theApartment

uh... wow?

if, like me, you want to have brunch in new york with sexy eurotrash, you need urbandaddy's the find. NEED!

i can't wait to say "just browsing" to a robot, it's gonna make it a lot less awkward.

in times of uncertainty, in times of strife, it is essential for something or someone to represent a beacon of hope, a light in the darkness, through we can all know that, in the end, everything will be ok. for me, kate's chunky nipples have always been those beacons. they're always there, in interview magazine, everso often, to remind us all that it is indeed worth living. thank you kate. again.

i don't know about you but boats n hoes are where it's at right now. i know it, you know it, jay-z knows it.

i feel pretty dubious about the comme des garcons/louis vuitton collab. not that the people involved are not talented, just that blood should mix with urine. whatevr that means.

the guy with the winning smile or the guy using blue screen AND green screen to hypnotize us?! i was haf expecting a roller coaster to appear behind him.

so here it is, the storied, seinfeld/microsoft ad featuring bill gates. it's not terrible, it's not horrible. but it's not gonna sell vista to anyone.

so it turns out the karl lagerfeld bear is actually a thing you can buy. karl must be overwhelmed with flattery. except for the fact that when bears poop, it must be really hard to get the stuff out of your fur. i bet karl didn't think of that. and why should he?!

people can be so cruel sometimes... what if she was hungry and had nothing else in the house?

user interface, user interface, that all we hear about these days. well, that and some kind of election, but stick with me. when people talk about brilliant ways to interact with machines, they often talk about simplicity but i think that that's ultimately the wrong way to look at it. what they really mean to say is not devoid of controls or features but simply intuitive. the hidden radio achieves both goals with heretofore unseen elegance. litterally.

as larry flynt exclaimed upon hearing the news, it's the right thing to do.

not that it's a great reference or anything but it's time to hail lenny kravitz as our generation's nostradamus. he apparently predicted that an annex to the already dubious rock and roll hall of fame would open this fall in.... wait for it... SOHO!!!! that's right, right next to scoop and cb2. fuck the establishment!! and stuff...

looking a bit like an apatow, zack & miri make a porno is kevin smith's latest and it sounds lecherously funny enough. truth be told, i'd go see elizabeth banks getting a perm. actually, now that i think about it, i'd especially go see elizabeth banks getting a perm. bonus: the banned-in-the-us poster. thank god our american children cannot see this!

two points dame helen mirren is trying to make here: - no means NO. unless you want to talk about it. - cocaine is fine and fun until nazis get involved.

damien hirst is done, finished, over his own work. he wants to move on from the dead cows the pharmacy cabinets, the dots (well, not quite the dots) and he's selling it all (200 pieces!) in a sothebys auction that could net him around $115M. and he's talking about it for once. so happy an artists will be able to eat for another day.

this deal is sealed (in my head at least): i NEED a rotating house!

theaptFRIENDS over at curbed have a big deal to announce today: no less than a revolution in how real estate is bought and sold on a global scale. my words. the curbed marketplace can be used by brokers, individual sellers and buyers alike in order to reach the bliss that is home life. trust me, or don't, but this is going to be big, like velcro big.

why is it that i believe him when marc newson speaks about intelligent design about his work on the quantas A380 superjumbo jet? because unlike creationists, he delivers.

i've been reading woody allen's the insanity defense and been annoying my wife in bed with laughter (because i gave a tiny penis i don't know how to use, but that's another story all together.) no, seriously folks, the book's hi-larious. and it exhibits woody the prose writer. which we don't get too much of these days. unless you have a nytimes.com subscription and can read his vicky cristina barcelona production diaries. wonderful blogger that woody.

it's not everyday you get the call to furnish a church for living. we jumped on a plane to london and dedicated ourselves to the task at hand by first looking at the fact that a family with two children would live here. this needed to be a friendly house as well as mindful of the once-sacred ground. by bringing in a lot of modern pieces of art, we subdued the seriousness while at the same time leaving the old stained glass windows intact so as to consider them as art objects as well. a color code was assigned to each room by way of solid rugs. simple furnishings were brought in as not to compete with the incredibly detailed shell.

