I Just Might Explode

central park on the cheap.

I bought two disposable cameras when I was in New York and just got one developed. I love the simplicity, grain, and grittiness that disposable cameras have. These were shot on this day. Home is wonderful, but I do miss NYC and my silly friends...

brooklyn botanic gardens.

After my art history class on Friday I headed to Prospect Heights in Brooklyn to meet up with Amy Tan visiting from LA and miss Patty. We met up for coffee and then headed to the blooming Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for some photo fun. 

This was my first time meeting Amy and she is the cutest. We had a great time hanging out and I'm glad I was able to see the Botanic Gardens before I left. 

Thanks again Patty and Amy for the great day!

go to ellis island. done.

One of the things on my 'fourty before twenty' list was to go to Ellis Island. I had originally planned to do this when Steph was here, but we ended up at Battery Park completely unenthused over the massive line for the ferries. So that day we headed uptown instead, but it's bugging me since that I didn't go.

Then I started seeing fliers around campus for a free trip to Ellis Island, so I asked on Facebook if anyone wanted to come with me and my lovely friend Aleks said yes! We headed out in the blistery, cold weather today and experienced some awesome tourist people watching. 

Inside the registery room:

One of the reasons I wanted to go so much was that my grandparents came through Ellis Island in the 40s when they left the Netherlands and I wanted to go for that experience. We were able to find their names on the Memorial thingy. ("Teunis G. Van Manen family"), so that was neat!

Outside the building, waiting for the ferry back to Battery Park. It was cold and windy! Bleh.

And then some beauitful blooming trees at Battery Park afterward:

A lovely day! But, I'm glad to be back in my warm dorm room. Sipping on the coffee I got in the city and listening to Sleeping at Last while it storms outside. Just about perfect.

through his eyes.

I'm rather overwhelmed with photos and homework and things to blog so I thought I would share some of the gorgeous film photos Kip took while he was here. It was so good to have him here... He left early Saturday morning and I already miss him...

Truthfully, I don't always like this city. I get tired of the subway and dirt and creeps and the busyness, but these photos totally remind me why I love it too.

(all photographs by kip stutzman)

adventure three.

I'm excited to bring you a once monthly feature called 'The City and a Cup of Joe' where I venture into coffee shops in New York City with my camera, a fine tip sharpie, and my thoughts to keep my entertained. It's not a formal review, because I'm not much of a coffee snob, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

I know it's a lot to say that last Friday was the best spring day of my entire life, but I think it was the best spring day of my entire life. Spring as a season is sort of a weird concept to me. It never seems to come and I always feel like, when I was living in Idaho, that it didn't come until mid-May, but it was still cold and then suddenly it was June and 95 degrees every day. Spring is nice in theory, but I never actually felt it...

But... last Friday? It was in the mid 60s in New York. This was pure ecstasy.  I took the liberty to wear more eyeliner than usual, doodle on a sharpie tattoo, and wear my favorite long skirt with a tank top. I think I said "I love this weather, I am so happy I could die right now" about ten times.

My lovely friend Janet and I took a walk down to Smooch. I  had looked it up online, but couldn't remember what the name or the street name were... I knew it was very close to the Fort Greene park and on the right side, but we found it, so all was well.

I knew we were in a good place when the cute and charming British barista, when asked what kind of coffee they had, responded "the best fucking coffee". I was charmed to say the least.

I ordered a cappacuino and Janet ordered... something... weird... that I can't remember... And I have to say that this was the best  cup of coffee I've had in New York yet. Go Smooch!

Afterwards we headed to the Fort Greene park to bask in the sunshine:

The sharpie tattoo:

 

I had Janet doodle on my napkin(I did the smooch part and she did the rest):

It was truly the best way to end a fantastic Spring Break(still need to edit about my adventures with Steph!

This feature was brought to you by Indie and Chic:

Samantha of Indie and Chic has a new line of darling flower accessories called "Coffee Shop Chic" that are seriously perfect for a random coffee date or study session. I think the Fancy Mustard Flower Ring is my favorite!

Samantha is really awesome and offering free shipping for the next week on everything in her shop! Just enter FREESHIP in the coupon code box.

