Top Ten Life Moment

There are special places that one stumbles upon that stir something deep inside. When it is a beautiful night and there are people playing guitar on their stoop in the twilight, or an all day brunch fest on the cute street side cafe with good people watching, sometimes it can be Mid Summer Swing at Lincoln Center. The energy is better than good, everything feels calm, relaxed and happy. Charley and I were lucky enough to find ourselves in one such moment while in Copenhagen.Welcome to Nyhavn! A canal runs into the city for a length of space to allow beautiful tall ships to dock, inspiring envy and fantasy lives in which one lives on a boat and travels to all the Scandinavian countries in the summer, collecting fun people to travel with, regional booze to make late night cocktails to share with your new travel partners as they regale you with tales of far away lands. Like I said, fantasy life.... Anyways- the cobble stone street is flanked by this canal on one side, and a series of adorable restaurants and cafes on the other. All the outdoor seating is ready, even though it is still a bit cold for that. They have their heaters going and a blanket for each chair so if one chooses to sit outside, and one will choose to sit outside, one is warm and comfortable.
We rode down the street on our bikes and were immediately pulled into the scene. We wanted to drink! by the canal! and then we noticed that these cafes were not our only option! Yes! We could just pick up a six-pack and drink on the canal. Classy! Drinking outside is totes legal in Denmark.
Sitting down with our first beer on the side of the canal with loads of attractive, well dressed people walking up and down the street perfect for people watching, tall boats to our backs, and tall, attractive men to our left and right Charley turned to me and simply said "Nora, I think this is a top ten life moment. Right here, right now." I couldn't have agreed more.When the sun is shining in Copenhagen, everyone is happy!
We let go of life stresses, work, impending future life choices, and just were in the moment people. Who ate beers for lunch. I was decidedly, shall we say, drunk with happiness and also maybe regular drunk when we found our way back to our bikes. Sad to be leaving the canal, but happy to have spent the last hour there we mounted our trusty steeds and headed back to the apartment. Little did we know our plan was to be foiled! By a gallery opening! With more beer!
We rode past the gallery on our bikes, decided spur of the moment that we probably needed to go and performed a quick U-turn.
Aren't the Danes so cute. They hang out in galleries on the floor.
This painting below is a perfect representation of Charley and I. We're in a relationship.
Top Ten Life Moment, brought to you by-
Travel
Denmark
Attractive people (men)
BEER
Boats
Historic Architecture
Bike Riding
AND GOOD COMPANY (Charley, of course!)

More Photo

Self promo time- check out photography of Basket I took in this pub- http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/boutiquedesign_20110506/#/78

Your Blind Passenger

Hold your hand in front of your face, no really- do it. Can you see you hand clearly? All fingers there? If you were in Olafur Eliasson's Din Blinden Passager (Your Blind Passenger) you wouldn't. You might be able to find a blurry distant outline, but I wouldn't count on it.
The only museum I wanted to go to was the Arken because I had heard from my travel buddies that it was hosting an Olafur piece, and since I'm big into his work I knew I had to check it out.
We entered this box which brought us into a dark black room with a door on the other end. Once we were all inside we opened the next door- which led us into the tunnel...

The doors opened into a blinding light and fog/mist. I heard someone say as the fog envolped them that they could use some sunscreen and sunnies. Charley and I were the last ones to enter and almost at once Charley disappeared into the fog. I found myself utterly alone, which was terrifying. But only for a moment. We were in, all actuality, very close to each other but it was impossible to tell unless we spoke. It was also impossible to say where the walls were, and which in direction we were walking. Our senses were completely out of whack, totally on edge and going haywire, which was exactly the point.

