On Saturday, the girls and I wanted to get together, but not in the usual Saturday night manner. We just wanted to chill and hang out. Kerri and Shannon generously offered their apartment for the low-key festivities.
When I got there, I immediately noticed this painting, which Kerri's boyfriend's friend, Scott, created. After seeing the Spanish Exhibition the day before, I definitely was reminded of Dali. I think it's beautiful.
We played Guitar Hero 2, a video game where you follow along on little electric guitars and make some sweet music.
We slept over, since no one wants to go home from Queens at 2 in the morning (or 11 at night). Well, Jennifer's been talking about getting a tattoo for the last, oh, five years or so. She finally came up with a design and showed it to us. It's a phoenix (heyyyy!) that actually sort of looks like the City of Phoenix logo, but it's not. The whole thing has a lot of meaning for her, and it's beautiful. So Shannon said, "Let's go tomorrow!!" So we did. That morning, Jennifer was all atwitter.
Then, at breakfast, she was scared so bad she wanted to throw up.
But we were there to help her with her irrational fear of pain and went down to St. Marks Place, where there are about a million tat places.
We went to Addiction, which is where Kerri's aforementioned boyfriend got his a little while ago. Kerri said it was very clean and not scary.
We believed her until we saw drawings like this all over the place.
But that's typical of any tattoo parlour. And it was indeed clean, so it was all good.
While we waited, Jen looked at all the other designs she could have gotten.
We were a very supportive support group.
She was inspired by our strength.
We waited some more, figuring out the exact place she wanted it (between the shoulder blades).
Then we waited some more. We talked on phones.
Shannon almost crossed over to the dark side.
Then we finally met the tat artist. He told us that since he was the only person there to do it, and there was a group of 4 bankers going before us, it'd probably be at least another hour.
So we went to get some tea down the street. Delicious!
At one point we looked over at Niffer and she was shaking her hands out furiously. "Heheh.... I'm just a little nervous!" she said. "I think this is what wedding jitters must feel like!!!"
So on the way back to Addiction, Kerri and Shannon did what they do best to pump Jennifer up: they danced to their favorite hip-hop song (which they also sang). In case you want to know, it's called "Get Low."
So we got back and shortly thereafter, The Dude was ready. Jennifer practiced some quick Lamaze techniques while he... well, shaved her back and sterilized it.
She took one final look at her bare back.
Then she buckled down and they got to work.
Kerri, having been present at the births of my and many other people's tattoos, was an expert at gently patting one's arm and speaking at length on distracting topics.
Jennifer later said it was great, but she had to keep telling herself not to laugh too hard at Kerri's jokes.
Meanwhile, Shannon documented the situation.
I guess a teeny bit of ink goes a long way.
The whole thing went along very smoothly, and before you know it, she was almost done.
I think that's red ink, not blood, all over her back.
Jennifer finally came up for air and we commended her on being such a brave li'l trooper.
We took many photos so she'd always remember the experience.
She looked back at herself in anticipation...
... and came out happy with the results (and a dent on her forehead).
Isn't it just gorgeous?
P.S. Thank you to Shannon and Dustin, for generously donating supplemental photos for today's and yesterday's posts.
This Saturday, Dustin and I met up at the Guggenheim for the Spanish Art exhibition. Just being in the building itself is like being encompassed in art.
We saw many a masterpiece. I learned a bit about some artists I had never studied before. (Although I should mention that all of these pictures were taken on the down low. No pics allowed. Ooooh, we're rebellious!!)
We saw Picassos...
... and Dalis alike.
It was a lovely day.
These ones were my favorites:
Picasso's "Weeping Woman" And Dali's "Madonna of Port Lligat" 'Twas a good day for a museum.
Not to mention dinner at a mediocre Thai restaurant. Don't we look beat?
Happy Friday, my Internet friends. This week has brought a few notable moments.
Firstly, some good "wall art" on the subway:
I'm not sure why I took a picture of it; I think I just liked the combination of graffiti and text (you may have to click on the picture to enlarge it enough to see what I'm talking about).
Nextly (?), on Tuesday I was browsing the upcoming lectures at the 92nd St. Y (of which I am a member) and I saw that Patricia Marx and Adam Gopnik were going to be there. I am a big fan of Marx's: she writes hilarious articles for the New Yorker now and then. I knew Dustin liked her too, so I intercommed him (we were at work) and said, "Hey, do you want to see Patricia Marx with me?" He asked "When?" "Oh," I said, looking for the date on the website, "she and Adam Gopnik will be there... on.... January 23rd. Oh. Uh, yeah. Tonight." So we did what any good New Yorker would do, we seized the opportunity (though not without some hunger crankiness on my part) and went to the lecture. It was quite lovely.... like a New Yorker Festival event that got lost on the way and suddenly made it to the ball.
