She Sure is {Reminiscing} : My 20s - A Reverse Bucket List

On this, my last day of my 20s, I grab a sketchbook and skirt out the door. It's a holiday for one. Last night I grabbed a pen and started this New York Minute style Reverse Bucket List. It's been a good decade.

I've learned a lot. I've done a lot. I'm so thankful. So crazily, giddily wildly thankful. On the eve of Thirty, and in no particular order I give you my personal highlight reel.

Spend a summer sharing a two person "just for art" studio that kisses a Great Lake and looks out on the water. (never get over it.

Give Kevin Bacon a one-on-one tour of a gallery (ONE degree people)

Teach oil painting to high school students for a summer.

Spend an entire week sitting on your A-- in a Lazy Boy recliner (Hellllllllo Montana)

Read "The Client" in its entirety to an illiterate basketball team on a Greyhound Bus

Make friends that feel like family.

Learn how to dig for and shuck an oyster. Find it disgusting. I recommend doing it in Montauk.

Fall in love with Butte, Montana.

Dress Up Every Single Halloween

Go to Montreal for a Haircut

Help Plan a Film Festival

Sing your Heart Out with a Girl You Adore and All of Brooklyn at a Sound of Music Sing-A-Long

Smoke a Cigar at a Gentleman's Club (like a boss)

Throw Theme Parties

Nerd Out

Befriend a real and true Coney Island Freak
-- Stephanie, my favorite life drawing model of all time and one hell of a contortionist. 

Judge a Dog Competition

Be Part of a Studio Audience - as often as possible

Work in a library

Work a job where 'bloomers' are part of the uniform

Work a job where you're given a clothing allowance

Work a job where you're specifically asked to dress down. (Um... Can You Wear Jeans?)

Boycott something. Go big.

Use a broker.

Get a nickname (a life long ambition, I assure you)

Love your roommates (except for Gaustass, He can Suck it)

Stage murder scenes with them.

Get Snowed In for three days with the favorites (Do Nothing but play board games and eat cheese)

Get crazy dressed up with your best male friend and go real estate shopping for a day

Obsess about the townhouse on the Brooklyn Promenade that you pretend to be on the fence about. Scheme how you can afford a 7K a month rent. Say things like, "Well, it does have three fire places."

Befriend a crazy lady

Find that the crazy lady is in fact just eccentric.When she says "Salvador Dali would have LOVED you, dahling" That it is possibly true since she was his muse.

Attend all her Gallery Shows where she allows you to "walk on her red carpet" and introduces you to men by saying "Amber, this is Ralph, I'd like you to go home with him tonight!"

Race to the Top of the Statue of Liberty's Crown

Have a 75 Year Old Italian Woman Teach You How to Make Ravioli from Scratch

Play Croquet on the Competitive Circuit (That's what Manhattan is for, pets)

Take a Day in the Life of a Museum Curator (back rooms of the Met)

Get a Dirty Look from a Museum Curator When You Cannot Stop Humming The GhostBusters2 Soundtrack. Die.

Spend Ten Years Following a Singer who Refuses to Sell-Out

Have Her Just Randomly Walk Up to You and Hug You at a Show and Whisper,
--GOD! THANK YOU FOR STILL COMING! in your ear.

Feel ridiculously good about that moment.

Wear Red  Jeans (at the bride's request) as a bridesmaid in a wedding

Go broke at least 4x to get to a concert.

Live in an apartment with a spiral staircase

Attend the first NYC concerts for people that go on to be famous and win Grammys.

Watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade Live, but indoors

Watch fireworks from a cruise ship on the Forth of July with your kid sister

Swim in a pool of chocolate liquor

Spend the night in the bat cave at the Bronx Zoo.

Swear off milk chocolate... once you go dark....

Learn how to make chocolate at Jaques Torres.

Date a lawyer.

Date a bartender.

Make sure bartender becomes a sommelier. 

Date a Restaurateur. Food will never be the same afterwards.

Date a CPA (just not in April, or for sure in April -- Depending on What You're Going For)

Date a single father.

Date a stranger you meet on a train.

Date a psychologist. (This makes everything better.)

Swear off dating.

Date a doctor you meet in the ER

Date a med student. (Drop that like it's hot)

Date a blacksmith. (Thank you, universe.)

Date a clown (because the Universe takes back what it gives).

Date a poor penniless writer (never get over it).

Find a go-to vacation. (Thanks to Rachel and Dave, who let the Duchess and I crash their babymoon.)