(us on the outside, walking the length of the piece)

We slowly started our 90 meter journey to the other end of Eliasson's fog tunnel. Quite suddenly, and yet subtly, it came to our attention that the color was changing. We were now in a yellow tunnel instead of a white one. And then orange. For a moment, as we walked, we were plunged into total black, and emerged on the other side in this most peculiar orange that did a number on my eyes because I kept seeing flashes of pink. I felt like I was tripping. There was no way to see ahead as to what color might be next approaching. We were at the mercy of the whims of the tunnel.
The colors blended so seamlessly together it was hard to tell where one color stopped and then next began, we just knew there was something all together different. What I found fascinating is everyone I was with saw Blue and Purple, however I did not see those colors at all. Yet we were all in the same tunnel.
Because we would probably never have another chance to experience the tunnel again, before we were done at the Arken Museum we walked through it again. This time from back to front. We stumbled out the end, blinking our eyes against the natural light of the museum and crashed on the steps to recuperate from a total sensory overload-AKA top ten art piece ever.
Man, it was really special to see Olafur's work in his home country. What an amazing piece it was!

Note: I really wanted to upload a longer video (with me saying quite a few times "I feel like I'm tripping," but I was really having problems.

Charley and I have fun with words

Charles- thingerr

me-pronouced like okrrr

or prrrrducting

*prrduction

Charles-prrrrducting!

me- DID WE INVENT A NEW WORD?

Charles-YES I BELIEVE WE DID

me-NO SERIOUSLY?

WHY ARE WE SO IN LOVE?

You know what it makes me want to do?

Charles- marry me?

me-well duh

that's already setteled

but no PEE

that's right

I went there

with an all caps lock pee

Charles-lets create a hazardous work environment with our pee

Charles-hah also, hot handy man who occasionally comes into our office to fix things died his hair this coppery blondish and it does not look good at all

dyed

not died

me-is that the hot man?

who was randomly in your office?

Charles-NO

not the hot unexplained man

although this guy WAS equally as hot

seriously, the dye grew out so it looks like really sloppy frosted tips

it's like the peroxidey color i think?

does not suit the hot handyman

me-jeeze hot nady man

hahah nady!

i meant handy

but im SO into nady

On Olafur

I have a whole post planned about Olafur Eliasson and his amazing work at the Arken, but for now I just wanted to post this photo. Only because the second I started editing it and I saw how cool it came out I knew Blaine would cut me if I held on to it for a moment longer. This was kinda what happened within the exhibit, colors started changing. Some people saw blues and purples, and I thought it was bizarre that I didn't see them. As it turned out I did manage to capture it with my camera.

Geocaching

The story of how and why I went to Copenhagen is too good, and I want to tell it correctly, so for right now I am going to leave you on the edge of your seats in wonder. I will say that I got VERY excited right after I purchased the tickets and did what anyone would do- brag on facebook. Of course some people were excited and everyone was jealous but the important thing to note is because I have the best friends in the world three people arranged their travel plans to meet me in Copenhagen. Which is a huge compliment and so flattering and amazing. Thank you friends!
One of those super cool, amazing friends was Rixa, who actually found out from the horse's mouth as she was my lovely guest during fashion week.
Charley and I met up with Rixa and her friends from Hamburg (which is only two-ish hours away making a trip to Copenhagen very easy. So easy in fact that I was surprised to learn she had never been there before!) to explore Christiania which is another one of those things that is hard to define exactly but is a kind of communal living space within Copenhagen with a small population of, for lack of a better word, hippies. There is probably a whole slew of things to say about the little town that are far more interesting than what I'm about to say, but this seems to be the number one talking point about the place- you can buy pot and its mostly tolerated by the authorities.
Whatever. So we met up and starting walking over there, but on the way we had to make a pit stop to find the Geo Cash. Which I didn't know what it was. But then I realized I misunderstood, its a Geocache. Okay- so I still didn't get what it was. I was told we were trying to find a Geocache which is a box left by some other intrepid traveler for other Geocachers to find and make their mark. Or something. It was clear I didn't get it all the way- BUT WE WERE ON A MISSION AND DAMN IT I WAS INTO IT.
So we walked down this very long road to a church at the end. The Geocache was in there, somewhere. But what does a Geocache look like? What are we looking for? Huh?
We got inside the church's entry way and according to Rixa's friend the Geocache was here. We didn't know what we were looking for and checked under surfaces, behind pamphlets, etc. BUT GUESS WHO FOUND IT!? That's right, gangsters, yours truly.
That plastic box is a Geocache. We wrote in the book (well I didn't because I'm not a Geocacher...yet) and took photos. It was then that I decided this was the coolest thing ever. But apparently you need a GPS thinger or something. So I lost interest, my phone doesn't even have photo texting much less the internet.
This is what Wikipedia has to say about Geocacheing- "Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (tupperware or similar) or ammo boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Geocaching is often described as a "game of high-tech hide and seek," sharing many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica.^[1] After 10 years of activity there are over 1.3 million active geocaches published on various websites. There are over 5 million geocachers worldwide."

