christmas time

T-minus 8 days, it will be CHRISTMAS TIME! I love Christmas time. Wearing coats, bustling around the city with packages and sharing as much Christmas cheer as possible, ah, love.

Since I moved to New York, plane tickets are (lets say "inflated") higher around the holidays, I tried to compromise and only go home for Thanksgiving every other year. So technically, this year is my year to stay in the city, but then my sister chimes in. "What about my tree? You have to come home because you have to decorate my Christmas tree." Five years ago this would have annoyed the hell out of me, but now, it's the only real holiday decorating I get to do. 

So... as much as my sister loves to watch me put all the ornaments and whatnots on her tree, it actually is one of my favorite things we do together all year. Cory, Mickey and I go pick out a tree then Cory attempts to put lights on it (he'll get better as the year goes by), then Mickey unpacks each ornament and has stories with most of them, which she of course tells every year. And then I (add more lights) and decorate the tree. My treat in the end... Mickey gets me cheese dip. Don't call me the fat kid, I haven't lived anywhere in the past seven years that has queso EVERYWHERE! Just another reason I come back and visit Arkansas. 

It takes me about 15 minutes to decorate my apartment. A strand of colored Christmas lights around my window and three ceramic trees are my decor and I switch to my Christmas kitchen towels. Under 200 square feet doesn't give a lot of room for Christmas decor. 

But this year, I've made it a mission to make Mickey's tree better than last year. And (not to toot my own horn, but) last years was FAB! Cheers to making this years tree better than the last!

Do these two ornaments say Mickey and Cory or what? 

unexpected findings

Between unexpected friends in the city, meeting new friends, finding amazing books and taking far to many cab rides, last week had many fantastic twists and turns. Two exciting friends to see were Hunter and Erin Riley. They were in town for the ING NYC Marathon last Sunday and stayed for some work as well as some fun. Being a West sider I was near the finish line watching and although the siblings finished together, I only saw Hunter. We concluded it was because Erin was standing east of Hunter.

After a very successful business meeting last Thursday I ventured to Brooklyn to meet up with a group of fellow Arkansans as well a Panamanian and Honduran. One of whom is "Juan in a million."

Clearly we decided to take a new photo for Rhea Drug Store since our parents work together. I haven't seen Hunter in a long time and since Erin has been living in China, er, I mean Japan for the past two years, it was a fantastic pharmacy reunion. P.S. we expect to see this picture on Marilyn's side of the printer when we are all home for Thanksgiving.

Since Hunter had to split early that evening due to an early meeting Friday morning, Erin became my unexpected house guest. When I know people are coming, my apartment is pretty much spotless, but on the account that I have four trash bags of clothes for Goodwill and my mothers ginormous Christmas present, together taking up a minimum of ten square feet, it was quite a cozy evening to say the least. Thankfully Erin only compared my apartment to a "slightly larger dorm room" once, I let it slide and she was allowed to stay.

Friday we made our way to The Strand. Basically the best book store south of 14th street. After grabbing every book we liked in sight and then realized we didn't have unlimited funds we settled on few classics and a couple eye turning art books. My favorite book purchase... a first edition, mint condition 1937 copy of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

Clearly I was excited... but not as speechless as I was when we went to the third floor. If I ever track down a first edition or even a great condition early copy of my favorite book in the world, Catcher and the Rye, I wouldn't think twice about maxing out my credit card. Hopefully, whenever I find it maxing out anything will not be the case. Friday, finding this very early edition was up there with priceless. This particular edition is well known for the full back cover photo of J.D. Salinger. This would have been an immediate, no-questions-asked, purchase but the jacket had a very unfortunate tear in the top right corner. The back, being in very good quality was hard to put down, but the cover was a deal breaker.

Needless to say my three purchases were the following. A first edition copy of Of Mice and Men, a copy of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, which was only issued to the members of The Heritage Club in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1967. The third book is Lyn Davies' A is for Ox. Along our 36 hour adventure, we found great public art. From graffiti owls to hand-painted brownstone doors, Erin and I took pictures accordingly. 

With these images I'll leave you with a quote we found along the way:

"All the lives we could live, all the people we will never know, never will be, they are everywhere. That is what the world is."

-Aleksander Herman, The Lazarus Project

frequently asked questions

Over the past few years I have been asked several questions countless times. Whereas these questions will inevitably continue to come, I'm going to start here...

The number one most asked question (besides: who are you dating) --

1. When are you going to move back to Arkansas?
I don't know where I'll be in 10 years much less tomorrow, but as long as I have the opportunity to continue living and working in Manhattan, then I'm staying settled. Whatever is in God's plan is where I'll be. Until further notice, I'm stayin' on the island.

2. You subscribe to more magazines than anyone else I know. Do you read each one? 
Sort of. Some magazines I get for recipes, some for fashion, home design, stories, etc. Most of the magazines I subscribe to are for design inspiration. From financial to fashion, all magazines have different niche design elements that are relevant to my industry. Therefore it is justifiable.

3. What do you do with your magazines? 

Most of the time, I tab, tear, and file. This past post "if you ever call me a hoarder..." explains that process. I clearly don't file an entire magazine. GQ and Esquire, Dwell and Domino (which is no longer in print), for example, I cannot bring myself to tear up any of them. I have all 2009-2011 issues of the first three are all in my apartment. Issues prior are in plastic and dressers in a storage unit in Arkansas. Please note, I do not have a storage unit for magazines. The unit was purchased to house the overflowing furniture from my college apartment and house. This is turn makes it a convenient location to house my magazine surplus. 

I also roll extra/left over magazine pages like this for future DIY projects. Image borrowed from Recyclart

4. What do you do? 

I am a freelance graphic and web designer. I have several clients within in the city as well as others scattered around the country, including Kansas City and Atlanta. I recently gained a new client in Manhattan who I will be working on several projects with. So to clear up any confusion, I WORK.

5. Why don't you add links to ideas or pictures in your blog? 

I do. Unless I take the pictures my self. Any purple link or comment under a picture that says something to the effect of "image borrowed from..." is a link to that image/project/blog or web site mentioned. As seen below above image. 

Feel free to request any more questions. Hope a few things were answered. Thanks for reading!