The dream.

I LIVE IN MANHATTAN!

I moved a few days ago and could not be more excited about my new situation. I feel like my year in Brooklyn was just a really long transitional period and now I'm finally here. I'm in this giant building in the Financial District, right by the South Seaport, it's such a bizarre area to live, but it feels safe and is really close to where I spend my time, and the price to space ratio is incredible. I've never lived in a real building before and it's amazing. Doorman? People to fix things when there's a problem? Gym/lounge/roofdeck? I'm never going back to small buildings again.

I don't know much about art

My boyfriend got me to start reading comics when we started dating. I started with books that were really easy and accessable, like Scott Pilgrim, but eventually moved on to series like Y The Last Man (amazing), and recently just finished reading all of Fables. My point being: all of the fables covers are done by James Jean, and they are so beautiful. I don't know much about art, but I know what I like.



I want a print of this cover, I think it's amazing.

Test with Missy & Julia from Q Models

Julia Robazzi and Missy Purvis with Q Model Management

I've been having lots of fun shooting beauty this month. It's a lot lower stress than what I used to and I don't have to drag my light kit all over the city on the subway (I've done it, and it's a terrible idea.)

Century 21 Post Script

Oh, you. Why must you constantly give me such mixed signals? I love you so much but you always throw something at me that's so ridiculous and makes me want to hate you. Just a post script to this week's proclamation of love for Century 21:

1. I found a gorgeous, completely undamaged Nina Ricci cashmere tank dress for $17 (amazing!)
2. They won't let you try on bras. (Seriously? seriously??)

What I Love About New York #3: Century 21

Now I know that most people hate Century 21, my boyfriend tends to run for the door after 5 minutes of the insanity, but I LOVE it. Century 21 is amazing, for a certain kind of shopper. You have to be a person who enjoys digging through rack after rack, who's main thrill in shopping is finding pieces 90% off and who is not afraid of being rude and pushing through other shoppers. I am a sale shopper, through and through. My father is very stereotypically Jewish, and I was raised to buy everything on sale, I never pay retail for anything, and I've always gotten a sick pleasure out of rummaging through outlets, thrift stores, sample sales, etc.

Yes, it's crowded, frustrating and overwhelming, and you really have to come in with a plan. I bring water and a snack, and plan to be there for hours. Finding the hidden gems required flipping through every item in every rack, but to me finding Adam Lippes cocktail dresses for $20, Helmut Lang tanks for $15 and a Margiela skirt for $24 is always, always worth it. Although I will say, anythign in a delicate fabric tends to get destroyed here, and it can be really painful to see these gorgeous chiffon and silk dresses just destroyed.

Not that it's an original idea but,

A tradition that I'm trying to start is taking a picture of me with the crew and models after I wrap a shoot (even though that's when I'm at my sweatiest). I just think having one for every shoot would create a nice collection over time. Here's where I'm starting:

Let's Shoot Some Porn.

I just applied for some reality show put on by PLAYBOY TV where you win a spread in playboy magazine. Here's what the Craigslist ad said:

PlayboyTV is now casting beautiful women and talented photographers for a sexy new reality series called “Playboy Shootout”! Have you always dreamed of having your own layout in the pages of playboy magazine? Well, here’s your chance!!

I'm dying at the thought of actually doing this. I've never shot porn/glamor, nor do I have any real desire to, but the thought of a playboy tv show was just too hilarious to not try out. That or the $500/day stipend. But I've watched a lot of reality tv in my day and am just imagining the ridiculous challenges this show would have, and the types of people that would sign up. It's almost enough to wish for a phone call from them. Almost.

What I Love About New York #2: Public Pools

As a Californian, I've been dying this whole summer for some swimming, but it wasn't until is surpassed 90 degrees today that I finally decided it was time to venture to one of the pools. I've never been a public pool before, as they don't exist in small beach towns. It takes 3 trains to get to Red Hook from where I live (I think the subway system in Brooklyn might be my next blog because I hate it so much), and standing in a line just to get into the rec center wasn't too promising. But I have never seen a bigger pool in my life, and even with hundred of people there, there was plenty of room. It's very loud and there's a mix of so many different kinds of people and the lifeguards are constantly blowing whistles, but I loved it. Maybe because it was the only time all day that I wasn't sweaty, but I am totally sold.

Beauty test with Alli from Q Models

Shot this test yesterday and somehow finished the images this afternoon. I love retouching when I have good lighting and no background, so much easier. After the team left my floor was covered in sticks, flowers, leaves, etc. I just left the mess overnight and went straight to looking at images, sorry roommates!

Also I just love the girls that Q has been sending to me.

What I Love About New York #1: Buildings

Let me start with something obvious: the buildings. I never cared about them at all until I got here, and now I am obsessed. I'm constantly walking down the street like a tourist, looking up at all of the buildings I'm passing. Mostly I look at them with jealousy, because I want to live in all of them. Those amazing brownstones in Park Slope, those all-glass luxury buildings with with gyms and doormen, anything with a roofdeck. My apartment isn't bad, it's just very unremarkable (and in Brooklyn) But I think out of all of the buildings I fantasize about moving to I think this one is my favorite:


On the corner of 3rd ave and 13th, on top of this entirely average apartment building is a log cabin, complete with trees. I'm trying to imagine how this came to be, and my best assumption is that the owner of the building is from somewhere with normal log cabins and lush forests and wanted to recreate a bit of that in the city. There's even a brick fireplace! I just love that you walk out onto a roofdeck, and it is actually your front porch. I'm also imagine the inside to be decorated with big wooden furniture and lots of mounted antlers. Living in a log cabin in the East Village? Yes please. It must be so pretty up there when it snows.