Ladylike

June 29th

Today was another installment of Feast with the theme of "Balls". We had meatballs, cheese balls, melon ball martinis, peanut butter balls, and birthday cake. You can check out those photos here because I really want to post photos (taken on the sly) of these two adorable old ladies eating brunch next to me yesterday instead.

There are so few ladies who still wear white gloves, pearls, and their Sunday best hats to their breakfast at the local bagel joint. I wonder what Heather and I will wear during our afghan knitting years.

Sugar And Spice

June 28th

Today was about ladies of all ages. My cousin Liz had her bridal shower at a historic inn and I promised her a decent picture on the blog since the others haven't been at all flattering. I'm still not really happy with this one, but it is certainly an improvement over having seven sets of eyebrows. (Stupid camera.)

It was fun spending time with Gram and Aunt Evie who told me about their own bridal showers. They also shared the story of how my uncle Dan opened pots and pans and sexy lingerie as a stand in bride when my aunt was in the hospital for her own shower.

After lunch I stopped by to meet The Peanut, who finally got to go home.

Newborns are always amazing. I can't get over how everything on them is just miniature teeny tiny. Check out her adorable little Hobbit Foot.

(That's my thumb.)

But man, she is just total sweetness. What I wouldn't give to sleep as soundly and happy as this little one.

Popular Photos From The Miss Banana Archives

June 27th

Tonight I went up to Albany and spent the evening with Heather, her new cute man, and my parents. I forgot to take a photo, so here's one of the units from Christmas.

Bye Bye Bye

June 26th

Tonight a few coworkers and all our freelance art handlers came out to the Bohemian Beer Hall for a going away party. Since my office mate is also leaving, it really is the end of an era. We're not quite sure what will happen to our department but we're both relieved to be leaving the uncertain and troubling environment.

One of our favorite lady art handlers, Kate, brought us presents. I'm going to have to learn how to make drinks now!

When you hang around artists for a few hours, you start to notice the beauty in everything... like this green silly string graffiti on the subway platform. Or perhaps that was the beer talking...

I also noticed that this grown woman was passed out on the N train snuggling with a cookie monster chef with no child in site.

Sepia Is Still My Friend

June 25th

After an unsuccessful attempt to capture a time lapse sunset from Chris's roof, I resorted to regular photography. While I like this photo just fine, the proliferation of water towers hearkened back to one of my original posts.

This version is so much more interesting.

Picturing Picasso

June 24th

I've realized that my new job is going to be great for my exploration bug. Tonight I walked through the area on my way to some beverages with a new friend and stumbled across this Picasso sculpure near NYU.


According to Google the Bust of Sylvette sculpture "that adorns the courtyard of NYU's Silver Towers apartment buildings on Bleecker Street is an enlargement of a sculpture by Picasso. Norweigan sculptor Carl Nesjär executed the construction of the 60-ton concrete Bust of Sylvette in 1967." This thing has been there since before I was born and I'm just stumbling across it now? Awesome.

The New Digs

June 23rd

Today I spent the afternoon at my new job getting a little training. Afterwards I took a long walk scouting for good morning coffee (I'm really going to miss my usual guys) and the fastest route to the subway. I'm SO pleased my commute will be cut in half and my lunch options expanded to limitless options. Goodbye Upper East Side snooty patisseries. Hello $5 Chinatown Asian noodle shops!

Drat!

June 22nd

Tonight there was rain falling from a perfectly sunny sky as I walked to the F train. Of course there was a flipping amazing rainbow over all of Brooklyn visible only from the high Smith and 9th street platform. I ran to the window and whipped out my camera to capture what could have been my best photo all year only to encounter a dead battery. BLARG! Mermaid Parade!!!

Thankfully, some lovely person got their rainbow photo posted on Gothamist so you can sort of see why I'm mad!

Adopt A Neighborhood - Coney Island

June 21st

This month's exploration was out in Coney Island. There is a big push for "redevelopment" in this area, but a large portion of people (me included) sort of appreciate it for the grit and grime as is. Keeping in mind that Mayor Bloomberg halted further construction for one final year, we went down to consume Nathan's hot dogs and gawk at naked people in the Mermaid Parade.

