New York is full of the best kinds of people. To give you an example of this; this weekend, walking past an italian restaurant I was greeted by a 6 year old boy on a stool in a shirt and tie who announced to passers by 'we are the best italian restaurant in the WHOLE of new york! all organic produce! - come try our food!' he was really rather precious, I wanted to just eat him up. – On Saturday I was walking through Tompkins Square Park in the lower east side with Ruby; the adorable little two and a half year old kid I look after – as we were leaving we happened to pass this crazy looking old woman with bushy white hair, bottle top glasses and a red woolen hat – who started to fidget and I automatically assumed she was going to yell some incoherent nonsense about jesus or her cats or aliens – but instead, to my surprise she shouted out 'have a wonderful day lady, and the little angel too' – I was rather taken a back, it was really rather lovely of her – just goes to show, looks can be deceptive – however I am certain she does still have 15 cats and talks to plants, but that doesnt mean she’s not a nice person – she clearly is.
On friday, I popped out of the studio to grab some lunch from pret (begrudgingly...I had forgotten my standard ‘wallaby peach yoghurt’ from wholefoods and my banana) and just as I turned round, edamame and fruit salad in hand - this little kid of about 6 years old who was plugged into his i-pod started to dance - he was body popping and hip hop dancing like a pro in the middle of the hungry lunchtime crowd and the whole store stopped and formed this huge circle around him, it was like being in the middle of ‘step-up’ - when he finished the entire place broke into fits of applause, whistling and cheering – I imagine if this happened in the UK, the kids father or mother would embarassingly tell the child to stop for fear of drawing attention, scald them, spank them on the bottom, or abandon them – we are so conservative in the uk infact i feel that british people on seeing this happen would sheepishly watch, then perhaps nervously chuckle or titter in appreciation and go about their daily lives and forget about it – people here are so encouraging and excited by talent and enthusiasm – everything here feels shiny – happy and way more energetic... us brits, we’re way more underground, modest and guarded.
I have a story to share with you which I have had permission from my colleague at work to publish. To continue my movie esque lifestyle, a few weeks ago the designers and the managing director of ODLR were leaving to go to Italy to start production on some of the collection - on the day the managing director left - it turned out that a bag of fabric samples had been left behind by accident - so i was promptly thrown into a cab to battery park (all the way across manhattan) to her apartment – As soon as I arrived I jumped out of the cab and legged it into her building, incoherently stuttering to explain to the doorman who I was here to see in typical hugh grant stuttery fashion - and it turns out that she had already left for the airport for fear of missing her plane. I had no money left, and no subway ticket... so the office, in a manner of james bond, called me a private car and sent me speeding down the motorway towards JFK airport in pursuit of the managing directors car which was 10 minutes ahead of us - It was manic! The traffic was really heavy and my phone signal was being sketchy - i felt like i was literally in the devil wears prada - as we approached the airport - I hadnt been told which terminal so to add insult to injury my cab driver was shouting at me and I was trying to hear where my colleague was i needed to go – but eventually I ended up getting to the terminal in a manner of some cheesy 80s character in some equally vile 80s rom com racing to get to someone before their plane leaves... and frantically kept trying to call her but couldnt get through - when i did i literally sprinted through the airport, through herds of people, and found her - just intime for her to be taken to the flight and she thankfully made it to italy with the package. It was epic. My heart was beating at a million miles a second because I really didnt think I was going to make it in time. But by jove... I made it! HURRAH!
Unfortunately I have been a little under the weather lately (the crazy american additives are driving me crazy) so in a bid to try and work out what was wrong i decided to go 'gluten free' this week... I can honestly say - i would rather kill myself slowly and be able to eat pizza or a bagel than have to eat cereal that tastes like post-it-notes for the rest of my life...
One thing I LOVE about New York - is the the takeaway pizza... In the United Kingdom it is a well known fact that if you go to a 'fast food' takeaway 'joint' and ask for pizza you will be presented with a round spongy piece of cardboard disguised by a cheap tomato sauce and melted tesco value mild cheddar (seriously - mild?! - why bother). Where as here - you can get PROPER italian stone baked pizza with thin delicious hand made dough and delicious mozzarella cheese - FOR $0.99 - its true - proper pizza is my new favourite thing, and the great thing is - pizza places are on every street corner - they even have pizza vans sometimes in the street selling PROPER pizza.
