Prohibition and Curls

Hello everyone! On 8/14 I went to a 1920's Jazz Party on Governor's Island. First off, the island, only accessible by ferry, is one of my favorite places in New York. No street cars, only bikes of all different riders and skateboards. However, a few months ago I discovered they have an event every year for two weekends known as the  Jazz Age Lawn Party where everyone puts on their best 1920's get up. It is a ticketed event, which starts at $60 for entry. There are several packages available, with clever names like "Bonnie & Clyde" or "Gatsby's Garden." My friends and I went for general admission and brought a picnic with us.

There was a dance floor and a great bandstand with everyone appropriately dressed to the decade. We danced out on the floor trying to mimic the couples that actually knew what they were doing. We didn't feel any pressure to know how to Charleston, instead we giggled and kicked our feet and watched everyone else do the same. There were tons of booths and vendors, like Renegade Lemonade ( see the large jar of yummy Strawberry basil above) and food carts lining the side of the party. Funny fasteners and hatters, wine and beer vendors ( despite the original 1920's as the prohibition age) and photo booths. There was a  ticket stand for purchasing tickets that can be used for food or photos. We brought snacks, but when we saw this giant moon we had to take a picture on it. A photographer set us up and instructed us what to do. Bless him for making sure everyone's photo was good, even though it slowed down the line.

I purchased my dress off of amazon, as well as the pearls and headpiece. I really love this two piece dress ( an under dress and the crotchet top) even though it lacked a bit of coverage on the top as it was sheer. Overall, the experience was a land full of trumpets, suspenders and glam. I want to go back next year ( hopefully it won't be one of the hottest days of the year). Great for picnicking and for some summer fun. I loved seeing everyone in costume, from the little tiny kids bopping around to the top-notch crafty people who made costumes. The Jazz Age Lawn Party is starting to move out around the U.S. so check them out to see if they will make it to your city.

See you soon!

Claire 

Broadway Bites

Hello everyone! Today's blog post is about this cute little pop up market in Greeley Square Park ( crossroads Ave of the Americas and 32nd).   I stumbled upon it about two weeks ago on my way to the Empire State building for a tourist-in-my-own-town adventure. It spans not even a block and a half, but contains 20 or so little booths of every type of cuisine one can imagine. From tacos to lamb burgers to korean barbeque, this little street stop has it all. I'll admit that I'm not a very adventurous eater, but I did try a few things over the span of three visits. I first had a simple grilled cheese ( just cheese) from Melt Kraft. It was gooey and slightly tangy. I wanted the classic tomato soup to go along with my sandwich, but the vendor was out of it. I settled for a bag of chips and a water and noted in my other trips that Melt Kraft was always out of soup, which is disappointing. 

Grilled Cheese from Melt Kraft

I stopped again while running some errands on my way home from work for some doughnuts from Doughnuttery and a lemonade from Renegade Lemonade. Both were delicious, as I went for 6 of the mini style doughnuts in two flavors, fruity cereal and cocoaboy. The flavoring is really just a type of powder they sprinkle on top of the crispy little rings. At Renegade Lemonade, there were several great and interesting options, some with chilly powder and others with sweet fixings. I went for a strawberry lemonade in slushy form. The server was wonderful and peppy as she chatted to me while shaving the ice right in front of me. The lemonade was a sweet, but not overly sugary drink, great for the hot summer day I was there.

The last time I was there I picked up a plain mac n cheese from Red Hook Lobster Pound. There was an option for lobster mac n cheese as well, but seafood doesn't tingle my taste buds. It was nice and creamy, although I was told they were out of the extra cheese topping ( a common theme was out of food). Not the best I have even had, as I prefer some bread crumbs on top, but it still wasn't hard to scarf down. For dessert, I went with something very new to me- nutella rice balls from Arancini Bros. Coated in brown sugar, these little guys were actually quite different than I expected. You couldn't really taste the rice, it just added a little bit of texture to the nutella and brown sugar. These were very filling, although I may have snagged some of my friend Emma's nutella filled churros as well. The churros were from the Paella Shack by Barraca. Also a wonderful dessert worth a try, and the lady who served us was dancing away and enjoyed her job thoroughly. 

Nutella Churro- Yum!

How cute are these walls? 

Ooooohhh Nutella Rice Ball

The atmosphere was great, metal tables and chairs lining the busy streets. My first visit, a table appeared almost instantly to my luck, as I had about 10 people come over asking for an extra chair I was holding. The third time I stopped by, tables were pretty easy to come by. It was a Tuesday around 4:00, so may that is why it wasn't too hard to find a seat. I would most definitely go back and maybe try a taco or a crepe. You can find a full list of vendors here as get there before July 17th when it closes for the summer. 

See you all soon! 

Claire 

Big Screen in the Park

Happy belated 4th of July to all my fellow Americans out there! Yesterday, on the actual holiday, I headed to Byrant Park for the HBO summer series of movies. Last summer I went to a similar set up next to the Brooklyn Bridge ( I'll insert some photos from that below). For the Brooklyn one, my friends and I planned maybe a week in advance and discussed what snacks to bring and who was bringing blankets, etc. We were going to a showing of Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! We are all fans of the silly franchise, so we thought this would be a great way to watch the newest one. I made shark themed cupcakes, the venue gave out hats and had a photo taking station. Generally, these types of movies don't actually start until sundown, but the  lawns open earlier for picnics and claiming the good grass. We arrived as it opened, plopped down our stuff and ordered pizza from the nearby famous Grimaldi's. Although the line for the sit- down section can be quite the wait, we ordered take out and grabbed in in about 20 minutes. The event itself is free, and you're  more than welcome to bring as much food as you would like. However,they also had a booth open for refreshments like buttery popcorn and sodas. We waited the few hours and LOVED the atmosphere. Everyone was relaxing and singing along to the music. It did get a little chilly by the water, so a sweatshirt/ extra blanket is highly recommended. 

