blog

a night at the ballet

[in front of Lincoln Center]


























On Friday night, my friend Kyo invited me to go to a New York City Ballet performance with her for the world premiere of Year of the Rabbit. It's a new ballet choreographed by Justin Peck with music by Sufjan Stevens, and it.was.wonderful. I've been to only one other ballet since I've lived in New York, which resulted in Kyo having to explain a lot to me. (sorry, Kyo!)

There were two other pieces in the show that night, one that was choreographed by Benjamin Millepied (who happens to be Natalie Portman's husband!, and choreographed most of the movie Black Swan) and one piece choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. And, to top off the wonderful culture-filled evening, I had a perfect view from where I was sitting of my friend Harrison, who was on my Cape Town mission team and plays the bassoon for the ballet with the orchestra.

philharmonic in the park
































I'm up way past my bedtime for this post, but for very good reason. Every summer, the NYC Philharmonic does a free (yes, completely free) concert in Great Lawn of Central Park. And to make things even better, at the end of the concert they shoot off the most amazing fireworks. I'm here to tell you: it is one of the best things New York City has to offer. Believe me.

harry potter and the deathly hallows, part 1

As I mentioned here, I could.not.wait for the opening night of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I movie to come out! I'm a late bloomer when it comes to Harry Potter and only recently (just over a year ago) have jumped on the out-of-control-obsessed-fan bandwagon. So, this was my first movie to see at its release! Luckily, I was in good company with these other 5 New York friends, who are all seasoned HP veterans! We made pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, and butterbeer to keep ourselves awake until the midnight IMAX showing of the movie and (some of us...) dressed our favorite part. I started to have flashbacks to college of staying awake all night, but I made it until the ending of the movie at 2:35 am...and it was well worth it!

food, fireworks, and (f)ilharmonic

Tuesday and Wednesday night the NY Philharmonic gave their annual free concert in Central Park. Since this is my fourth summer in New York and I had (regretfully) never been before, I took advantage and went both nights. I can now join in with the hype and hoopla and agree: it is fabulous! Both nights were tainted by the dread of rain and thunderstorms, but both made it successfully without even a raindrop, just a little damp park grass from previous daytime showers. Then, to end the night, fireworks! Philharmonic in the Park is not something you should miss if you ever have the opportunity to go.

Food!
Fireworks!
at the Philharmonic! (I didn't get the memo to be overly, unnaturally excited about the Philharmonic. Brendan did!)

beautiful city


If I didn't love New York City so much, I would surely move to a place like this. This is a community in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil where the community was commissioned to help beautify the neighborhood by transforming the facade of 34 houses into a colorful art project to create pride and ownership for the residents. They were given a small salary and an education during the process of turning their neighborhood into a beautiful, bright, cheery rainbow! I love it.

[Found here via Suwatch. Thanks!]

fabuloso dress-o

I don't speak Italian at all, and I only speak a teeny bit of Spanish so I'm sure the title of this post is insanely butchered, (Anyone who wants to help- Anna? LA?- feel free to leave a comment...) but the main idea stands: this dress is completely beautiful and fabulous! And something that I would have possibly stolen from the museum had I seen it in person.

Anna sent me this picture from her travels abroad in Italy this summer. She said this is from the Roberto Capucci Museum in Florence. Until I can get there one day and see it with my own eyes, I'm going to be on the hunt for about a million different color silk fabrics to make my own version...

magic garden

Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven in parables so that it will become more real to us and we can grasp it in our own terms: how we see beauty, wonder, splendor, and treasures since that is what Heaven will be. [Here are a few examples: Matthew 13:31, Matthew 13:44, Matthew 20:1] This is what I think heaven will look like for me:





The Magic Garden is an outdoor garden-like-house-structure with tunnels and grottos that is completely covered in mosaics. Walls, ceilings, floors- all mosaics with beautiful glass, tiles, bottles and other pieces of recycled material. Isaiah Zagar began this as an art project in a vacant lot in 1994. He completed it after 14 years of working on the installation, where it is now a beautiful work of art for residents of the neighborhood and visitors to enjoy. In 2002, when the lot was supposed to be sold to construct a parking garage, the residents of the community raised $300,000 to buy the lot and preserve the beautiful art! I'm glad they did.

"where chili pepper lights meet christmas tree lights"

Lights of every kind.
Christmas. Red Hot Chili Pepper. Little basketballs.
Hanging down 2 feet from the ceiling.
Mirrors on the wall.
That is Panna 2.
I convinced Brendan and Allison to go to dinner there with me.
because I love this place so much.
And believe me.
It's well worth fighting through claustrophobia to enjoy a cheap Indian meal.
It's my favorite.
Just ask one of these two.