100% italian, periodically habitual, collector of receipts, interested in unimportant particulars. when I was a little girl i spent more time playing with legos than with barbie, and i wanted to become a wizard. as soon as i learned that it wasn't enough to close my eyes and wish for something to appear, i left my fairy-tale hometown of urbino and went to university in florence so that i could learn how to make things appear in a more rational manner. after four years of full immersion in the dynamic world of italian design i decided to take my bachelors degree in interior and industrial design and move to new york to broaden my horizons. just like that, in january, i found myself here with my suitcase and an uncontrollable desire to meet new people and learn new things... and luckily i found a place in the (most creative) apartment in new york!

what do you get when you mix blade runner, a sexy advertising mogul and 200 bits of silver origami paper? 200 invites to the hottest birthday bash in town. our lovely lindsay aquired 43 paper cuts but managed to get the job done.

check out the latest issue of cookie magazine to view "MIX MASTERS," an article featuring stefan and gina's abode.

when we were told we had ten days to raise a tent in the middle of bryant park to promote tourism to alberta, canada we were stumped - literally. going on the theme of an apres ski lodge, we called every firewood vendor in the area to see who would delivery 2,000 pounds of wood into midtown manhattan. luckily, we found the people to help us out and after an epic day and night of furniture assembly, culminating in a midnight venture out onto the skating rink, our urban ski lodge came to life.

kathrin grew up in the very beautiful but also very deep odenwald in germany. lucky for her, she comes from a family of extreme-globetrotters and got many glimpses of the colorful and big world from an early age on. after finishing school, she worked as a carpenter for 3 years, which she still declares her best preparation for life and her profession so far. her passion for designing and building lead her to the school of the art institute of chicago. from there, she went to beloved rome, to eat a lot of pasta, study even more and work with roman architects. since 2004 she lives in the big apple. the pasta is not as good there, but the influence from this city on design outweighs in her opinion this disadvantage. kathrin loves making crazy ideas come true and is a really good swimmer (also against the current).

you are completely welcome to stop by anytime you want to, but in case you can't make it over to our soho offices, check out these pics. the secretly naughty wallpaper is by paper voyeur, and the bed was custom made by hive mind design. as you can see, we really make ourselves at home here.

a first time developer entered our offices a while back and said: "i just bought six buildings in brooklyn, what should i do with them?" our answer was, after having carefully studied the demographic information for the building and the surrounding areas, "why not take advantage of the social network movement that is sweeping the world?" the entire planet it seems is in front of the computers, logging in to make new friends. but what was the original social network? that's right, neighbors. together with aguayo & heubener, the property's exclusive marketing and sales agent, we set on creating a community, a place where one would easily share a cup of sugar and more. with each amenity belonging to one building or another, one has to travel next door or across the street in order to engage in the various activities offered. and when time came to choose a name for this community, it rolled off the tongue as the first thing we say when we meet new people: hello. since this property was directly offered to people who most likely were already involved in the online social network scene, we focused our marketing efforts where we knew they would find us. each building got its own mySpacepage (austin, dakota, hudson, madison, montana and sydney) each with their particular likes, dislikes and centered around the amenity featured within. we also wanted to peel away the curtain to unveil the process behind the creation of such a project by making some really short films and giving it a flickr stream documenting the journey.

elo's brand, much like its interiors, needed to come from a non-confrontational point of view. that way, customers would meet seamless integration when they came to seek refuge. yelo was chosen as a name in part because of the association people, and color therapists, have with the color as one of being a sensory stimulant identified with wisdom and clarity. spelled this way, the public could imbue it with any meaning that it felt the place deserved. the interior was conceived to stay away from rooms and develop a system of cabins (yeloCabs) that could be transported and re-assembled anywhere from airports to offices. everything about this brand and interior needed to invite the customer in and make them feel comfortable. the result has spoken for itself through hundreds of healed new yorkers. visit yelonyc.com

suite sixteen refers to the fact that this new condominium project resides on sixteenth street in brooklyn's park slope. the challenge here was a facade that did not let you guess that the apartments inside were actually quite spacious and well laid out (by karl fisher architects.) when we came in, we, once again, wanted to change the game of how real estate is usually marketed. when we opened newspapers' real estate sections, we realized every single property branded itself as the best or the ultimate in some category or another. boring! we thought: why not do exactly the opposite, tell people not to live here, that the ceiling height would give you vertigo, that the view of new york harbor would get really tiresome after a while, etc... and so we did.

branding for a QSR (quick service restaurant) can be tricky because there are literally dozens of items to be designed. this is a sample for the work we did for swich, the pressed sandwich chain we had the pleasure of creating for the daring client.

hands-down one of our absolute favorite projects! the client was cindy gallop, international woman of mystery inspiration, who didn't exactly have much time, as the chairwoman of advertising giant BBH, to lay out her new apartment in the converted locker rooms of the first ymca in the u.s. but she did have time to inspire us... her brief was simple: "at night, i want to feel like i'm in a shanghai nightclub..." and so our proposal was equally simple: "what if you lived inside a lacquered chinese box?..." to our amazement, she was game so we knew our next idea would pass as well, no demising walls whatsoever, just a network of two-track curtains (1 translucent and 1 sound-dampening) which could be used to make rooms on-the-fly. of course, there was the matter of the 300 pairs of heels that ms. gallop cherishes as art and so they were treated as such, displayed in the own light box, all along the width of the apartment. this project was conceptual in nature at first but yielded results beyond our wildest dreams in terms of comfort of living and luxury. visit the madness at cindygallop.com.

