Tag Archives: dogs

Tuesday’s Ramblings…

15 Nov

Good morning everyone.  I must be brief today as I’m running off to the nursing home for art class (I volunteer there on Tuesday mornings). I’m heading over today with a backpack of supplies as later this evening we’re recording a live movie commentary, which will be featured on the Hello Lonesome DVD (being released in the somewhat near future – stay tuned).  Anyway, there is a great scene in the film where two of the characters share a bubbly pot of cheese fondue, so of course, we’re fonduing it up tonight with some of the film’s stars as they watch the movie and chat about the experience!  We don’t need much of an excuse to make a pot of fondue around here.  So obviously, I’m in charge of fondue supplies.  I’ll bring my camera too and post pictures at some point this week.

Meanwhile, I had an ultrasound last week and for the first time, I could see our little baby kicking on the screen and I could feel him kicking simultaneously!  It was WILD!  For a few weeks there I kept wondering… “am I feeling it?  am I feeling it?”.  Now there is no question.  This little boy is kicking up a storm.  I’ve grown quite fond of the feeling.  It’s like he’s reminding me that he’s in there.  He’s saying hi.  I like it. :)  So far I’m really enjoying being pregnant.  I still feel pretty good.  I have almost as much energy as I had pre-pregnancy (although when I overdo it… I need a couple days to recover).  And everyone is so nice to me all the time!  I actually had a couple people get up and offer me seats on the subway recently.  I guess the bump is really starting to show!

Ok – so now I’m running late and have to go.  I’ll leave you with one more thing…

Here is a funny picture I took while walking around and exploring the neighborhood.  This little guy has such personality right?

Guard Puppy

And speaking of the neighborhood, my friend Yvonne shared with me this awesome NY Times article about our street in Fort Greene.  This gives you a good feel for where we live.

Ok – I’m out!  Enjoy your day.

When I grow up…

10 May

When I was little, I told my parents I wanted to be a waitress and a cheerleader when I grew up.   I did both by the time I was twenty-two.  In trying to identify the career path I should explore next, I thought looking back to my childhood ambitions would give me clues.  So a waitress and a cheerleader…  well, it kind of makes sense:

Waitressing – I love food.  I love restaurants.  I love being around food, tasting food, learning about food.  I also get bored easily and I like a fast pace – where I’m not sitting behind a desk all day.  Instead, I’m running around, on point, remembering things, working quickly, multi-tasking.  I’m also quite social and when waiting tables, you’re meeting and interacting with people all day long, working with your fellow servers and the cooks and making sure your customers are comfortable and happy.  In addition to that, I like performance-based compensation and when waiting tables, the nicer you are and the better you do your job, the higher your tips!

Cheerleading – I like to encourage and inspire!  I like to give advice and cheer people up.  I like to surround myself and others with positive energy!  I like being happy!  I like being active!  I like being outside (again – out of an office).  I like being part of a team.  When I think about it – I’m a cheerleader now to everyone I care about in my life.

So what does this mean?  I don’t know – I am looking at the deeper picture here – what are the qualities of these two areas of work that attract me?  What are the skills I use in these positions that I enjoy using and what types of work call for these same skills?

I told Adam last night I was thinking about getting a part-time job waiting tables in the neighborhood – just breakfast and lunch shifts – to make a little extra dough and to add a little structure to my days until I decide what it is that I really want to do.  I explained to him that waiting tables was always sort of my favorite job (though that was in my twenties… not sure if I’ll still feel the same ten years later).  He thought this was hilarious!  He put it perfectly.  Most waitresses out there are just waiting tables to get by… they’re really dying to break out and make it big as actors or models.  Here I am, married to a film director, who wants to make me the star of his projects – and I want to be a waitress.  I guess it is kind of funny.

Will think about this some more – feel free to share comments. :)

Here are some pictures I’ve taken recently:

Risotto with peas and seared scallops

I made this last week for dinner… my first crack at Risotto.  It came out delish!  Next time I want it to be a little creamier though.

Peeling paint in the subway

I liked the design created by this peeling paint.