If you have a coffee related business or would like to sponsor this feature, contact me at karahaupt(@)gmail.com for special pricing.

a warm day in the city.

Last Friday the weather was in the 60s. It was amazing. The weather in New York and Boise are practically the same(except New York gets more exciting snow storms), but since I walk everywhere here, I am so much more aware of the cold than I was in Idaho. I'm not an outdoorsy person, so the only cold I experienced in Idaho was between my house to my car and then my car to school. Here I walk to the subway, grocery store, to meals, and my classes. So, after my Art History class last Friday Alli and I went into the city and the warmth felt so nice. I was in heaven.

I mentioned to Patty once that I love fries and she totally me I would love Pommes Frites. And oh my, was she right! They sell amazing belgians fries and all these crazy sauces. Alli and I went to the East Village to try them out and we looooved.

Alli and I went over to Chelsea because she wanted to show me in the inside of the Hotel Chelsea. I fell in love with hotel and really want to stay there someday. Afterwards we did some gallery hopping and headed up to the Highline.

Alli being a cutie goofball:

You can see the outfit I wore that day in this post.

We went to the Justin Bieber movie afterwards and then headed back to Brooklyn much to the happiness of my high-heeled feet.

coney island.

A few Saturdays ago I asked some of my Pratt friends if they wanted to go to Coney Island with me. Partially because I hadn't been yet and because I needed to take some photos of them on the seaside for a class assigment. I still need to scan the prints of those, but I did take some on my digital camera. 

It was insanely cold and windy. The photos of me without my coat on were painful. Very painful.

 I really loved it there and I hope to go again when it's warmer and the theme park is open. It was a good day. <3

And with friends as silly as this it was truly perfect:

 

so...

After much drama, crying, and bad airport food, I'm still not home. Bad weather in Chicago made for a very long night. And somehow I find myself at the Chicago airport at 7 a.m., blogging. I have a flight home at noon, so I'm biding my time and preparing to lose it completely if I'm not home by tonight.

Anyhow. Finals ended! I survived. And I didn't blog because this is what I was doing:

Going out for dinner and to the Bryant Park holiday market on Friday night right after my last final:

And then back to school to celebrate with some bubbly! (sparkling cider) and Love, Actually. .

Went to do the cliche tree at Rockefeller, Starbucks, Macy's deal:

Tree:

And then we made pancakes and finished up handmade Christmas presents in my dorm:

And then Sunday met Gigi and Patty for lunch at Union Square and we meandered around the Union Square holiday market!

It was seriously the loveliest weekened ever. I forgot what it felt like to have fun without feeling guilty about having fun. Ha. Usually I'm thinking the whole time about the homework I should be doing.

I need to chill, dudes. But, guess what! A whole month of chilling once I finally get home. Pray the flight gods like me today. <3

hearts all around.

Yesterday I got to finally got to meet her:

Amy is as cute, funny, and charming as she is online. We talked non stop for about two hours at Kaffe 1668 and then took a walk around the surrounding neighborhood before Amy had to catch her train.

This is my first NY Christmas and I can't wait to scoop up all the loveliness I've heard about it. They started setting up some Christmas trees!

Hey, New York, I love you.

Oh, and Amy? Don't tell New York, but I might love you more?

MoMA

I was uploading pictures to my computer tonight and realized I never shared about my adventure to the MoMA on Monday! I had the great surprise of walking into my 6 hour Light/Color/Design class that morning to discover my professor sick and an assignment to go the MoMA. Being an art student in NY is pretty grand.

It was amazing. I'm not much of a museum person because I get bored easily and there is only so much I can handle. But, the fact that I got to go by myself, skip over the stuff I wasn't interested in, and meander in modern art and design for hours was beautiful. Heavenly. I described the experience as spiritual and it certainly was. I was walking around the halls and hoping heaven will be sort of like that.

I audibly gasped when I saw this wall. Ellen Gallagher. New favorite. 

I got to see some Sally Mann prints and a Julia Margaret Cameron print(below). I was blown away.

It was wonderful. Seeing giant Monet's, Picasso, and Warhol's... Seriously fantastic.  If you're in NYC, I'd definitely recommend a trip to the MoMa. :)