It was entertaining, because these two writers are neighbors and both write for The New Yorker, and have been friends for many years, so they talked about that friendship and what it means to live in New York. Marx was very wry and quick-witted.... many under-the-breath sardonic remarks were made.
The next day Sarra told me that there was an amazing boot sale going on at Macy's and I thought, huh, I have a gift certificate from Grandma from Christmas! So I went.
A Wednesday night in January transformed Macy's into a nearly unrecognizable store.
It was........ Empty. Unfortunately, no boots were suitable for my feet, so the trip was unfruitful.
Yesterday, I saw what I consider to be interesting: workers putting up a building billboard. They were just sticking it to the side of the building, but I've never seen that process in action before.
Yesterday also was interesting (alright, I suppose in this post I'm using the term loosely) because we came into the office and Patrick, a former assistant editor who used to design our roof garden, had come in late the night before and rearranged all of the flowers in the office, leaving a note for Stephanie that said, "Tell the runners that they should stick to monochromatic arrangements. It looks cleaner. I love you." Well, that's classic Patrick. And you know what? He was right.
And finally, today folks, it is COLD. I mean COLD COLD!! It's 12 degrees currently, with 40-mph winds making it seem below zero.
And so I bid you a happy healthy weekend with a loving sendoff from Winter Gear Jenna.
Saturday night Dustin and I went to Jennifer's for a Board Game Party. She had Cranium (my personal favorite), Taboo and all kinds of games. With Taboo, I learned how good I am at giving clues (particularly when they involve celebrity impressions), but not picking them up.
But we had to split the night between Jennifer's and a birthday party for D's friend Derek in a gorgeous house in Brooklyn. We ate mint and radish sandwiches and mingled.
We hung out with the cutest married couple in the whole wide world.
And talked to this couple about the top three events that had happened since we last saw them (which was at Seder). Their biggest thing was spending six weeks in Southeast Asia.
The next day was the last day of the Annie Leibovitz exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. We decided we just had to go, braving the winter chill (which finally arrived).
We showed up and 3,000 of our closest friends were there to greet us.
We were told by a very helpful security guard that the outside line was an hour, then there was the line to get into the elevator, then there was another hourlong line once you got upstairs just to get into the jam-packed gallery itself. Seeing the above crowd, we definitely believed her. But we didn't want to stand in line, so Dustin pulled what he calls "The Mexican." That's basically cutting in line. But I've never seen anyone do it like he does, which is to say, with complete succcess. It may be unethical, but man it's awesome to skip an hour of waiting time. We slithered past everyone and got some tickets, then walked up five flights instead of taking the elevator... then arrived at this line for the actual gallery:
... which snaked around the length of the whole fifth floor. While scoping out the situation to find a weakness in the line security, we took a look at Ron Mueck, whose sculptural exhibition turned out to be one of the coolest, not to mention creepiest, collections I've ever seen. He makes amazingly lifelike sculptures of various sizes... some are teeny teeny tiny and some, like this one, are huge.
This one was a newborn baby girl, so realistic that it kind of made me nauseous. (We're not actually allowed to take pictures... Dustin got these on the down-low. We were really into breaking the rules that day.)
This was a giant lady.
However I, not being an actual Mexican, got a little overconfident in trying to sneak into line and got caught. It seems I have a lot to learn, or so says my sensei. So we had to stand in at least one line. This big one...
... without which we never would have seen all of the other cool art on this floor, including this sculpture by a late septuagenarian. The hands are not separated from the rest of the stone, they are carved out from it.
We finally made it into the gallery, and it was, in fact, jam-packed with people. It was hard to see things and I got more than a little claustrophobic. However, it was a fabulous exhibit. The photographer had curated her own collection, comprised of amazing celebrity portraits combined with intimate, poignant photos of her family, including Susan Sontag and their daughter Sarah.
I like the White Stripes.
She even included some grand-scale landscapes, the impact of which was magnified by Leibovitz's desaturation of color and unique use of light.
When it was all over, we went to Klong, a delicious Thai restaurant, for dinner.
Last Monday night, I forsook my Pilates/Ballet class to hang out with Dustin's family, as most of the kiddies were leaving town and they decided to celebrate young Tommy's birthday early with a jazz show at the Village Vanguard. It was a super-cool joint and I snapped this photo just before realizing there was a strict no-photo/video/audio recording in any way/shape/form policy.
It was cold that night, I remember... oh so many days ago. On Saturday I walked to the park. Yeah. The freaking park. And not to go ice-skating, my friends, oh no! I was wearing a tank top that day, as I passed the corpses of Christmas past...
... the smell permeating my nostrils and filling me with happiness in a way that nothing else can, yet making me wistful for the holiday season (not to mention my childhood) already past.
Yet I soon found myself squinting against the strangely bright rays of the January sun. For that day it was 70 DEGREES out. In "winter." In New York.
