Helen Mirren? Is that you?

I walked past Grand Central station the other day and stumbled upon the filming of "Arthur" (a remake of a 1980s film, a helpful film buff informed me).  Always the iPhone sleuth, I quickly looked up the cast of Arthur and discovered that it stars Russell Brand and Helen Mirren.  Unfortunately, even after scrutinizing every male under the age of 50, none of them appeared to look even slightly similar to Russell Brand.

I did manage to locate an elderly blond woman in heavy make-up who was standing in front of the director, listening raptly.  I triumphantly and smugly took several close-up photos of her and turned away to leave.  Just before I exited earshot, I heard her respond in a loud, happy American voice.  Helen Mirren, my friends, is British.

Helen Mirren, you've won this round.

Grand Central.  On Canon Powershot.

Your Personal Weather Report

If those of you who don't live in New York are wondering what the weather has been like recently, this is what I wore yesterday.  Umbrella not shown.

New York City.  Canon Powershot.

A Stitch in Time...

...is pretty much all I could manage at the knitting class.  That's right.  Knitting class.  Oh, don't get me wrong - when Cuddles suggested it to me and G, I was skeptical.  And not just because my mother's tactful response was "wait...isn't that for old people?"  (Mooooom.  Why are you so meeeeaaan to me.)  It's also because my most recent domestic triumph was learning how to put cheese slices on bread and melt them in the microwave.  (If you are one of the only two people on earth who are behind me in terms of domestic development, you should try it!  It's good!)

But I've got news for you, Mom!  It's not just for old people!  (or something more respectful.)  I mean, there was an older woman in our class, but there were lots of young girls in the store.  Our class also had a gay couple (male) who were taking a break from caring for their twins.  How much more hip can you get than that?

And it was a lot of fun!  Sadly, my performance level was about in line with the time I nearly set the kitchen on fire trying to boil water.  For the first few minutes, I sat dumbfounded as Cuddles and G whipped up a knitting storm.  I needed help from the instructor so many times that she just automatically looked at me when she said, "any questions?"  I was pretty much the remedial knitting student, guys.

Anyway, here's a montage of Cuddles-the-Knitting-Ringer at work:

Cuddles expertly checks her...yarn...(I don't even know what you call it)

Cuddles in serious knitting action.  Check out the blurry motion of her knitting hands.  You can't stop this bad girl.

Close-up shot of Cuddles knitting.  (It was about this point that she was like, "stop hovering!!")

G's work-in-progress - isn't it great?  (I had to photograph hers, since mine looks like it was made by an animal with hooves.)

Button commented on what an autumnal activity knitting would be.  And it was!  So here's a knit-pumpkin salute to you!

Union Square.  On Canon Powershot.

Stars and Stripes

Wearing your heart on your...head?

Brooklyn.  On Canon Rebel SLR.

Unexpected Encounters

Sarni and I accidentally stumbled upon the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy.  I was especially excited because last time I was at the SG festival, I saw John Mayer chowing down on an elephant ear.  "Who will I randomly run into this time?"  I wondered to myself.  The answer is in the photo above.

He was sitting quietly on a mailbox in the middle of the chaos that was the SG festival.  By the way.  This marks the second time I have randomly encountered a stuffed animal left somewhere in New York.  Either FAO Schwarz is on a very aggressive ad campaign, or there's a little kid somewhere with serious abandonment issues.

Little Italy.  On Canon Powershot.

A Rare Find

I was thrilled to discover the "rare books" floor at the Strand - I didn't even know it existed!  It can only be reached by elevator, and it has that quiet, dignified feel that you get at old libraries or museums (interrupted only by the persistent clicking from that annoying photographer).

Considering I was surrounded by rare books, I was surprised that they weren't under lock and key.  It was more like visiting someone's private collection, with rare books lying around just begging to be touched.  Um.  Not that I obeyed them.

If you let your mind wander, you could almost imagine that you were in the library of an old English country estate in the 19th century.  Oh, hello Jeeves.  Tea?  Why yes, I believe I will.  Two lumps, please.

Union Square.  On Canon Rebel SLR.

