election night

About 11:15 p.m. last night, New York went nuts. People started yelling and cheering in the streets, and more people answered the cheers and went out and joined them, and cheered some more.

On the sidewalks strangers were high-fiving. Every few minutes someone would shout, "Obama!" and a collective roar would go up. Then someone on the next corner would do the same thing, and someone on the next corner.

A friend called from Harlem, her voice breathless and muffled by the cheering and pot-banging up there. The streets were so full that cars had stopped using them. "I just can't stop crying," she said. (Hopefully she will blog about it :) )

Cabbies, yes, even cabbies joined in on the fray, beep-beeping their approval as they drove by, as jubilant riders hung out the windows, shouting.

I got on a subway car just as a chant of "O-ba-ma" went up on the platform. Could it be? Even the subway train seemed to pause on the tracks for a moment as a parade of supporters brandishing signs came down the platform. Everyone on the platform started chanting, and everyone on the train started chanting back. Then we started clapping, looking out and knocking on the train windows, until the chant reached a fever pitch.

With the market in a bind and Wall Street a mess, it's good to see the city with a smile on its face again. The whole place seems a little hopeful.

Coming home from Washington Heights tonight, I took an elevator down to the subway. I make the elevator ride several times a week, and it's terrible--cramped, stuffy, suffocating. It's one of the worst parts of my day, and, seemingly, everyone else's, including the elevator operator. She's a silent and unsmiling woman with corn rows, who sits behind a little desk in the elevator with a tiny fan blowing on her. She has a miserable job. Today as I was getting off, she broke her code of silence. She turned to me, one thumb turned up, and said, "Obama!"

I turned up both thumbs and said, "Obama!" back. I smiled the whole ride home.

spotted

If, like me, you became enamoured with Nanette Lepore's home in Elle Decor recently, you might be as delighted as I was when I saw this:



I gasped when I walked past Z. Gallerie the other day and saw this in their window. I'm as tired of the pirate trend as the next person, but I like that this is presented in Lepore's home as part of a salty-dog nautical theme paired with velvet, antlers, and mid-century furniture to make a humorous-but-tasteful admixture. Now all I need is $800, a super-size oil portrait of Eva Peron, and Jonathan Adler to pull off the whole look.

familiar face

I opened my J.Crew catalogue and was loving their new fall line. Not suprisingly, I was particularly drawn to a pretty yellow coat. And then I realized, wait a minute, the gamine beauty wearing the coat was one of my students! Last year I had count 'em, not one, but two models in the same classroom. And they were both nice, and smart, and yes, very pretty.

Hating on beautiful people just isn't what is used to be. sigh.

still hope

Even if you procrastinated and didn't register--there is still hope for you, would-be voter. If you have ever voted you can call the district in which you were last registered and request a vote-by-mail ballot.

Just google the name of the state where you last voted and "absentee ballot." You should be able to get the phone number for your county registrar where they can confirm your voter registration and mail you a ballot asap. Even this loophole expires 7 days before the general election, so no matter who you're voting for, get on it.

It's probably the most important election of our lifetime, yo.


*Thanks to Em and Shephard Fairey for the image

mais oui

This little wall sculpture from stepanka on Etsy got me thinking about yes again. I read somewhere that the first time John Lennon met Yoko Ono he went to a gallery to see her art installations. In one of the pieces he had to go up a long ladder, open a little box, open another little box, and so forth, and when he opened the last box inside was a little message that said, "yes." Which is actually a great metaphor for falling in love. What is falling in love, if not finding the one person who say yes to you--both figuratively and literally?

I also read that at the Prada Soho store architect Rem Koolhaas designed the cash registers, and the buy/enter button has YES spelled out on it using the yen, euro and dollar symbols. And what is shopping, really, if not saying yes to yourself?

And finally, Ugo Rondinone's facade at the New Museum in New York:




*Read somewhere=information that has accumulated in my brain and undergone processes of forgetfulness, wishful thinking, and pattern-seeking and may or may not resemble fact.

tribec-hood images

Due to housing adventures, B and I spent a month in Tribeca. This was my favorite piece of graffiti in the neighborhood, which I walked past everyday on the way in and out of the sublet. I think the palm trees are my favorite part--although the mispelling of the Brit rocker's name is pretty awesome.

Tribeca is a low-rise neighborhood so there is lots of good light, and it is weirdly quiet and un-crowded--so a good place to try out my new camera. The shots that aren't too out of focus are probably thanks to my camera-savvy sis, who came along and snapped some shots one evening.

Sometimes I would wake up in the morning to find new tags around the block--so I got to feel like the taggers were like secret friends who would leave me messages to find.



I like the old and new in this one--this is the first highrise going up in north Tribeca. That crane fell down earlier this year.

red door

hole to the sky in an awning

old chairs

old door



i like the crosses in the window

my cat Scratch got out of my apartment on Duane St. on Monday night, and was last seen headed up Staple St. If you know where he is please contact me ANY TIME

happy, love-filled blur

Today Britton and I celebrate our first anniversary, and I finally got most of the photos uploaded to flickr.

After the wedding, I told B that now I know why people get wedding photographers--so they can see what happened at their own wedding!

The whole thing was a blur, but it was a blur of goodness and happiness and faces and voices of people who we love best.

There were so many personal touches from people we love, too--Shanna's wreath on the garden door, Dan and Marta's Martha-perfect signs, Robby's website, Emily's hand-bound guest book, my mom's homemade mint brownies and lemon cookies, Jamie's groom cake, my dad's ingenious floating lights system, dozens of lanterns hung by family, last-minute touches of ribbon or a vintage cake plate from the Valentiners...not to mention wonderful pre-show showers and parties thrown by family and friends. We also had childhood friends and high school friends and city friends and hometown friends who came from all over. Thank you thank you to everyone who added their touch or came from near and far to be with us.

Getting to be with the one person you love best, surrounded by people who love you best, is pretty much as good as it gets.