salty and sweet

a couple weekends ago i planned a screening and afterparty for an independent film called lady lily (adventures in god's country). i wanted to share the pictures i took at each of the events of the night, and i decided to break it into two posts because the images are so different.

the screening was at a very cool new screening room called indiescreen in williamsburg, brooklyn. the filmmaker, dani, had already secured the location when i came into the picture, but the venue didn't have their liquor license yet. they were supposed to, but there were delays, so we had to figure out how to handle the crowd expected for the screening. we decided on an afterparty in the immediate area of the screening room, but didn't want to serve the guests nothing at the screening itself, so we decided on soft drinks at the "bar" (which dani treated everyone to) and fun movie snacks.

i never turn away from a retro theme looking me in the face, so i pushed for old timey bags of popcorn and colorful lollipops and dani happily agreed. i got the bags at a party store which luckily had them, because i didn't have much time, but i did discover lots of online sources here. i got the popcorn at pathmark where i looked like a deranged popcorn fiend, buying out their stock of jumbo sized popcorn bags that are placed so far back on such a high shelf because they don't actually expect anyone to try and get the ones at the back. i got the ones at the back.

i used the highly adorable and mod-looking tolsby frames from ikea to hold the sweet and salty signs, as well as signs on the bar that let guests know that their hostess was treating them to soft drinks and that there was to be a champagne toast at the afterparty following the screening, along with the address of the restaurant.

my biggest concern was that i wouldn't have enough popcorn bags made up (i had plenty of popcorn and bags on hand in case i had to quickly make up more) or that no one would eat it, so i was happy to see this final sight before i packed up and moved on to the afterparty venue.

that's a wrap.

happy weekend!

so it's the weekend, friends. what do you have planned? we're staying low-key and celebrating a friend's 30th. it happens to us all...

before we part for a few days, here is some stuff from around the web i think you'd appreciate.

have you seen the trailer for sex and the city 2? what are your thoughts?

and did you watch tiger woods' apology? i actually thought it was very sincere and that he seems to be accepting full blame and putting his own therapy and healing before golf, which i'd imagine is a stretch for him. also, i thought he shared more than he needed to about his feelings of entitlement and his straying from spirituality. and then the other part of me thinks he's a big old cheater. what did you think? here is a link in case you missed it.

on a happier note, check out this very special home featured on elements of style earlier this week.

also in blogland, i love when i discover a new blogger with a funny and likable voice - it's something to look forward to everyday, and it's so fun to have people you relate to in blog-land. jackie fo is one such example, and i think you'd love her too. here is a link to a wonderful post she did on her wedding.

and speaking of funny, you have to check out this website, warning label generator. it is so hilarious. it allows you to choose pictures and write your own labels. here are some that i did that just make me laugh.

so funny, right?

recently, a friend wished me a "restful" weekend. i love that. isn't that what we need our weekends to be? i hope yours is restful and makes you happy.

top and bottom photos from http://www.realsimple.com/, sex and the city photo from http://www.beaut.ie.blog.com/, warning labels from http://www.warninglabelgenerator.com/

love, actually

i hate commuting. i mean i reaaaalllly hate commuting. the traffic, the crowds, the pushing, the incessant noise...all before a decent hour or at the end of a long day. i know it's something that most of us deal with, but it's one of those things that i personally just have a very low tolerance for. it's a timesuck and it's hands down the worst part of every day for me. i try to doll it up with reading or eavesdropping on conversations or walks through grand central market, but it is what it is and i hate it.



once, i boycotted the subway for a year. i became obsessed with the idea that people acted as if being underground rendered them invisible - spitting, shouting and some things i dare not mention here. eventually it became too inconvenient to boycott, and i gave in to what i had been calling a "subhuman" mode of transportation for a year. the subway is, by far, the worst leg of my commute - everything is dirty and hot, sticky and often wet. and that just describes the surfaces, nevermind some of the people.

recently, i had a particularly horrid rush hour with a broken escalator and only one staircase for both up and down (for the second week in a row) and it was then i started thinking another boycott might be in my near future.

but i was momentarily softened at the sight of a man -- a stranger as it turned out -- helping a woman with a double stroller down the stairs and through the crowd. i tried to quiet the hateful commuter rage inside me - the thought that people are good and nice even when they're hot and late and tired - that fact should make me happy.

i wasn't quite there yet.

next, i saw a woman swipe her metrocard for someone who had a non-working one, and then i saw them go separate ways - they, too, were strangers. my mood was lifting. i started to have that feeling of "we're all in this together" - everyone hates commuting, everyone has stresses and everyone is hot in this goddamn sweatbox...has the mta never heard of air conditioning? are they amish?


well, just to underscore my love actually feel-good airport moment (though a dingy underground subway station is several rungs down from heathrow), i then saw an elderly woman all but carried down the stairs by a young man who saw her struggling, almost washed away in the sea of people...people just like me, who only moments before were pushing through to get to the train, only to stand three sweaty rows deep on the platform anyway.

you really should take a gander at the scene from love actually, even if you've seen it before. it's a good one.

i was sort of amazed at how, in such close succession, i witnessed so many acts of kindness. i felt a little floaty and out of body-ish, and once i determined i was not in fact about to pass out, i pondered whether this series of events was a coincidence. i considered that these moments might always be there to be seen if you're open to them, which usually doesn't coincide with being open to barking "does your wife know you push women on the train?"

who would bark such a thing? certainly not me...

having witnessed this love-fest, i felt close to tears - anytime i feel communal, i feel teary. just as hugh grant says...love actually is all around. i could have hugged those men and women helping fellow commuters, but if i had, we might have all exploded from extreme heat exposure, so i just smiled instead.

traffic photo from www.trafficblog.prospect.com