Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby

Coney Island. We got off the subway and there sat Nathan's, with an oversized billboard counting down to this year's 4th of July hot dog eating contest, and photos of past winners, including Takeru Kobayashi, the Japanese competitive eater who held the hot dog eating record for 6 years! (53.75 in 12 minutes! Bet his parents are so proud!) We wandered to the last of the amusement parks, Astroland, and headed straight for the Wonder Wheel, where I was able to finally check "Ride a ferris wheel" off my Life's To-Do list. I debated getting a funnel cake to munch on while we walked the pier, but decided against it, and we headed to the sand to catch some rays.

I'm gonna be honest. Coney Island is a bit lackluster, but it isn't the rides, and def not the beach that attracts people here every summer. It's the history. Granted, I am the biggest nerd at heart, but all I could do was imagine Coney Island at its prime, with all the glitz and glamour of the early 20th century, when it was THE place to be. Lights flashing, amusement parks lining the shore; ferris wheels turning, rollercoasters and other rides doing the unthinkable. I could see the women in their dainty little bathing suits with bottoms so high that they might as well have been a one piece. And all I wanted was a barber shop quartet to walk by in their pinstripes and straw hats and sing "Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby."

But that's probably just me romanticizing the era.

"A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: It is a beautiful catastrophe." Le Corbusier

It's when I leave school and walk through all of the vendors in Union Square; when I head home and pass by those bright lights of 42nd. It's when I leave my internship and see Alexander McQueen's store across the way, then pass by Chelsea Market. It's when I get lost in Central Park on an early evening run, then, feeling completely out of place in my spanks and t-shirt, walk home down 5th Ave.

I have to pinch myself, because most of the time I forget that I actually live here.

Time Square is my front yard, and Central Park is my playground. And despite the occasional pungent smells, the creepy homeless men, and the almost unbearable heat of the subway stations, I am completely enamored with this city.

And it's not that I don't see myself living somewhere else. It's that right now, there's no place I'd rather be.

The Road Less Travelled

I've started running in Central Park, and I'm not sure that I will ever take the same path back to where I started. Not by choice.

Sometimes life just gets it right.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
-Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson

All too often we play the "what if.." game. What if I had never studied abroad that summer? What if I were in grad school? What if I were teaching in Spain? What if I never started selling my paintings? The "what if.." game is a stupid game. You can't change what's already happened. And if you could go back and do it all over again, would you want to do things differently?

I'm gonna go with a "no" on this one. It's difficult to regret the past when I am so completely satisfied with where I am now. Is this what I planned for myself? Absolutely not. But that's okay, because it's better than anything I could have ever hoped for. And I'm 100% aware of how cheesy I sound right now, but I'm alright with that.

Okay, so I know that I said the "what if.." game is a stupid game. I take it back. What if all the choices you made were all the right ones? What if life unravels just as it's supposed to? What if you get everything you ever wanted?

That version of the "what if.." game I can do.

One more: What if you really are just that awesome? Bet you are.

Sweet Summertime

Seaside Heights

It's June! And my summer is off to an absolutely BEAUTIFUL beginning. It has been so long since the last update, I don't even know where to begin!

I can officially check "Jersey Shore" off my list. It was Memorial Day, and we started at Island State Park. I was just ecstatic to see my old friend, the Atlantic Ocean, again. It's been way too long. No, it wasn't Florida. But a beach is a beach. And it really wasn't tragic. It was rather nice, actually. Crowded. Typical for Memorial Day, I suppose. But yanno what was weird? All of the beach umbrellas. I didn't know that so many people actually used them. Sure, an aunt would occasionally lug one to the beach every now and then, but I thought it was a Filipino thing, because she didn't wanna get dark. But there they were, lining the shore. Maybe I just hadn't noticed them at the beaches at home? I don't think so, but I'll be sure to check this out when I go home in July. I know it's a funny thing to dedicate an entire paragraph to, but it was the strangest sight to me for some reason.

So we peaced out then proceeded to the boardwalk at Seaside Heights. The beach there was overcrowded. Glad we went to Island State first, because I think I would've been miserable otherwise. The boardwalk is awesome for people watching. You just never know what you'll find. It's great.

So that was my Memorial Day in a nutshell. And the next day was, alas, MOVING DAY!

And moving day became a moving fiasco. Things got all mixed up with how was going to move, and even if we were going to move in that day was uncertain. It got a little tricky, but by the end of the day, I was out of Jersey and finally in the city.

I spent the next couple of days trying to get the place together for Lexy's visit, but failed miserably. With the painters, and the whole move in day mix up, it was just not happening. But on the bright side, it day make for an interesting weekend with Lex and Anna who were in town for Belmont .

Toothpicks in burritos, driving literally in circles only to end up at Two Boots for the traditional end of the night pizza, strange brunch experiences, lassoing cowboys named after presidents, Sweetiepie for dinner (great atmosphere, mediocre food btw), wandering to Union Square.. all key descriptions for Belmont weekend, but could all be summed up in a single word, as previously stated: interesting.

WHEW. That's enough for now. More adventures to come, and more frequent posts now that school no longer has me by the ovaries. Summer guide to NYC coming sooooon. Look forward to it.

Put a fork in it. That's a wrap, folks.

The last two weeks of school has mostly consisted of sleepless nights, switching my gaze from the fabric on the table and the sewing machine that kept tearing my thread, willing the two to work together to create the beautiful garment I thought of in my head. Those nights blurred into the following day, and kept me wondering how in the world 7 projects were going to be completed within the those 3 days of classes. Because even though I didn't sleep, and hardly stopped to eat (you learn to multi-task very quickly) and my social life was thrown out the window months ago, there still didn't seem to be enough hours in the day. And the school became one big brick building of inconvenience, with its odd hours and lack of open rooms during the day. Really? Not open 24 hours during finals week? Throw me a freakin' bone.

But as of Monday, the semester has officially come to a close! And while each class concluded the week before, each with a lack of fulfillment that I was hoping for, by the end of the day on Monday, I was jumping for joy, and felt like I was graduating all over again. Yes. That's how good it felt to be done.

One semester down, two more to go.

But the world doesn't stop, and apparently neither do I. My internship started on Tuesday, with MAO PR, and as far as PR goes, they are legit as it gets. This is the same company I interned for during Fashion Week. I could go on and on about how rad I think they are, but I'll let you read about that yourself if it so interests you.

Okay. So what have I covered thus far? Schools out: check. Internship: check. Now on to the big move. I move into this dank apartment in Hell's Kitchen on June 1st! I'm living with three other girls from school, and it's not so far from Parsons. We really lucked out on this space, and I can't wait for you to visit

So now what? On to the job hunt. What kind of job am I looking for? Any one that pays.

What else? Well, I few more tricks up my sleeve, but you're just gonna have to wait and see ;)

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for being awesome.

Love,
Your baby girl