Emmi showing off the brick oven masterpiece

Shark cupcake anyone? 

As for Bryant Park, it was a last minute why - not? decision- so we quickly grabbed what we could and headed to the train. The lawn opens at 5, but we arrived around 7: 15 and still were able to find a good spot on the grass. No spot seemed to be bad, as the screen was a large, built just for the series screen. We chilled out on our very patriotic blanket (see photo below) and snacked on the free popcorn ( butter and carmel) and water as well as the treats we brought ourselves. I took a trip to the bathroom ( not recommended, the line was quite long, and most stores were closed due to the holiday- yay 'merica) and soon enough the sky changed to a chalky dusk. As the movie was just about to begin, the worst possible thing happened- yep, a rainstorm. Everyone quickly pulled up blankets and whipped out umbrellas, hoping the storm would pass, but it didn't, just intensified. We packed up with grim faces and headed to Penn Station for some no-movie condolence pizza. Although we didn't actually get the see the film, I would most definitely go back. It was such a cute, little spot with friendly faces all around. If it was anything like the Brooklyn Bridge movie, I will be back in a heartbeat. Here you can find a listing of all NYC outdoor movies for the summer- rooftop ones tend to have age restrictions (21+) and do have a fee. 

Some goodies we ate

How cute is this blanket? Me, Leah and Kayla waiting for sundown

See you soon!

Claire 

New York City Adventures

Hello everyone! I went to the City ( I know I call it "The" City) aka Manhattan and Brooklyn. My family planned to walk around and go across to Manhattan by ferry from the Brooklyn Bridge area. Along or adventures, I took some pictures of some iconic New York parks and sites. Hope you enjoy these pictures!

I hope you enjoyed this picture post! Thanks for reading and see you all soon! 

I Do So DeClaire

Joey Graceffa, Dances and the Highline

Hello! I may have missed a week of blogging (or two)... But I'm back! This weekend was Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, so I had an extra day off of school. On friday night, Monica invited Jenn and I to go to her homeschool dance. At first I feared it might be on the awkward side and that I wouldn't know anyone! However, I ended up dancing until my feet fell off and running to the photo guy a bunch of times! 

Jenn, Monica, Me 

Mary, Monica, Sarah, Jenn, Me, Natalie and our new little friend Ellen! 

We couldn't resist taking a picture of the outsiders (none of us were familar with the homeschool community). 

On Saturday, I woke up bright and early and headed to Brooklyn. Christina and I were on a mission to meet Joey Graceffa! We had bought "Storytellers" tickets on Thanksgiving, and had waiting until that day to meet him. If you're wondering, "Storytellers" is Joey's short series that he created. Heres the link to his channel where you can watch the six fifteen minute clips - http://youtu.be/CjYIGPQN_OY

He was so sweet and unfortuantly we couldn't take a proper picture with him, but I do have a candid that Christina took! 

Not the best quality, I know. 

Finally, Sunday was Amanda's birthday party!  We went to the highline in the city and then to a S'mac. It was absolutely freezing outside, but we did manage to make the best of it. S'mac was a specialty mac and cheese please and I must say it was delicious! I got the simple mac and cheese with bread crumbs, since I tend to not be adventurous with food.  I really want to go back to the highline when it's not so cold and morbid out. 

I hope you all had a nice long weekend if you are from America, and if not, I still hope you made the best of it! Thanks for reading and see you soon! 

The Lumineers

     Yesterday, my friend Emma and I went to see the Lumineers in New York City. We arrived at the venue, Terminal 5, around 5pm. Terminal 5 is hidden inside a garage door and there is no sign for it anywhere. Because of this, it took forever to find. We left early enough to get a good spot, and we waited outside for 2 1/2 hours. We then went up 3 flights of stairs to an upstairs deck. We waited for another 1/2 hour before we were let into the stage area. The whole idea is, the faster you can make it down the stairs, the closer to the stage you will get! Emma and I ran as fast as possible to get to the front of the stage(we may have almost fell on our faces a couple of times)! We were in the second row (standing) and close to  guy in center. Luckily, the guy in front of me made room for me to stand up against the rail. I was on the floor, instead of being on on the upper two levels. We then waited, and waited, and waited until 9 for the show to begin. The crew was setting up the stage and doing sound check in the meantime, which was sort of strange timing.

 

The show itself was amazing! We sung along to every song, and made eye contact with the members. The band was pretty friendly, but they weren't much for stick their hands out over the barrior. At one point, security made two holes in the crowd and brought the members out into the audience for a few songs! They brought out the drum pictured above, and  a guitar. Jeremiah was literally right in front of me! They asked us to put our phones away for the songs in the audience, which was kind of a bummer, but understandable. We really got to interact with them and sing along. The boy next to me was slipped a guitar pick when he shook hands with Wesley. It was actually really funny (but nice at the same time) that instead of hitting eveyone's hands like most bands, they shook hands with fans. Here's a close-ish picture of Jeremiah in the crowd.

It was an overall amazing performance, and it was worth standing outside a shed in New York City for 3 hours. I won't spoil the rest of the concert and I recommend The Lumineers to anyone who likes Mumfords and Sons or folk rock. Their live performance is just as good as their sound track. If you haven't already, go look up The Lumineers on itunes! You have probably heard "Ho Hey" a couple, or a couple hundred times. Here's some of my favorite photos of the night!