Learn a Museum's Collection Backward and Forward
-- I can give you a five page report on just about anything at the Frick

Attempt learning Italian

Try it again

Try it a third time - find it's this time that's the charm

Sneak on to a Movie Set

Walk barefoot in Central Park

Live Somewhere You Love Like Walden Must Have Loved the Pond

Live Somewhere you Hate (if you're in the market, may I suggest Greenpoint?)

Get Good Stories

Give your Compliments to the Chef

Doorbell Ditch Members of Fashion TV

Roll Down a Gigantic Hill in Forte Green

Kiss in the Rain

Walk from The Metropolitan Museum of Art to Clinton Hill

--Walk it in Heels
--During a Blackout

Lose your Gallbladder (Good Riddance)

Finish  College

Make friends with a celebrity... Thank you, Gabriel Byrne.

Take a tour of Sesame Street, with Big Bird

Meet a Girl who Changes Your Life (when she's 7)

Learn how to make a horseshoe like no'body's business

Animate a haul of educational vignettes staring a robot.

Own an animal that belongs on a farm

Go abroad

Take Mass at Westminster Abbey

Model for a Life Drawing Class

See the Very Last Night of a Long Running Tony Award Winning Broadway Play
--(I am still in awe of Brian Stokes Mitchell)

Help a bunch of kids open a fire hydrant

Dance in an Open Fire Hydrant

Perfect your Crepes Recipe/Skillz

Free Style Rap on Stage in front of a Huge Audience - (Some of these happened when I was 22 obs.)

Volunteer

Work a Hotline

Stay Up Too Late -- (Every Single Night of your 20s)

Dance in Bubbles at a Night Club (Which is why I came to NYC in the first place...)

Dance in the Middle of the Street on a Double Date at 4 in the morning with your Best Friend...
--While it snows

Eat Yourself Sick with your bestie as you devour 8 kinds of cheeses and two loaves of bread in a four am obsession to discover the very best possible Grilled Cheese (and as a result) best meal possible. Toss up between Havarti on Rosemary French Toast, or ....  you call it

Own a Snuggie

Wear a Snuggie on the F train

Wear a Snuggie in a Bar

Wear a Snuggie on Broadway etc. etc. You get the idea.

Experience a National Tragedy
-- Stand at its threshold and feel yourself change

Fall in love for the second time...

Do it again......

How about a once more for good measure?

Ride across the Brooklyn Bridge on the Back of a Motorcycle

Attend a real Hamptons pool party.

Write as a character witness in a Federal Trial

Yell at a Mo-Fo cab driver (x 20)

On an impulse, dye your hair. Leave it like that for the rest of your life.
 

Be part of a small and intimate 5 person design team.

Get nominated for a design Emmy with those fools ;) 

Learn your way around a Forox.

Be so Uninhibited that all the Baldwin Brothers Gawk at You as You Make-Out on a Park Bench.

Learn Some 'effing Manners 

Make Friends Belle-style with all the Perveyors of Fine Goods in your Little Town. Know their first names.

Pull your BFF Roomie off a Pool Table (that's no place for dancing)

Become a Health Coach

Design clothes that you see people wearing on the streets of NYC

Freak-Out and Chase them with a Camera 

Get Pulled on Stage at a Death Metal Concert

Watch Meryl Streep as she steps from behind stage to on stage (pure magic, people).

Give Directions to the UN to Goran Persson's driver

Tell Your Favorite Story to tell at the Moth's Outtakes Stage

Sprint Across a Battlefield (well a Historic Battlefield)

Stuff Your Fist in Your Mouth to Keep from Laughing in a Packed Audience at the Worst Play to Ever Grace a Stage

Fail

Get Kicked Out of the Theater

Feel Mixed Guilt/Vindication when the Play Closes a Week Later

Ice Skate

Let Your exBoyfriend's Best Friend Kiss You

--you might not regret it

Write a Song in an Elevator with your Best Friend. It's OK if it takes hours. You'll make new friends.

Get Your Heart Broken in Dramatic Lighting, 4am under a Street lamp is good for this Scene.

Dye an Old Woman's Hair Hott Pink in her Hospital Bed

Do Work That Makes You Brim Over with Happiness and Pride

Draw Nearly Every Day, afterall, your life is beautiful

Fill 67 Sketchbooks (This next decade's got a lot of paper to fill)

Travel to Tropical Locations like it's Just Part of your Every Day (The Duchess is my Go-To Girl Here)

Have a Bartender Make You an "Amberlina" a Signature Drink You Can Actually Order at Gramercy --(well on nights when Kavin is working) -- Shirley Temple don't got nothing on this (which is a lie)

Ride a Bike on the Roof of a Grocery Store

Start Your Own Company 

Get a Ride in a Police Car

Keep in Touch

Find a Mentor

Make Her Be Your BFF

Play on Playground Equipment (the more dangerous the better)

Fly Half Way Across the Country to Meet Someone Who's Flown Half Way too...
because what happens in Vegas....