The first thing I saw upon exiting the subway station was this crazy bus that I remembered from SantaCon. This was a good omen for the ridiculousness to come.

One of the first floats to pass us belonged to the New York Aquarium. My friend Rick was one of the tentacles.

Almost directly behind Rick came the first of the naked "art" people. I hope this paint is waterproof.

This dude was beyond words. I feel so bad for his little tricolored pooch in the cart and the bird on his head. People in the crowd said he is some sort New York character that goes from public venue to parades and parties dressed in this exact get up.

There was a popular movement among parade participants to place a "beauty pageant" sash around themselves. I wonder if it lends more credibility to an otherwise crap costume that has nothing to do with being a Mermaid or sea creatures?

Hilarious.

There was also a large pasty contingent in the walkers. My friend noted that if you are going with this look, you had better have some huge knockers otherwise (as pictured below) your pasty covers your entire unimpressive bosom. You can click here to see my entire set of photos, including manyl NSFW images of some mostly naked exhibitionists.

After four hours in the hot sun (and ensuring burnt forehead) we got some strawberry daiquiri refreshment on the crowded boardwalk.

As we passed this ginourmous post parade garbage pile Ralph said prophetically,
"New York: Love It Or Leave It. "

Happy Birthday, Jess!

June 20th

Tonight we celebrated Jess's birthday with our second annual outing to Central Park Summer Stage evening of comedy. (I love Beth's face in this photo.)

The comics Stephen Lynch, Mike Birbiglia, and Julian McCullough were hilarious. This evening reminded me yet again how close I am to the close of this blog. It's summer again and all the free events are happening.

TGIF

Happy Friday....

This is something that my dad sent me saying "I would never give up drinking if I saw these ugly women I would probably drink more."

If you were around in 1919 (just before prohibition started) and came upon the following poster.........

I mean, seriously, would you quit drinking?

Hamster What?

June 19th

The animal hospital in my neighborhood realized that playing up to the many young families in the area would be good marketing. Apparently they hosted some sort of drawing and story competition that was pet related. They are displaying some of the participants projects in the window. Yesterday I started laughing hysterically while waiting for the bus (at noon when I finally decided to show my face at work) and took some photos for your enjoyment.

Avoid That Pet
A handbook on how to sneeze on your mutant four legged pet.

Never Live
A sadistic guide to choking your grey cat to death.

Hamster What?
Teach your hamster to breakdance on the picnic table.

WHY!?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
This is the one that just made me pee my pants laughing. I have no idea what this could be about.

Carnage Of All Varieties

June 18th

So much for staying current on the blog, eh? It seems that once you announce you are leaving, your employer finally realizes how much shit you really handle and suddenly wants you to teach them everything about your entire position. Ha!

In any case, I'm indifferent to their needs and instead of behaving, I stayed out until 2:30am drinking beers and hanging out with my friend Burke, who was in town from Chicago for one night only. This is a photo of him with his mouth full of Katz's Deli goodness. He'll probably kill me for making this public.

This is all that remains of my half pastrami and swiss on sourdough.

Lame Duck

June 17th

Some of my regular readers might be wondering why I just posted ten days entries in a few hours. There are several reasons for this:

• I'm about to finish the blog and I'm going to make an honest attempt to stay current for the remaining 19 days of the project. Tick tock goes my blog clock.

• I accepted a new job today. I assume it has been apparent in my recent posts that I've slowly been going insane at my current museum. A new job literally fell in my lap and as I learned from Il Bastardo yesterday, I need to take refuge or get blown over the edge with the storm. So quite honestly, today at work I'm a lame duck. Who feels like devoting any time or energy to a place they are leaving? Instead, I shall post to my blog all day and not give a shit. Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
  

Hmmm.....all that has nothing to do with today's cute photo of Deb and her rad new banana seat Barracuda bike...

other than the fact that on this historic day in Miss Banana land, we went for our first ride around the park. She was a real trooper on our two treks up the big hill and it was good to chat with a kindred spirit who has also somehow continually taken pay cuts during her tenure in the art world. Oh the things we do for jobs that aren't soul sucking....