Neat, right?

On hygge

So I haven't been writing much lately, which is due to my non stop schedule. I'm a jet setter, didn't you know?
No, really, I owe posts on a plethora of things, so I'm going to start with my most recent adventures and work backwards, and we'll see how that goes hey?

So did you know I went to Copenhagen? Because I did and it was one of the most amazing cities I have ever visited. There is really too much to talk about in one post so its gonna get a BREAKDOWN!
Have you ever been to Denmark? In the winter? No- I haven't- but apparently its cold like woah. I mean, New York is cold, Chicago was cold, Quebec, well-we don't even have to talk about that, so I can holler at the idea of wanting to stay in and bundle up. In Denmark this is a way of life for their short winter days and braving the weather to go out is just not going to happen. From this self imposed pseudo imprisonment emerged a way of life that seems to permeate how people live year round. Its called Hygge, and defining it is impossible as there is no translation into English and not one Dane could give me a solid interpretation of it. When they talked about it they seemed to get lost in their thoughts. Trying to tack it down and give it a rigid definition is, apparently, besides the point, and also impossible. However its one of the loveliest things and I'm going to do my darnedest to get it right.
We stayed in this very adorable apartment in Copenhagen for the first couple of nights, and the woman whose apartment it was made it clear that the lit candles (it was day time) on the silver platter on the dining table were for us to use so please use them, just make sure you blow them out when you are done. So every night we used them. And sometimes also at breakfast.
It should be known that I am not really a candles kind of lady, and if you get me soap or lotion I usually re-gift that to someone else. I'm not really a girly girl in this regard, but something about doing candles while we had our mini dinner parties every night seemed right. Just like taking that five minute walk to the bakery every morning was exactly what I had to do because that fresh rye baguette made the room smell great and made our fresh eggs and cheese taste that much better. Which is almost impossible.
Then we went up North to spend two nights with Anette and Morton, Blaine's host parents from many years ago. Phenomenal does not even begin to describe the kind of hosts they were. The food they prepared for us every night was just SO GOOD. And again, there was a tray with a few candles on the table which got me to thinking, "Well is this, like, a Danish thing?" I eat up authentic local activities like candy when I travel, so I had to know- are candles on a platter a thing? So I asked.
"Well, no, not just candles, this is hygge."
And then I got schooled.
Basically it goes like this-
Hey, we're stuck at home, but lets celebrate that. You invite your neighbors, family, et cetera and have dinner together, sitting together around a table. Douse the lights and get the candles going. Eat until you're past full, drink until you are warm. We have to be home but we're making it special.
In attempting to write this post I did a little research about hygge and found this which seemed to adequately surmise the Danish inability to define hygge exactly. "Luckily, we didn't have to use near-synonyms like coziness, fellowship, security, reassurance or well-being. They just don't add up to hygge. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. "
So making dinner together with the music playing and glasses of wine is hygge.
You can't tell from this photo but every night Anette folded the napkins differently to create a little bit-o-hygge. But its not like she was trying- its just how it is. This is their lifestyle.
In writing this post I now realize how hard it is to nail down hygge and why my Danish friends had such a tricky time explaining it to me. Because it doesn't sound any different from being a good host, but it somehow is- and isn't. Its health and wealth and living life very fully. You make things comfortable and homey and welcome. You light candles and fold napkins and make sure there is always cheese to snack on. And hope that your new American friends, who eat dinner in front of their computers and grab the exact same lunch day after day in plastic take away tubs will somehow get it.