the producer of riverdance asked us to give a shot at something we had never done before (it's becoming quite a habit...). and that was to design the identity of their new broadway show, the pirate queen, created by the team behind les misérables and miss saigon. it would be the dramatized true story of the historical struggle between queen elizabeth the 1st and grace o'malley who wanted to secure ireland's independence; in other words, our cup of tea. the woman in the wave concept came out right out of the box and after having gone far and wide to find if other boat-centric ideas might work, they came back and signed on for this one. we are very pleased to also be involved in the marketing of this girl-power drama to schools all over new york city

sometimes, we end up getting hired by partners, as it was with lacina heitler architects, a medium-size firm with oversized talent. they had arrived at a point in their history where needed a change and where attracting a different kind of clientele became a priority. one of their primary qualities is their honesty and transparency; and we wanted to express that through their identity. we created a logo that put the name of the firm upfront but cut out the qualifier in both physical and digital incarnations so that you could always see through it. the website also became an exercise in flexibility, where one is able to drag, drop and fold the navigation--reflecting their flexibility as architects. website

the daily habits of the owner of this 900 square-foot one-bedroom, located in new york's flatiron district, had to be carefully studied in order the transform the claustrophobic space into a spacious loft. by taking out every wall, hiding the bedroom behind a curtain thereby transforming it into a light box and nudging the bathroom behind the kitchen, we were able to engineer a magic trick; one that is perfectly complimented by the owner's 20th century modern furniture choices.

on a cold december night in late 18th century amsterdam... those were the first words read by the first potential buyers of a new condominium project in hoboken, new jersey. why? because on this project for remi companies, a growing developer in the garden state, we had inherited a building that had to adhere to community architectural standards, which meant that this large, 128-unit behemoth looked like an anachronistic aberration for a new construction. the name had also been chosen by the developer. so instead of fighting our hand, we took advantage of it. we invented a mythology that revolved around a fictional idealist dutch architect named joost van der rohr who, on a cold december, feverishly took to his drafting table and, in a fit of inspiration, drew the plans for a utopian society he would come to call velocitus. centuries later, his american descendants razed his house in amsterdam and found those plans buried underground. ecstatic, they decided to build their great-great-great grandfather's dreams, where else but in new jersey. and they would search far and wide for more of joost's heirs to inhabit it. a poster was then sent to prospective buyers asking them if they were part of the family followed by a telegram two weeks later making them aware that they were and inviting them to the groundbreaking of the project. what happened is that people did not feel pressured to buy real estate, they did not feel like they were in the usual square footage race, they simply belonged. and by the time the offer was made clear, they were already hooked. they could also continue the experience online and in a motion graphic piece on the site. this project is a study of a client taking a risk with an unconventional approach, and it paying off! website

with over 300 albums recorded in his lifetime franck pourcel is dubbed as the father of orchestral lounge music, yet he is barely known in the u.s.! we were tasked with making his enormous catalog searchable as well as appealing to younger generations. by unifying his identity on his latest 4-cd boxset as well as a brand new website and a european television ad campaign, we were able to make him and his music more reachable. and this is just the beginning, there is much more to come from franck in the future, stay tuned! visit franckpourcel.com website

we were commissioned by halstead to brand and market this conversion in harlem. we decided to name and design this brand in a way that would appeal to the customers with a pioneering spirit. by not making outlandish claims of 'best-of-class,' we simply called this development 'fitzgerald, lodging' in keeping with the many inns in the neighborhood. the minimal design coupled with natural iconic icons furthered the idea that people lived here, not just wallets. "you were never one to follow the herd" was one tagline that made people feel unique in a market of copycats.

do anything you like, we just want it to be sexy. and have a buddha statue... and so, armed with that seemingly contradictory brief, we set on designing a new kind of thai restaurant. we were tasked with the naming, interior design, branding and marketing as well as uniform design. but what did sexy mean anyway? we didn't want it to mean velvet banquettes and dim lighting, we needed to reach down and assign a historic value to the subject in order to find an anchor, to find something that customers would recognize, even if subliminally. we found that anchor in the visual language of new york city's peep shows of the late 70s and 80s. since a restaurant these days seems to be more about seeing and be seen than eating, it was fitting to design one built around voyeurism... this place would be all about peeping, we had our name. and the inside would be clad in mirror-polished stainless steel on the floor and ceiling so that reflections would reveal all the hidden bits, the intricate custom-designs screens would let you peer in, even the bar stools has a sado-masochist slant. but the piece de resistance would be the bathrooms, stationed in the middle of the place; we decided to build them out of one-way mirrors so that the eating guests could look at themselves while the toilet dwellers would find themselves looking at the entire dining room from inside, prompting many a shy moment. under buddha's watchful eye of course...