Il Bastardo

June 16th

Today was stressful. Lots of bad shit went down at work. I was grappling with some difficult decisions and harsh financial realities. To gain some perspective, I brought an appropriately named large bottle of wine to the roof of Chris's high rise apartment building.

While contemplating my future with a nice mellow red wine buzz, a huge scary storm of Ghost Busters proportions began to roll in above our heads.

The wind began to freak out with insane gusts blowing Chris's hat over the side of the building, throwing the chairs around like kites and tipping over the half full bottle of wine (NOOOOOOoooooooo).

We took refuge inside from Il Bastardo just before it hit the river and really let loose! I can't think of a more appropriate metaphor for things in my professional life than this hair raising stormy experience.

7th Ave Street Fair

June 15th

Nothing says summer in New York City like the return of the street fairs. Today was the one right up the block from home.

These dudes set up a ping pong table in the middle of the fair. What is it with Park Slopers bringing their gaming equipment outside?

But if you are in the mood to buy socks, jewelry, African spices, bulk underwear, or roasted corn, the street fairs are for you!

Bizarro Martin

June 14th

Tonight Martin took me to his other Peruvian friend (shown below) Martin's house for a birthday party. It's funny to me that both these guys are crazy party dudes with a love for dancing and playing the clown. It was a fun night!

A Drunken Return

June 13th

Today I unpacked and hung my painting, took an amazing limo drive over to Albany, and relaxed on the train back down to the city. Upon my return, most of my friends were out enjoying some post work margaritas and I decided to join them. Several rounds later, our simple happy hour degraded into total debauchery. I think it began when we collectively decided I should take this crackalicious photo that we all found hilarious.

The night continued when I found myself accidentally attached via my belt loop to the biggest dive bar in the city, Rudy's (home of the free hot dog). It took a flash light and three people to eventually free my pants! In the meantime, I became fast friends with the bouncer who traded me a big sweaty hug for my hard earned pinwheel.

The night continued to three other "establishments" where we consumed way too many alcohol units and amassed a collection of stolen bar ware from each venue for no particular reason.

Ahhh.... The Berkshires

June 12th

Today I brought one of our paintings up to the Sterling and Francine Clark Museum in central Massachusetts. It's a beautiful museum with a gorgeous collection. I fell in love with some small works in their collection by an Italian painter called Giovanni Boldini.

The Clark is situated in the heart of the Berkshire mountains and I was placed at The Williams Inn for the evening. I suppose the decor was supposed to match the feel of the region, but dear lord, this was a lot of pink. Between the bed skirt, the rug, the curtains, and the trim, I was in "a pink nightmare".

And let me not forget to point out the copious amounts of floor to ceiling floral wall paper.

My lovely new friend Monique took me to dinner at a great eatery in town called 6 House Pub. I had an amazing salad and huge cold beer outside near a bonfire while enjoying the green scenery, pleasant company, and a cute doggy friend. In summary, it was really relaxing to get away from the city and the stress that has been my work environment lately. However, I was slightly disturbed by this giant bison head inside the pub. Monique told me she and her husband were once seated beneath it for their anniversary dinner, as it was the last seat in the house!

Gala Schmala

June 11th

Tonight was our big gala fundraiser event at work. Everyone, including dear old Diana, was dressed to impress.

Holy Storm Batman

June 10th

Tonight there was a huge thunderstorm with hurricane force winds and a total downpour. I took a cool time lapse video out my office window, but it came out sideways and I still haven't figured out how to rotate video. You'll just have to envision this tree blowing furiously as rain pours below the street light from these two still images.

Art And Underwear

June 9th

An appropriate combination.

And for your viewing pleasure, a Manhattan sunset.

Popular Photos From The Miss Banana Archives

June 8th

Mom left today and I spent the remainder of the day huddled in my AC or sweating on my bike. Alas, no photo. Instead, because I'm feeling punchy, I'm posting a totally inappropriate photo from several Halloween's back. EYE love this photo. (That was for you PJ and Tuttle)

Hot Hot Heat

June 7th

Today mom (who was camera shy) and I spent the day hopping from one air conditioned venue to the next in an effort to stay out of the record breaking 93+ degree heat.