Dog on stoop reading the paper

Woodstock On My Mind

8 Mar

Hello faithful readers!  I know I’ve been MIA for a few days but before I get into that, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading my dishes and specifically to thank you for commenting – especially on my last post.  I’m obviously someone who thinks deeply about things and I’m constantly pondering my life, the decisions I’ve made, those I have yet to make and everything in between.  Sometimes I feel like sharing and writing about what’s on my mind and sometimes I don’t.  But when I do decide to share and I get comments from you, with your stories, your support and your words of encouragement, it truly means so much to me.  It makes me feel like all this is for a reason… and maybe I’m too close to it all now to see what that reason is, but it gives me such a lift and makes me want to keep going and sharing.  So thank you… really.

Anyway, I left on Friday afternoon for a weekend away in Woodstock with some friends.  It all started back during the Woodstock Film Festival.  I had some trouble with the house we rented, and the house manager was kind enough to offer us another weekend away at a gorgeous luxury property to make it up to us.  We decided to take advantage of it this weekend.  So at around three o’clock, we piled into our friends’ old beat-up Honda Civic, “Goldie Honda” is her name, and we hit the road with puppy Lola (apparently a car puker) along for the ride.

We made it all the way to Woodstock with no doggy accidents and were eagerly anticipating our first view of the house when we took the final turn and joy… our super steep private mountain road was covered with a sheet of ice about three inches thick.  Goldie Honda wasn’t exactly feeling that.  Gunning the engine and putting the car into low gear did nothing.  So we attempted a three-point turn… again… a challenge when you’re on a steep hill covered in solid ice.  The car did some sideways sliding down the hill (I’ve seriously never seen anything like it) – but we were finally able to turn around and get back down to some flat ground, where we could build up some momentum again.  We made one more failed attempt at the hill, then retreated, defeated and hungry.   We had chains in the trunk, but none of us knew how to put them on and it was getting really dark, so we decided to go into town, get some groceries and a flashlight, figure out how to put the chains on in the grocery store parking lot and then we’d go back and tackle the hill once again.

Unfortunately, that idea didn’t go so smoothly either.  As we drove into town, the car started acting up and was no longer switching gears.  We literally coasted into a grocery store parking lot in neutral.  Now Goldie Honda seemed to be dead.  We had all our luggage with us, we were hungry, we had little Lola puppy with us so we couldn’t eat dinner in a restaurant and we hadn’t even seen our beautiful house yet!!  Thus, plan B was put into effect.  I called Woodstock Taxi service and spoke to a guy on the phone who made everything seem ok.  I told him what happened and asked him if he had four-wheel drive.  He said he knew about cars and claimed he wasn’t worried – he’d made it up every mountain road in town before.  He was confident he’d get us up that hill.

He arrived twenty minutes later in a piece of crap old mini van with over three hundred thousand miles on it.  It was making whining noises.  We were not confident.  We drove back up that windy mountain road and when we got to the steep part, he gunned that mini van engine and up, up, up we went until… nope.  He couldn’t make it either.  Now he’s cursing and we’re out of luck.  It became clear that no car was getting up that hill so we did what we had to do.  We unloaded the van – through the front – so as not to be smooshed by the van sliding backwards down the hill, and we hoofed our luggage up until we arrived at driveway number ninety.  Sheesh.

Considering all the drama, we were all in fairly good spirits, so we cooked up our frozen burgers (eh) and immediately switched into party mode – wine, Scotch and rummy 500.  Way to make lemonade right?

The next day we found out that Goldie Honda was indeed dead so we made the arrangements to donate her and we took a taxi to Kingston to rent an SUV with four-wheel drive!  The rest of the weekend went much more smoothly – lots of rummy 500, some cheese fondue (Comte, Gruyere and a local Colby) and some nice Woodstock chill time.  Unfortunately, by the time we actually got to slow down and relax it was pretty much time to turn around and head back.  But hey… it was an adventure!

