Thursday, January 31, 2008

Please Pardon Our Appearance

On the eve of New York Fashion Week, Bryant Park appears quiet and calm. The tents, rising from the ground since last Friday, are in place. The gates to the park are closed off to tourists. The security barracades enclose the area. The trailers providing power and light to the tents line the entrance on 6th Avenue. The area appears poised for the fashion elite to arrive in less than 12 hours.


Signs hung along the fence outside Bryant Park.

But appearances can be deceiving. Take a look inside the main tent - ladders, signs, decorations, TVs, displays...it's a flurry of people scurrying to get everything in place.


The front entrance of "The Tents" at Bryant Park.

As I look at the beautiful tall buildings bordering the park and enjoy the quiet stillness of the chilly and damp evening, I think of all the designers, seamstresses, show planners, PR firms, models, etc., who have practically been living at their offices and showrooms the last few weeks, and who will most likely be there all night tonight attending to last minute details.

Because, as they say, the show must go on!


Looking at Bryant Park from 6th Avenue - back of the New York Public Library, a few of the tents, and the Empire State Building on the right.


View of the Chrysler Building from the north west corner of Bryant Park.


The Tents at Bryant Park.

No Recorded Snowfall

My first New York winter has been easy on me so far. Today the weatherman reported this was the first time in 75 years there has been no recorded snowfall in Central Park during the month of January.

I can't believe Alabama got more snow than I did this month!!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

"Get Carried Away"

The first advertisements for the Sex and the City movie started popping up around the city today!


In theaters May 30...I bet I see Ansley and Crystal in NYC opening weekend! :)

Friday, January 25, 2008

Stovepipe

The quest to purchase a winter coat began months ago. Even before the first chilly breeze hit New York, I was asking friends about what kind of coat they had, trying to determine what I needed to survive my first northern winter. My quest became my dad's mission - he was set on finding me the warmest, most water repellant, biggest-hooded, heaviest down-filled, thickest fur-trimmed, double zippered, extra buttoned, EVERYTHING coat out there. I found a few coats I liked; they weren't so big and bulky, and I thought they fit the warm/water resistent requirements. But my dad's mission had a goal - a coat that was proven to conquer cold weather - and the coats I had chosen just didn't measure up.

He became focused on the "Ultrawarm, Three-Quarter Length" coat from L.L. Bean whose list of warmness features read like Tiger Woods' trophy list - in other words, this coat was the master of cold weather. My attempts at finding a cute warm coat were exhausted, and nothing I could find would ever measure up to the all-around perfection of the Ultrawarm from L.L. Bean anyway.

By mid-December, I agreed to let Daddy order it, "Just get it in black, okay?" Color was the only control I still had in the coat features discussion. And then bad news...very bad news. The coat was SOLD OUT in black. "How about periwinkle or red raspberry?" Daddy asks. "I would rather freeze in my black wool coat than walk the streets of New York City in PERIWINKLE!!" I screamed into the phone. What to do now?? Daddy settling for any other coat was like a little kid wanting to go to Disneyworld but settling for Six Flags.

We soon agreed on the Chalet Long Down Coat from Land's End - the company endorses it with "we doubt you'll be warmer in anything else this winter!" We got it in black, the coat arrived, I tried it on, it was big, it was ugly, but it was warm.

So warm, in fact, that the description Julie gave it has stuck: while modeling the coat for my family at Christmas, I pointed out how it's so big around it really doesn't touch me anywhere - it just keeps a perfect cylindar shape - and when I flip the hood up, I pretty much disappear except for my face and my legs below the knees. Julie exclaimed, "She looks like a stovepipe!"

With horror and laughter I realized I really do, but there's nothing like warming up inside my little stovepipe when the freezing cold wind whips around the buildings.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Images in the Mirror

I was pleasantly surprised when I returned to New York after Christmas to have received an invitation from Halsey Herreshoff to the "Ninth Annual Sailors Dinner." A black tie dinner at the East Village Yacht Club in New York City...with a bunch of sailors...and Katie Couric!

To everyone requesting a full report of the evening, I don't really know what to say. The best way I can think to sum it up is that during dinner I was seated at a table facing the wall, and a long mirror hung on the wall above us. It reflected the activity of the entire room; I could see everyone laughing and talking in their tuxes and dresses, the soft candle light, the waiters keeping wine glasses full, Katie Couric just a few steps away...and me right in the middle of it. As I sat there, I couldn't help but think of how natural it felt yet how surreal of a scenario was being played out through the images in the mirror - it was like looking at a picture I'd found myself painted in to!


Katie Couric! We discovered we had at least two things in common (well, besides both being loved by millions). 1) This summer was the first time we both sailed, and 2) we both had the same job on the boat...I think that makes us best friends!


Halsey putting Katie on the spot during dinner!


Michael, Rebecca, Halsey and Adam.


My new friend Halsey Herreshoff - a legend in the world of sailing.


After dinner at the East Village Yacht Club.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

A New Year in the City that Never Sleeps

This is New York City, so the celebration couldn't be over at midnight. After returning to the apartment and enjoying a funny dance party there, we headed to the East Village and danced until dawn! When the morning news came on the TV's at the bar, we headed to a diner for breakfast, and were safe and sound in bed by 9 AM!

As the winds howled outside my window and cold-looking clouds descended, I fell asleep on New Years Day glad I had made the most of the night with my two best friends!




Still at my apartment with a long, fun night ahead. Don't have any pictures though...no room for a camera in the fabulously sassy clutch from my dear Melissa - thank you! :)

Rest, Exercise, Food





After sleeping most of the day, we went ice skating at Wollman Rink in Central Park. I thought the rink would be less crowded than Rockefeller Center - ha! The three of us had a harder time staying together on the ice than we did cattling through the crowds in Times Square on New Year's Eve! After dodging a million flailing arms and the fast side-stepping of those about to hit the ground, we traded our skates for a nice dinner in Little Italy.

What a great first day of the new year - plenty of rest, exercise and good food!


Jackie and Ansley