Homeland

Did you see Claire Danes grace the cover of Vogue this past month; appropriately, Homeland's third season, airs 9.29. Will you watch it? If not, then I highly recommend this show; such great entertainment!

Check out the trailer, and notice anything about that preview melody?

Reflections

I'm in the final 50 pages of The Warmth of Other Suns. Just picking it up less than 3 weeks ago, I haven't been able to put down the 600 page book, but the final pages have me halting in my tracks with no desire to read the conclusion. 

Let me tell you why. The Warmth of Other Suns so beautifully narrates the lives of three African Americans from the deep South who migrate to Chicago, New York, and California in search of a better life; a life void of Jim Crow and prejudicial obstacles. The book has chronicled their journeys through marriages, babies, jobs, disappointments, and triumphs. In the final pages, you see Robert, George, and Ida Mae as deteriorating beings with their generation dying around them, and the present generation utterly unaware of the past. 

A Week of Groceries

Have you seen the photo essay by Peter Mentzel that shows what a week's worth of groceries mean to families around the world? It's quite fascinating and sobering.

Germany is cracking me up; look at all that booze. 

4 Sisters

(1975)

In 1975, Nicholas Nixon photographed his wife and her three sisters. Fond of the photograph, they collectively decided to make it a yearly event. Every year, they've convened to capture a moment in time, and each close of the shutter shows the beautiful bond of the four sisters and the somewhat haunting passing of time.

It was recently made into a book- Nicholas Nixon: The Brown Sisters. Thirty- Three years. 

(1980)

Central Park, Summer 1961

Check out these photos from Central Park in the summer of 1961. It looks so idyllic, and do you notice how   minimal the number of people in each shot? I can't imagine New York City  or Central Park looking like that these days with its population of over 8 million.

Audrey Hepburn in Rome

Vanity Fair is sharing a photo colletion of Audrey Hepburn during her times in Rome. She's just absolutely stunning, and I wish flights still carried that much style. Check out that white mod sailor hat!

You are my wild.

Have you seen You are my wild? It's quite the buzz on blogs right now, and I'm sure these parents are having more fun than the children capturing these shots.  Don't let this post fool you though. We (I) are in no way on the baby train, but this is how I imagine my future girls, if one is so blessed. Demure, but wild and spirited.

"Found"

   
National Geographic now has a Tumblr, and the photos are spectacular. I'm afraid I could spend hours on this site.

P.S. The New York Times Tumblr, the Lively Morgue.

nyc past

Boy and I constantly toss around the idea of moving to the City, but as he always puts it, we don’t want to live there with empty pockets. Which means we’d have to find stellar jobs (and salaries); so we’re not just working to live in the city, but we could actually enjoy all it has to offer. 

These photos from nyc past are so enchanting and magical. Can you imagine NYC at the turn of the century, the roaring 20s, or the offbeat 60s when the world was changing so fast? 

Wide Awake

Have you seen the New York Time's video and photo collage of this year's top actresses- The Hollywood Issue, Wide Awake? The photos are mesmerizing, and while some of the videos are slightly unnerving, it's quite the gallery of creativity.

I believe Anne Hathaway's video is my favorite, but then again, I adore any brunette with a pixie cut, starring in Broadway musicals. Which one is your favorite?

Photo Booth

As our wedding favor, we decided to go with photos from a photo booth. We set it up right outside our reception, and everyone loved it! I first saw this idea back in 2008 at my friend Court's wedding; she's obviously too cool and thought of this idea before it was trending. Thank you Firefly Imageworks!

Here are some of my favorite shots.

Dancers Among Us

My dear friend Court shared this website with me the other day, and as a former dancer in my youth, I cannot stop staring at these mesmerizing shots. Amazing to hear that his three year old son sparked his interest for this project. I would love to have this little gem on my coffee table to leaf through . . .

Bridal Photos

I'd love to share some photos with you of my bridal shoot. I'm wildly in love with how these came out, and I owe it all to the lovely BMP, my good friend Brooke. She was a superb director and photographer, making me feel at ease as giant beetles crawled up the tree stumps just waiting to attack me- eek.

These will be a gift for boy; don't worry, he has strict instructions to not browse the blog these next few weeks.

Bridal shoot, or something like that.

This Saturday, my good friend and co-leader of the D.C. Many Hopes chapter, Brooke*,  is treating to me a photo session. The muse is revolving around bridal and 'trash the dress' concepts. Considering I do not have my actual wedding dress yet, I found a little something something to substitute; more on that later. These are some of my inspirations via photographer, Nishe.

Well, looky there . . .

(photo via)

Did you know tomorrow is August 17? It's a grand day. My birthday.

Just ask boy and my mom, I love birthdays. I mean, LOVE. For me it's a day of celebrating with friends, spoiling myself with some good eats, and taking time to reflect on the past year. I really don't mind the gifts either. 

For my birthday wishlist, this is what I have in mind . . .

Under the weather

(photograph from artist Havilah Savage)

Oh, the cold has lingered this week like a viral plague, and I am not happy about it. I've spent most nights nursing my NyQuil cocktails and deliriously watching sitcom reruns. But, I promise the creativity will flow again and so will the posts for all my readers out there. Readers, you're out there there, right? Somewhere?

The Industry

Have you heard of Industry of One? This fairly new endeavor  (created by Adam Patrick Jones and Rachel Brown) is setting out to showcase--as they put it-- 'style trappings of various industries and professions' and documenting the intersection between profession and life. There are almost 20 individuals featured on the site, and I basically want to be friends with all of them. My favorite profile was Madeline Hall, a nanny in Manhattan as a nanny job paid my way through college and well, she's so dang cute (first photo).

'A treasure house of photographs'

The New York Times recently started a Tumblr page- The Lively Morgue. Why the lively morgue? The Times picture library is referred to as the morgue, and they are setting out to post several photos- historical highlights- every week. Apparently, if they posted 10 new archival pictures every weekday from the Times print collection, it would take until year 3965 (!!!). To enhance the story behind the photo, each image includes the reserve side so you can see annotations, captions and clues as to why it was chosen for printing- really neat! Some of my favorites . . .

Don't you wish men still wore hats?!



This was at first startling, but the notes on the photo read that the Parisian child seemed ' none the less happy' undergoing UV treatment, a procedure for urban children who lacked the healing of the sun's rays.

Reminded me of a contemporary snapshot of my favorite book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. 

P.S. you can order the prints - what a great gift idea!

Oh Audrey

We'll call this one girl crush. An Audrey Tatou spread in Marie Claire Russia- need I say more? Like the rest of the world, I fell in love with Audrey in Amelie. I think she has the best mingling of girlish charm and  womanly sophistication. Don't you?

(by Shayne Laverdiere) 

P.S. Before she was Chanel, she was Coco.