Following Rabbits Blog

Coffee with Cream

I originally discovered moonflowers photography by Rachel Ballard through her blog, which is chock full of pretty photos, design ideas, and vintage finds. Her photos possess a vintage, nostalgic quality with soft colors and dreamy scenes. I think a moonflowers photo would be a lovely addition to anyone's apartment, so I'm giving one away! To enter, visit Rachel's etsy shop and leave a comment below telling me which photo you would like if you're chosen. (Be sure to include your email address!) A winner will be drawn at random one week from today.

Summer Bliss

In the meantime, I encourage you to follow Rachel's blog and twitter. For you aspiring photographers out there, she even offers e-courses. I will draw and announce the winner of the giveaway on Thursday the 29th.

AND THE WINNER IS...

I did this the old fashioned way-- drew a name out of a hat (okay, it wasn't a hat...) and Nicole from Busy Girl won! She chose the coffee with cream print, featured in the post (above). Thank you to the few people who entered! I would LOVE to do more giveaways, but need more people to enter. Next time I want everyone in, or no more giveaways, and what fun is that?

MillionTreesNYC has planted over 375,000 trees, with the goal of reaching 1 million by 2017. Planting 1 million trees will increase our urban forest-- "our most valuable environmental asset made up of street trees, park trees, and trees on public, private and commercial land"-- by 20%! To reach their goal, they need New Yorkers to volunteer and get involved in the initiative. I signed up for their newsletter to receive updates on group planting days, when you can volunteer your time to plant trees at parks and housing developments across the 5 boroughs. (It's a great way to meet new people, too!) You can also plant a tree of your own and get it counted towards the goal of 1 million.

Once all these trees are planted, though, someone needs to look after them. Young trees are especially susceptible to extreme heat-- and it's been hella hot out there! I volunteered for the MillionTreesNYC Stewardship Corps-- which is a fancy way of saying I adopted a few trees in my neighborhood. There are three young pine oak trees on my street that were looking a little worse for wear that I've taken into my care. Simple things like watering them, and cleaning the weeds and trash out of their beds will help them thrive. 

my trees!

When you login to the Stewardship Corps website, you can search for trees in your neighborhood and add them to your page. There's a library of information on tree care, and you can keep track of your activities on your page. It's a commitment, but shouldn't take more than a half hour a week. And I found trees on my street (there were 19 to choose from!) so chances are, you don't even have to go far. The way I see it, if the city is planting all these trees for us, we should try to keep 'em growing so future generations of New Yorkers can enjoy them!

I went to new Shake Shack in the Theater District last night for dinner. It was my first SS experience-- and an experience it was. I was warned about the infamous Shake Shack line... and everyone was right. At 7:30p the line went out the door. A staff member stood outside handing out menus and answering questions. A friend of mine said the black & white shake was a must, and when I asked if it was just chocolate and vanilla ice cream (I'm a New Englander, what do you want?) the employee told me it was chocolate and vanilla ice cream blended with coffee. Sounded good to me, so after a 20 minute wait in line, I ordered one of those and a cheeseburger.

My friend, who ordered after me, got his food about 15 minutes later, and mine came out 10 minutes after his. Given the Disney-worthy queue, seating was at a premium. A couple invited us to sit at their table, so we didn't have to juggle our burgers and shakes on the sidewalk. The burger was good-- nothing incredible, but definitely better than any other fast food option out there. My milkshake had peanut butter in it, which was disappointing, but given the 25 minutes it took to make my food the first time, I just drank it. (And a black & white milkshake is just chocolate and vanilla ice cream...) I must give them a break considering they've recently opened this location, and restaurants always have a few kinks to work out in the beginning. All in all, I'm sure I'll go back to try some of their crazier shake creations, but for the most part I'll be leaving this one to the tourists.

  {a French native herself- Lady Liberty}

It’s my home away from home. Whenever I have a few days off, it’s my breath of fresh air. I know it sounds weird – fresh air? In New York? As a random stranger once put it, “Nueva York is… Crazy, man”! My friends have a few days off, they go one of two ways: they go relax (in Thailand, in the South of France), or they go exotic (Tanzania, or Uzbekistan. Journalists are insufferable snobs like that). I go Manhattan. If I’m lucky, once or twice a year. Otherwise, I become my own kind of insufferable: constantly nostalgic and complaining every two minutes that I miss this or that, and why isn’t there any decent pizza in Paris.