I take photos

I know- I've been really naughty and not ever updating ever. You can shake your head in disappointment. Anyways, just a quickie- check out my photography on the New York Spaces blog. And also, the event I helped put together. Thanks to anyone who came!
http://www.newyorkspacesmag.com/New-York-Spaces/March-2011/Samuel-amp-Sons/

Paris- the sights

The day after Christmas I flew to Paris for a little vacation. I desperately wanted to speak French, use Euros, and get so lost in another culture that I forget simple English. I mean Europe is not so far from our American customs- its no India, for example, but there are beautiful subtleties that are so perfectly foreign.

Mean Mr. Blizzard was crafty and decided that he would start dumping the day I was supposed to leave. I got an email from the airline that my flight was cancelled, and the one after that, and the one after that. I called first thing in the morning when the AirFrance offices opened so I could figure out how I could get my American ass into Paris. PARIS! Don't deny me Paris! After debating several options I was able to get a flight, but not until the 29th, cutting three days out of my Paris trip! How absolutely awful! Depressed I went ahead with the best option. I was transfered to my new carrier, Delta, to confirm the trip details. Then the Delta Angel picked up the line-

"Don't you just want to leave today?"

"What!? Yes! Of course!"

And she put me on the Magic Flight. A few hours later the snow started coming down. I checked the website obsessively, but every 20 minutes it was still confirmed that I would indeed be leaving. At the airport the greeters again confirmed that my flight was scheduled to leave on time. As I waited for my plane, I checked the departure board. CANCELED, CANCELED, CANCELED, Nora's Flight- On Time, CANCELED, CANCELED. Some how I magic'd my way on to the ONLY flight that left JFK that day. Some sort of Zen had settled over me, and I didn't even care that I had to sit in the plane for almost 2 hours while I watched them de-ice my wings. I was leaving. Magic.

There is something really special about the city. Everything is super compacted-on-top-of-each-other-why-you-all-in-my-grill and the architecture- well I can't get enough. I can see the city in its past, right in front of my eyes. This lends itself to the way they lead their lives. Everything somehow fits in these small spaces. Take their staircases-

Yes, you're supposed to carry your wardrobe, your queen bed, your sofa up these stairs. There is, of course, either no elevator or one so teeny that no more than two people can fit inside. In most of the apartments I had the pleasure of being invited it was filled with all this this old, worn yet truly beautiful furniture . As a lover as aged, wooden things with hand working details and worn down edges I was very charmed. I felt it very fitting that the furniture should fit with the buildings that housed them.

A detail from this door.

They keep their outdoor cafe sections open during the cold weather.

Street art!

Tourists!

Sacre Coeur!
I loved this building- which is actually very typical for Parisian architecture. I have trouble trying to articulate exactly what it is that I am so drawn to. Something about it massive presence, ability to host many people, and to be beautiful and unobtrusive all at once.

I was in Paris for a social visit only- I did hardly a single tourist thing. I did not even see the Eiffel Tower. But I did walk by Notre Dame at night. There is a reason its famous. Because its fucking impressive.

Perry Ellis

And to end my fashion week coverage- Perry Ellis. Nothing stunning, but I'm into the clothes. Or the models. Or like the music, whatever.

Hey did you know?

I kinda started Tweeting, which is something I said I would totally never do, but now I do. I promise that in general they won't be "I'm brushing my teeth." Except when I feel that teeth brushing would be interesting. Which it probably isn't.

Anyways- here is el link-o.

Since Fashion Week is quick appropaching...

... and I still haven't gotten all my stuff about last fashion week up because I'm a lame-a-tron and also tres busy. The thing that has been taking up all my hours? Oh, I'll share in due time because I'm oh so excited about it.

I was also excited about the Betsey Show because it was bicycle themed and I love me a bike. The end of the show featured a collection that was about what one should wear for New Years Eve. They probably wouldn't really work with a bike but I'm not going to be picky.

RIGHT? How much fun is that collection? And then in typical over the top Betsey Johnson fashion (pun!) she went kuh-razy with the matching outfits at the end and also did her cartwheels as per usual. Yeah- a grandma who cartwheels. No big.

I mean is it high art, and sophisticated? Does any one wear all yellow checker cab outfits? No, but who the fuck cares, hey?