Our first stop was the Murakami retrospective exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. The show was a real whimsical treat. I recommend all New Yorkers see this before it closes in July. The museum itself is a treasure and my mom and I also spent a good deal of time with Judy Chicago's famous Dinner Party. (Go see that sometime too.)

After our high minded art morning, we came into the city to spend two hours cooling in the the replica of the original Ziegfeld Theater watching pure fluff.


On our subway exit at Columbus Circle, I finally realized that this was an exact miniature replica of the Unisphere in Corona Park. I can't believe I missed that all these years.

We concluded our day with a return to culture at a Monks and Mystics concert given by some of my kickball peeps in The Young New Yorkers Chorus. I was totally blown away by the talent of my friends. I found it hard to reconcile my thoughts of them in sweaty t-shirts swilling cheap beer with these cultured black tie professionals in front of me. Since I'm in a demanding mood, be sure to bookmark their website and check them out at their next concert.

30 Days And Counting

June 6th

Today marks 30 days remaining in my 30th year of life and this blog. Ironic that my mom, who was 30 when she gave birth to me, was in town for her solo weekend visit.

We trekked all the way downtown to the Maritime Marine Building (better known to me as the Governor's Island Ferry Building) to see an installation work called Playing The Building by David Byrne. While he's widely known as the former lead singer of the Talking Heads, he's also an amazing artist, writer, and solo musician.

In this installation, Byrne rigged an organ to various forced air pipes and hammers around the building to produce a surprisingly harmonic sound. You can wait in line to try your hand at coaxing music from an old building or just sit back and enjoy the peaceful open space and fractured light.

We Built This City

June 5th

A lot of shit is going down at work and I've been more than a little distracted from photography. So, I'm sending you all another fabulous 80's pop culture graph.

Since my parents didn't have cable until I was in college, I missed the awesomeness that is this video. God Bless YouTube for bringing 30-somethings childhood back to life. Things like this explain a lot about me!

In Park Slope?

June 4th

This WWII tag line is spray painted all over the sidewalk in my hood. Anyone have a clue? Is this a band or something?

Museum Mile

June 3rd

Tonight was my least favorite work event of the year, Museum Mile. While the concept of closing down 5th Ave for a street fair and opening up all the museums for free is great for the public and free publicity for us, it's really hell on our little museum and the art.

In the span of three hours we had 2,450 visitors come through the galleries. Our poor 100 year old town house HVAC just can't keep up with that volume of body heat and traffic. In addition, the museum becomes packed with people who don't know how to properly behave in a cultural institution and unruly sticky kids hopped up on sugar from the street vendors.

In the past I've been stationed around the most vulnerable or fragile works of art. This year, we had wonderful volunteers for guard duty and I decided my time was best spent roaming with a walkie talkie checking in and the radioing security about crowd control. This also sort of freed me to experience (and photograph) the fun side of the festival and all the cool little things we do for kids. For example, we hire a jazz duet who get kids to scat with them on stage. Too cute.

Some of the models from the school get dressed up and pose so kids can draw from life. There was a line ten deep waiting their turn. Check out this little artist in the making. She's doing better than I would!

Unfortunately, we also give out colored chalk for making street art. While the results make for great photos, I noticed lots of kids (who will touch things if not properly supervised) running around the museum with chalky filthy hands.

Bike Boo Boo

June 2nd

I have a lot of friends that bike around the city and I thought I'd try to see if biking helps shed these horrific extra 13 pounds I've gained since my metabolism realized it's also 30! So dad brought down my old dorky bike from high school, I took the day off my hellish job, and Chris helped me get it in shape for riding. It's a damn good thing I don't care about looking cool.

I did pretty decent for someone that hadn't really been on a bike in years. We made two loops around the park (including the yucky hill near Grand Army Plaza) and then Chris asked me to show him the Botanic Garden. Big mistake. Riding in the park and on neighborhood streets is nothing like traversing Eastern Parkway at rush hour. Needless to say, I panicked and at the first sign of rescue - a curb cut away outside the Garden - I attempted to exit on the sidewalk. Too bad I encountered a slippery metal edge at an angle and the bike slid out under me. I was unceremoniously dumped in front of two people who totally cracked up. To add insult to injury, I got this nice patch of road burn. Thankfully my desire to fit into certain pants again outweighs my fear of embarrassment and I know I'll try again really soon.