Ride a Pop Culture Wave 

Catch Movies on their Release Day at Midnight

Make t-shirts to Commemorate these Occasions 

Forgive Someone that No One Else Forgives

Stand Up for Them

Commune with Nature in a Fairy Dust Moment on Fire Island with the World's two Coolest Girls

Call in sick to finish Reading a book. "I can't sleep. I can't eat." Valid.

Meet Judy Bloom (gush yourself in to a coma)

Share Lunch with Jane Yolan

Be Friendsies with Kevin Henkes

Own an Original Rosemary Wells

Get Kissed on the Cheek by Jeff Smith

Sit Cross-legged on a Roof and talk with someone until the Sun Comes Up

Kick a Brooklyn Kid's A in Jump Rope

Read Every Book on this List:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_Classic_Book_Collection

Make it a Competition with a Hottie

Give Up when You Get to War and Peace. 

"Cheat" and let him read it to you in Russian

Work in a building that holds 15 Organs - the kind with pipes.

Work in a building that contains a room that's an exact replica of the Titanic's Ballroom.

Flip a coin to make every decision for an entire day
-- You'll End Up at Storm King

See the Whirling Dervishes Whirl

Make it Through Ten Years in NYC without a Tattoo

On an Impulse Go to Philadelphia with Some New Girls You Just Met

Have them Turn Out to Be Your Life-Long Friends

Stand beside the Double Sided Glass and Pick a Guy out of a Police Line
--(I was thrilled to know this was a real thing)

Start a Blog!

Best of a Decade
Best Vacation: October 2011's Seattle/Hawaii Extravaganza There were Lanterns and Mudslides and Fresh Flowers and Mai Tais and Long Lazy Days. Hands down. Best Vacation Ever.

Best Day Trip:
1.Princeton in 2002 with Angela, Grammy was in Fine Form and We Stayed Up All Night Listening to Records and Writing Music
2. Fort Tyron Park with the Ludlows - the Cloisters with this crew was a complete surprise and a total blast... from the past
3. Connecticut for a Long weekend -- I got on a train and got a hotel.

Best Books:
1.The Hunger Games,
2. 100 Years of Solitude
3. The Alchemist
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
5. The Song of Achilles

Best Shows
2011  - Amon Amrath at Best Buy Theater (totally unexpected, wildly fun)
2011 - Melanie at BBKing
2010  - Esperanza Spalding at Summer Stage
2008 - Matchbox 20 at MSG
2006 - Ani Di Franco at Carnige Hall
2005 - Eminem at MSG (possibly the best show of my life)
2004- Patti Smith at the Bowery Ballroom
2004 - Prince at MSG
2003 - Five Iron Frenzy in Grove City, PA
2003 - The White Stripes at the Aragon Ballroom -- blew my mind
2002 - Bob Dylan at MSG

Best Thing to Do: Go to Accupuncture, Coney Island, the Bowery Electric or ANY Beach

Best Place to Eat: Benchmark/ Joya/ China Grill/ Gramercy Tavern/ The Red Hook Ballparks/ Stacy Giauque's Kitchen

Best Kisses: 1.La Brea Tar Pits - I laughed so hard I almost puked but instead made-out
2.During a Futurama marathon here at the Penthouse at 302 Court
3.The High-line

Best Memories

2011 - Two Words. Royal. Wedding.

2011 - Toys R Us and FAO Shwartz enter a bidding war over my art.
2010 - Jen Mo hosted me and Ashley for Christmas, and gifted us with automatic soap dispensers. Ashley's reaction was maybe my favorite memory of that year.

2009 - Watching  John McEnroe Come Play Some Tennis

2008 Olympics - In which I took time off from work and kept the cable running non-stop. People dropped by at their leisure and we ate our weight in Chinese Food for weeks. There was a particular lovely moment where every guy in the room ran to get some dinner plates, because no way you'd really want dishes for hands. Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps.
Every "Normal Day" I get to wake up in my beautiful apartment, roll out of bed and explore my Beautiful Brooklyn
2007 Thanksgiving Day in London in which we were so baller we bought Turkey at Herrods

2007 - The Day Garrett and Scott Put the AC in.
2006 - In the Fall I wandered up to a woman coming out of the cutest little carriage house on that street that runs along Rendezvous Park. I had the weirdest feeling that I should talk to her about my total lack of housing situation. I'd been looking at places for two months and was on the brink of the kind of nervous break down only a New Yorker without an apartment can understand. I had actually flipped out at a homeless man earlier that week. ("YEAH?? I don't have anywhere to live EITHER!") I remember saying "Those houses are so cool and kitchy, do you know who I could talk to about renting one?" She said, "No, but I'm actually a broker... and there's this adorable place I keep thinking is too special for just anyone." There were 13 people looking at it the night we came to see it. Maria's Mother, who owned it at the time, pinched both my cheeks and said "Oh Bella, so beautiful! No gatto??" When I shook my head she hugged me and said "OK. Everybody. You. Leave!" It's the only perfect English I have ever heard her speak. That is how I came to find the Penthouse at 302 Court.  Every moment since has been magic.