I have a visceral attachment to New York, and the reasons keep coming to me in a jumble that’s hard to put into words. First, it’s a place you’ve got to earn. It’s aggressive, it’s uncomfortable, it’s dirty and noisy. It’s not nice; it’s not even pretty; it can be incredibly lonely. Getting to feel at ease in this environment – in fact, feeling at home – takes time and a thick skin. New York is all tough love – it takes from you and only then does it give back.

Second, it’s about freedom and diversity. It’s a cliché: Manhattan as a playground for the dreamers, the ambitious, and a home for the misfits. But it’s still true. Nobody cares where you came from: everyone is from somewhere else; everyone has an accent. For someone who comes from a dual culture like I do, it’s a blessed relief from old identity issues. Nobody cares about your past: the only thing that matters is what you’re doing with your present. It’s wildly liberating. And the result is it encourages you to become yourself – to grow into yourself – in a way nothing else does. Oh, and nobody cares what you’re wearing. That’s something you notice right away coming from Paris: everyone doesn’t look the same, and my god – how refreshing. Parisians have style; we can tie our scarf just so; but we don’t have that – that chutzpah!

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a Paris native, and I love my hometown, too. It’s beautiful, it’s refined, and it’s extremely civilized, with top-notch public schools, excellent health care, an unmatched cultural scene, a very high quality of life. It’s a constant delight of the senses – and at CheckYourRoom, we love exploring the highlights. We look for the hidden treasures (there are many) and the Parisian pleasures. But here’s the rub: coming from a place of such patrician good taste and dolce vita ways, New York is an explosion of energy and excess; its grittiness, its youth, sometimes its vulgarity are exhilarating. The Dionysus to our Apollo.

And lastly, there are all the little reasons, the little pleasures that are typical of the city. The cheap champagne cocktails: bellinis, or bubbly with bitters and a sugar cube. Swiping my Metrocard on the subway. Running across the platform to grab the express train when it pulls in at just the right time. Drinking non-French wines: as a principle I never drink French wine when in New York. I go for the Californian, the Chilean. The annoying wait at every good restaurant – and how easy it is to put your name down and go wait at a nearby bar. Pizza by the slice – folding it length-wise and eating while walking. The food carts – how you can get every sort of lunch imaginable from, well, a truck. The casualness – how people walk around in flip-flops, even though the streets are filthy. The cupcake craze – I love the Betty Crocker look, I love the sugar shock. I love the cupcake truck. The Strand bookstore. The children sledding in the parks in January. The madness at Fairway on Sunday evenings. The Hungarian pastry shop uptown and its hot insomniacs with Jesus complexes. The view from Brooklyn. The god-awful hazelnut coffee you can get at random bodegas. Speaking of coffee, those Greek “we are happy to serve you” blue paper cups. The Edward Hoppers at the Whitney. The crowd of beautiful young people on the L train Friday nights – because Williamsburg is where it’s at, today. Tomorrow, it’ll be someplace else. The young and cool will get nudged out, and they’ll go looking for New York somewhere else in New York.
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This post was written by Loulou of CheckYourRoom and CheckYourCity: "Parisian by birth, New Yorker at heart, definite city girl. I can’t tell an oak tree from a birch tree, but I know my way through urban jungles! Journalist, dreamer and thrill-seeker – I love travel, long dinners, moody cities and telling stories..."

This week I saw this tshirt linked by someone I follow on twitter and really loved it. A few days later, while browsing CB2 online, I saw this maze and a lightbulb went off...

I'm so not artistic, but you get the idea, right? I have plenty of white paint and some artsy friends, so I would like to eventually make the arrow and heart more pronounced, but I couldn't wait to get it up on the wall!

My bedroom is still super empty, but this is a step in the right direction. I'm aiming for a Alice in Wonderland/whimsical vibe... furniture is so darn expensive and it's just me here, so hauling furniture off the sidewalk isn't always an option either. I'll get there, slow but sure!