I Promise

Tonight I had an epic night, the kind that shapes and moulds and changes the course of the stream. This might pop up again ;)

Happy Birthday to Mary Blair

Today is the 100th Birthday of Mary Blair -- she is everything I aspire to. Today google decided to do it right, and I've been staring lovingly at this doodle for far too long.

A few years ago I took a private meeting with an art dealer while I was in California. We discussed a 6x8" Peter Pan original. At the time they were offering it up at 15K. I pretended I was on the fence while staring at it in the only way I have ever been absolutely 'agog.' At that moment I knew, that some day, one of her pieces would be mine, but not today... or probably tomorrow. I have that goal at the proper top of my bucket list though, and I'll keep you up today on the pursuit of such happiness as I aspire to it.

In the meantime I console myself with my 1st edition  copy of "I Can Fly". Lucky for you they reissued this a few years ago and you can snag a copy at Amazon

I've picked up and various cards, cartoon ads and popicle packages at estate sales over the last eight years too and those help me sleep at night under NOT an original piece of Blair brilliance.

I am more inspired by Mary than any one else, and that is saying a lot. 

Now I will show you some of her stuff that is baller. Enjoy this peek at genius.

 

 

 

The stuff you love and think is Disney, is mostly Mary.

You are now looking at the highest level of performance a human being can achieve:

 She was also smart enough to make sure there was enough documentation of her drawing when she was young and hot and sexy. So see, there you have it, shear brilliance

 

Happy Birthday. I love you forever.

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?

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• 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

A New York Minute

I would like to journal, but it's something that never seems to get done. Instead I now bullet point my New York life, one minute at a time (well, kind of)

This week was all about Before and After.

This week I....
At the beginning...

• Took my bookshelf from this:
• To This: 