remi companies, for whom we had successfully branded the velocity project, came to us to re-think their corporate identity and brand their new eco-friendly direction. remi is a multi-faceted company that comprises elements of real estate development, brokerage as well as loans and construction. since it seemed to expand in many directions--each time unveiling a new initiative--we thought that the ancient japanese art of paper folding was a perfect metaphor for the growing company. we decided on a system of icons born from different arrangements of the same triangular shape to reflect a single minded leadership that can take many forms. we then tackled the eco-friendly initiative that the company wanted to continue to innovate with and saw that a lot of companies in that space used vocabulary that foolishly tried to indicate that they had done it, they were saving the planet. we were of the belief that the so-called green building was, and would be for the foreseeable future, a work-in-progress. therefore, it is not yet possible to be the best, only to try and be, well, better. and that started a new approach of setting their goals, as we indicated in their collateral, a beginning.

Hello Apt, I am a graphic designer and art director and I'm currently looking for a full-time position in New York . You're work is really cool and I'd love to get a chance to show you my book in person. It would be great to see the type of projects you've been working on recently. You can download my pdf portfolio/cv here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/kghool Thanks for your time. Hope to hear from you in the future, Yego

For you to Peruse... In regards to your job posting, here's my work for your consideration. Please visit http://designisthenorm.com/ Thanks for your time and congrats on a very cool website. Salud, Norm.

Hello, I'm submitting the link below to my portfolio and CV for your consideration. http://www.mk-ok.com Best regards, Mark Kane

newly graduated from st martins, london. (graphic design). do have a look at www.johannabonnevier.com or www.weare42.com a lways open for business

I'm a pretty well rounded lad from New Orleans eager to begin my life as a designer! The Black Apartment is what I fell for and I would be honered if you would let me join your design team as an intern or ANYTHING! My email address is dlabry1@lsu.edu

Saw this at the Eye blog, such a nice illustration, great lines, nice color, simple. And a fun little piece of a community that doesn't find its way into portfolio's nearly enough. Thought I'd share.

Again with the Chinese restaurants? Yes.

Or something. Or maybe some meaning. Between anthropology, architecture history and video art I found graphic design and a compulsive fascination with documentation projects. Like the urban Chinese restaurant. Following my partner to New York looking for something fulfilling to do before I win at OTB. Would love to be apart of The Apt. I'll add things here that are less self promotional and then you'll actually want to meet me. http://thisisnone.com

WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW JOBS...AREN'T YOU LOOKING FOR US!?

WE ARE LOOKING FOR NEW JOBS...ARE YOU LOOKING FOR US?! www.omoproject.com

Hello Apt. I'll be finishing school this year at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a MFA in Graphic Design. I plan to move to NY afterwards and check out all the awesome studios the city has to offer. Please feel free to check out my website: www.TrevorConrad.com All the best, _Trevor

Scenic designer interested in expanding her design horizons and helping others surround themselves with quirkiness. take a peek: www.nikkiblackdesign.com 858.220.4104

Nigel Sielegar 42-19 77 street 1 floor Elmhurst, NY 11373 E-mail : contact@nigelsie.com Phhone: 312.927.5542 Resume: http://nigelsie.com/resume.pdf Portfolio: http://nigelsie.com Hello, I'm currently a graduate MFA Design student at the School of Visual Arts New York. Previously, I earned my bachelor degree from The Illinois Institute of Art - Chicago. During my undergraduate study, I interned at Firebelly Design Chicago for 8 months. After graduation, I work at Motorola, designing and developing new icons and user interface for their phones. After one full year at Motorola, I decided to take on graduate school and was admitted at the School of Visual Arts New York. Outside of school and those full time jobs, I have been freelancing for the past 3 years. I have experience in Art direction, branding, packaging, website and digital media, product development and installation design. The Type Directors Club has awarded me Certificate of Typographic Excellence and installation I designed for NBC has appeared on the today show for 5 consecutive days. Complete experience, awards and recognitions are listed in my resume. The apartment is a highly creative agency with an excellent reputation n the industry and comes highly recommended to me. Thank you for your consideration and I’m looking forward to hearing from you. -- Best, Nigel Sielegar www.nigelsie.com

Pendant lamp Penta is designed to adapt light to every requirement. If opened it provides an elegant chiaroscuro light texture whose shades can change its fifteen sides in a pure dynamic optic chiasm which suggest a rotary motion. Once closed, Penta becomes a plain light source able to illuminate anything behind, like tables and pieces of furniture, always keeping its strong stage presence. Purely made of recycled polyethylene flat components, Penta can be defined as a three-D creature, thanks to the balanced number of components and joints between them. Penta is a project developed by italian designer Luca Casarotto (Coscadesign studio) during Foscarini Lab, a workshop by Foscarini.