Here are my long overdue photos from the last five days:

Photo 328 out of 365 – “The Birds”

"The Birds" - Settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/320 sec, 50mm lens

On 7th street in the East Village, there is a big family of birds that hang out on the roof of one of the buildings and every few minutes, they all take off and fly around in unison a few times and then land again.  It’s crazy.  I’ve actually taken a bunch of photos of them in action and I plan to do a series of three images – maybe with some funky sky colors in the background?  Anyway, someone told me that the birds are sort of cared for by this man who has lived in the neighborhood for years and years and he is the one who trained them to fly around like that.  I don’t know if it’s true… but it seems just crazy enough to be true in this neighborhood.

Photo 329 out of 365 – “Oh No Lola”

"Oh No Lola" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/2.5, 1/30 sec, 85mm lens

I took this the night of all our car drama.  This is little Lola – you’ve seen her in previous posts.  Now Lola would never do anything wrong… she’s a little angel pup.  But in this photo doesn’t it look like she’s done something bad and she’s about to get scolded?

Photo 330 out of 365 – “Retro Basement”

"Retro Basement" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/4.5, 1/80 sec, 50mm lens

This is a sweet basement that belongs to a work colleague of Adam’s.  We went to visit his place in Woodstock and his basement is pimped out straight from the seventies!  Gotta love disco balls.  Sexy.

Photo 331 out of 365 – “Intimidating Adam”

"Intimidating Adam" - Settings: ISO 640, f/2, 1/400 sec, 50mm lens

I took this picture of Adam as my first homework assignment for my portraiture class.  I had to take two portraits of the same person.  One was supposed to make the subject appear powerful, strong and aggressive.  The other, was supposed to make the subject appear docile and vulnerable.  Adam was my model.  Here’s the vulnerable one:

"Vulnerable Adam" - Settings: ISO 640, f/2, 1/400 sec, 50mm lens

And finally…

Photo 332 out of 365 – “Fur and Fleece”

"Fur and Fleece" - Settings: ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

Yesterday I was standing behind this woman, waiting to cross the street at Astor Place.  I pretty much always want to take pictures of old people.  There’s something about them that inspires me.  And this woman was no different.  She looked so proud and capable – walking by herself in her fur coat and this bright-colored fleece scarf around her head.  I’m glad I caught her – even if just from the side/back.

So that’s all for tonight folks!  Private Parts is on and I’m going to go flop on the couch.  Hope everyone had a good weekend!

PS… what do you think of the new design?  I thought it was time to spice things up a bit!  I’d love to hear your feedback!

Photo Lecture with Stephanie Sinclair

15 Feb

Last week I was inspired by photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair, who spoke as part of the ICP photography lecture series I’ve been attending each week.  Sinclair got her start working for the Chicago Tribune and then moved to the Middle East (Iraq & Lebanon) to cover that region as a freelance photographer for several years.  She’s since won several awards and has been published in a number of international magazines and newspapers for her powerful and important work documenting child marriage in Afghanistan, self-immolation in Afghanistan (women setting themselves on fire to escape abusive marriages where they have no rights), female circumcision in Indonesia and even polygamy in Colorado.  What inspires me the most, is the fact that through her photography, she gets inside these communities and forms relationships with the people, the victims, the families (sometimes over the course of years).  She gains their trust and then shares their stories with the world – often, to try to bring about change for them, to help them end their suffering.  It it such an important job.

Learning about Stephanie, who seems like a really sweet, personable, down-to-earth woman (and also a total badass), fueled the fire in me that wants to do something important.  There’s a big piece of me that wants to make the world a better place with what I do.  The thing is… I also know I want to have a family and a somewhat stable life, and I can’t see putting myself in serious danger or being away from my family for months at a time to go after a story.  You know?

I do however feel like there are some issues right here in America that have me all riled up lately.  Among them… the food issue… agribusiness… the backward way our country looks at food (also healthcare) in terms of how to make the biggest profits while completely overlooking the fact that the American people are the ones suffering.  I just recently read this Food Manifesto (really good… read it!) by Mark Bittman, who among other things, discusses the fact that the government subsidizes big farms and their production of corn and soy, which is used to make tons of junk food that is contributing to diabetes and obesity all around the country.  It’s really messed up.  Anyway… I need to further educate myself on the issues but I’m interested in getting involved in some way.  Through photography?  Through writing?  Through networking and getting others involved? Not sure.  We shall see.