Sunday Sunday

June 1st

Today I had to trek into work to move some sculpture around for an event happening at 6am on Monday. Thankfully my new friend Kevin gave me ride home. I got some great photos out the window of his car, even of the stinky ugly Verizon building.

Adopt A Neighborhood - Flushing Meadows Corona Park

May 31st

I was feeling mildly depressed in April but the guilt about skipping an AAN that month prompted two back to back weekend events in May. This week we traveled out to Queens to explore Flushing Meadow Corona Park and the remnants of the World's Fair. Our first stop was the Queens Museum of Art.

I came here last spring with dad for their special exhibit on Robert Moses and was blown away by the largest scale model in the world (of greater NYC) installed permanently in their gallery. I knew that anyone living here would find this fascinating and learn something knew. Personally, this time around I was just excited to learn that you are allowed take photos of the room sized model.

This Robert Moses creation now reflects New York as it appeared in 1999 with some minor alterations. As this is a hand carved wooden model on a scale of 1 inch = 100 foot, you can imagine how difficult it is to maintain and update. Especially with the pace of crappy high rise condos sprouting up everywhere, the museum would need a full time craftsman to keep up.

After our panorama tour, the rain cut us a break and we were able to putz through Corona Park on our way to Shea. This was the state's exhibit hall for the 1964-1965 World's Fair, but as no new use for the building was ever found, the structure sits derelict and decaying.

The attraction in the park most known to the general public (probably from Men In Black or a car service home from the airport) is The Unisphere. We took this silly photo to give you some perspective on the size and scope of this fair remnant.

Because AAN has a long history of seeing dying places in the city, I figured I had better get my butt out to Shea this summer before it joined the likes of The Roxy and CBGB's. I have to say, I can see why the Mets need a new home. This place was pretty run down.

Here's a view of the brand new stadium (no idea what it will be called) from our seats out in the middle of right field.

Even though I'm no baseball fan, I was happy for Mel that his team came back at the end for an exciting 3-2 win over their biggest rivals.

We even attended on "hat day" and thanks to the early morning showers, everyone in my group left with the free hat too boot!

Click here to see the full set of photos from our day.

Sex and the City

May 30th

Tonight the girls and I joined the masses of other women across the country for a group Sex and the City date.

As a group, we're more beer than cosmo and Banana over Vuitton, but we're all fans of the show.

The movie was cheesy yet satisfying. Our only real complaint was the theater's total lack of crowd organization and air conditioning.

The Outdoor Type

May 29th

It appears that my hungover-exhausted-brain-coma did not produce any photos today. But I did get this e-card from PJ that reminded him of me and our old bumper stickers that said "I Lied About Being The Outdoor Type".

The 183rd Annual Exhibition

May 28th

Tonight was the big opening reception for our latest exhibit. I love how twenty minutes before this photo was taken I was moping a floor on my hands and knees in dirty jeans covered in grime.

We finally managed to get all the cute boys from Southern Trucking to come inside and see what happens to all the art they drop off at our doorstep! I think free martinis didn't hurt on the motivation front.

I was very happy too see Jeanne Claude and Christo (artists of The Gates for you non-art people) make an appearance at our little museum.

Peanut

May 27th

All the photos on my camera today were heart breaking shots of a damaged sculpture at work. So instead, I'm going to share a photo of a wonderful new addition, Kaitlyn Anne. She was a little too eager to greet the world and came a little early, but she's a healthy sleepy little peanut! Congrats Jen and Jon!

Staycation

May 26th

Today was Memorial Day and Prospect Park was totally packed! The weather was perfect and it seemed no one left the city for the holiday. I'm still crossing my fingers for the annual New York City exodus (despite gas being almost $5 a gallon), as I relish my uncrowded subway rides to work in July and August.

I walked the entire length of the park and all green spaces were occupied with sun bathers, families, and kites.

After some wine in my usual spot with Beth and Ralph, I met up with Kwaku and friends for a little picnic. I met this little adorable love muffin, Peter. If only life were as easy and breezy for me.

There was also a really interesting/ bizarre Brazillian capoeria circle happening near us. This group had me baffled and amazed. I can't even imagine doing something like this in public.