Amanda M Voss 292 Menahan #3R Brooklyn, NY 11237 T / +415 283 8924 Resume: http://www.isayhello.net/pdf/resume.pdf Portfolio: http://www.isayhello.net Hello, I've recently finished a job freelancing as a web/graphic designer for Behance (http://www.behance.com, http://www.behance.net). Throughout my time working as a designer at Behance I have been involved in developing logos and identities, conceptual graphics, html newsletter campaigns, banner design, event invite design (both online and print), icon/button design, as well as some curation on behalf of Behance's ever expansive online community of creatives from every walk of life. I am truly obsessed with designing with type, and typographically-led design. I love my type, I love it utilitarian, I love it sans serif (you get the idea here). My primary objective is to create compelling creative communication that is socially-responsible, whilst impacting culture in the most profound way possible. Prior to my current role, I have worked as an interactive designer/production artist both in-house and for an interactive advertising agency in Vienna Austria, Frankfurt am Main, Germany and San Francisco, CA, respectively. In the past I have been engaged in the following ways on various projects from conception to completion: art direction, graphic design, web design, design for search engine optimization, flash banners, some exposure to UI/wireframe design. Additionally, I have been introduced to buzz/social marketing strategies, I have fluency with Adobe Creative Suite, and want to learn Adobe After Effects. On the agency side of things, I have experience working with a 10+ member creative services team, comprised of a Creative Director, Print Designers, Interactive Designers, New Media Designers, Copywriters, Web Technologists, and Marketing Strategists. Thank you for your consideration. Kind Regards, Amanda Voss

It has been quite a while since I have been to now one of my favorite cities: Montreal. This trip blew me away; in how Montreal has grown into quite a modern city, while still having a firm grip on its beautifully historical feel. We stayed on Rue Sherbrooke towards Old Montreal at LeMeredian a beautiful hotel it was a lovely room with an amazing staff ( who will run 4 blocks to the parking garage to get your sunglasses ) or pretty much anything you need. Must dos for anyone going go to Nocochi patisserie aka afternoon T for great coffee amazing butter cookies and coincidently a really amazing breakfast menu. Where you can eat outside or in there ultra white boutique feeling pastry shop. Also go to Holt Renfrew, it is the Barneys of canada and had some windows displays I have seen in a while not to mention some great sales. Make your way to St. Laurant street for a really long walk of shops and great restaurants. ...very long. Past that, is what I am referring to as the Williamsburg of Montreal. Avenue Luarier est where you will find smaller shops, an amazing burger place and at the end of the strip a sushi restaurant(Tri Express) that is a must, and a first for me seeing a woman sushi chef. Make reservations early they open at 4 and brush up on your french, there menu has no english translations. But the food was spectacular! There also is a park where you can rest off the burger or drink wine while waiting to eat sushi. Back to Rue Sherbrooke the last thing is the Yves Saint Laurant exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts which is quite aw-inspiring. I highly recomend going , but bring a book cause we were in traffic for 6hrs at border on our way back to NY. regards

What's the Craic? ("craic" meaning 'fun' and not the drug term!) Just so you know, Ireland is available in many other colours other than the forty shades of green. But Leprachaun's and Shamrocks are definately green :-) I carry a camera in the boot (trunk) of my car all the time incase i get inspired at any point! Take it handy... Jon www.joncheung.com

I lived a life without meaning, drugs, alcohol and adultery. . . Jesus knew, let all evil and my great and my only pleasures and 'living for my family and praise the Lord! We never thought this would be possible, even if only Jesus! Today I can say I am happy to truth! May God bless those!

Loaded Language is a boutique-style design shop, providing a variety of design services spanning several mediums. The Brooklyn, New York-based collective generates a wide variety of work for print, motion graphics, interactive and fashion projects. Our core collective creates scalable teams for any size project, allowing you to meet tight deadlines with maximum results. In the pursuit of good design practice, it is important to us that we bring meaning as well aesthetic beauty to our clients. Good commercial design means nothing unless it supports a message that in turn leads to action. Our goal is simple: to insert art into commerce. We accept the modernist ideal that design is a problem-solving discipline; we have sought to humanize that ideal through humor, artistic invention, and an entrepreneurial spirit. At the same time, we constantly strive to refresh our ideas and embrace the post-modern values of activism, deconstruction and the transmission of meaning through art. We would love the opportunity to cook for you. We make a mean ceviche. Love the talent talk, bloody brilliant, mighty mantras, hard-work + talent + passion _ passion + pain + progress, learn to forget the ipod, balance the possibilities, never stop creating, we get it, we love it, live life like a wandering dream. loadedlanguage.com bluebish@loadedlanguage.com