This sign made me laugh wryly.
I especially like the line about how they'll allow skiing on the lawn if there's enough snow. Ha.
Look at this!! Incredible!
In the distance a trumpet player practiced his scales, and the notes, simple in their progression, filled the air, carrying across the fields.
Now, I'm not really complaining, per se... since moving here I've actually come to love and appreciate sunshine like I never, ever could before. But you've gotta admit, there's something ecologically messed up about people crowded around the ice cream stand in January. What is this, Arizona?
People were enjoying their ozone-free day with gusto.
And then I took some pics of the climbing fig trees growing on the side of the Met.
Happy New Year everyone! We are officially in the late Aughts. The New Year's post will have to wait, though.... I'm still recovering from Jesus' birthday bonanza.
Firstly, let me just randomize things here by saying the girls and I planned on celebrating by watching loads of Christmas movies together, but ended up playing for hours with the Nintendo Wii that Jennifer was babysitting.
You can make a you! Also known as a Mii. Here's my Mii.
Shannon got Mii'd too.
Alright, onto business. The family decided to have Christmas this year in lovely Midtown New York.
Many decorated trees were seen,
Many pictures were taken,
And many obligatory photos were endured (happily).
My parents, instead of paying through the nose for a hotel (or worse, crashing with me), got modern and went through Craigslist to get a sublet right next to the United Nations.
They really lucked out - the place was massive and even had a jacuzzi tub.
Luckily for me, I got the whole week off from work! The first night, we went to see The Big Tree...
... accompanied by everyone else on the planet.
Obligatory... I showed my fam the sights (including this, my favorite NY sculpture, a Damien Hirst giant lady hidden in a courtyard).
Christmas Eve, Tom, Greg and I went last-minute shopping and tried on hats at Urban Outfitters.
Then appeased Nathan's spiritual side by going to the Mass of all Masses, Christmas Eve at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
It was as full as you think, plus a few.
After Mass we wandered around Midtown for two hours looking for any damn food we could find. We ended up at a deli. We went back to the apartment and watched "A Christmas Story" a few times while munching on our panini.
Christmas morning brought a delightful surprise - a sweet li'l tree and our stockings from home. This year, being together in New York was our biggest gift to each other and ourselves, so we did gifts Secret Santa-style.
We were ecstatic.
I ended up getting three copies of "Cosmos" this year. That'll teach me to give everyone the same list.
And my big bro gave me some fantastic records.
We were finally able to give Mom & Tom our anniversary gift to them, which was forgotten on the last trip, a porcelain clock made in Ireland.
We called Grandma, Dad, and other family members in Arizona and sent our merry wishes.
We prepared for our Christmas extravaganza, all of us ready an unprecedented three minutes BEFORE we had to leave.
Nathan looked as dapper as ever.
Things got romantic...
... but we didn't have time for that nonsense. We were on our way to ROCKEFELLER CENTER!!! For the ROCKETTES CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR!!
I had never been. I was stunned at how beautiful the whole place was.
(ceiling) Everything was so Art Deco, recently renovated.
It was the classiest joint I've ever been to, that's for sure. Really made me feel like a lady.
The show was... well... spectacular.
I don't really know if these pictures do it any justice, but it was a super-cool show.
There was even sixty dancing Santas.
They even had ice skaters!
Of course, what do I look at half the time but the freaking audio board.
It was an amazing show, although it got pretty heavy on the Jesus at the end. Real camels though.
I snapped this pic of my family reflected in a mirror across the room while we waited for the crowd to die down on the way out.
After the big show, we upheld the time-honored Christmas tradition of many families across America: we went to Starbuck's.
Nate had never been to Central Park, so we stopped by just in time to see the ice skaters just before it started to rain.
We ended the day with a nice Italian dinner, with some goofy on the side.
A couple of days later, I threw caution to the wind and made my family meet Dustin's family. They were kind enough to have us all over for lunch.
We all got along famously (whew).
Afterwards we went to Madison Square Garden to see if we could get Nathan and Tom tickets to the Knicks game. Mom and I stopped by a souvenir shop.
The next day, Greg and Nate's last, we walked around the West Village, going into record shops, art stores, and that sort of thing, just enjoying the scene.
The boys stopped into one of a million pizza shops that claim to be "the best in New York," although they did have Ben Affleck's approval.
Tom stopped in a guitar shop and got his fix.
Picks and picks During our day out, Tom and I worked on our application video for "The Amazing Race." You heard right. These are our head shots.
At the end of the day we stopped in a cool little pub that had some great artwork and mosaics.
That night Mom, Tom and I had drinks at one of the Trump Plaza bars.
And later we went to dinner with my Aunt Eileen, then went to see a kickin' show at Terra Blues.
All in all, it was a wonderful holiday. Though we had no snow, it did feel like a winter wonderland.
