weekend in review

It was such a fantastically full weekend (and summer...hence all the not blogging)! It all began with a twilight bbq in Prospect Park on Friday night. The sunlight hours weren't on our side but a strategic location (read: street lights) and candles helped us extend the gorgeous summer evening. 

Some friends graciously invited Kurt and I to a matinee Cirque du Soleil performance on Saturday afternoon. What an incredible show! The way those people move is out of this world. I was in pain (and awe) just watching. We followed that up by trying out the Other Half, a new brewery in Carroll Gardens, and getting some snacks at Lavender Lake. Since we were already nearby, I also convinced Kurt to try the new Ample Hills Creamery. I waited in line for a stupid amount of time to try their new flavor "It Came from Gowanus" but it was delicious (so worth it!). 

On Sunday, Kurt and I went to brunch at our friends' apartment in the Upper East Side. Their gorgeous home and impeccable entertaining skills made me feel like I live in a college dorm room but it was still a lovely time. Since I was already in Manhattan, I popped up to the Met to see the Charles James show before it closes. The dresses were lovely but I think the real art was in the construction (which was a little lost on me). I spent more time wandering through the American Wing of the museum. Did you know the Met has an enormous permanent collection of decorative arts? It houses everything from furniture to silver pieces to glass vases from colonial/Revolutionary times. The spoon collection alone is astounding. My fall resolution (those exist, right?) is to spend more time perusing all the fantastic museums we have here in the city once the weather turns chilly. Break up the eating and drinking with a little bit of culture! 

night at the museum

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy Observant Eye events at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but I hadn't been in ages. I convinced Jenn to join me at the museum last Friday after we got out of work a little early. The program was a little different than I had remembered. Our group was large; most of the participants were older (previous sessions had been directed towards young professionals); and we only focused on one piece of art for the entire hour. 

Our talk was focused around Edward Hopper's painting entitled 'Tables for Ladies'. I was a little worried we would be bored of just one piece of art, but I was impressed at how many directions our conversations and discussions took. Our guide encouraged us to view the piece from far away as well as up close. We covered the technical aspects of the painting technique, historical context of the artist, and even our own speculations on the subject matter. It was SO interesting. Plus, I just love that museum, so anytime I get to spend there when it isn't crowded with tourists is incredible. I can't wait to catch more talks this season!

night at the museum | our global kitchen

Jenn and I recently attended a "tweetup" at the American Museum of Natural History to get a glimpse of their new exhibit, Our Global Kitchen. An after hours evening at one of my favorite museums with free drinks and chocolate? What is not to love!? Sign. Me. Up!

around town with the martigs

In addition to my window shopping spree, Kurt's parents were in town this past weekend which meant I got to do some running around with them a bit.

We had a dinner date set with the Martigs on Friday after work and decided to grab a quick drink at Eataly first. Luckily, I was able to convince the group to pop into Marimekko next door for a moment.

Kurt recently met the guy who did the sound (really interesting, I promise) for the shop, so he told his parents about the science of it all while I speed-browsed all the gorgeous patterns and fabrics. I never knew Marimekko made clothing but now I have added a few new dress pattern ideas to my sewing aspirations.

Once the rest of the group was finished browsing (I could have stayed in there all day!) we popped over to Eataly for a quick glass of wine. The bar area we wanted to occupy was packed (must be the après work watering hole for the upwardly mobile) but luckily they offer glasses of wine that you can wander around the store with. Genius. I would most definitely be inclined to spend a tad more money if tipsy while grocery shopping. You're a clever one, Mario.

Next, we headed towards the dreaded Times Square for dinner. A friend of Erik's had recommended this pizza place in midtown called Don Antonio. They offer a wide variety of pies and even had gluten free versions for Erik. After sharing some super fresh mozzarella cheese, we all dove in to our own pizzas and they were delicious! I'm generally a pizza purist and love red sauce on mine, but I couldn't pass up the Pizza del Papa (the Pope's Pizza) which was topped with butternut squash, zucchini, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil. Mmmmm. I might have to try and recreate this at home. However, that springy wood-fired crust will be impossible to copy. If you can bear the trek to midtown, I would highly recommend Don Antonio!

On Sunday, we all traveled to the Upper East Side to visit Kurt's new favorite museum, the Museum of the City of New York.

The Manhattan Grid celebrated 200 years last year and the museum had an excellent exhibit on the highly ambitious master plan that set the framework for NYC to be the metropolis it is today.

The exhibit was great. I'm normally an awful person to go to museums with because I get bored quickly. This time I tried really hard to read all the descriptions and really study all the pieces. Luckily, I'm a big fan of this lovely city, so it wasn't too hard the focus. It's amazing to see all the images of the transformation from rolling farmland to flat , regularized plots. The Greatest Grid will be up until July 15th. Check it out!

After the museum, we rushed back to Brooklyn and took a long walk through Park Slope to get lunch at Cafe Steinhof.

The weather was pretty chilly and rainy, so warm Austrian food was perfect to warm us up. I went with the Chicken Paprika topped with spaetzle. Delish.

Next we headed to Commonwealth Bar in Park Slope (the Martigs are such troopers to let us drag them around all day!) for the announcement of the results of some participatory budget voting for the district. Sounds complicated but its actually simple. The local council member is letting the public decide how they would like to see a portion of the budget spent.

Many groups formulated ideas and the public voted. Kurt's brother, Erik, and several compost enthusiasts wrote a proposal for a chunk of the budget to go to a high tech compost container and other items to facilitate their compost program in Gowanus.