it's only noon and i've already had a crazy friday. i woke up at seven a.m. on day two of a juice cleanse to meet my friends at saved to get tattoos. so there i am, hungry, at 8 a.m. at a tattoo parlor with one of the best tattoo artists around, who is impossible to book an appointment with because he is always traveling. and what do i do? i wimp out. but no regrets (actually, i think there would be more regret if i inked on something permanent without pretty careful consideration). but yeah, i'm giving it some consideration now and i highly recommend if you're in the market to book an appointment at saved. saved 3 hope st. williamsburg, brooklyn

every thursday my sister and i get together for our weekly worship of lost. beforehand she either makes me dinner or we hit up some asian spot. last week we thought it would be a good idea to try a seafood buffet in koreatown. turns out it was not so good of an idea. i guess in theory buffets are good. they're certainly exciting the first time you go up with your plate and this whole smorgasboard of things to choose from. but i suppose inevitably all buffets end up leaving you feeling kind of ick. meanwhile i'm reading a book called the world peace diet (please don't make fun of me), and the whole scene was just no good. todai 6 east 32nd street manhattan

this past weekend i surprised my boyfriend with a trip to the catskills. i told him to pick me at work at 3pm on friday and handed him an envelope with our secret destination. i highly recommend this little trick for either girl or boy because the recipient then has to be nice to you for the entire weekend! we got into town around 6pm and headed directly over to the bear cafe. i was convinced that everything would shut down early in this mid-winter low season leaving us dinnerless. but of course, the manhannites kept rolling in at the usual later hours having just gotten into town. the bear is definitely the place to eat. the town of woodstock is pretty sleepy but there are enough highlights to keep one entertained for the weekend. i loved the sunfrost farms market where i bought local yogurt and all of the ingredients to make an organic potato leek soup. the old hippie stores around there are pretty much just relics and totally unacceptable for shopping with the exception of chez grandmere, a french inspired chocolate and gift shop. i ended up with jasmine perfume powder and giant peanut butter cups! despite it being january and my mom telling me to be careful hiking because my cell phone would stop working and i would freeze in the snow and a man with a knife might come up behind me (oh, mom) my boyfriend and i walked the overlook hike which started at the karma triyana dharmachakra tibetan monastery , which gives tours on sunday afternoons. we walked two miles uphill to a spectacular view of the hudson river and valley. there were no men with knives but we did come across the ruins of a hotel that burned down, where i think they filmed that awful movie freedomland with julianne moore and samuel l. jackson. that was creepy. i recommend the inn on the millstream, room 11 - the only room with a two person spa tub. it's quaint but comfortable and clean. and if you're down for a good laugh, i also recommend stopping in sloatsburg on the way back on the border of new york and new jersey to go to mt. fuji. words cannot express the monstrosity that is this hibachi restaurant...

my lil sis moved to the city recently to become an assistant buyer at mega-retailer bloomingdales (hey, sweet discount), and she's starting to see that far from the party capital she thought this would be, she's actually just an indentured servant at her cubicle. i've actually lost track of where i was going with this and my restaurant experience saturday night... oh yes! so in my experience after living here for about a year or so i started to get into the rythym of things. i see my friends less than i did in my rolling college days and spend almost zero time at the apartment that sucks up most of my paycheck, but i've discovered one of the main activites here that i didn't have in providence - becoming a foodie. where else can you go into an unmarked door on some corner and slip into a japanese sake and tapas bar to eat miso grilled oysters? zenkichi is a funhouse-style maze of private bamboo curtain booths and mirrors, where waitresses come to your booth only if called on the little buzzer on the table. (ok, and i promise next time i'll venture out of my neighborhood.) 77 north 6th street williamsburg, brooklyn

having brunch with my lovely friend diana yesterday, i remembered again that i love roebling tea room. mum was playing softly in the background while i snacked on smoked salmon served with toasted pumpernickel, cream fraiche and beet relish. they serve dozens of different teas and it's super comfortable. 143 roebling at metropolitan ave. williamsburg, brooklyn

last night on my way in to diner i stopped in bittersweets to pick up my sister's christmas present (let's hope she doesn't read this till after!). i originally came across the sweet little engraved 14k gold rings at catbird and snatched up two for myself. i had never been to robin's own shop and studio so was excited to stop by. what i saw was so nice i ended up staying and exploring for half an hour. decorated all herself with second hand furniture and hand-drawn walls, the space was large and luxurious, but in a brooklyn way. i ended up falling in love with the vampire rings, of course. bittersweets 37 broadway williamsburg, brooklyn

