There's such a lot of world to see...

This song feels like a warm, dreamy, summer's night to me. So, have a dreamy weekend, everyone!

PS - Don't you love her voice? Thanks to Brooke for the introduction.

Fictional Crushes

Speaking of books, have you ever had a crush on a character in a book? It's happened to me loads of times, but the one that comes to mind is Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind. Partially because I pictured him as Clark Gable (and, I mean, talk about tall, dark and dashing!), but I also loved his character and how he saw right through silly, juvenile Scarlett.

Any other fictional character crushes worth noting? (My, this was a bookworm-y, girly tangent!)

Book Obsession

I'm currently completely and totally obsessed with The Book Thief. Have you read it? It takes place in Nazi Germany and is told from the point of view of Death (like the grim reaper, but not exactly, as he explains). Which I know makes it sound dark, but it's the kind of darkness you can handle because there's beams of light all throughout it. Does that make any sense? The writing is so achingly beautiful, I want to put in my pocket to keep forever.

My friend Murph recommended it to me during our cabin weekend a few weeks ago when the conversation turned to favorite books and I am so, so glad she did. Do you have any favorite books? I always love to reread The Great Gatsby in the summer.

Missed Conections

Don't you love these illustrated Missed Connections? I think it would be so funny that a couple could one day be telling their grandchildren the story of how they met and explain that they saw each other on the subway, then connected over a website. Ah, the Internet!

Weekend in Pictures

This weekend could definitely be called the weekend of the cocktail. Maybe it was to beat the heat, maybe it was because cocktails are fun, but they definitely provided a welcome distraction from talking about the heat for a few minutes while we marveled over the cocktails. Friday night's cocktails were for my friend Katie's birthday. Her husband is a cocktail aficionado, so he mixed up a champagne cocktail with bitters and a sugar cube, and rosemary infused rose wine. Saturday (after a day at the beach) I used fresh mint from a friend's garden to make a watermelon-mint margarita concoction at Chelsea's apartment with a view of the Brooklyn bridge.

Friday Heat

I know it's the most mundane thing in the world to talk about the weather, but New Yorkers (myself included) are having a hard time keeping quiet about the heat wave we're having. As I write this, it's 102 degrees with a "feels like" temperature of 112. Understandably, it's all anyone can talk about.

So, along with the rest of the Northeast, I'll be looking for ways to stay cool this weekend. I'm going to the beach tomorrow and planning on spending as much of the day as possible in the water. Beyond that, I'm thinking popsicles and ice water are on the menu all weekend. Happy (hot) weekend, everyone!

A Wedding Photography First (probably)

My friends Tracey and Greg recently had an engagement photo session with uber-talented photographer Trent Bailey. The photos are lovely (don't they look like models in the first shot?) but I'm pretty sure they've broken new ground in the world of engagement photography with an extra special image. Scroll down to the bottom to see what I mean...

There may be other engagement session videos, some even stop motion, but this has to be the very first engagement gif featuring the bride (adorably) karate chopping the groom! I love it. Well done.

Farewell, With Chocolate

I made a cake yesterday for a farewell party for a friend of a friend leaving New York to move back home to Indiana. Since a farewell party is bittersweet, I thought the pangs of saying goodbye to a friend could be eased with chocolate cake, chocolate icing, and cheery yellow cake flags. Chocolate makes everything better, right?

Cookies & Ice Cream

The Northeast is in the midst of our first real heat wave of the summer (we're supposed to have 100 degree weather this weekend!), and I've been craving ice cream sandwiches. (This one is my favorite.) For something a little less messy, I'd love to try a cup of je & jo's organic ice cream with cookie dough. It comes in flavors like mint ice cream with lemon lavender shortbread cookie dough, cinnamon ice cream with oatmeal raisin cookie dough, and peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter cookie dough. Yum!

Bonus: In addition to their Hell's Kitchen store, they have an ice cream tricycle riding around the city. I'll be on the lookout for sure.



above image via You Are My Fave

Nan Lawson

A little bit after the super fans, but excited nonetheless, I'm seeing the final installment of the Harry Potter movies tonight. Since I have a bit of Potter on the brain today, I'm loving the Potter-inspired illustrations in illustrator Nan Lawson's Etsy shop.





