Photography Friday: NYC

It's photography Friday - the day you've all been waiting for where I reveal some of the best shots from my recent stint in NYC. Or maybe I just made that up to inflate my ego.

Either way, some of my best work from this trip is below. So if you don't like it, be gentle, I bruise easily. Just kidding. But if you do see something you like, I'm selling prints. $500. Just kidding again. But seriously...I will sell.

Alright, enough of my ramblings - you hear enough of that all week.

Let's start with some of the sights from the streets of NYC.

Beauty that is the Brooklyn Bridge.

One of my favorites. The image tells the story perfectly.

Enough said.

Random building along 5th Avenue

Another image with the Brooklyn Bridge - I'm a little obsessed.

Bottom of the Rock

A classic view of the New York streets

Castle in Central Park

A view from Central Park.

Everyone needs a picture of Times Square at night.

Now to narrow the focus - here are some shots from within Chelsea Market, where I spent the majority of my time these past 10 days.

Inside the market. Some of the best food I've ever eaten can be found here.

The market was decked out with Halloween decor - highly appropriate for today!

This pair spent the entire day working from this exact location. Intriguing.

Gotta love the Italians and their appreciation for fine wine!

Given that this was a foodie event, I ended up with a lot of shots like this.

And of course, we can't forget about the debauchery that took place. It made for some late nights and painful mornings, but what can I say, I love these kids!

Yes, this is a platter of (some of the best) sushi and sashimi (ever)!

I heart my co-workers!

Today, I'm not going to analyze these - I'll leave that up to you.

Cheers!

-A

*Editor's note: these images come in higher res versions and most are yet unedited. I will edit, print and ship if interested.

I met someone

Hello blogosphere!

After ten days in New York City working on a client event, it's good to be back in the swing of things. Well, kinda.

While I was there I fell in love. Yep, you heard me: Fell. In. Love. As you may recall, I have a tendency to do this when I travel. It's a curse! And now I'm freaking in love...

...with NYC.

For a girl who said time and time again that I could never live in a city like New York, I had a few experiences that completely changed my mind. I'm about to talk about one of these experiences, now.

Early on in my trip I was honored to meet up with a long-time Twitter/blogger friend, Paull, for some face to face discussion and fun in the big city. For those who don't know or follow Paull Young, you're truly missing out - he's good people.

Given that he lives in the city, I knew we would be partaking in activities that would be a little off the beaten path and would show me true NYC. And boy was I right.


After a drink at a rooftop bar we hopped on the subway and headed over to Brooklyn for pizza - some of the best pizza ever! I'm definitely a fan of New York style. Sorry Chicago, I love you and all your Midwest glory, but New York makes a mean pie.

Thereafter we went down under the Brooklyn Bridge where I was able to capture shots like this:

(Yes, that's one of mine - I'm so proud!)

Then we walked back in the cold breeze across the Brooklyn Bridge back into the noise and energy of Manhattan.

I was blessed to have the opportunity to spend time with my friend, hearing about his travels around the world and the people that he's met along the way. Not to mention having the opportunity to take the trip of a lifetime for some good grub in Brooklyn. In return, I hopefully showed him some Midwestern hospitality, just by being me!

Cheers!

-A

Oh, and don't worry bloggers, there are plenty more NYC pictures and stories to come. Stay tuned!

MMMM Southern Comfort

Hey Everyone! Lovely Ashley is away and she's doing me a favor by
letting me play over here for a minute. (I've always wanted to
commandeer someone else's blog!) Anyhow, if you don't know me I'm
Rachel from Viva...a blog that's been falling more into political
commentary than I'd like to admit. But today is not about politics
(because I'm f-ing tired of politics at the moment), but something a
bit closer to my heart.

SOUTHERN COOKING!!!!

Ok that might have been a little bit too much but all of you who live
in the south know where this excitement stems from. The one thing I
miss the most living in Colorado is I'm away from a few staple items
of cooking you can't get anywhere else, or people can't make worth a
damn in regards to the real deal. One of those things is a true f-ing
BBQ. I mean yeah yeah we have BBQ festivals and it's good and all but
it does not compare to a bunch of drunk rednecks camped out and
drinking Miller High Life, roasting the biggest pig you've ever seen
on a spit. (YUM). And cornbread, cheesy grits, and double sweet tea???
Come on. How do you say no to double. sweet. tea. Yeah I didn't think
you could, although you might have a hell of a sugar rush later. But
seriously, sometimes I miss (REALLY miss) the greasy, the double
fried, and the Fry Daddy's (yes more then one of my friends owned this
product).