The Importance of Eye Contact

Sarni and I spent a rainy afternoon in the Natural History Museum the other day. Sarni was thrilled to discover the Live Lizards and Snakes exhibit. Me, not so much. I kept getting the creepy feeling that something was watching me.
Upper West Side. On Canon Powershot.

How many puns can you make with "pho"?

I finally found a good Vietnamese restaurant in NYC!  It's called Baoguette - it's a chain, but don't hold that against it.  Cuddles and I met our new friend G at the Baoguette in the West Village, and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch over Vietnamese sandwiches (like mine, pictured above - the Sloppy Bao, with beef in red curry sauce and mangos).  Next time, I'm going to try the noodles.  Pho sure.

West Village.  On Canon Powershot.

Medium Dry? No. Superdry.

Okay.  So awhile ago, Sarni and I had brunch at Hundred Acres with friends (including Cuddles and CJ, W, G and E - sorry guys, I couldn't think up any good code names, I'll work on it).  This information is wholly unrelated to my photo post, but I wanted to mention it because we had a really good time.

On the way home, it started to rain in a way that made me irrationally angry at New York city.  Sarni and I were struggling home, sharing my one small-but-cute Radley umbrella (thanks Sarni's family), when we encountered this new store.  Can anyone who reads the other languages on the sign please explain what is going on?  Try to imagine us standing there pitifully, staring at the sign while dripping rainwater into little individualized puddles.  I mean, I felt like the store was just there to taunt us.

East Village.  On Canon Powershot.

Kaleidoscope Project On Location: Boston, MA

Boston Commons

While in Boston, we encountered much of Boston's native wildlife, including the famous Boston squirrels...

...the famous Boston ducks (doesn't the water look cool?)...

...the famous Boston, uh, clouds...

...the famous Boston...flying fish?...

...and finally, the famous Boston musical frogs!  Yeah!

Boston Commons.  On Canon Rebel SLR.

Credit to guest photographer Sarni.

Kaleidoscope Project On Location: Boston, MA

Miscellaneous

We had lunch at Figs (by Todd English) with the lovely and newly-married Mr. and Mrs. Perfect Vision.  Congrats, Cai and L!  Thanks for showing us around Charles Street!

Also stopped for treats at Emack & Bolios - here's my (unnecessarily expensive) root beer float.  On the plus side, the root beer is microbrewed, and the vanilla ice cream had speck, whatever that means.  We heard someone saying that this place has been around since the 70s, when it was started by two homeless men!

We spent an afternoon scouring Newbury street for what Sarni claimed was a famous place called Johnny's Cupcakes.  He was horrified to realize that it was not a cupcake shop - it was a clothing store.

We made a new friend at the MIT museum.  He's programmed to display human emotions.  This one looks like a cross between flirtatious and constipated.

The famous Mike Pastry's in North End.  You can't see it, but under this sign is the famous line into Mike's Pastry's in North End.

Charles Street/Newbury Street/Kendall-MIT/North End.  On Canon Powershot.

Kaleidoscope Project On Location: Boston, MA

Cambridge

Not technically Boston, but what visit to Boston is complete without visiting its quaint little brother?

John Harvard's famous foot, rubbed golden from years of tourists touching it for luck - and, if you believe the rumors, from Harvard frat boys urinating on the foot as a running prank on said tourists.  In other words, dun touch.

The cobblestones outside the Harvard dorm rooms are indented from the cannonballs dropped out the windows by students in the 19th century (they warmed them in their ovens to provide heat).  Thanks to Sarni for demonstrating the indentation by stepping in it.

Isn't it funny how all the students still curl up under the trees in Harvard Yard to do their reading - but on their

computers?  A modern-day pastoral.

HLS, a pleasant place to go to school, I'm sure.

Apparently Winnie the Pooh has taken up residence at the law school.  That's Winnie the Pooh, Esq. to you.

Don't you ever just want to disappear behind a good book?

I know this is random, but doesn't this dog have the biggest head you've ever seen?  Sarni also pointed out that it looks like an orc from Lord of the Rings.  You don't need to respond to that.

Cambridge.  On Canon Rebel SLR (except for the Honorable Winnie the Pooh's house, which was on iPhone).

