is also flying out. I'm expecting to finally get the tan I've been waiting for all summer and to spend lots of nights drinking with my cousins.

Then I'm going back to Denver, and words cannot express how excited I am. My family moved to Wisconsin at the same time I started college, but I still consider Denver my home and make an effort to go back and visit whenever possible. Luckily I have plenty of friends willing to take me in, and I've become accustomed to couch surfing.

Here are some pictures we took on my 35mm last summer.

I'm really excited to get in some much needed nature time! I'm getting a little stir crazy in New York what with all the free time and ever increasing humidity. It's time for an adventure.

I made this etsy treasury to inspire some true Colorado ruggedness. Last summer I was caught climbing a mountain in wedges--I've turned into a such a New Yorker, I forgot that impromptu hikes happen when you go out in Colorado! Here I am feeling crazy when I make it into Manhattan.

Backyard BBQ

Brian and a squash friend from Choice Greene.

Brian eating a popsicle.

Jon grilling the squash on his fancy new grill.

Lauren skewering the mushrooms and peppers. She's making the choking hazard sign for Habana Outpost.

We had an impromptu backyard barbecue on Friday complete with grilled shrimp and veggies. Even in the shade it was almost too hot come mid-afternoon, but we powered through and it ended up being really nice. We're planning round two for the Fourth of July, so hopefully the weather stays sunny but cools down. In the meantime I'm staying put in front of my air conditioner.

Summer To Do List

To Do:

1. Write more

2. Read more

3. Learn Photoshop

4. Can fresh vegetables

5. Figure my life out

Sitting in the grass at Pratt.

I made a clover flower necklace like I used to when I was a kid. I think it goes pretty well with the stone necklace I made for my etsy shop.

Another stone necklace with neon pink rope! After a long photo shoot I can't get the colors quite right--both the pink and blue are more vibrant. This is my favorite item in my shop right now.

Polka dot plimsols!

Envelopes I made out of origami paper and washi tape for my sticker packs.

Fox with a diamond nose sticker.

I Do Not Deal Well With Humidity

This aforementioned lovely weekend turned out to be even more lovely and the perfect start to summer. I even made strawberry lemonade with chocolate mint from my boyfriend's garden and went to Far Rockaway Beach.

But as excited as I am for summer, I have to face the dank reality that a good chunk of it will be spent completely idle in front of the window unit. Summer in New York means two things: a ton of awesome shit to do, like free concerts and rooftop barbecues, and heat waves so foul you feel like you're living in a never-ending and rancid exhale.

I am from Colorado, where there is zero humidity to speak of and ninety degrees is not only tolerable but temporary: as soon as the sun goes down it cools down. In New York standing in the shade is as refreshing as bathing in a tub of sweat. My brow sweat alone could fill this hypothetical tub over the course of a day.

So to ward off the impending misery I made an etsy treasury full of heat-defying summer fun.

I for one am definitely getting myself a wooden fan, an idea I picked up in Paris, where the metro is not air-conditioned. It is also full of people who do not wear deoderant. I will take rats and crazy people over B.O. any day. Not that New York public transit is lacking in B.O., but believe me when I regretfully inform you that the stereotype of the French is true (at least in the summer).

Saying Goodbye to Bushwick

I am currently in the nightmarish process of moving, which in Brooklyn includes lying landlords and fourth floor walk-ups. After a month now of dealing with surprise bullshit every couple of days, finally all that's left is the physical moving of crap into our new apartment. Needless to say, I am stoked for summer.

This is my friend's apartment where I was supposed to be moving, until the asshole landlord decided not to let us move in for some unknown reason.

My boyfriend barbecuing on the roof last summer.

Thankfully however a summer of rooftop barbecues will now be a summer of backyard barbecues, because our new apartment has a beautiful backyard full of flower beds for my boyfriend's babies (a.k.a the more than a dozen vegetables growing in pots on our current roof) and not to mention an ARCH OF PINK ROSES. Expect pictures post-move-in, and lots of them.

For now I can definitely say I won't be missing our current place in Bushwick. The apartment itself is super nice, but the neighborhood is desolate. The closest restaurant is McDonald's a few blocks away. Our block consists of a junkyard and the abandoned Pfizer factory. I'm pretty sure the junkyard dog eats the stray cats because I hear them crying in fear in the middle of the night, probably after mistakenly chasing all the juicy rats into the junkyard.

Live poultry market in Bushwick

View of the abandoned Pfizer factory from my window

View from the bedroom window, with the Empire State building in the fog

Not that the neighborhood is completely bereft of charm in the broken-down building sort of way. We could even buy a chicken and watch them kill it for us if we so desired. The new apartment is much closer to bars (top priority) and other necessary amenities. It's technically in Bed-Stuy, but as with many of my decisions cheapness outweighs quality so we're willing to brave the possibility of muggings to pay $500/month in rent.

Assuming my safety is in no way threatened, I'm planning on taking a good chunk of the summer to focus entirely on the etsy shop, so expect new products and hopefully a much-needed make over for this hideous blog. More things to be excited about this summer!