Look, I know what you're thinking (um, ew gross), and yes, a lot of
southern cooked food has no redeeming nutritional value. However it's
just damn good and sometimes it's nice to indulge. So if you ever get
a chance to visit the south this year....or ever...please take one
day. Just one day to go to an authentic Mom and Pop good ole southern
cooking restaurant and experience a slice of heaven (in pumpkin pie
form). I promise you won't regret it (until the next day).

**Oh and if anyone wants to send southern food to Colorado I'd be more
than appreciative, thanks!

I'm back - but I'm lazy

Therefore, I'm linking off today to an entertaining encounter with the neighborhood boy scouts by my dear friend Ben.

Thanks, Ben, for our entertainment today.

And I promise, once I'm back in the swing of the Midwestern life I will share all my NYC experiences with you - there are a few encounters you're bound to find enjoyable.

Cheers!

-A

Never tell a girl she's a 6

This is a guest post by one of my favorites from back in my college days. You can find Jennie here. She's amazing, and I love her.

Tailgate… it’s a favorite pastime for some, a way to pump up before a big game for others, and most importantly a time for random run-ins with people you may or may not know. This past weekend’s tailgate at Michigan State University certainly did not disappoint in the chance encounters arena.

In a matter of a few hours, tailgaters participate in a few rounds of white trash golf, a.k.a cornhole, or bags, eat their body weight in brats and chip dip, and of drink alcohol as if prohibition will reemerge at any second. It is this last action that helps create the random interactions that makes tailgate famous.

The MSU v. OSU tailgate started off quietly enough… but soon hit ultimate awkwardness with a series of socially inappropriate situations…

1. Awkward scenario #1- name recollection. There are a few options here, blame alcohol for your forgetfulness, blurt out a name you hope is correct, act like you don’t actually know the other party… or blindly smile. This took place twice… once I was the guilty party and the tried to use the first excuse… which in my state seemed quite successful as it was followed by awkward scenario #2. The second time a former co-worker blurted the name of someone that graduated a year before me… convinced I was this person and when the truth came finally came out awkward scenario #3 happened.
2. Awkward scenario #2- inappropriate proposals. Once again, our friend alcohol is to blame here, but nonetheless I was asked by a visa-holding student to marry him… you know just to help with the green card process. Though tempting… I was always hoping my first proposal might come from someone’s name I could actually recall.
3. Awkward scenario #3- unfortunate personal ratings. No substance explanation needed… we all know who is mostly responsible for these. Usually beer goggles improve ratings; however, in my case, not so much. The participant from the second awkward scenario #1, upon realizing his name recollection blunder… decided to go so far as to say there is no way I was this particular other person as they were a “2” and I was a “6”… A 6, how thoughtful. Well my dear, more sober friend quickly corrected him and said “You never tell a girl she’s a 6… you’re at least an 8”. Then numbers went flying and I think I even heard a 12 which clearly makes perfect sense on scale on 1 to 10.

Needless to say, I had my fair share of supremely tailgate-tastic moments this weekend… Now its your turn to share… any good awkward run-ins lately?

Who is ang?

while miss ashley is off playing in the big apple, i'm here to say hello in her behalf.

who am i? well, i'm a 26 year old, midwestern, self-proclaimed foodie with an infectious giggle and talent for staying up far past my bedtime. i am the friend that takes a ridiculous amount of pictures and writes waaay too long of emails. i've recently developed a chocolate addiction and i have an affinity towards traveling and spending all kinds of money i don't have. i'm a designer by day and vampire-addicted reader by night. but best of all, i'm left-handed. and face it - you know someone is automatically cool when they are left-handed.

i'm a cleveland native, but chicago local. i absolutely love this windy city, especially in the summertime. (if you want to visit, i totally have a couch or a massive back porch for you to camp out on.) i love puppies more than your average person should and tend to get overzealous and squeal in their presence. i have a habit of over using abbrevations (abbrevs) and have recently brought back "duh" into my vocab.

sometimes when i'm out at a bar, i'll try to talk in only abbrevs to strangers. most of the time they laugh, other times they look at me like i have eight heads. wev. totes their loss ;) i am completely random, which you might be getting already. i laugh really hard in inappropriate situations. i'm terrible at guitar hero. i once won a gold medal in the junior olympics for tennis, but i haven't picked up a racquet in almost 3 years. i would be amazed if i could still keep the ball in the court. also, if you haven't seen this upside down dog site - go there immediately.

i'm ang and my randomness continues over here. wanna be friends?

Traveling guest blogger

Even while I'm traveling on one of the most eventful business trips I've had yet, this blogger is still managing to guest post. Today, you can find me over at Alice's, spreading the best advice I've ever received.

Cheers!