falling in love (yet again) with the lower east side

It’s hard to believe I’ve been in the US for over eight months now. Everything is still going really well, I’m still having a blast; it’s only 14 days until Texas time. There’s less than five months left though and it’s hard to stop myself from getting into a melancholy mood when I think about leaving. A few weeks ago my manager at work was talking about trying to arrange with the store manager to have me stay longer, i.e. renew my visa or something along those lines and it was weird because even though I would love to stay in New York longer I was a bit relieved when my store manager said they couldn’t sponsor me. Apart from the fact that my parents would probably want to kill me for not coming home, I’m not exactly sure why I felt relieved, maybe because in my mind I’ve been mentally preparing myself to leave since I got here as I’ve always known my time had an expiration date. Or maybe deep down I really do miss Australia. I know I miss my family and it’s weird being away from friends back home when they’re going through life-changing moments. Toward the end of last year one of my best friends got engaged and instead of hearing about it straight away I had to find out about it from a post on my wall on Facebook; then earlier this week when another friend of mine gave birth and the only way for people to let me know was via Facebook. It will be nice to be in the same time zone as the majority of the people I love and be only a text or mobile call away.

ANYWAY, enough of all of that. I just wanted to get all that off my chest. Now onto more fun and interesting things…

Last weekend was really fun, Friday night I met up with Nira and Noa at Legion but there were a bunch of unfamiliar faces there so that was good for a change. That place is so boring when it’s the same old crowd there. Saturday night I met up with Napua and we had drinks at Pianos, followed by more drinks at Max Fish’s, both in the Lower East Side. I have to say that I have a feeling that Max Fish’s is going to become one of my new favorite haunts, they have cheap drinks (for Manhattan), a pool table AND lots of cute guys that hangout there. Really, that’s all you need in a bar!

Napua, me and two new friends whose names I don't remember at Max Fish's

Sunday afternoon I took some ‘me’ time and went to pig out on vegan food at Wholefoods and scare myself silly at the Chelsea Clearview watching ‘Shutter Island’. After the movie I wandered around the West Village, which I love, – the hippie/bohemian atmosphere from the 60’s is still present there, it’s probably as close as you’ll get on the east coast to walking along San Francisco’s Haight Street. There was a full moon in an almost-cloudless sky which looked particularly beautiful as well. I saw the gothic-esque Hotel Chelsea (of Sid & Nancy fame) but as a result of the wide-eyed, open-mouthed awe that came over me while I was standing outside the building steeped in so much punk rock infamy I forgot to take any photos of it. Don’t worry, it’s definitely on my list of places I have to go back to before I leave the city.

Some buildings in the West Village that looked pretty with the full moon above them.

There’s a sense of renewal in New York at the moment, – the temperature is creeping up day by day, the snow is starting to melt, the days are becoming longer and I can feel the change of seasons renewing me as well. Just when I thought I couldn’t face another drab day filled with oppressive snow clouds and frigid winds, the sun has finally come out. I never thought the weather would play such a vital role in my mood but earlier this week when the sun made it’s first appearance I couldn’t help but smile involuntarily. I won’t get ahead of myself here, – the warmest it’s been so far is about 7C but heck, that’s ALOT better than -12C!! I can definitely tell the difference between the two temperatures. My wardrobe is ready to burst with the amazing spring/summer fashions I’ve collected over the past few months from various thrift stores. It will be so nice to wear my shorts, dresses, tees and skirts without having to layer them with tights, jackets, coats, scarves and gloves.

Hopefully the last blizzard of this Winter

Someone other than me is braving the weather!

Snow-covered trees in Morningside Park

its the end of an era, its a new beginning.

Over the weekend I decided it was time to dye my hair. It wasn’t a decision I came to lightly, its one that I’d been thinking about for quite some time. I guess it shows how shallow I am to spend so much precious time and use of brain cells over such a simple thing as the colour of my hair but that was really part of the problem. I don’t think the colour of my hair should define me and after roughly 6 years of white-blond hair it really was time for a change.

Standing in the hair dye aisle at Duane Reade I contemplated becoming a red head for a few seconds and then thought maybe a dark brunette would be a good idea before I talked myself out of it and settled on a trusty ash blond colour. When my hair starts to grow out hopefully my natural colour and the dye will match almost perfectly (fingers crossed).

I was pretty apprehensive as I washed the dye out and towel-dried my hair but luckily the end result wasn’t tear-inducing. I debuted the new look to my friends later that night when we all met up to go out and I got approvals all round. Not as many weird old Mexican men on the street still whistle as I walk past but I’m pretty sure they’re not my target demographic anyway!

its just a webcam photo but you can get the idea. the closest i've been to natural in a LONG time.

PS. it’s been snowing here in New York for over 15 hours straight and it’s not meant to stop for another day and a bit. I heard someone on the radio refer to it as a ‘snow-a-cane’ this morning. The snow isn’t really sticking when it hits the ground though, instead it’s forming slushie puddles that make taking more than two steps outside both dangerous and extremely time-consuming. Plus all my shoes seems to have cracks in the soles which results in wet socks. Totally not impressed Mother Nature, can Spring please arrive soon??? It’s less than 20 days until I’m in Austin, TX for SXSW so at least I’m (99%) guaranteed good weather then.

SNOW (BLIZZARD) DAY!!

NYC Blizzard February 10th 2010

Last weekend everyone was talking about how we were going to get a HUGE snowstorm on Friday/Saturday, everyone got freaked out and then it never arrived.

Until this morning.

Five days late and it finally showed up and hit the city with a vengence. I woke up this morning at 7:45am and the snow was already falling outside my window. Walking to my internship in Soho was slow-going because I was trying to avoid slipping over in the snow while also trying to avoid becoming a walking snowman.

After I arrived at the loft I had my ‘Devil Wears Prada’ moment of the week I think, – I was sent to run errands in the developing blizzard. Off to Kmart to get hangers and then on to Duane Read to get the photos of the models in the different looks developed. Let’s just say I discovered that snow is actually painful when it hits you straight in the eyes!

While I was running errands I called work a few times to see if they were still open and planning on staying open for at least some time in the afternoon so that it would be worth my while heading uptown for my shift. On the phone it sounded like we’d be open for a few hours longer and then shut so that everyone could get home in time before subway services were disrupted. Businesses were being advised to send their workers home and close for the day, on top of schools, libraries, the Central Park Zoo and courthouses all closed for the snow day.

When I got to work though I found out we were going to stay open for the entire day and shut at our normal time of 9:00pm. It seemed like half the staff had called out, and I wished that I had as well since all my friends had the day off. There were hardly any customers and between working I’d check the MTA site for updates, go upstairs to see the snow and try to navigate the street outside to get food.

Luckily for me my trains tonight were really that disrupted when I went home. It would have been nice to get home earlier, but at least it made me get to experience being outside for some of the day, – otherwise I may have chosen to stay in bed all day and watch the snow fall outside my window.

heading to work 😦

the tree archway during the daytime

one of the libraries

people getting excited about the snow

the snow was already accumulating at 2pm!

frosty the snowman!

the view from across the street

the falling flakes

i hope they didn’t want to ride this bicycle!

trees and snow

i love tree branches with snow

the field between the two libraries at columbia

the tree archway at columbia

the tree archway is soooooo pretty

some snow flakes falling in front of my camera kinda ruined this photo

it all piles up