We were sitting on pins and needles as Brad Lander, the local council member, gave a little speech before revealing the results. Erik's project got the second most amount of votes and was granted funding! Woo hoo! Congratulations, Erik! I'm so happy to see your hard work pay off.  It was great that the Martigs were there to join in the celebration and was the perfect way to top off a busy weekend!

alexander mcqueen at the met

A couple Fridays ago, Jenn, Christine, Kurt and I went to check out the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Exhibit at the Met. I had heard amazing things about it and wanted to check it out before they take it down in August. (Thanks for getting us in for free Christine/Bloomberg News!)

The exhibit has been so popular, there is always a line that wraps through the museum. At times I think the wait could get up to 2 hours. We were prepared for this but actually hit it at a good time that we only had to wait about 30 minutes. 

What they don't tell you about the exhibit is that all those friendly faces you were waiting with would then be jam packed into a maze of small rooms together. My mother will tell you, I am the worst person to go to a museum with. I enjoy seeing things and taking it all in but I have a very limited amount of patience which is quickly depleted when surrounded by slow moving crowds. I respect the fact that people want to read every single placard and then ooh and ahh over the corresponding outfit, but it would drive me insane. I like to walk through at a leisurely pace, scanning the pieces, and reading the description when something piques my interest. Anyway...

Besides the awful crowds, the exhibit was fantastic. A lot of McQueen's collections were way out there but absolutely incredible. I don't often think of clothing as being conceptual or making an artistic statement, but all these pieces definitely had a story to tell. While the clothing was amazing, I was absolutely blown away by the exhibit design. It definitely helped express the moodiness of the work. That would be an amazing alternative architecture career!

{No photography was allowed in the exhibit, so all images of the McQueen collection from the Met Museum}

weekend.

Brrr.....it's cold outside! This is the time of year I just want to buckle down and hibernate until spring. Alas, life must go on, so I braved the elements a few times this weekend, puffer and snow boots required.

  

Friday night, Kurt and I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has extended hours Friday and Saturday nights, and we like to take advantage of this great series called Observant Eye. A tour guide takes you through the galleries and highlights specific pieces of art that are connected by a common theme. It's great motivation to go all the way uptown and actually do something cultural. I also enjoy how they cover a huge variety of topics. (The museum is enormous! They have a lot to pick from!) I don't think I would have chosen to spend a lot of time looking at, say, African tribal masks, but when someone is telling you the story behind them, it makes it a million times more interesting. Broadening my horizons :)

This session's topic was childhood in Ancient Greek and Roman culture. Our tour covered several statues, pottery, and even a sarcophagus. It's also great to experience the museum without crowds. I highly recommend it!

Post-museum, Kurt and I made the journey out to Williamsburg. A friend through Kurt's work was having a birthday party/house warming at her adorable new studio. I was very jealous. She has a great space with a balcony and French doors and very little stuff. It is a goal of mine to eliminate clutter and only have the necessities...in plain sight anyway.

Saturday, Kurt ditched me to go skiing. He, his brother, and another friend took the Paragon bus to Hunter Mountain for the day. I did boring, non-blog worthy things while he was away. I had high hopes for a warehouse sale at Taschen but was disappointed with the selection. I came away with a calendar of travel posters which may or may not end up as art for my new walls.

Saturday evening, I met up with some friends at Cubana Café for dinner and drinks. They have amazing margaritas and sangria, and I always get the Cuban sandwich (continuing my quest to find NYC's best...their's is quite good but I still think Habana Outpost's is better but, sadly, it is the off season).

 

My roommate moved out on Sunday morning but I wasn't around to watch the madness. Kurt and I stopped by in the early afternoon and it looked like we had been robbed. I knew all the common furniture was hers but the place looked so barren. I had a mini freak out that I wasn't going to be able to pull everything together by the time the new roommate moves in next Saturday. Even though we already had a project planned for the day at Kurt's apartment, he was so sweet to help me start painting the walls in my new room. We ordered some Thai food from around the corner at National (so cheap and so much food!) and got to work. It's still a work in progress, but I will be sure to reveal the more complete (because it will never be finished) makeover towards the end of the week. Kurt deserves all the credit. He did most of the work.

After our painting frenzy, Kurt and I kept Sunday Movie Night alive with Pulp Fiction. Kurt was amazed I had never seen it (I'm amazed he's never seen Star Wars, but that's another story) and insisted we watch. It was really nothing like I had expected. I guess it was entertaining but not one of my favorites. It was funny but pretty disturbing at times. Jeez, I'm such an old woman...

Met Roof Top

Thanks to good old Christopher Columbus, I had the day off from work, completing my fabulous four day weekend. Jenn suggested we take advantage of the day and do something cultural. I had some errands I wanted to get done around Brooklyn, so I nixed a few of her more ambitious plans and we decided to check out this exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Apart from my MoMA excursion two weeks ago, I've been very lax about museum going. I live in this great city with countless museums and galleries but I often spend my time watching football and going to divey bars to drink cheap beer. While those are fine activities, I should take more advantage of what my city has to offer. Most museums have bars or cafes in them too, so that's a plus :)

I really enjoy the Met, but it has an overwhelming amount of art in it. Thankfully, it is a pay-what-you-wish admission, so it's not so painful to go back often and take in a little at a time. At least it is a good theory.

This woman was a piece of work herself. If you can't see, those leggings (which do not equal pants, people!) are pink and green cheetah print. Classy.

What we really came to see was this. Big Bambú (please pardon Mr. White shirt and his twin with half a face...he was in my way!).

Unfortunately, we missed the ticket sale and all the tours to go up in the structure were sold out. That's right, you can climb up in it! Crazy!

Lovely view over Central Park from the Met roof where we were able to enjoy a nice Brooklyn beer. Have I mentioned I love New York?