Holiday Sweater Time

Remember when it was before christmas and not actually February already? Somehow time just ZOOMED on by and I couldn't even get any decent blog-a-loging in. First and foremost, hello to all the people who have just started reading! I can tell I already like you, mostly because you feed my narcism.

Secondly, its like, been a hot minute, but not taking a few minutes, however seasonally un-appropriate, to talk about the fabulous Holiday Sweater Party that Blaine and I threw would make me a Grinch. Why, it would be down right Scrooge-like!

My dog was not invited- but on Christmas he wore a sweater because he likes to and it makes him look handsome. Plus its got pockets for all the things he has to carry.

This is Blaine- and he takes me on the best dates. You might think you have taken a lady on a date that knocked her socks off, but you didn't because you're not Blaine.

That lipstick that Blaine is wearing, the color is called Leading Lady, he stole it from me on my birthday. This is what he had to say about the subject-

me: lets go to the bar we went to for my birthday

where you STOLE LEADING LADY

Blaine: STOLE!?!?! more like drunkenly liberated and applied to everyone in sight

i offered to give her back!

ten minutes go by

Blaine: we have duel custody over leading lady

What is even more important to know is that Blaine was the one who originally gave me the lipstick because he felt he no longer had a use for it, as in he went to Sephora and spent 22 dollars on it because there was a time that he had need for it. And then he needed it back because I had to go to the Sephora and buy another tube. I am realizing that I could actually write a whole post just on Leading Lady debauchery and funny texts regarding the lass, but this is about Holiday Sweaters, which it must be noted encompasses Ugly Sweaters, but casts a wider net. These subtleties should be recognized.

Our facebook invite to the masses went like this-

Because we have an unlimited supply of love for holiday sweaters but not an unlimited season an event must be had.

this is not a holiday celebration
this is a celebration in honor of holiday sweaters
I think the distinction is important
a celebration of awful holiday sweaters
co-sponsored by grandpa's and bad taste everywhere

Specialty cocktails and a bar crawl come free with your participation. And obviously there is a dress code, don't be a douche, we're giving you plenty of time to get your act together.

Crafting was especially encouraged, and I crafted the goddamn shit outta this amazing sweater Kirsten had lent me last year. That fucking cat needed a santa hat so hard. Also please note the sweet stockings Blaine hand personalized for the occasion!

Laura gets first place in the crafting bonaza. She made zomie santas and brains presents. HOLY COW! I also had no idea that Laura was into zombies, so I learned something new about Laura.

Grand Crafted Sweater Prize, however, went to Caleb and Jackie for making a hat that lights up, a 40 oz holder that is a stocking and sewing actual christmas bobbles onto a sweater. Plus matching outfits were all the rage! Just ask Rosalie and Lester....

... uh I mean Lisa and Isaac. Lisa found these amazing vintage holiday sweaters that were actually once her parents. If ugly sweaters are wrong, I don't want to be right! I mean the detailing in Lester/Isaac's sweater, those are PEOPLE either golfing or ice skating, being watched by other people! In a park! Near an office building!Roz was on "anti biotics" and "wasn't drinking."

Jealous of Santa, we tried to make our own beards from Jackie's garland.

In fact Jackie was so jealous of Santa she later did this-

Its ol' St.Jackie on her dresser/sleigh with three tiny "reindeer!"

And her voice lifted through the cold New York air with cheer-

ON BLAINE! ON CALEB! ON ASHLEY!

HAPPY SWEATERS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Penguins are RUDE

11:50 AM Ankura has joined

Charles has joined

Charles: hi!

me: I want to talk about the ginger bread man chase all together

me: that was a good day

Charles: awww!

me: a great day even!

Ankura: hahahaha

Charles: super day!

me: as you can see I'm working relaly hard today

Ankura: i wish today could be like that day

Charles: better than squirrel appreciation day!

11:51 AM

me: OH CHARLEY

Charles: OH NORA

me: you have to fucking buy your dman tickets to boston

babs and I bought ours

me: if you're not on the bus with us drinking vodka you're not our firend

Ankura: superbowl weekend! in boston!

