I've been wanting to do a Coney Island blog post for quite some time - it's one of my favorite spots in NY! I LOVE that it is so far removed from the typical "hustle" of the city - as it's located at the veryyyy bottom of Brooklyn. The subway ride is pretty long, but if you're in great company - it goes by pretty quickly! ;) I made quite a few trips out there this summer with my fellow color-hunting friend Ruth (@bigntoasty). I took soooooo many photos each time I went, and I am finally gettin' my shit together to compile them all into a cohesive post!
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Alstede Farms Sunflower Maze (So Long Summer!)
It's hard to believe that it's already OCTOBER! Where did summer go?!
I realize that last Wednesday was the *official* start of fall.. and it's no longer sunflower maze season but corn maze season now lol, but I still feel like I have sooooo many un-blogged summer adventures! I'm backtracking a little bit today to a solo adventure I had in July at Alstede Farms. If you've been following my blog for a little while, you may remember my post from last fall about this place. It's one of my favorite farms in the area because of how big it is, and there always seems to be something fun going on during all 4 seasons! When I heard that they had a massive sunflower maze, I had to check it out because until this I had actually never been to one before!
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Refinery29's #29Rooms NYFW Installation
A little over a week ago, I got to experience one of the best interactive art installations I've ever experienced: #29Rooms. It was the only NY Fashion Week event I attended this time around, but I'm okay with that because it fulfilled all of my wildest dreams, haha..
For their 10th anniversary, Refinery29 put together an epic 29-room funhouse inside a Greenpoint (Brooklyn) warehouse. Each room was created by a different artist and offered a different experience than the one next to it. It was an extremely overwhelming visual experience to say the least, lol... I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see it Thursday night before it went live to the public on Friday / Saturday. Despite this exclusive viewing opportunity though, I still felt like I could have easily spent more time in each of the rooms. There were even some rooms I didn't go into at all or failed to photograph because I was so overwhelmed trying to just take it all in. 29 is A LOT! I think I would have been overwhelmed had there been only 10 rooms... so imagine 3 times that. I unfortunately wasn't able to catch the name / artist of each room because I felt so scatterbrained through out the night, but will try to share that info with you for the ones I was able to catch or recognized on my own.
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Destination: Exit 0 (Cape May + Wildwood)
Last week, I went on a little Jersey shore road trip for 4 days down to Cape May and Wildwood. It was hands down one of the best adventures of my life. Growing up, my family often took day trips down to the beach - but we never once stayed overnight. I've only had the opportunity to actually wake up the next morning to a beach once or twice (ever)... so you can probably imagine my excitement lol. I've lived in NJ my whole life (with the exception of 4 years spent in NY for school), but I have never been that far south in the state. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, my family isn't big on travel - so any opportunity I get to experience something new (even if it's not in a new state or country) - is one that I embrace with arms open wide. I treat even small, local, day to day things like grand adventures.
I ran myself so ragged the entire time - wanting to experience and explore as much as possible before we had to head home (because even 4 days was not enough). We did basically all of our exploring on foot, which was probably a good thing because I totally ate like.. 2 or 3 times my weight in all the amazing food the area had to offer.. ha. There wasn't really any "down time" and I didn't even actually sit on the beach or swim in either of the hotel pools for the entire time we were there.. lol.
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Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ
Last month, I made a trip down to Asbury Park with my dad to celebrate the opening night of Jersey Collective's first gallery show. I've lived in New Jersey all my life (with the exception of 4 years spent in NY for school), and it's kinda silly that I've never been to the town Bruce Springsteen named his 1973 debut album ("Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ") after. In other words, this trip was loooong overdue haha! Growing up, my family often made trips down to Point Pleasant -- and now, we typically head to Long Branch for our summer beach escape. I had no idea that Asbury Park was so close to those other two Jersey shore points... until I looked at a map (lol). For some reason I always thought that Asbury Park was farther south! Clearly my sense of geography is terrible..
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Lorraine Loots #ANTSinNYC Exhibition
Yesterday, I wandered into Brooklyn with Kristyn Brady to see the #ANTSinNYC exhibition by South African artist Lorraine Loots on display at Three Kings Studio. We walked over from the lower east side via the Williamsburg bridge. It was my first time walking that bridge, so I was pretty stoked to be doing something completely new. We stopped in at a bunch of cute boutiques on our walk towards the gallery, and it was a super fulfilling (and super hot) day. It was totally worth the sweaty trek, though!
Today I decided to write up this quick blog post - in hopes that it inspires you to also stop on by to see Lorraine's incredible show. It is only open for a few more days (closing on July 15) - so if you are in NYC, I highly recommend going to see it before it's gone!
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Yayoi Kusama's Obliteration Room
A couple weekends back, I went to see Yayoi Kusama's Obliteration Room - which is part of her current exhibition "Give Me Love" at the David Zwirner Gallery! I've seen photos of her Obliteration Room when it was on display in other parts of the world, and have always been wanting to experience it for myself (hoping that it would some day make its way to NY). When I found out she was returning to the David Zwirner gallery this spring, I was SUPER stoked and got my butt over there ASAP.
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I have no idea who this girl is, but she was one of my favorites that I saw on Saturday!
NY Fashion Week Street Style 2015
On Saturday (Valentine's Day), I trekked up to Lincoln Center to take some photos outside for day 3 of NY's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week! Despite freezing my ass off for a little over 4 hours, I had a great time.
Last year, I went for the first time with a small group of people. We didn't stick around for too long because it was painfully cold. Luckily it was in the 30s on Saturday, which is warm compared to the windy ass days that followed. I was able to stay outside longer this year, and I took a lot more pictures (over 500... lol).
Despite not having a ticket to any of the shows (cuz I ain't got money for that) - I really enjoyed loitering outside near the fountain and playing paparazzi. It was basically like a giant gathering of beautiful people (from all over the world) - all ready for their close up. As a matter of fact, I think most of the people I photographed weren't native NY-ers. I really enjoy portrait / fashion photography, but haven't had the opportunity to do any lately - so this was a lot of fun for me!
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Chester - The Stars Hollow of New Jersey
This week I took a "me" day and decided to drive to the historic town of Chester, NJ. It's been weeks since I've had a good local adventure, so I took advantage of the 50 degree day we had on Wednesday. As the weather has gotten colder, my outdoor hiking ventures have sadly died down quite a bit - as I don't feel as inclined to go freeze my butt off. I have driven through historic Chester many times, and always thought it was the cutest little town upon passing by. It's a small strip of shops, but I feel like there is so much to see. I spent 4-5 hours just walking around looking at everything and taking it all in. I also have been binge-watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix, and it very much so felt like a visit to Stars Hollow.. haha.
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For the First Time in Forever
Last week I went to Disney's Frozen on Ice with my dad - and for the first time in forever, we spent some quality time together. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration (I really just wanted to make a Frozen reference in the title ;)…) my dad and I aren't that distant, lol. I guess what I mean to say is that since going away to school, I haven't been able to spend as much quality time with him or with any of my family. However, now that school is over - I have been trying to scoop up these moments even more-so. It's like being away from home (for school) made me realize just how special things like this are, and that they should never be taken for granted - and therefore, I've grown to appreciate them much more.
Now I know what you're thinking… what "grown" adult goes to see Disney's Frozen on Ice with their dad…? I may be 22, but that doesn't stop be from being a Disney fanatic - and it certainly doesn't stop me from going to Disney's Frozen on Ice (with my dad). Most 22 year olds would probably be too embarrassed to go to such a thing with their dad (let alone write a blog post about it), but not me … haha.
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