Rush Report: Saks' Shoe and Handbag Trend Report
[page print from saks.com]

Yes it is true. I have been hearing the murmur around town that snakeskin is going to be big for Fall. And then I click over to the Saks Website, and they have the same news to report. Start stocking up!

Have you seen the latest from Method, the popular eco cleaning products sold at Target, and, I am happy to report, non-big-box stores like Ricky's, and small local stores like Bridge Apothecary on Jay Street in Dumbo? The product is Almond Flower Natural Moisturizing Hand Wash. The price is around $5. The quilted matte plastic packaging is so great, you could give it as a gift. Be sure to check out the other scents in this product line as well, including White Tea, and a more restrained Olive Leaf. There is a Natural Moisturizing Body Wash and Body Bar too. Remember, matching sets are always better to give and receive. hint hint.

A lunch that costs only $4 in Midtown? And is on the healthy balanced meal side of things? And is vegetarian? Yup. I found it. Go to the cart on the NW corner of 39th & Broadway, right next to the fruit guy. Ask for the $4 vegetarian lunch, which includes 6 falafel, roasted eggplant (roasted to perfection), salad, beans, rice, yogurt sauce and hot sauce. Tell them I sent you. They don't know me by name, but tell them I sent you anyway.



This post is featured on Midtown Lunch for July 28, 2008

Pacifica Solid Perfumes, clockwise from top left:
Waikiki Pikake, Tuscan Blood Orange, Hawaiian Ruby Guava, Mediterranean Fig
plus so many more, not pictured. [image from pacificacandles.com]

I was just in Ricky's and found the greatest fragrances. By Pacifica, the scented candle makers. I have tried their bar soap and really liked it. Their Solid Perfume comes in many flavor combos, each for about $9. I wonder how the scent wears? Has anyone tried Pacifica Solid Perfume? Please post a comment.

Exhibit A: corner of 6th Avenue and 40th Street, right near Bryant Park

The battle for advertising space continues in every marketable square foot of the Big Apple. See Exhibit A, above. Do you think it is right for the Subway sandwich board to encroach on Mister Softee's retail frontage like this? I think not. Mister Softee should learn to assert himself a bit. Don't you think?

With all the rampant "improvements" happening to buildings in New York lately (improvements, hah!), I thought I should document the beautiful map above the door to the Albert Building at 935 Broadway for your (and my) continued enjoyment.

My subject is so far away. I will have to run.
It is worth it to capture this Mount Rushmore Dress.
Mount Rushmore? On a dress? I love it!

You can kind of make out Thomas Jefferson in this shot.

And George Washington's face and hairstyle in this one.
I didn't get a good angle on Theodore Roosevelt
or Abraham Lincoln unfortunately.

Okay, so you are going to have to use your imagination here a bit. Why won't people just slow down so I can snap a picture of their outfit without their knowledge? I know, I don't understand either. So this woman passed me on the way home in the subway yesterday wearing a Mount Rushmore Dress! The dress, as you can see, is black. The streaky lines are rhinestones. And Mount Rushmore woven right into the silky fabric on the front and back hem is in white! You can sort of make out George Washington's hairstyle and jawline. If you squint. Where did she get it!? I almost ran up to her and asked, but then I thought, why spoil the anonymity of the encounter.

I did a little research online. Oddly my search led me to another blurry photo of the Mt. Rushmore Dress. And then I found that it is a Built by Wendy design. How cool.

Although you may be inclined to think so, this work is not by Tara Donovan.


This is (click here), but the above pictured is not.

Dear Tara Donovan,
Did you know that someone at the BCBG store near Bryant Park is a big fan of yours, to the point of um. Well. Appropriating the piece you just showed at the Metropolitan Museum and using it as a backdrop behind the register on the first floor? They missed the point though. Instead of using Mylar, the unnamed designer used an inflexible metal of some sort and did not capture the ephemeral quality of your work. I think you may want to investigate tout de suite.

Signed,
A concerned citizen.

Peer through this great grate to find a hidden gem in Midtown...

A contemplative little "Zen alley"

I have told you before about my unlikely-but-pet meditation spot in the middle of the chaos of the Garment District. How was I to know that shortly after I wrote this post, my urban Zen garden would be ripped apart? The trees have been removed, the name, "Springs Building" has been removed from the concrete facade, and the great grate and little "Zen alley" as I like to call it (pictured above), likewise have been removed. What???

Well, last week I finally asked one of the workmen what was going on. It seems that they are creating four new raised planters from cement bricks and putting new trees in.

Well, at least there will be trees.

But so far, things do not look so aesthetically promising. More photos to follow, because now I am obsessed, which is not really good for trying to be all "be here now" about it.

Necklaces by Danielle Burgos at Alter: [L-R] Jaw Necklace, $60
"Guy Smidley" hand-carved wooden moustache necklace, $45
"Wyatt Earp" hand-carved wooden moustache necklace, $49
[image from Alter]

Starting from when I was 3, my friend Jean Ann and I would make beards and moustaches out of white paper, curl the ends with scissors, tape them to our faces with scotch tape, and pose for our annual Polaroid. This tradition lasted until we were 7 or 8. Inexplicable, but true. When I saw these moustache necklaces by Brooklyn artist, Danielle Burgos, I thought, "kindred spirit!"