• Saw my most lovely-of-all people-in-the-history-of-the-world-Acupuncturist who makes me happier than any person with the exception of Santa Claus, The Duchess, Beth Logan and Mary Blair. You can see her too: http://www.yelp.com/biz/tomomi-tanaka-new-york <--This is me giving you a hug wrapped in life balance, wrapped in therapy, wrapped in a rainbow and tigerbalm.
• Survived an Earth Quake. Well, kind of... All this stuff fell on the floor! MY SUNGLASSES! MY MEGAFAT SHARPIE I USE TO WRITE ON CARDBOARD! Let me tell you -- It was an ordeal. I was at work. If you have not seen my work, this is a picture of my work:That's the view from my desk. In essence I work in a NYC box. This winter it will be clear that I work in a snowglobe. Everywhere you look you see NYC. You can sit at your robot animation and see from the Bowery to the Cloisters. You can walk to get a drink of water and see the Statue of Liberty. On your way to lunch you see Macys. That is how we roll at job-job. So it's where we were all sitting when the earthquake happened. I felt the desks shake. I felt the windows shake. I saw the lamps swing. A few things fell. Small kine things. All my coworkers, aka. 'East coasters', having never been debriefed in an earthquake before, rose from their desks and ran to the larger than people windows without a hitch. They craned against them to see WHAT WAS HAPPENING!! It was amazing and... 
• I loved it.
• I read the Outsiders. 
• I watched the Outsiders.
• I openly awwed at several cimematic details. I have my BFA in film so I can say things like 'Oh woah. Patrick Swayze looks SO good' on repeat. It's critique and so I can say it again. In case you were wondering... Patrick Swayze looks SO good in this movie. Matt Dillon's got some pretty sweet acting chops -- who saw that coming?  You were of course destined to love Ralph Maccio forever. Tom Cruise sucks and is a complete over-actor. 
• I formed an odd little club with Miss. Rachel in which we read a book and watch a movie and then blast on the movie. Next up...??
• I shared an amazingly perfect middle eastern dinner at Zaytoons. It is the best. That is not debatable.
• I lost a half a pound.
• I had a crafty skill to the wall night with a bunch of girls. We shellacked plates with this weird epoxy concoction. I have no idea how this is going to turn out. It will probably be a monstrosity. Next week there will be pictures.
• I had a deep and late-into-the-night discussion with my gal Ashley. We just 'get it' because we both understand the pressure of being overly talented strong female leads and future millionaires bajizillionares. Also we are totes humble.
• Then this hurricane came and it was this is this and that is that... 2 points if you know I am using Flounder's voice to relay this story.(Ok that link is not to Flounder's voice but it is to the best voice in the whole perfect thing)
• I tried to buy batteries, but New York went crazy and ran on batteries and water. I realized that I could just take them out of my stereo if I needed them.
• I laughed at NYC's preparation for a natural disaster. Everyone freaked their faces off for something that was as common for me as a snow day was for them growing up. (Incidently snow days still really spazz me out) Awww look the boutique downstairs taped their windows. Presh.
• I was promised that when I woke up on Sunday morning everything would look like this:
• It did not.
• It looked like this:That's another before and after and the thing we're microscoping would be my anticipation.
• After the storm was over the electricity went out
• 'The apartment' had an influx of boys this weekend. 
• Nothing like a storm and some chinese checkers to keep things interesting
• I sat in the dark with the boy and listened to Johnny Cash because NO way in HELL was I butchering my stereo's juice just to have a little bit of flash light
• I made everyone take a minute to appreciate Irene. Was she a hurricane? No. She was a tropical storm with purpose. Did she still accomplish a lot of what she set out to accomplish? Were people scared into shutting down mass transit, evacuating thousands, and crying in the streets? Did my roommate still make enough rattatouli to feed an army? Did I skip a shower and instead bathe in a bath full of freezing cold water on Sunday night that I'd drawn just incase?? Yes. She did it her way. On her terms. That's kind of cool.
• I LOST MY SH*T when the tinsy leak that I thought was fixed (perhaps because I was promised it was fixed after it plagued me for eight months while fighting my landlord to fix it) split open in Irene's wrath (which let's face it, after collecting four inches of rain water INSIDE the theater my house was really minor in comparison to mine).
• In that moment of complete crazy and weakness with water pouring down in my house and Irene shaking the windows I may have been talked in to performing Britney's "I'm a Slave for You". sigh. Here's where you get the benefits of this being my version of a journal... because I'd never admit this otherwise.
• I documented said rainwater. Here we meet yet another before and after:ewww... gross. OK I know what's happening here. I went to Pratt. This is a bowl of clear water from the roof sitting on a yellow chair. So the water looks yellow. It's an illusion. I'll fix this...
   um. yeah.
• I still have this bowl of branch water. I got rid of the others, but I want my landlord to see this with his own macho eyes. I know that a) he will not care and that b) the amount of anguish I have keeping this bowl around is just stupid and I should toss it out but I also know c) that is not how I roll.
• The minute the storm was over I ran to Wyckoff  Street to visit my eighth favorite thing about my neighborhood:
• This mosaic house was one of my chief concerns when the wind was winding. In nicey-nice news the artist's husband was out cleaning branches and such from the tile and we had an 'everything is fine' chat. Irene made off with a few loose tiles and some sprinkled sequins and glitter but that is all. Celebrate.
• I went to brunch with my favorite girl to write-letters-to/consume-calories-with/fantasize-about-kidnapping-a-child-from... JenPal 
• Brunch happened at my favorite place to brunch so double plus. Seriously. Be jealous.
• I went on a looooooooooooong walk with the boy. We saw this: 
• Maybe we added something..
• Ok , OK we added the bike... It left me wondering. Earthquake? or Hurricane?
• I got some pretty bitchin' fabric samples back from spoonflower.
• I finally saw 'The Help'. I pronounced it good. Sometimes this BFA in film plagues me. I wonder if you have similar problems. Is there something you love LOVE love (in my case movies) that you persued higher learning in (be that college or other) that you now enjoy a little less for not being able to enjoy it without intense focus on details or things you would change??
• I watched 'Walk the Line' with my Brooklyn version of Johnny Cash.
• My roommate and I are becoming extremely well versed at using obscure music and movie quotes as a sole means of communicating. 
• I realized that I cannot let these New York Minutes go longer than a week. It's been a week and two days and it took way too long to pull this together. Those extra two days make this post craaazy. So expect something Monday from now on. 

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• Watching: suggest something. I'm out.
• Reading: Excuses be Gone by Wayne Dyer and Grief and High Delight by Brittany Warnock
• Listening to: Britney's Femme Fatal on loop
• Drawing: Penguins
• Eating: In love with pickles at present
• Learning: Italian
• Coveting: this bike in red
• Saving for: a Cintiq and a plane ticket
• Quoting:
  

In the meantime, I'm dying to know, what do you have to say?? How was your week. Spill like a two foot slit in a ceiling.