Summer in the City, pt. 2

My second trip to NYC this summer was at the end of July for a long weekend (that was in fact quite short). It was a quickie but a goodie. I mainly went to see my friend of 4 years now, Cassie, before she left in August to Europe for the rest of the year. I spent the first day and a half strolling around Williamsburg, Brooklyn and my beloved West Village. I then went to Long Island with Cassie and spent my last day there enjoying its quaint, suburbia appeal. I always value my trips out to see her, even if it is just for a day or two. It was nice not really having an agenda and getting to see a few friends, walk around aimlessly through the parks and streets and do whatever we felt like doing.

View of the city from Williamsburg

My new favorite: Peach Lambic

Washington Square Park

Piano Man

Sand Man

Jazz Men

Fancy dinner at Union Square Cafe

My dear friend, Cassie. Her self-portrait.

Main Street, Babylon, Long Island

Babylon Station

Pizzaaaaaa!

Family

When I Googled "family" this is what came up: "In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence."

I've come to realize that sometimes the people that aren't connected to you by blood are the ones that are connected to you most.

These girls are it.

Rock of Ages

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to work on my first movie set! Sure I'd been an extra in Burn Notice once, but not too often does a big budget production get filmed in Miami so I jumped at the chance to be a "featured extra". They've been filming Rock of Ages here in my backyard basically, and transformed a street I frequent and hold dear in my heart in downtown, NE 14th St, into the old Sunset Strip in LA from the 80s. My scene was literally a photo shoot that we had to reproduce because apparently toward the end of the movie, a photo surfaces from Patricia (Catherine Zeta Jones)'s past and it's scandalous. They're going to photoshop in some young faces of the actors en lieu of the people we really did the shoot with. A few other girls and I were very scantily clad (in g-strings) hanging out being groupies backstage and "partying" with the band. It wasn't too hard of a shoot to say the least and I had a blast being on set... Definitely something I'd love to do again. Mr. Cruise himself even passed through a few times and stayed at the end to watch some of it, chuckling to himself about the ridiculousness of it all, because it was. Now I just need to wait a whole year before I can go see it!

Manhattan

I just saw Woody Allen's Manhattan last night for the first time. It conjured up all the emotions I associate with the wonderful city of New York. I went to bed feeling in love with it again. I really enjoyed the movie- the acting, direction, and storyline. It might even have been the first Woody Allen film I've seen. I'm now a fan, so far at least. This morning, I came across these old photos I took with 35mm film on a trip with my mom there in 2006 I think it was. Still as beautiful as ever.

Gaga Ohh La La

Yesterday I had an all-day photo shoot for Mandalynn: a new swimwear line. By friend Bekah and I shot her entire summer look book with 4 different collections/looks, 1 being cover-ups. This was from look 2 which felt very much like something I've seen in a Lady Gaga video. It was quite fun to play with, especially since I had gone to her Haus of Gaga album release party the night before and the monster was still roaring inside of me haha. It felt great to get back in front of the lens, as it had been awhile with being so busy. I'm hoping more will come from this- it's shaping up to be a very busy summer. Stay tuned.

I follow...

beautiful video

a rekindled love affair

I just returned last night from my first trip back to NYC after I left nearly 1 year ago. It was a whirlwind. The minute I got off the plane it was nonstop, go, go, go. But that's how the city is- and I squeezed in as much as I could in my 6 day vacation. I saw old friends, met new ones, went to a Kylie Minogue concert, celebrated Cinco de Mayo, had lunch at Tiffany's and dinner at Barney's, ate Magnolia cupcakes, enjoyed pizza nearly everyday, wandered around aimlessly on 5th Avenue, stumbled onto live jazz in Central Park, and ventured into Brooklyn to see old roommates and check out the flea market. It was absolutely delightful, despite the abnormally chilly weather for May; it was a nice respite from the sticky Miami summer heat. While visiting NYC is different from living there, I definitely rekindled my love for it. I was dragging my feet so much when it came time to leave yesterday that I missed my flight... I will definitely be back soon for another love affair with this wonderful city.

all above photos taken with iPhone 3Gs and enhanced with Instagram and CameraBag apps