Things I Didn't Have in my Teens but that I Would Now Rescue in a Fire:
2011 - The year I finally got my Cintiq, which I thought I'd stop dreaming of once I actually bought it. That is not the case.

2011 - The Duchess bestowed me with a framed aireal shot of Coney Island. My eyes fell out of my head.


2011 - Rachel Micheal gifted me an amazing set of drinking glasses. I cannot even describe them, but here's 1000 words.

2010 - Brittany (of grief and high-delight) bestowed this cookbook upon me. I remember looking down at my feet and seeing that my socks had been war(k)nocked off.

2009 - Norton Juster signed a copy of The Dot and the Line for me. It's getting pryed out of my cold dead hands.
2009 - Keith gave me this rose wood sand turner, because it "is your favorite color, and it will remind you of home, and it is animated, it makes shapes you can use for scribble drawing". It remains my favorite thing

2007 - My mom flew to NYC and painted and pimped my office, where I have had countless days of happy living ever since. I'd save the cork board in there. It is the rocking-ist.
2007 - My parents shocked and awed me by sending me a pair of custom earrings (my favorite piece of jewelry) before my first major trade show. These babies are always along for any major life event, and they'd be one of the first things I'd grab.

I'm reading "Love is a Mixed Tape". I dug out all the tapes I'd been given over the last ten years. (Which is where the idea for this post originated)

Best Mixed Tape: I give you Todd Rawson age 23:

Best Lessons Learned:
What Goes Around Comes Around

Ben Folds is just another Human Being

If You're Not Enjoying Something, Stop Doing It

Send Snail Mail

Eat Six Small Meals a Day

Hawaiian Time is Annoying

and most importantly:

DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE!!!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my twenties.
I'm off to live this last day of it, as wild and as free as the day I pulled up to NYC's shore.

Have a day. Make it Good.

Big Waves... Close Together

TODAY SUCKED....

and then i turned my head to the left.

Also, at job-job I am designing animal crackers.

In exactly one hour I am going to acupuncture.

How are you holding up?

What's the fun stuff?

A New York Minute

Some stuff (the non-new york minute kind) has been going down. Some of it is good and some of it is bad but it is in general overwhelming. I have not been here at 'She Sure is' in weeks. I am beginning to get phone calls and emails and twitter PMs and facebook messages and concerns. So I say 'Thanks, friends'. You remind me to get it in gear. Today I am in Hawaii (WHAT?? WHAT!?), but here is what I've been up to for the last whiles-- prior to my exodus, as always, in bullets.

• I had a moment that left me completely out of my element walking terrified through a windy Union Square in search of something that I nearly always have with me. Think Sex and the City and then feel sorry for me.
• Then this happened....................................maybe this picture and the previous experience are related and maybe they are not...
  
• I stayed out 'til 3am on a Monday night
• I ate out curbside under an umbrella in the pitch dark, with the beautiful and talented Ashley Bryant until the wee hours.
• People thought we were drunk. We were sober. Giggles and belly laughs and hand clapping were involved.
• I get incredibly clairvoyant during those kind of evenings that take you from one place and leave you some place else entirely
• I listened to a hell of a lot of Black Tambourine
  
• I supported a close friend through an evening of Golden Girl's Trivia (of which I watched one episode in 2003) It was very dramatic evening and emotions rode high.
  
  
• I became all kinds of obsessed with this unique and intricate but simple vintage earring
  
  
  as sported by the very awesome Cami Bird who I am friends with IRL and on Pinterest -- which I wish were real life.
• I partied at a friend's baby's birthday - the big 2.0 (It shocks and awes me that I'm at an age where baby birthday parties are my MO). Incidentally, this birthday marked my first time at their newly bought home. I took a few pictures of el bebe' (who is just as beautiful as can be) but my focus was on the view...
  
•  I rode the new East River Ferry - soon to be a normal part of my every day, from Williamsburg to DUMBO from which I can walk home. $4 people, $4!
  