Anyway – here’s my photo of the day from yesterday:

Photo 311 out of 365 – “Puppy Dog Eyes”

"Puppy Dog Eyes" - Settings: ISO 100, f/3.2, 1/500 sec, 85mm lens

To My Valentine…

14 Feb

Because today is Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d write a post in honor of my wonderful, adorable, sweet and supportive husband, whom I admire and love with all my heart.

Dear Adam,

Here is a list of 10 (out of a bazillion) things I love most about you on Valentine’s Day and every day:

  • You inspire me to fuel my inner creativity and to pursue my passions
  • You are my biggest cheerleader and prop me up, whenever I’m feeling like I need a lift
  • You always ask me for my opinion on things… your writing, your work… I love how you truly value what I have to say
  • You are the best foot rubber EVER
  • Your ambition is awesome and you enjoy your work more than anyone else I know… it is a joy to be around that
  • You are sensitive and romantic and you bring me flowers sometimes for no reason
  • You tell me I’m cute, even when I’m sick and in sweats and haven’t showered in days
  • You believe in me – sometimes even more than I believe in myself
  • You make me laugh really hard really often.  I love that.
  • And finally…  you are making me cheese fondue for Valentine’s Day… and as you know, nothing warms my heart more than melted cheese

Thanks for being you my love.

xoxoxoxoxo

And now – my photos from the last few days… I’ve been feeling a little uninspired lately – I think because my cold came back and I’ve been sick and hopped up on cold medicine for the past week.  But alas – here they are.  With only fifty-five days left, I have to make these next couple months count!  Oh – and I signed up for a portraiture class starting in two weeks so I’m really psyched about that!  Stay tuned.

Photo 307 out of 365 – “Spooky Lace Curtain”

"Spooky Lace Curtain" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/2.2, 1/80 sec, 50mm lens

Photo 308 out of 365 – “Old and New”

"Old and New" - Settings: ISO 100, f/3.2, 1/4000 sec, 85mm lens

 

Photo 309 out of 365 – “Celebration”

"Celebration" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/3.2, 1/40 sec, 85mm lens

I took this on Saturday night at a dinner celebration for my friend Pam’s engagement!  Congrats Pammy!!

 

Photo 310 out of 365 – “Sitting Bull” by Casey Porn

"Sitting Bull" by Casey Porn - Settings: ISO 200, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, 85mm lens

Now, I don’t typically like to take pictures of other people’s art for my own photo project… but I just wanted to share the awesome and humorous work of Casey Porn (yes that’s her real name) - a friend of a friend who I had the pleasure of meeting on Sunday. Casey lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina but this month she has her first solo show called Wild at Heart here in NYC at the Christina Ray Gallery on Grand Street (between Thompson and 6th Ave.).  The show is running through March 13th, so if you live in NYC, you should go check it out!  Her paintings are great and the names she came up with are hilarious!  It’s a pleasure and inspiration to meet a unique and wonderful artist who is really beginning to be recognized for her work in a big way.  Go Casey!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!

Photo 206 out of 365 – “Little Dude, Big Ears”

2 Nov

"Little Dude, Big Ears" - Settings: ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, 50mm lens

Saw this little pup as I was having a cup of tea at the mini Veselka on 1st Ave and 1st St. yesterday afternoon.  He was all hyper and jumping around and then all of a sudden, he just started posing for me – like a little angel and I got a few nice shots.  What a cutie.

Meanwhile, I am probably not going to be writing my dishes for the rest of this week.  Adam and I have rented a little log cabin in the middle of the woods in Northern Berkshire County and we are driving up tomorrow morning and hibernating for the next five days.  I was told the cellular service is quite spotty and there is DEFINITELY no WIFI in our cabin… so unless I hit up a coffee shop (totally possible) – I will be MIA for the rest of the week.  I am happy for Adam – he needs a vacation sooooooo badly – he’s been working like a madman pretty much straight through since our wedding last October!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I am planning on taking some gorgeous country-inspired pictures every day while I’m out there – so please check back in on Sunday or Monday if not sooner.  I’ll miss you my faithful blog readers!  For real… I’ve grown quite attached.

xoxo,

nell.

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