BELOW FREEZING: NYC



This past weekend I ditched all of my responsibilities and hopped on a bus to New York City. While in the city, I had intended to go to a concert and take photos of some buildings for my architecture thesis but guess who forgot to buy tickets and also who forgot to bring their camera? Yeah, me. So I apologize in advance but all photos on this post were taken on my iphone!





It was extraordinarily cold this weekend (literally 0° F not including wind chill) so very little time was spent outside. I went to the Strand Bookstore, and the exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and wandered through Chelsea market. But for the most part, I basically ate my way through the weekend. I got coffee at Macchiato one morning, and  another I met a blogger frient at Kávé in Brooklyn. I Tried a "sushiritto" (imagine a sushi roll but the size of a burrito) at Pokeworks, which was really tasty. Another night I met some friends at by CHLOE, an all vegan restaurant which was delicious (don't pass up on the sweet potato fries.)

Valentines day was spent with a couple of single ladies with a passion for pastries. Each of us went to an acclaimed bakery in our own neighborhood and met up to try them all out.
Orwashers on the Upper East side was mainly bread, but the jelly donut and chocolate-almond croissant were some of the best grabs.
Don't be fooled by the fact that Underwest is located inside of a carwash because their cake donuts are decadent.
Doughnut Plant never fails to disappoint, especially with the holiday-special rose flavored doughnut.

There are always far too many things to do, people to see, and places to eat when I visit the city and I leave it craving more. However, I think I'll wait until it warms up to go back.

DICTIONARY STORIES



Lately, I've been a creative rut - like writers block but for designers? Maybe it's the fact that I've been transitioning from working at a firm doing very real and practical things and attempting to work on my 5th-year design thesis project and it seems pointless, which creates a snowball of the inability to design. I've got a lot of decisions to make looming over my head which also doesn't help. But sometimes all it takes is a little bit of tweaking to get back into doing creative work.

I ran across this project a little while ago, Dictionary Stories, which are short stories all generated using only lines from definitions of words in the dictionary. As the curator (Jez Burrows) of this project states:
 "Almost every word you’ll find in the dictionary is accompanied by an example sentence. These sentences—either written or sourced by fearless lexicographers—are intended to demonstrate the most probable usage of a word, in order to help you use it correctly."
Sometimes creativity isn't trying to create something that doesn't exist but rather reinventing what already does to create something that is new and engaging. I have a trip planned for New York City for this upcoming weekend, and I also dyed my hair so hopefully changing up a few things in my life will get those creative juices flowing again.

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