  
• I had friends over for a rousing game of draw/write/squeal with laughter. I'll detail it when I get back to Brooklyn town, as I am currently in Hawaii -- I wasn't sure if I mentioned that part before....
  
• I went to a BBQ with a bunch of boys on 4th avenue. It was kind of like a frat party. In the beginning it was nice and calm. Then it got crazy. There was a fun time to be had on a couch with a new friend. It was our job to run commentary on everyone coming through the front door. This is mainly a photo of Tim, who does an exceptional job of letting me be 'one of the guys'.
  
• There was an interesting circle story that came in to a round. It goes like this -- I met a boy at a friend's gig last year. I had a crush on him. He had a crush on me -- i thought. Then I went to a New Year's eve party and saw him there. He was kind of a douche. He got drunk as a skunk while I realized my crush was ill-fated. He was none of the cute that I had previously found alluring. He didn't acknowledge that he had previously met me or that he had once rearranged his journey home to ride the train with me to Carroll. He acted as if he'd never tried to peek down my shirt with that sidelong 'I just want to sit next to you' move or that he'd focused a large amount of energy on flirting with me. I was mildly offended, but mostly upset that I had misunderstood his crush. I was also put-out and overwhelmed as I spent the New Year dodging a ridiculously drunk girl who had decided we should make-out. I did that "if i never see that guy again..." thing. I then saw him at several parties. I cut a wide path at each, doing my best to ignore-slash-avoid him. 
  
  Then.... I saw him at this frat boy party on 4th ave. He was overly flirty. I raised an eyebrow. He asked my name. I said, "I've met you before." I was fine leaving it at that. I went to get a drink. He cut a direct line to me and said, "Wait, i know where I've met you! I met you at a bar in Manhattan last year! On Avenue A?? At a gig?? Do you remember me? We rode the train home together!" He then recounted the evening to me, called me 'adorable' multiple times and spent a large part of the party tattooed to my hip. VINDICATED - disinterested, but VINDICATED. I didn't have the heart or humility to inform him that we'd met since -- but that he had been a drunken jerk-chicken.
• I had a marvelous walk home at 3am right as the Summer turned in to Fall. I love when just walking in NYC can give you goosebumps.
• I attended a Fall Dream Music recital where the lovely Miss Rachel showcased her now mad-piano-playing skills. I floated away on a classical cloud. There was even an accordion duet.
  

•  As a result I got to be totally inspired by a friend who three years ago decided to try something completely new. She now has a major talent and a gift to share just resting at her fingertips. It made me wonder how I could be growing? It was a fantastic thing to be a part of.  I feel incredibly lucky to have scored an invite to such a select listening party.
• I invented Fall Booze Cake
  It is mainly rum cake -- but with cardamom and cinnamon and pumpkin too. Apparently it has way too much rum in it to be an acceptable addition to a tea party with Mormon friends...
• I attended a tea party with Mormon friends...
• I went to a silent art auction where my friend Ultra Violet had a her pieces honoring 9/11 featured
  
• I finally bought my beloved cintiq I've been saving for since the dawn of time.
  
• I made a plate to match my couch, because that's how I roll.
• I hosted a photo shoot and when it got rained out I hosted another.
• I opened an ETSY shop for my gramma, showcasing her totally rad Glitter Glittens -- the reason for said photoshoot.
  
•  I stopped the world and developed some illustrations for a card game bid.
   
• As a result I reread The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• I drew the hell out of some Dorothy concepts:

  

  This one was my favorite, but let's face it -- there were lots that were almost my favorite.

• I had the time of my life, truly in awe -- you know that way you rarely are after age eight -- at the DUMBO Arts festival. They lit up the Brooklyn Bridge the way it should be every friggin' night of my life, and as it will be every single night in my dreams... 
  
  
  

• I dropped every single piece of clothing I own at the cleaners.
• I stayed crazy-late at job-job, almost forgetting that if I didn't pick up my laundry I'd have nothing to pack  for a 5am plane ride on my way to a two week vacation.
• I ran home and grabbed said laundry at 9:02PM - barely the nick of time.
• I crossed the street to my apartment, eager to leave for my vacation but meloncholy to leave Brooklyn, trudging along under the weight of 25 pounds of fresh clean clothing.
• I turned the corner, only to find....
• Jenpal! -- wearing a sweater I'd left at her house during our last play date -- eager to return to my belonging. It was the luckiest.
• We jumped and frolicked on the corner.
• I marveled at how friends can truly make everything a hundred times better.
• I packed my bags, trying to keep to my packing list: 2 dresses, 4 T-shirts, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 beach cover ups, 4 swim suits and 2 sweatshirts and not much else....
• I got on a plane
• I made my way to Seattle (a dream)
• I stayed for days of fun in Washington
• I got on another plane 
• I had a Diet Coke spilled all over me.
• I arrived in Hawaii for a week of tanning and swimming and sand in the suit (a more familiar but just as wonderful dream)