Dad Loves The Brooklyn Bridge

May 25th

Dad's weekend visit involved no less than three separate visits to the Brooklyn Bridge. Like me, he became obsessed with capturing the best photo possible. Part of the original plan for the weekend involved a historic walking tour of the bridge. By the time the Sunday schedule train got us to the Manhattan side and we met up with Bonnie and Rob, we had missed most of the tour. So for the second time in less than 12 hours, we just walked across the bridge towards home.

Not that we minded so much. It was a beautiful spring day. And...I got massive sunburn in less than an hour! Typical!

Adopt A Neighborhood - Astoria

May 24th

For a long time people have been bugging me to run an AAN to Astoria. I suspect it's because they wanted an excuse to sit in the beer hall, but I did manage to squeeze a bit of culture into my troops along the way. Our first stop was the Noguchi Museum. This institution is dedicated to the life and sculpture of Isamu Noguchi and it is well worse the trip off the beaten path. I was happy because the tour we received was really exellent and the art was "man friendly" for dad.

(This is not one of Noguchi's sculptures but something we saw in the hood that looks like a deranged Shrek. )

Our second stop was a brief walk through Socrates Sculpture Park. This landfill come community sculpture garden was hosting lessons on how to turn plastic bags into kites.

The third and most popular destination on the tour was an afternoon hang out at the Bohemian Beer Hall. Primary goal - get Dad tipsy and people watch! As predicted, Martin and dad got along famously. They bonded over Martin's immature attempt to take a photo up a lady's skirt. (Good thing mom doesn't read this blog!)

Secondary goal - eat sausage.

We were pleasantly surprised to see there was a Czech and Slovak festival all day complete with dancing, old man umpah band, and musical hats (similar to musical chairs). My favorite part about all these explorations is bumping into all the unexpected local happenings such as this.

And big big big thanks to Kevin and Nicole who got inside the garden early enough to secure us a table and fight off the chair poachers! They even taught us all how to play some game called Mexican Train with dominoes.

After many beers, we strolled down to Astoria Park for the sunset. I got some nice photos of the Triborough Bridge and upper Manhattan skyline. You can see the full set of photos here.

We strolled through the nicer section of Astoria on our way to a fabulous Greek dinner and the best bottle of pino I've ever had at Mezzo Mezzo.

Funny how all the culture, good food, and scenery were forgotten at the end of the night in some good old fashioned drunk silliness. Dad agreed that if I was ever in jail, it would probably be Martin's fault!

Dad's Birthday Weekend Begins

May 23rd

This weekend my dad came up to celebrate his birthday (which is actually in December). It's part of a tradition I started a few years back with my parents that they each come to New York for a solo visit and do whatever they desire. This year, Dad and I both agreed to return for a Friday night sunset dinner (this time with a camera) to one of my all time favorite restaurants in Brooklyn, Alma.

They have a year round roof deck offering panoramic views of downtown Manhattan and Govenors Island.

Also, the food is out of this world delicious. Must haves are the guacamole and ceviche. After this visit I'm now totally in love with blood orange margaritas!

It's important to note that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in terms of photo taking obsession. (We have albums and albums of family vacations that consist of nothing but sunsets and buildings.) Needless to say, I found a very willing partner to walk from the restaurant down to the Brooklyn Bridge doing nothing but taking photos in the perfect light.

This weekend also marks the 125th Anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was an entire weekend of festivities including a drive in style movie, fireworks, and night time lights.

I wish they would keep this display up year round because the bridge looked fantastic!

Can Only Make Me Stronger

May 22nd

Today in the middle of installation hell we paused for a hot minute to celebrate my co-worker Dave's birthday! I made my carrot cake (partially for me since I'm really selfish) and we released some stress with delicious prosecco.

In addition to some cupcakes, my co-worker got Dave these silly glasses. He loves Hot 97 and rap music in general, so these are appropriate because they are shown in the Kanye West Stronger video. I'm personally hoping they give him the power to overcome his fear of the basement at the museum because as Kanye says " N-now th-th-that that don’t kill me
can only make me stronger."

I was also SO happy to see that my other co-worker James had, after 5 long years and much harassment, finally purchased some new shoes!