I would like to talk to you about leaves. Specifically ‘the fall’ which is the american way of saying ‘autumn’ – a much better label I would say – especially in New York because there are lots of trees, and these trees are unlike any other kind of tree – they display the most glorious and vivid shades of copper and scarlet leaves I have ever seen – ochre and russet, mustard and ruby – but also maroons and chocolates and deepest racing greens from the leaves that are yet to fall... and its it literal this season – as I walked through the park this weekend I stood under this gigantic tree and literally watched as the leaves delicately spiralled through the sky from above and settled gracefully on the ground around me – in a manner of winona ryder in edward scissor hands when he creates a snow storm making his ice sculpture. Obvious my experience was a lot less ethereal – infact it wasnt really anything like this scene in what i believe to be tim burtons greatest achievement of all time... but it was certainly magical... for some reason, i know we have trees in england, but they’re different here.
Lauren and I went for Lychee martinis again this week – I love them, I actually am obsessed with them, and I am going to insist on making them for everyone I meet on my return – Lychee is the fruit of the gods – especially when it is soaked in vodka.
So after we hit ‘verlaine’ our most favorite bar with its oh so fabulous happy hour, we ventured home – it was a chilly evening, and decided to stop at a little corner shop for some goodies. On entering the store, we found it housed an array, a plethora of the most hilarious goods imaginable. I would like to take this opportunity to showcase some of the hilarity of this shop:
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| Is it just me or does she bear a resemblance to Courtney Love? |
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| One word: Painful |
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| How very christian |
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| Terrifying |
This weekend was a mission and a half – after an incredibly long and tiring week at work = productive and wonderful yet long and tiring ofcourse – I ventured out into the lower east side with Frannie and Lo for some drinks – we didnt infact leave our apartment until midnight... and I had to babysit at 6.30am on Saturday, so after a few drinks – including a vodka iced tea which was INSANELY delicious... i plodded on home and crawled into bed. MY ALARM DID NOT GO OFF... not only did I wake up feeling like I had been trampled on by an elephant, but I woke up because my phone was ringing – I was being called by the lady I was meant to be babysitting for as it was 10 minutes AFTER I was meant to have arrived and I was still in bed. I was mortified – this has never happened to me before... (except for once in the whole 4 years I have lived away from home when my alarm didnt go off and I literally jumped out of bed, threw my clothes on and jumped on a red bus in london and ventured to oxford street to see some brides) – so this time – I literally jumped out of bed (this was very reminiscent of tom and or jerry or sylvester/tweetie pie, anyone cartoon related who jumps in a crazed manner) – I scrambled into a pair of leggings and threw all my clothes in the air until i found a plaid shirt and socks and launched myself into my ugg boots and literally sprinted down stairs to my neighbours apartment. It was at this point my stomach flew up into my mouth (apologies for the vulgar nature of this story) and I was greeted by a fully awake ruby... I sat and watched sesame street for an hour and thought I was dying. It was horrific... but after a lovely sunny walk through the park sitting and watching the doggies I felt much better...Oh the joys of being a manhattan babysitter (with a social life on the side)
This week I endeavour to
1) See harry potter 7 part 1
2) Go to the brooklyn flea market
3) Go to the MOMA
4) Visit Diego at Trader Joe’s (he is my favourite employee at my local supermarket, because he sounds like pedro from napoleon dynamite and wears multi-coloured 80s jumpers)
5) Buy a new lamp for the apartment... as today... we accidentally broke one (to be honest weve knocked it over so many times im surprised it wasnt already broken) :s
6) Go running/to yoga... but the likelyhood of either myself or lauren getting out of bed for anything other than... because we have to go to work – is unlikely...
7) Make myself a coat
8) Think about christmas presents
It is only a month until I return home now – and my goodness am I excited... Im literally like a kid at christmas im so excited... Crackers, mince pies, christmas pudding, the santa claus, mulled wine, quality street, wallis and grommit, pyjamas for a week.... I cannot wait.
And today I saw the coca cola advert... this means it really is the festive season.
Over and out for another week
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