So that's the ever after you've been missing, more or much less. I am so happy to be blogging to you now, from where I sit, nestled under a sprawling Hawiian quilt, overlooking the ocean as obscured by palm tree silhouettes. I'm fresh from a game of Bananagrams. Mission Impossible III blasts from the TV while the Duchess (who I have missed sorely) attends to her nightly beauty ritual. I am thus left to blog and chill under a kitchy ceiling fan (one of the things I miss most about island life, I assure you). After a day of swimming and sunning and pie, I simply must retire, but only for a bit. My sabatical is over - well as far as She Sure is Sketchy is concerned. I hope this time has found you as good as ever and happier too.

A New York Minute

I would love to keep a impeccably minded diary. I don't. I keep A New York Minute. Here's this week in bullet points:

• I got a fun new Fall appropriate manicure. You know you can't wear white after labor day, but you should know you can't wear 'Tahitian Tickle Pink' either...
• I had dinner with Gentleman Psychologist at Prime Meats
• It was discovered that Gentleman Psychologist hides a secret: he's a vegetarian
• "Um...." I inquired, "If you're a vegetarian why did we come to Prime Meats??"
  to which he responded "You wanted to!," (I assure you I did) "I care a lot more about what makes you happy than what is easy for me."
• I almost dropped my fork. 
• however that would have caused me to lose a bite of my peach infused sautéed pork chop so it wasn't an option.
• Later this week, while obsessively weighing the pros and cons of New York Times Letterman Esquire to Landscape Architect  to Gentleman Psychologist to I got on the M instead of the F train on a late and very stormy night. This has not happened to me for two years which was oddly enough the last time I juggled multiple men... and then prior to that in college when it ahem... happened all the time.
• That reminds me, I read an article about a woman's physical limitations when it comes to mentally managing multiple relationships. This reaaaaaaaaaally rang true while I was soaked to the bone and waiting on the M platform above ground for fifty-three minutes
• At work I am animating a mixing table and some truly nineties magic. 
• When I picture a record scratch it's obscured in my memory by a soap machine or drugs. So I asked Google...
• AND GOOGLE GAVE WITH BOTH HANDS
  
• My new Pratt Institute intern started her servitude!
• We met thrice this week. 
• Each time we ate crap I should not eat because I am not in college. Nay cutie college intern can nosh on calzones but professional artist can not.
• I had the best ever acupuncture appointment
• I attended a silent auction. It was SO boss.
• I had a talk with the ever stylish Jenny Hamp in which she detailed a horrific nightmare she recently had
• I explained that I used to thrash to dawn as a child but that I hadn't had a nightmare that I could recall in ages...
• I had my first nightmare in a decade
• I had my second nightmare in the last two days
• I had my third nightmare this week
• I began drafting a "Thank You" note to Jenny Hamp
• I again got caught in a torrential rain without an umbrella.
• I went on amazon with the intention of buying one of the beautiful umbrellas that I covet on http://pinterest.com/amberalvarez/
• I couldn't decide which to buy 
• I bought both and decided I would return whichever I adored less
• I am not a monster. I wanted them both the same...
• I decided that this behavior needed to be addressed... and thus
• I will no longer be seeing Letterman Esquire or Landscape Architect....
• I will be keeping both bubble and yellow pumpkin umbrella
• I failed to do much in the way of art. 
• I am terrified that this is due to infatuation with Gentleman Psychologist 
• I spent a magical evening on The Highline. Where I stayed on the lower 20. It was about as great as great gets
• I made-out like a bandit teenager. 
• My face has beard rash.
• Of this I do not complain
• I adventured in babysitting and settled down to snuggle up
  with the greatest object of my affection, Julian Rex:
  
  Photo courtesy JenMo
• We read books and talked about the moon.
• I stepped back in time and spent a delicious sunny morning amongst books and castles in Princeton
   
• I tried to stay dry when it torrential rained on this year's Children's Book Festival
  You could hear paper crying....
• Incase you were wondering, I did not master long exposure on my camera....
• I taught a workshop on color. 
• I hung out with some awesome people
• I was thoroughly impressed by John Rocco, who took so much time with every kid who plopped down in front of him in awe. He looked at kid's dummies, showed him his original drawings, asked questions, gave posters, it was amazing. 
• I was reminded of an idol I had as a child who I had the chance to meet. I'm not going to name names, but he was a total douche and I sadly, no matter how I tried, I wouldn't ever feel the same about him or his books again... 
• It reminded me that I used to blog about art and being an artist. In the old days of She Sure is Sketchy I would say this: As an illustrator/animator/artist always be nice to everyone, care about your fans, especially when they are very young. 
• I lied to get off the phone so I could have a momentary moment of moments with a girl crush.
• I had the boy with blue eyes and art therapist over for their first ( but certainly not their last) forray into the GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME... or one of them... Strictly Ballroom.
  
