HELLO THERE, MY INTERNET FAMILY!!! <3
Guess what, guess what, guess WHAT~!!! As you might have noticed by my new title, I went to New York City this past weekend! We left Thursday at a bright and early 6:30 AM !!! 7 1/2 to eight hours of a bus ride, and 2 1/2 hour intervals of rest stops later we were in the big apple <3 (Wow, that was kinda wordy)
Anyways, the trip was amazing. We stayed from Thursday to Sunday and got back at, surprisingly, 8:30 Sunday night. A lot earlier than we'd anticipated. It was a great trip though, and it didn't rain like we thought it would. In fact, the weather was perfect the entire time. Blue skies, sunlight, and a faint breeze. Things there were beginning to bloom in Central Park, too, which I thought was amazing. Also, I'm pleased to report, the food was an experience you will NEVER find anywhere but New York City. The slices of pizza-New YORK pizza-were enormous and topped with so much stuff. Nothing can beat it-nothing. Even the street vendors-'Street Meat' as New Yorkers call it-were delicious. I had a chicken kuhbob (I don't know how to spell that). Anyways, it was chicken on a stick, cooked in BBQ sauce. Literally cooked into the chicken <3 And the guy making it had such a beautiful accent. I think he was from a Middle Eastern country. I can't be sure, but it was awesome. I've never had that on a hotdog bun though, so it was an experience. I just know that I survived on NY pizza most of my trip. It was great. I also tried Starbucks for the first time there and went three whole times... Just remember to ask for cream and sugar specifically in your iced coffees, guys-or it'll be a tad bitter...and really strong. Even that was good though.
Anyways, as much as I'd love to rant about the delicious food there, I can't. I think I'd run out of room and you guys would get bored. Anyways, shopping isn't quite my thing, so I was pretty impressed by China Town's vendors. First time buying a scarf. I got a green one to go with my newly died red hair, and a purple one just 'cause I could. I also got a fedora-my THIRD fedora, might I add. I also got two Chinese style fans. Both are black, but one is accented blue, the other pink. I was trying to get them to match my scarves, but I was a bit off, huh? And that was my Thursday adventure-besides going to the New York bakeries in Little Italy. I love their Eclairs and Coffee. I wanted to try a canoli, but I didn't have much time. The eclair was great though. Soo~ good. That night we went to an authentic Italian family-owned restaurant. We got Gelato afterwards <3
Friday, lovelies, Friday! That was where it was at for our marketing and design class on this trip. We got to go to our marketing meetings Friday. We were split into three separate groups. One went to B-Reel-Where I went-then Rime (A shoe store owned by a female entrepreneur). I didn't get to go to that one, but I guess she used to run the shoe department at Macy's, which is pretty awesome. She's got a store in NY and in Brooklyn, I think. I can't remember the third place, but I think it was a marketing firm-which is pretty cool for the marketing kids in our little group.
Anyways, on to talking about my design trip <3 The four people that met with us were really amazing. One was the Art Director for the place, one was an intern from, get this, Sweden! Then there was another guy, and another girl who were really cool. I can't remember their job titles, but they gave me a lot of great info. I was impressed at the office space itself, because it's originally just plan white, black, and silver-some glass. The people working there added their own creative touches, though. I saw toys everywhere, they had an actual dog-His name was Rio-and I even saw a stuffed bunny. They had a beer pong table, too. It's a testament to how creativity in the workplace affects the work. They also have a great view of the city.
I was kind of depressed, though, because no one else seemed to want to ask questions, and I felt really nervous raising my hand. I was in the back corner, but I did get to ask a lot of great questions about what they did, how they worked. They actually worked on a lot of projects for Google, which was really cool. If you've heard of a thing called 'Web Lab'...Yeah, that's them. They have an office in NY, London, and somewhere else, I think. Anyways, it was really cool.
Anyways, later that night we went to see Spider-Man the musical. Now, before you guys laugh at me or yell at me... I don't like Spider-Man. He's a guy in tights flying from webs. It's something Batman can do with his gadgets, only Batman can do so much more. I did enjoy that they tried to make it seem like a comic-book with drop down panels and animated art. For what it was, it was pretty good. Did I mention I got to go to Cold Stone Creamery before the show? <3
I did get sick, though. I sat down at the very back of the theater (we were put in the back row because we bought our tickets last minute) and the world started to sway and spin. I think it was because of the bus's constant start-stop in traffic, plus looking down at the stage from that height (I'm partially blind, so it made it worse). By the time they started singing, I had to go to the bathroom and sit on the floor. I was shaking and that dizzy. It's really weird though, because I got back by intermission, got a cup of water, and I felt immediately better a fifth of the way into the second half of the show. It was kind of scary, how quickly I got over it. After that I was exhausted, though. I slept so good!
Saturday morning we set out early, went to Hobokan NJ, and stood in the shadow of tall buildings for forty or so minutes to get into Carlo's Bake Shop, the shop from 'Cake Boss', if anyone's confused. It wasn't much to see, really, and NJ people are kind of snotty. Some chick walked by and turned to us. She said "Well, if you live here you could go right in." ...And I almost strangled her with the straps of her own bag. It ticked me off a lot. But the chocolate truffle cake was amazing <3 And the prices wee really reasonable-especially for their cupcakes. I just figured I'd get a tiny cake just to get it. It did cut into our shopping time, though, so that kinda sucked-though I didn't really want to visit any of the shops. Sight seeing was enough for me. I absolutely loved NY.
