I Heart NY

I was feeling that I needed to wear some red today.  It's a powerful, emotional colour - the colour of hearts, and blood, and the apple that is a symbol of New York city,  a place that has been near and dear to my heart since I first travelled there when I was 14.  Of all the large cities I've visited, it is the one where I have felt most at home.

While watching the scenes of the damage from Hurricane Sandy to Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs on the news,  I couldn't believe that a mere two weeks prior to the storm, I had been having a wonderful time in New York with my friends.  Fortunately, none of them (as far as I've heard) were injured or trapped by the storm, but at least 100 people lost their lives, homes and businesses were destroyed, and five days later, especially in the outlying boroughs, many are still without power, people's homes are flooded, lineups for gas stretch for miles, and public transit is minimal.  My beloved Chelsea was hit hard, and it will likely be months before gallery owners calculate the value of the art that was destroyed or damaged. 

Personally, I was glad to see that the New York Marathon had been cancelled, although I realize the decision was not made lightly, and there will be significant costs to the cancellation.  We know New York, and New Yorkers, are tough and resilient - we remember the aftermath of 9/11, so they don't need to prove anything to the rest of the world by holding the marathon in the wake of a devastating storm.  Direct those resources to the people that need them the most right now.   And all the runners, wondering what they were going to do when they couldn't do the marathon?  How about lending a hand with the cleanup?  

New York,  my heart is with you.

leather pants - The Sentimentalist

sweater - Value Village

felt flower pin - The Fairies Pajamas

shoes - by Naot from Walking on a Cloud

hat - From Mars

New York State of Mind

Apologies for the lack of posts recently, but I was having my very own Excellent Adventure in New York City with some wonderful blogger friends, including The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, The Style Crone, and Ari Cohen.   As you can well imagine, there was a whole lot of laughing, taking photos and discussions about hats!   I stayed at Leo House, which is a Catholic Christian Guest house located in the heart of Chelsea, and offers extremely affordable, if spartan, accommodations for travellers of all denominations.  I stayed there last year and was charmed by the location, which is just blocks away from the High Line Elevated Park, lots of great restaurants, art galleries, thrift stores, and the major event of the weekend, the Manhattan Vintage Show.

I had been in New York for barely an hour when I ran into marionette artist Jane Folds, who has appeared a number of times on Ari Cohen's blog, Advanced Style.  Jane is easily recognizable by her trademark heart-shaped red glasses and beautiful white hair.  My trip was off to a great start!

The Gathering of the Clans, I mean, Bloggers.....

 A group of us, including Jean and Valerie of The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas and Debra Rapoport, made plans to meet for cocktails at DBGB, one of chef Daniel Boulud's NYC restaurants.  I had met Jean and Valerie, and Debra Rapoport (on the left) last year,  and was happy to see them again.  This was my first opportunity to meet Judith Boyd, aka The Style Crone (on the right), who I had communicated with via email for the last year.  Debra and Judith had participated in a fashion photo shoot earlier that day and were still wearing their dramatic makeup from the shoot.  As usual, they both looked stunning.

Artist and milliner Carol Markel (left) and Valerie, half of the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas.  Carol had just returned from Paris, where she purchased her gorgeous scarf.  Carol's blog is Femme et Fleur.

Jean, the other half of The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, has an enviable collection of bakelite jewellery and this photo that I shot when she wasn't looking shows off her amazing rings.

The next day, a group of us convened at The Rocking Horse Cafe, a mexican restaurant in Chelsea.  I was the only one who was not wearing a hat that day, but was definitely surrounded by some pretty awesome millinery.  I love how Debra's orange and pink locks spill out the top of the felt hat she made.  We were playing the part of the Ladies Who Lunch, only we had a man in tow...

none other than Ari Cohen, author of the blog Advanced Style.  He and Judith were unexpectedly sporting coordinating headgear

After lunch we moved outside for a photo shoot with Ari.  I will always be grateful to him for creating his marvelous blog that was responsible for introducing me to this fabulous group of women!

Fed and photographed, Jean, Valerie,  Judith and I were off to the Vintage Show.  Photos of the people and the clothes in posts to follow.  I will be catching up on all of your blogs this week as well.