The heat wave seems to have finally broken in NYC, and given that I’ve chosen to live without air conditioning, I have to say I’m pretty psyched about it. My weekend may have been the epitome of summertime. It included live music, sweaty dancing, a day at the beach, clam steamers, ice cream cones, mini golf, and a long bike ride. I also smacked my head against a metal beam in a restaurant bathroom, so there’s that but, all and all, I can’t complain. Enjoy this week’s round of pictures and send us one of yours for next week’s batch!

*

Lauren – New York, NY
Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges on my Sunday evening bike ride

*

Alison – Denver, CO
Underground Music Showcase. Three 12 year olds, aka Residual Kids, bringing down the house.

*

Teddy – Los Feliz, CA
California at dusk

*

Amy – San Francisco, CA
Coit Tower

*

Have a good day today.

Where in the World?

By Lauren

July 19, 2013

Travel

Leave a comment

Image via here

Guys, I got turned onto this addictive game GeoGuessr and I had to tell you about it. Basically it randomly selects Google Earth images from around the world and let’s you scroll around and guess the location. Here are a few teasers (answers at the bottom).

What do you think? Nailed them?

From top to bottom: Sweeden, Thailand, Bulgaria, Japan, Canada, Ukraine

Play a round on your own here.

The Beatles

By Lauren

July 17, 2013

Music

Leave a comment

(via highfivebrah.tumblr.com)

I’ve become a major Spotify user and mostly I think it’s mostly fantastic, but every so often it leads to crushing disappointment when a band you want to listen to isn’t on there. This happened to me the other night when I was looking for a full-on Beatles fix. In order to satisfy the craving, I let Youtube guide me, listening to one song and then clicking through to another and another. I created the Youtube playlist below to share with you the resulting selection of that 30-min experience. It really only leaves me wanting more and more.

Tracklist:

We Can Work It Out
And I Love Her
I Am the Walrus
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Let It Be
Ticket to Ride
Lady Madonna
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I Feel Fine
Twist and Shout

Picturesque

By Lauren

July 15, 2013

Pictures

Leave a comment

We had such a fun weekend celebrating Albert’s 30th birthday. Farrell took a bunch of pictures which we’ll post later in the week, but before then we have a round of photos from Suz’s trip to Maine. I’ve never been to Maine before but I have the sense that it is totally amazing.

The cove on Bailey Island

Sunset extraordinaire

Bridey & Duncan, the pot bellie pigs

Homie of the Day: Celina of La Selva

By Lauren

July 11, 2013

Homies

1 Comment

I met Celina Paiz at the Taking It Offline event I co-hosted a few weeks ago. We immediately hit it off and I was completely inspired to learn about the clothing collection she recently completed which consists of one-of-a-kind pieces made from vintage Guatemalan textiles. Earlier this week I had the chance to visit Celina in her studio and see the gorgeous collection for myself. The colors and patterns of the textiles Celina uses are stunning and it was so fun to talk to her about the Guatemalan textile traditions that live in every piece in the collection. Today Celina shares the backstory to how La Selva came to be.

Funny enough La Selva started in my sleep. The day an earthquake shook New York, I woke up from a full blown lucid dream. I dreamt an entire film, a melodrama about a young immigrant girl who works for a sample maker in New York. Half the movie was in Filipino, a language I don’t speak. In the dream, she has drawers filled with designs but is stuck working as a seamstress. Throughout the movie, her clothing signifies her transformation.

A little back story. I had originally embarked on a self-imposed dream study as part for my screenwriting process. My husband and I have collaborated on film projects since college and I was searching for a way to tap into my vivid dream life to bring it to the screen. So I read Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming and The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep. I spent months staring at a blank page and suddenly, overnight, I had my dream movie.

The more I researched the character, the more I realized I was looking at myself in a mirror. I’m an immigrant, born in Guatemala, raised in Miami. Like her, I have a connection to the fashion industry since I own a boutique in Guatemala City with my mom and sisters. While the character had suitcases under her bed crammed with clothing and trinkets from the Philippines, I had a closet of fabrics from Guate that I had spent years collecting. I started to think if the girl in the dream had drawers full of designs, then somewhere in my unconscious, I did too.

I decided to take the leap. I used my vintage fabrics to create my first collection for La Selva. It’s strange to look back on how it all went down but to me the creative process is always like that. As if behind the scenes, inspiration works itself through you until, eventually, you wake up to it.