  
• I had tremendous heart-to-heart with my lovely roommate who makes me smile and love my apartment even more than I would (which is saying a hell of a lot).

Lots of other stuff happened. Those are the things of note. What happened with you?

---------------------------------------------------------------------

• Watching: the Original Le Femme (effing badass) Nikita. SO GOOD SO SO SO SO GOOD
• Reading: this might be the first week of my life where I've got nothing. Nothing. I don't even know....
• Listening to: It's all Elliot Smith up in here
• Drawing: Camels
• Eating: Peach Porkchops
• Learning: Italian
• Coveting: this bike in red
• Saving for: a Cintiq and an Inkling
• Quoting:  This week's all......
  
  
  
  If you bullet point use an I <3 a New York Minute button and let me know all about it in the comments. Or for the love of all things holy, just recommend a book... sigh

A New York Minute

I would like to journal. I don't. I New York Minute and you can too.

Here's this week in bullet points:

• This week was for friendsies:
  

• I met up with a party of my favorite party/do-nothing/do-everything people to brunch in laund at Benchmark off 5th Avenue in Park Slope. 
• I brunched upon marvelous brunch with good company in pure delight
• I walked through the Ghet-to to get there
• When one walks through the ghetto a 25 minute walk can quickly become a 45 minute walk because you have to run in the wrong direction away from rats and kick cans because that's what Pippi Longstocking would do. WWPLD? Ask....
• I meandered through BK town "thrifting" with my posse as a result 
• I purchased two truly awful, clunky and colorful vintage pins which I am in love with and insanely proud of
• I had a great time watching Tess try to get out of a very awkward situation involving three sterling silver rings and four dollar bills with a card table wielding gentleman.
  
  
  
• I openly mocked Jenny and Tess, freely using a faux pas word to describe their behavior, as they sat on a minibench they found in front of a garden supply on our ambling adventure

• I had a truly embarrassing moment, doubled because it was shared with a stranger on the F train from Manhattan. I could tell you about it but then I would have to kill you.
• Said stranger and I are now spending a fair amount of time together
• I had a delicious late in to the night conversation with Brittany Warnock of grief and high delight fame
• I had a truly sad and torturous (for me) funeral for Good Golly Miss Molly, the first casualty of hurricane Irene
• I cried
• I vowed in grand fashion to never eat poultry again
  
• I had dinner after the private wake at Cafe Lulu --- where Sam ate chicken right in front of my tear-stained face
• Maybe it looked kind of delicious -- loyalty FAIL!
  
• I joined a bunch of friends from another life for my friend Mike's book signing at Bergen Street Comics
• I welcomed the Duchess (after a full month-long sabbatical in Virginia), Ashleycat, Miss Rachel and Nichole for a girl night of gab and gossip at the penthouse at 302 Court
• I had my locks bleached/dyed and chopped ala The Duchess' mad skillz 
• I had a late in to the night conversation with Seattle
• I realized I need to put a night cap on these late-in-to-the-night phone marathons...
• I bought some eye cream
• I spent Hoverboard money on a plane ticket to Hawaii by way of Seattle
• I gave in and decided to use a travel agent because my itty bitty brain was going to burst trying to figure out the damn thing online
• Prior to going to the travel agency (I could have called, but where is the fun in that??) I donned a gigantic wide brimmed hat and my polka dot dress. I assume that's what people wear to a travel agency, right??
• I was teased ruthlessly about using a travel agency. John told me frequently while deciding this decision that they are only used by "WIMPS WHO WEAR BEEHIVES" -- implying that only a woman would use said service and that that woman  would be a dame from the 1950s.
• I replied that he was obviously two dates shy of a hate crime and that given Amy Winehouse's untimely death it was just too soon to mock particular hairstyles.
• I handed my credit card to the nice lady at said travel agency. 
• I had a moment of silence for all the experiences I'm allowed because LBH this plane ticket cost about as much as it costs to raise an American child from diapers to diploma.  I have not yet elected to procreate so I go to Hawaii. That's math.
• My wonderful and loved phone started to spazz out while sitting across the room, scrolling like a mad crazed cat with a lazer light. It would then call anyone's number it landed on
• My phone's drunk dials had no discernment for race, creed, relationship status. It had no problem dialing digits with a 'Do not Pick UP!' label upon said number
• It started deleting texts
• I failed to get a 911 type text from one of my health coaching clients
• I realized that my poor phone needed to be taken out behind the barn Old Yeller style. 
• I came close to crying
• I bought a new phone. Its photos so far fail to capture the very essence of your soul as my other camera phone did. It cost hundreds of dollars. 
• My bank account died
• I used a half a gigantic bottle of Jamaican rum to make this cake:
  
