Well-Mixed Weekend Cocktail.

This weekend was a nice balance - some sleeping in, some relaxing, some socializing, some TiVO-watching. Even though on Friday night my new neighbors kept me up until about 4:30am with their wild (loud) adventures, I still got to sleep in. And that's what counts.

Saturday morning I woke up, had a delicious egg-and-cheese bagel sandwich, and strolled to the park.


So pleasant was the weather that I just wanted to snuggle with myself.


I didn't bring my CD player or a book or the crossword or anything. Just listened to the muffled quiet of the park on a weekend afternoon. Just watched people go by. All the different kinds of people, enjoying the day.


And became a little obsessed with taking pictures of the sky and the trees.



... and the cool bench I was sitting on.


Later that day, after a nice telephone conversation with my younger brother, Dustin and I met up at an art/photography exhibit of which Stephanie was a part. It was in a beautiful space in the Union Square area, and there were many old people and children present. Dustin was bummed because he couldn't find his beloved digital camera, and didn't know if he'd left it at home or if it had maybe been stolen (gasp!), so I let him take over with my camera for the day.


Stephanie was recovering from a cold, but made a good showing nevertheless.


Nicole, former PS260-er and Stephanie's friend since childhood, made it out (of course).


As did many other PS-ers, to support our Steph.




Rather than taking pictures of the art, we dished about old times.


Including gabbing about a certain former PS-er who made our lives miserable. But it was fun to have it all in retrospect and laugh about it now.


Sarra came and Stephanie showed us to her display area.





Steph and Nicole's friend Agnes came with her adorable baby girl and hubby.


A pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon, to be sure.



Congratulations, Stephanie!


After the show, Steph was still snapping photos.


... while the rest of us tried to decide where to grab a bite to eat. Dustin had some ideas.


We ended up at Cafe Spice, a yummy Indian bistro right near the gallery.



It was DELISH. Can't you tell by the sight of these samosas and masala?



Suddenly, by only the hand of God himself, Dustin found his camera. This was amazing simply because it wasn't in his camera case as usual; Dustin reached into his back pocket, retrieved his wallet, and stuck in the folds of the wallet was the camera, dangling precariously. Who knows how it got there, since that is most certainly not how he usually carries the camera. There were many opportunities that day wherein it could have fallen out of his pocket and been lost forever, but thankfully it didn't happen.

Needless to say, Dustin was amazed and psyched!


Nicole entertained us with her stories as usual.


... which we all enjoyed.


Later that night it was off to a faraway land called Brooklyn. After several train changes and mishaps and a lot of walking, we arrived at the birthday fiesta for Dustin's friend Aaron from college.


It was a relatively intimate affair, with the young beaus playing a nice wholesome game of Connect Four.


Dustin immediately jumped in.


I socialized with the only other girls, who were happy to take that number a whopping three with my arrival.


Dustin and Ben treated this like a chess game, taking several minutes of planning and strategizing between each move. It became quite a long game.


I offered my moral support and impeccable gaming skills to Dustin. And by impeccable, I mean that when I play, the goal is just to not let the other person win. This almost always results in a draw.


It was a good time as usual. They even had Guitar Hero, of which neither Dustin nor I got a picture, unfortunately. It's always fun to see how into it people get.



Too cute to call.

And finally, on Sunday I enjoyed the crossword on a bench on Broadway, the perfect spring sunshine blanketing the avenue. Later, shopping on Broadway, I got into a fight with my wallet. I won. My wallet definitely lost.


love,
*jenna*

It's True, I Missed My Calling As An Artist

Well, I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I've been quite a busy li'l bee, though not in any bloggable sense. Just working a lot. I recently got an unpaid side gig writing snarky/sassy recaps for TVgasm.com. I'm O. Snapp.

So, between that and work, I've been putting in a lot of late nights. Last weekend didn't produce many photos, but I feel that the Of Montreal concert needs to be mentioned. I didn't take my camera, because I don't like to bring Stuff to shows (with my coat, it's just too much to keep track of in a crowded space) and also I like to dance around and watch and enjoy the show, rather than trying to get the exposure right on my camera. Dustin is better at that and, as a male, is not expected to boogie down.

But as I said, I feel it's definitely worth a mention here on my blog, so I did some awesome illustrations, using my infinite artistic abilities.

Before the concert, Stephanie and I went to a nearby German pub and got some beers. "Eight dollars?!" I squealed in horror. Fortunately, they were as big as our heads and therefore worth our hard-earned money.

I forgot Steph's cute glasses in these illustrations. I suppose that renders them unrealistic.



At the show, we were standing around and this couple behind us were making out so savagely that they literally kept smashing into us, quite rudely. I was not pleased.


Stephanie, however, was amused when we overheard the guy come up for air only long enough to blurt out, "My name is Stephen, by the way!!" Oh man. Now that's entertainment.


The show got started and it was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!!!!!!!! I was so excited to see them again, because as you may remember, they were my second favorite band to have performed during my and Dustin's concert week back in September. Second only to the Flaming Lips, but that's not even a fair comparison. Anyway, I hadn't danced or been to a show in far too long, so I was excited to get my proverbial groove on.


The group sounded fantastic and as usual, the lead singer changed into an array of sparkly outfits during the course of the show. He's got a very androgynous, David Bowie-sort of thing going on. The bass player had on a grand pair of pale pink angel wings, as I attempted to illustrate below. The "oops" part is where I tried to draw a guitar and failed miserably. I'm not sure why I was trying to draw it separate from the bass player, but let's not think about it too hard, hm?


It was soooo fun. But you can already tell that from the rockin' crowd drawn above, right?

love,
*jenna*

33 Degrees And Sunny

The crazy people who shop at Whole Foods and actually wait in these lines (we were just there for the gelato bar):



Your daily dose of orchid:







And, am I the only person in New York (or even the world) who finds beauty in the patterns of the snow-covered rough sidewalk? You wouldn't believe the looks I got while taking this.


And one more thing before the weekend. Remember Rob's interview with Al-Jazeera English? Here is the final outcome. It gets a little heavy at the end, but it's worth it just to see Rob's getup and self-styled B-roll.

You can see it here.

And even better is his website, which you can visit here. I recommend the "Exclusives!" section, particularly the Blade: Quadraplegia clips.


Tonight, a new concert season begins with the Of Montreal show!!! YEA!!! Have a good weekend everyone!

love,
*jenna*

Mighty Big Sky

Wow.

Happy Friday, Happy Spring, Happy March, everyone!

love,
*jenna*