She does lots of great literary/film-inspired illustrations, too. I think the children's book characters would be cute in a literary-themed nursery or kid's room.

Pep Talk

No Weekend in Pictures today, I was apparently having a very hard time focusing my camera this weekend. So, instead of blurry pictures, how about a pep talk from Coach Taylor to get through the rest of Monday?


PS, if you didn't watch Friday Night Lights when it was on the air, you should probably remedy that soon. The whole series is available to watch instantly on Netflix. I promise, it's not just about football.

Out on the Weekend

Get More: Ray LaMontagne Storytellers, Ray LaMontagne, Music Videos, Live Performances

Ray LaMontagne covering on of my favorite Neil Young songs, Out on the Weekend. It's such a summery song to me, it makes me want to lay in the grass at dusk. Have a great weekend, friends!

A Girly Retreat

A 9x14 foot hunting cabin tucked away in the Catskills, painstakingly turned into the ultimate girly retreat. All the supplies and furniture had to be carried over a stream to get to the cabin!

The six year old girl in me would really like to have a tea party there.

All photos by Trevor Tondro.

Awesome People

{cary grant and amelia earhart}

{bob dylan and johnny cash}

{prince william, kanye west, prince harry, p. diddy}

{audrey hepburn and fred astaire}

I've spent more time than I care to admit today browsing the archives of much-blogged about Awesome People Hanging Out Together. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall while these cool folks were hanging out?

Weekend in Pictures

{homemade egg sandwiches, french press coffee}

{exploring, patriotism}

{wildflowers from the hike}

{lounging by the creek}

{sunlight on the water}

{megan's creations, setting sail}

{summer fruit salad on the deck}

{firing up the grill}

{sunlight, taxidermy in the cabin}

{phoenicia, ny}

{rubber ducky races}

{porch sale}

{good advice, starting to see it everywhere}

This past weekend I ditched the city and headed for the mountains. I stayed with three girlfriends in a rustic cabin in the Catskills and had a delightful time (except for the no-power-in-the-cabin-at-midnight-scene-out-of-a-horror-movie we arrived to). It was harder editing these photos down to just a few, since our weekend felt so full. We hiked a little and explored the area near the cabin, we drove to the nearby creek and pulled over at a random spot with a tiny little beach for a dip in the cold, refreshing water. We BBQ'd a huge feast, played a round of "truth or dare" (we all chose truth, not wanting to move too far from our Bailey's nightcaps), and watched Dirty Dancing because our surroundings were straight out of the movie. There was even a resort up the road that was like a time warp back to 1962.

And that was just the first day! After packing up to leave the cabin on Sunday, we drove into the nearest town, Phoenicia, NY. We arrived just in time for a hilarious rubber ducky race, then strolled along Main St. and did a little vintage shopping. It turned out to be one of those great weekends where time seems to slow down and you get to do everything you wanted to without feeling rushed. Amazing.

Woodsy Weekend

Hooray for the weekend! I'm off to finish packing my bag for a quick weekend trip to a cabin in the Catskills. I have a terrible track record with getting out of the city in the summer. I always mean to plan something, never get around to it, then decide in the middle of August that it's time. But by then, my friends have all spent their summer travel budgets and I end up contenting myself with a day trip to the beach. So this weekend is a preemptive strike against my August blues. I'm looking forward to exploring the woods near the cabin, swimming, and roasting a marshmallow or two. What are you looking forward to this weekend?

image via wit + delight.

190 Bowery

Since I moved to New York, I've been playing a little game with myself that I call the buzzer game. When I see a particularly nice brownstone, or a mansion-sized building that could be a museum or an embassy, I look for the buzzer. If there's a series of buzzers, the building's been converted into apartments. If there's just one buzzer, someone very lucky has a lot of space to themselves. I always end up daydreaming about what the inside of the home might be like.

So I was floored by this New York Magazine story about 190 Bowery. It's a six-story former bank built in 1899 that photographer Jay Maisel bought in 1966 for $102,000 and turned it into a home. The whole building! Can you imagine? The pictures are fascinating.







This might be the ultimate "single buzzer" home in New York.

All photos by Leigh Davis for New York Mag.