"Guy Smidley" and "Wyatt Earp" are currently available at Alter on Franklin Street in Greenpoint.

Dine in a modern setting at The Modern

Staycation schmaycation. Maybe you simply LIKE the urban setting, and thus seek out urban things to do. Well, I have a civilized and very air-conditioned suggestion. Spend the entire day at the MoMA. There is a Salvador Dalí retrospective on view through September 15 which includes over 130 of his works and full-length films in each gallery. Believe me, you cannot digest this show in one day. All the better. You have to come back multiple times for more enrichment and enjoyment.

If you arrive hungry, fear not. You can opt for a savory crepe at the cart across the street from the museum (mushroom & cheese or spinach & cheese are each just $5). Or if you want to have an elegant meal and experience to remember, try The Modern, which is The Museum of Modern Art's fine dining restaurant, just off the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden on the first floor. The Bar Room at The Modern offers a excellent menu with entrees sized suitably for lunch, priced around $18. Here is the menu. My husband and I each had the Wild Salmon with horseradish crust, pickled cabbage, exotic mushrooms, and Riesling foam. For an appetizer we shared the Upsidedown Tuna Tare Tarte with fennel, Japanese cucumber and aioli. Yes, this was a meal to remember.

If you are a planner, then by all means make a reservation to be seated in the main dining area of The Bar Room. If you are a spontaneous type, you will be seated along the comfortable black leather sofa at one of the small cafe tables on the perimeter. Not the best seat in the house, but still most definitely in the middle of the excitement, and quite enjoyable.


The Modern
The Museum of Modern Art
Reservations for the Bar Room
accepted 28 days in advance
212.333.1220
9 West 53rd Street (5th & 6th Avenues)
New York, NY 10019

curbside table and chairs, in situ

After I see a particularly thought-provoking art exhibit, I think everything is art, which is not a bad way to think when you think about it. But given what I've observed as the New Yorker's desperate need to eat and drink outside in an outdoor patio at all costs, even if it means huffing exhaust fumes or sitting right next to a pile of garbage, I am not sure if this particular installation I found on the curb of Greenpoint Avenue Saturday morning was someone's al fresco breakfast nook or something else entirely.

...Or does it? I was pleased when I saw that someone was trying to beautify the neighborhood. This tree hole on the corner of Greenpoint Avenue and Franklin Street was in need, and someone filled that need with this plastic palm. I had no objection to it. But someone else did. Why uproot a tree, even if it is plastic?

More Lipstick Jungle Film Shoot flyers on Franklin Street in Greenpoint.
Word Bookstore in the background.

We Greenpoint residents take it for granted that Lipstick Jungle will take up a good part of Franklin Street and Greenpoint Avenue pretty much every week this summer. They seem to have fixated on our neighborhood. I even saw them shooting a scene in Alter one morning!

But I realized that the rest of you may want advance notice, so you can camp out all day and see who you can see. Think of it as a public service announcement. Lipstick Jungle will film on Franklin Street and Greenpoint Avenue this Monday and Tuesday, July 21 and 22, from 6am to 12am.

Admittedly, I myself have not caught a glimpse of Brooke Shields yet, nor of Lindsay Price (the one I really like) who plays the fashion designer; but when I do, I will be certain to snap a blurry photo and show you. The blurry won't be on purpose. Although I claim to be blasé about star sightings, I always spaz out in a most embarrassing manner when I see anyone famous. Sad but true.

I like a sandwich board that doesn't mince words. Hey, I Martini Brooklyn too.



Photographed in front of Jack O'Neills on Franklin Street in Greenpoint. Saturday, July 19, 2008.


The Sandwich Board Says... is a new regular feature on this blog. Walk around Brooklyn and Manhattan. Have you noticed sandwich boards telling you all sorts of interesting things? I have. It seems funny (and pleasingly low-tech) that businesses in this day and age still opt for simple advertising: chalk on a sandwich board. Mmmm sandwiches... Anyway, I have been thinking about this idea for a long time, and thought, hey, Brooklyn sandwich boards deserve some featured attention right here. Stay tuned for more.

The dramatic light show on Vienna's Uniqa Tower makes the building appear to bend and twist. Take a look. This reminds me of the water show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas for some reason. I would suggest playing both videos at once for maximum enjoyment. Why not.

[page print from flavorpill.com]

My fourth piece is up on Flavorpill. For full details about the show, and directions to the Anna Kustera Gallery in Chelsea, click here. I will be at the opening (6-9pm) this evening!

Brian Mallman, Meeting, graphite on board, 24"x24"
[image from Migration: A Gallery]

Speaking of art fairs (you will see what I am talking about when I post again in a moment), I meant to show you the piece we acquired at the Affordable Art Fair a few weeks ago from a gallery in Virginia called Migration. Our piece is not the one pictured, but is of similar size, subject matter and materials, by Brian Mallman. It is of a businessman sitting with legs crossed in a swivel chair. I will have to show you at a later date. In the meantime, check out some of Mallman's work on the Migration Gallery's site.