Check out the full La Selva collection here

Coast to Coast

By Lauren

July 10, 2013

Coast to Coast

Leave a comment

F. Tell me about your 4th of July. I ask this because I missed you.

L: I had an awesome 4th of July. I went to my friend’s parent’s house in NJ. The day included swimming hole swimming, some sauna-ing, a super fun lawn game called Kube, an attempt at building a fire and other shenanigans. Later in the weekend I camped in the Hamptons and spent lots of time at the beach. All and all pretty fabulous. I missed you too.

F. Have you been cooking for yourself? If so, what have you made?

L: Not a lick. For better or worse, I can’t even remember the last meal I made for myself (other than oatmeal at work).

F. Where is one place that you would love to travel?

Banff National Park via here

L: I’d really like to go to Banff, Canada. I never used to be much of a mountain person, and maybe it’s in response to 11 years in NYC, but I’m more and more drawn to this type of nature nowadays. It seems beautiful there.

F. What is your favorite beverage at the moment?

L: I’m still endlessly enjoying my lemon water in the mornings. I’ve also developed a taste for rose wine this summer. It used to taste like vinegar to me but now I find it so refreshing.

F. Are you scared to die? 🙂

L: I wouldn’t say I’m scared to die but isn’t something I’m really looking forward to either. It seems to me that facing death with ease and acceptance is the way to go because ultimately there’s really nothing any of us can do to avoid it, but easy for me to say…

Happy Independence Day!

By Lauren

July 4, 2013

Uncategorized

Leave a comment

(image via here)

Happy 4th of July! We hope you have a safe and festive day.

We’ll be back on Monday with a round of pictures from the weekend. Send us one of yours if you’d like it to be included!

The Week that Michael Died

By Lauren

July 2, 2013

Inspired & Inspiring, Music

1 Comment

(image found here via http://blog.jameschororos.com/)

Over the weekend, at my friends’ wedding reception some friends and I had a conversation recalling how much fun New York City was the week that Michael Jackson died. Four years ago last week, that period of time will forever stick with me. You could hear Michael Jackson songs blasting everywhere you went. As you walked down the street, cars would pass with their windows down and Michael blaring. Every bar or party you went to would inevitably turn into a Michael Jackson sing-a-long or dance party. It was one of those specific moments in time in which everyone in the city was experiencing something together and it was incredible. Say what you will about Michael’s life and the conditions that made him who he was (I certainly do) but there’s something incredibly special about a person’s death that is met with a whole population turning to the same songs in celebration.

One Word, Two Ways: Morning

By Lauren

June 29, 2013

One Word, Two Ways

3 Comments

I have never been a morning person and the thought of coffee has for many years been my biggest motivator for getting out of bed. At the suggestion of the holistic practitioner I saw last week, I have been drinking a glass of water with a half of lemon every morning. I can’t believe how much I look forward to this simple drink. It is so refreshing and hydrating, which has been especially appreciated on these hot, muggy June mornings.

I am a morning person. Always have been. Although I don’t always wake up whistling or dancing, I achieve a lot of things in the morning. One important part of my life is my morning routine. Nothing keeps you on your life path like a solid morning routine. It goes a little something like this.

Hot Lemon Water

Time to chill

Meditate

Smoothie

These are the things that start my body, my mind and my day on the right track. I just love my morning times!

Coast to Coast

By Lauren

June 27, 2013

Coast to Coast

Leave a comment

Essex Street subway station

F: What is your favorite part about the heat?

L: The feeling of warmth. I also just really love nights when you’re with the people you love and it’s too hot to do anything but lay around and talk to each other.

F. What is your favorite summer treat? Food and drink?

L: Probably ice cream. Not frozen yogurt, not gelato, not Pinkberry. I’m talking real, American ice cream. It’s more difficult than you’d think to find in NYC. A Dairy Queen blizzard works too.

F. Are there any movies that you are interested in seeing?

L: Yes! I want to see “The Kings of Summer.”

F. If you were to become an artist, what medium would you express yourself through?

L: This is my most difficult question. I guess I’d say every medium to which I have access. Except song, I’m a terrible singer.

F. What is your favorite picture of yourself? Post it girl.

L: I don’t know about all-time favorite but this is a picture of me straight off the playa at Burning Man. I had had the most amazing week and felt perhaps the best I ever have in my life. I can’t believe it was five years ago and that I haven’t made it back since. It also reminds me of the POP Up Shop: Burning Man Style Prep post I did last summer. All so fun!