Charles: aahH!

hahah

11:52 AM Ankura: hot toddys will be drank

me: drink drank drunk

Charles: yay!

Ankura: and socks will be worn, to terrys party

air mattresses will be inflated

and space heaters will be used this time, haha

Charles: haha terry throws me off by sending evites and not facaebook invites

hahaha

Ankura: its because he's over 30, hahaha

11:53 AM Charles: haaaha

me: hahahahaha

HAHAHAH

I love ankura

Ankura: i love nora

Charles: i'm in love with nora

Ankura: i

oops

i'm in love with a gingerbread man

11:54 AM me: OH SNAP

as in ginger snap

wokka wokkame: FUCKING BUY YOUR TICKETS

Charles: listen woman

11:58 AM Ankura: have you guys ever had Bison Grass vodka?

me: don't think so

11:59 AM Charles: moi auci

me: aussi

dummy

Charles: you're a dummy

me: that's true

Ankura: haha

in quebec they spell it auci

(thats a lie)

Charles: hahaha

12:00 PM OUE OUE OUE

Charles: i got home 3:40am last night! boston doesn't exist after 1:30AM

me: charley, did you buy your ticekts yet?

Ankura: i know, it kind of falls off the map

Charles: it enters a temporal shift

Ankura: haha or that

Charles: and reappears at 6AM

Ankura: just in time for the T to start running

12:08 PM Charles: haha if a city's metro isn't running the city doesn't exist

fact

Ankura: so that means boston doesn't exist after midnight haha

Charles: it's like the whole if a tree falls in the woods thing

woa this random hot guy just walked into the office

12:09 PM Ankura: get his digits

Charles: he's just so attractive

me: CHARLEY
DID YOU BUY YOUR TICEKTS?

Charles: NO

let me get on that

me: this might be as important as your hot coworker

Charles: haha, i need the tough love

me: or you're gonna have to take the china town bus by yourself like last time

and babs and I will be on a honeymoon

Charles: nooo!

12:10 PM me: and you will have to hold hands with a crazy smelly person

Ankura: yes, you'll be forced to

Charles: it's true, they enforce handholding

Charles: this guy needs to stop being so good looking and in my office

me: because hes distracting you from buying a ticket?

Charles: hahaha actually yes he is

12:12 PM Ankura: clearly

bring him on the bus with you

Charles: he's totally unexplained too! i have no clue what he's doing here

12:14 PM Ankura: i sent him there

Charles: i bet you did

12:15 PM me: CAN YOU PLEASE SEND HOT MANZ MY WAY?

12:16 PM Charles: well my guy just left i'm sure he's on his way to your office nora

to just inexplicably show up, look hot for a while, then leave

Ankura: oooh, too bad i dont have an office

Charles: the world is your office

Ankura: maybe he'll show up looking hot in my house

12:17 PM me: and then things can really get serious

in a house as opposed to an office

Charles: wooo!

Ankura: this is true

i'm sure he's heading to port authority right now

12:18 PM me: I read that as the pot authrority

me: which was confusing

but not THAT confusing

Ankura: pot authority

nyc needs a pot authority

12:19 PM Charles: at the port authority

Ankura: yes, thats exactly were it should be

12:20 PM me: you're right

12:21 PM Charles: I BOUGHT MY TICKETS NORA

12:22 PM me: I just peed my pants

in excitement

Charles: clean up before the hot guy shows up

12:23 PM hot guys don't appreciate pee on the pants

they do appreciate squirrels

2:32 PM Charles: haha

12:34 PM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11xs9mFKObs

just look at that penguin

12:36 PM digest that for a second. i'm going to grab a sandwich.

me: la la lives here

and this king penguin is really living like a king

I CANNOT DEAL

they gave him a backpack

that is PENGUIN shaped

Charles: I KNOW

12:37 PM me: and then he just SWALLOWS A WHOLE FISH

and walks away

and doesn't say thank you

Charles: I KNOW

hahha

me: he's a rude penguin

Charles: penguins are nature's assholes

12:38 PM me: hahahahHAHAHAHA he left his change in his other suit

and who names a male pengin LALA?