Kaleidoscope Project On Location: Boston, MA

I'm going to start incorporating "on location" photoblog entries from other cities because, well, I want to.  The other weekend, Sarni and I visited Beantown, NYC's neighbor and rival.

Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market

Sarni walking on the Freedom Trail.  "The British are coming!  The British are coming!"  Although in this case, the British are technically walking away.

The photo is slightly blurry because I could barely take the photo, my hands were so shaking with rage!!  Just kidding.  BoSox fans, relax, I don't really have strong baseball allegiances.  (Go Mets.)

Sarni enjoys a ginormous ice cream cone from Sprinkles.  Mmm.  Mint chocolate chip, arrrrrghhh...

"Oh, I am sooooo not speaking to them."

We still don't know why, but we kept seeing tons of people wearing these paper hats with handwritten insults on them.  Don't question, my friends, just enjoy.

Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market.  On Canon Rebel SLR.

You Are What You Wear

Happy Fashion Week!  For at least one week every few months, New York city is overrun with gazelle-like models and their stampeding hordes of flashing cameras.  Okay, more overrun than usual.  And only one of those cameras is mine, and it's not even the one with the telephoto lens.  Of course, sometimes, you find the models back in their natural habitat - in store windows, like this one.  Occasionally with cameras of their own.

Cuddles and I rang in the start of Fashion Week with a visit to Piperlime's "pop-up" store.  I have no idea what that means, but it was a pretty cute set-up.

We quickly lost interest in actually shopping when we realized that there was a contest going on.  ("Oh boy!  A contest!!")  The mission was to put together the best outfit for a blind date, in order to win a prize.  We abandoned any attempt at being "cool" (eh, we weren't that attached to that concept anyway) and raced around the store like little girls playing dress up.  At one point, in a moment of blind, outfitting abandon, I think I actually snatched a necklace out of a potential customer's hand.  I did, however, smile apologetically and explain, "There's a contest."

This is Cuddles putting the final touches on our outfit entry while the salesgirl/judge looks on approvingly.  Next stop?  Project Runway, my friends.

I wasn't done with my Fashion Week fun quite yet.  I also dragged Sarni to Fashion's Night Out (the main words used in my cajoling spiel were "drinks", "food", and "pretty pretty models").  It turned out to be a lot of fun!  Sarni and I implemented an ingenious 5-minute rule - that is, we didn't go into any store that had a line longer than 5 minutes.  Unfortunately, this ensured that we were pretty much in the uncool places at all times.  Never fear, bloggees!  I made sure to take photos of some of the crowds waiting to see celebs.  You're welcome.

The crowd waiting to see Rachel Zoe at Piperlime:

The crowd waiting to see Gwen Stefani at Sephora:

The crowd waiting to see Tim Gunn at Kate Spade (hmm, you can't see much of the crowd, but here's a picture of the window dressing entry that he was going to judge):

Here's a photo of Sarni (for no other reason than it will embarrass him) getting a glass of champagne at Kiki de Montparnasse.  Notice how he moved to ensure that he remains blurred out of the shot.  Sneaky Sarni.

We topped off our night by visiting the newly-opened Gansevoort on 29th and Park, the dorkier younger brother to the heavyweight Gansevoort in the meatpacking district.  I didn't get any good photos because I decided to play it cool for the rest of the night.  Or it's because Sarni said "enough with the photos, woman."  One or the other.

Soho.  On Canon Powershot.

Broken

Rescued piece of the World Trade Center towers.

Financial District.  On Canon Rebel SLR.

I'm on my lunch break.

"Who eats rice with a fork?"

Happy Birthday, Dad.  (This is directed to my father, not the pigeon.)

Murray Hill.  On Canon Powershot.

I'm trying to shake that habit

In the Whitney Museum, I found a refurbished cigarette vending machine that now dispenses pieces of art instead of cigarettes.  Much easier on the lungs!  But perhaps just as addictive?

I considered buying my very own random piece of art, but then I looked at the examples.  Is that an ear?  That might be taking "love of Van Gogh" a little too seriously.

Upper East Side.  On Canon Powershot.