  Yes it  has gold stars on it.
• It was well received.
• I ate six different kinds of meat as made by Tim grill-master-of-anything-that-has-a-flank Hanna
• I gifted a beer bottle opener ring - the gift that no guy ever has to have explained to him
• I had a very enjoyable conversation about marine biology, growing up in Hawaii and sex education with frisbee playing strangers in the backyard
• I hosted a 3am listening party - just. like. the. good. old. days. We lounged to Sigur Rós
  
• I learned how to make an accented ó on my keyboard or should I say ón my keybóard - a skill that I now hóld dear
• I created a new and colorful thing called 'Refrigerator Salad'
• I got in an On-like-Donkey-Kong  fight with a cab driver. 
  "I'm confused. You just took me ten minutes in the wrong direction up to Brooklyn Heights off Tillary to bring me back to State Street? I walk to State Street from my house." I said it in my 'calm reporter Amber' voice.
  He turned and barked
  --"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU TALKING 'BOUT!" I DRIVE THE CAB YOU SIT IN THE CAB!"
  "um... I think if you drive for ten minutes left and then drive for ten minutes right, bringing me to a street I walk to from my home where I have lived for five years..... ," I mumbled in small Amber-child in the dark voice.
  --"WHY YOU COMPLAIN?!!?? YOU KNOW SO MUCH - YOU DRIVE CAB?? NO!" I was cut off verbally while Amir, the meanest man in a yellow car in Brooklyn simultaneously cut off an unmarked car with five policemen in it. 'KARMA!' - I thought.
  They smiled and waved at him, sharing cheese cake from a red striped box in a rather unsightly fashion.
  I decided only I could protect the innocent - me.
  "YOU JUST TAKE ME WHERE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO TAKE ME AND I WILL PAY YOU. THAT IS HOW THIS WORKS!!" I hollered in my bitchtastic teenage Amber angst voice
  --"YOU THINK YOU KNOW SO MUCH BUT YOU DO NOT!" Amir wailed (I raised an eyebrow - realizing this man in white might be the reincarnation of my tenth grade English teacher, Mrs. Graham)
  "YOU SHUT UP AND TAKE ME TO FORTE GREEN!" growing up in the nursery with my brother and sister we would recite 'The Parent Trap' word for word in its entirety as an alternative for going to sleep. This was done in the same voice you might say "YOU SHUT UP AND GET MY MY BOOTS!" while hurling camp supplies at a man's head.
• I arrived at Forte Green Place
• I tipped Amir a dollar fifty
• Amir said "Thank you, Miss - You are very pretty" to which I responded
• "Bye. Have a nice day"
• --"Oh you too, Miss. You too." -- no hint of sarcasm. Umhum... 
• Gawd, I love Brooklyn
• I watched a stuffed kitchen full of people create a delicious dinner of linguini and such to dress it up fancy dinner party style
• I experienced a home without air conditioning piping through the rafters for more than five hours...
• I am a fighter.
• I laughed and laughed and had fun with people I don't normally hang out with at said dinner party
• Someone asked,  "Should 'throw out this container of melted ice?" to which I said, "you mean water?" Haahahahahaha Haahahahah
• I was adored despite my annoying need to have exorbitant amount of laughter while eating
• I had a heart to heart with a boy with blue eyes
• I was read all of this awesome book aloud with VOICES:
  
  Which for some reason unbeknownst to me, was never read to me as a child, even though my parents made sure I could quote The Leatherstocking tales before I turned nine....
• Most importantly thanks to Incredimombo and Brittany Warnock I discovered Pinterest:
  http://pinterest.com/amberalvarez/
  
• Maybe I hummed "For Good" from Wicked to the my pinterest site all. week. long.
• Also I made this button:
  
  
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• Watching: Scrubs from season 1, Wacom's Inkling Video on loop until I can buy one when they go live
• Reading: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
• Listening to: LCD Soundsystem
• Drawing: Not.
• Eating: Brisket from Tim's BBQ
• Learning: Italian
• Coveting: this bike in red
• Saving for: a Cintiq and an Inkling
• Quoting:  "All real works of art look as though they were done in joy." --Robert Henri