sushi is hands down my favorite food. i eat it like four times a week from dean and deluca, knowing that the supermarket version is a total bastardation of the food. but really, sometimes i just need it to tie me over. in new york i like tomoe. sapporo east has good normal sushi, and nobu has excellent traditional sushi. recently i tried morimoto and blue ribbon, which i found both a little over-rated. tonight i am trying jewel bako which i have heard good things about. my fail safe is bozu (yes, it's in brooklyn). i just cannot get enough of the bombs! little circular sushis that for whatever reason the shape is so exciting to me. the drinks are so yummy too with a shiso leaf mojito and a rich coconut caipirinha. way too easy to drink. the details are very well taken care of. appetizers like the pork betty have just enough fat and cilantro. the wasabi comes pre-mixed into the soy sauce in little bamboo containters. when the place first opened it was pretty quiet but last saturday night i had to wait for a seat at the bar so get goin! bozu 296 grand street brooklyn

i rarely like to go to movies. my thinking is that time is so precious and i'd rather be spending it chit-chatting than mutually staring at a screen. so when i do go to a movie, i typically like to go alone and i wait till there is something i really want to see. on these occasions, i prefer to go to sunshine cinema on houston street. there's a quietness there unlike the more gaudy movie house chains. and when scarlett johansson sat in front of me during an inconvenient truth that pretty much sealed the deal. sunshine cinema 143 east houston street lower east side

i'm going to have to do a post soon on late night eat spots but for now i'll just introduce you to supercore. i went there last night again around midnight with a couple of friends for some japanese comfort food. nothing like a hot chocolate and curry rice to put you to sleep after a long day at the office. electronica music, dim lighting, a bar and a garden in the summer round it out. supercore 305 bedford avenue williamsburg, brooklyn

after a sake-filled evening, being a bit tipsy and a lot bold, i decided to cut my own bangs. like the old days when i used to take hair matters into my own hands (somehow when i was 19 it always looked okay...) but this time the outcome was just a blocky chunk hanging down my forehead. not wanting to spend $80 on my usual gal i decided to try commune which the lovely amber recommended to me. i loved it. haircuts are very reasonable at $40 and you know the all japanese staff is sweet as ever. plus, the decor is soothing and natural and wood and white, which is a big bonus for me. oh yeah, and they have a boutique with great jewelry too. 191 grand street williamsburg, brooklyn

four months ago i booked a ticket to st. martin knowing only vaguely that it is an island somewhere in the caribbean and that i was going with the whole and extended family of my boyfriend. the lovely week of vacation has now come and gone and if any of you are planning a trip to the islands anytime soon, heed my recommendations and warnings. first off, definitely stay on the french side, st. martin, rather than the dutch side, st. maarten. the french side is laid back with croissants (my new obsession!), villas, and secluded beaches - my favorite being baie rouge. topless sunbathing is the norm and after twenty -five years of hiding 'em, they definitely needed it. the dutch side is all casinos and cruise ships, chubby tourists and bad shopping. skip the zoo which was actually terrifying owing to the fact that half the animals are not in cages and that the ostrich is horny and not shy. the butterfly farm, however, is a beautiful little sanctuary worth sitting on the benches and enjoying for a couple of hours. the best food is supposedly in grand case but my preference was for the lolos, the road-side shacks where locals go to get there barbecued chicken and fish with rice and beans, salad and plantains. throw it all back with a carib, the local beer, and a happy woman do make (or something like that). day trips to st. barth and anguilla are easy to make and so fun. i love riding on the back of a scooter and made a day of it on st. barth, the posh but approachable island a ferry's ride away. anguilla is a short ferry ride away also and quiet and beautiful. i have literally never seen a more beautiful beach than shoal bay in the western part of the island. oh, vacation.

i was never into that "oh, bowling is cool again" hipster attitude that included rollerskatingand kickball and other child-like attitudes all played with an ironic enthusiasm that i just couldn't understand.... that said, give me a bowling alley in my neighborhood with a laid-back bar and i don't know, maybe i'll give it a go. happy hour anyone? gutter 200 north 14th street williamsburg/greenpoint

if there's a special glow to my face today, it's because i had an incredible night last night. and it's not what you're thinking. my latest obsession has been korean spas and i told you a while back about king sauna but that is now passe in my book since checking out inspa world last night. news of the 60,000 square foot mega-spa reached my ears through the grape vine. my friend overheard her korean coworkers in a design studio in tribeca saying this was the spot. korean spas are based around saunas and inspa boasts led infrared light rooms, a himalayan salt sauna, a gold room and more. there are baths and heated outdoor pools with jets too. it's no mandarin oriental, but that's kind of the point. inspa is well-kept and clean; somewhere you can go and hang out all day just chillin, taking a bath and sauna, eating, watching tv. there's even a sleeping room with just straw mats on the floor. admission is $30 which includes a clean t-shirt and shorts, towels, a toothbrush, and you can spend as long as you like there. treatments such as massage, body scrubs, manicures, and facials are all available at an additional cost. 11-11 131 Street Queens College Point, NY

a lovely friend just came by and took me to lunch at one of my local faves, rice. she was sweet enough to bring me a little gift of a tiny anime-like cactus plant and some christopher norman chocolates. not until i looked at the card did i see that it was from a store i used to frequent when i worked in that area, utowa. utowa is a concept store designed by hiroshi uemura, son of shu uemura. a floral, fashion, beauty, and music store, there is no fixed furniture. as the seasons change so does the collection of items. for example this season the theme is aquatic flower. the color is moxie-strength-loyalty-gold dust-pale sea-desert night-moody blue. the impact of the interior design is one of serenity, to match the simplicity and beauty of the products. utowa 17 west 18th street nyc

i love me some jewelry, and erie basin in red hook has a great collection of vintage and comtemporary finds. 388 van brunt street red hook, brooklyn

under the williamsburg bridge in brooklyn, on a sparsely populated section of broadway, are two little gems of restaurants - marlow and sons and diner. both restaurants are owned by mark firth and andrew tarlow, who also own nearby bonita. marlow and sons has a storefront that sells specialty cheeses and honey, and local coffee amongst other treats. the back room yields wooden bench tables for diners. at next door's converted diner, on a warm night you can sit outside at somewhat rickety but charming tables. colder nights beg you to go inside and warm up in a cozy interior. the ambiance of both places feels so natural and well-designed without being at all designy. and i've never been disappointed by the food. both restaurants have just a few regular dishes and rely heavily on changing nightly specials such as grilled sesame bread crostini with fresh ricotta and nettle pesto, or braised rabbit leg loin. yum. i know i said freeman's was my favorite restaurant before, but i think i lied. the brooklyn girl in me says these two. marlow and sons, and diner 81 broadway williamsburg, brooklyn

i'm getting a little ahead of ourselves here, but summer is starting to dwindle and so it is that i look forward to november...and the opening of the muji store in soho. fresh from japan come 3,000 square feet of carefully but simply designed home and stationary goods to drool over. wait, i thought of an analogy. if i may: h&m is to uniqlo as ikea is to muji. 455 broadway soho, new york

i'm one of those people who comes up with a different tattoo idea every day but am actually far too chicken and fickle to really ever go get one. but if i ever were to go get one, it would probably be at new york adorned. i used to walk by there a lot when i lived in the east village and admire their jewelry but they also have some really amazing tattoo artists. this fall they are opening up a williamsburg outpost so along with saved, there will be two great spots in the area if i'm ever drunk enough to brave it. 376 bedford ave. williamsburg, brooklyn

ugh, i just don't get it. momofuku is praised left and right for it's ramen but i've been, and honey, that ain't ramen. yes i'm into inovation. i'm not one of those sticklers for the og-only version of a food but they just had the basics all wrong. and by basics, i mean that the "men", or noodle, wasn't the correct ramen noodle. it's very particular, you know. and the broth was so salty i had to pull a move that my sodium-phobic mom would use on me when i was little and we went to ramen shops in tokyo. she would pour whatever was at hand (even tea!) into my bowl. the berkshire pork was tasty and the raw egg was a treat but otherwise...not my cup of tea, er, ramen. rai rai ken is my favorite ramen shop in the city. still need to go and try the recently opened ramen setagaya and i'm very excited for the opening of ichigaya in greenpoint.

new york is the type of place where you can discover someplace really cool, that you see yourself frequenting and making yours, only to learn that a thousand other people are thinking the same thing. hence overcrowding begins and with that the joy can often be sucked out. such was my recent experience with habana outpost. last summer i used to go for sunday night movies, kicking back with a burrito and a frozen margarita while watching the breakfast club, projected onto the concrete side of a building in the yard. maybe it was the press it's gotten, but the chilled out nights on the picnic tables in this entirely solar-powered restaurant sure have changed. i mean, they have a bouncer. and it's standing room only. and the movie isn't really part of the deal anymore, it's just background. and the tomatoes in my burrito were the same ones they put on the hamburgers. like, they weren't chopped up, just sliced, causing my burrito to unravel. 757 fulton street fort greene, brooklyn