Then we went to the World Trade Center Memorial. It was probably the most amazing thing I've ever seen...and also the saddest. In all seriousness, guys, the energy there was different. It was a mixture of deep sorrow, reverent awe, and an unending hope. The memorial itself was amazing. They used the perimeter of both buildings to build fountains. Around the fountains, the names of those lost in the disaster are deeply engraved in what I think is granite or marble-ensuring they remain for a very, very long time. In that same memorial, they had the survivor tree. It was a bit surreal, because not only did it survive the towers collapsing, but it survived being hit by lightning. It's barely rooted and they're doing their best to hold it up as is.
Then there was the Church. Among all of the buildings around the memorial, every one of them was destroyed. The church, however, suffered no damage-not even a broken window. Whether you believe in God or not, it's still really strange, and a bit frightening. It's also where George Washington went to pray-also something to note. I was sad I didn't get to go in and look around, but the two other girls in my group were being all "We already went," and so we didn't have time to check it out. It looked so cool from the outside though.
Later Saturday, we rode the Ferry from NY to Staten Island and back since we couldn't go to the Statue of Liberty. We got pretty close, though. I got a few pictures of her. Hurricane Sandy sorta knocked out the docks to the statue, so it sucked. It's fun to know that, for a lot of people, that's the equivalent to a city bus-that's their transportation. Just like the Subways, though we didn't even attempt those. That'd be kinda scary. Anyways, we got back from the Ferry ride and the dive-bombing Seagulls and walked the Brooklyn Bridge-something I also got a lot of pictures of. The view was amazing, and it was sunset-ish as we went across-again with great weather. I loved it. It's definitely a cultural taste of NY. Thankfully I didn't get run over by cyclists. I had my cane with me, and it kept clattering on the wooden planks of the foot path across the bridge. It was fun though.
Later that night we went to a Dallas BBQ. Great food-amazing food! I was actually kind of surprised at how good it was. We got literal fall-off-the-bone ribs, a huge thing of chicken, a big piece of sweet cornbread, and a ton of fries with ketchup <3 Amazing food, and they had a bathroom, which is always a plus in NY. Again, my group kept complaining about things, which kinda was getting on my nerves. It didn't bother me much, though, and I had a great time.
Sunday... I got homesick for NY because I knew we were leaving. We left the Hotel Marriott at 8:30 or so. We went to Central Park and took carriage rides. It was amazing, because my horses name was Blacky, and my carriage was black with cool, elegant blue accents and bells. Again, this was great weather. I can't recall the guy's name, but he was amazing as well-really friendly. He offered to take our picture on the carriage.
After that we got off and went to check out the shops for the little while we had. We were mostly on 5th Ave. and around there. We visited the Apple Store, which was actually really cool because it's designed underground and looks deliberately simple. One of my group needed a phone cord, which kinda got on my nerves, because that cut into the time we had to sightsee, but I couldn't leave my group and go off on my own o explore. We left there and they wanted to go further than fifth ave because the same store on forty-something street opened earlier than the one near fifth. The teachers told us not to go that far, though, because they thought we'd be late, and they didn't seem to care about that. We moved towards that street but stopped at American Girl-another cool store-to use the bathroom. After that we stopped into the build a bear workshop.
That place is amazing. It was two stories and super-colorful. I got a light tan bunny and dressed him in a tux. His name is Allistair, and he's my baby-bunny. I got him a birth certificate and everything. Then we stopped for another beautiful slice of New York pizza and booked it back towards fifth and towards the closer Urban Outfitter that supposedly opened at 11:00 but really opened at 10:00. We spent a bit of time in there and I didn't bother getting anything. It's all really crappy clothes in there anyways. Old lady-ish.
We left there and booked it back to where we were supposed to meet and we were a half hour early-which was a huge relief. After everyone got back we boarded the bus and left the city. From there it as a reverse of the first trip, only we went to Cracker Barrel-one of my favorite restaurants and yet another thing my group complained about. I bought my mommy a candle <3 Redwood!! She loved it. We ended up getting home at 8:30, and my mommy helped me get my stuff home. From there I fell asleep cause I was beat.
...
Anyways, now that I've old you guys all the good stuff, there were a few things I didn't like-not many though.
First, a lot of people were complaining about the shopping time limit. Our wait at Carlos Bake Shop cut into that, so it's not the teachers' fault. I didn't like hearing them complain every five minutes.
Second, my group kept complaining about everything. They kept saying they'd already been to NY, and that it was boring. For me, I wanted to sightsee because I'd never been there before. They kept fighting and arguing with each other, though, and we didn't go into some things because, again, I can't just leave them to go off on my own. They also kept walking and didn't wait for me to cross the crosswalk a lot of the times. And I already told you about the Urban Outfitter experience. I wanted to go to Uni'clo, a Japanese owned clothing store that isn't in Ohio, but Urban Outfitters was-and we ended up going to Outfitter instead. And then they complained about Carlos Bake Shop, Cracker Barrel, the Italian Restaurant, etc.
...
Over all, though, it was pretty fun. I enjoyed it. I can't really drive anywhere on my own, so New York's easy-to travel streets were really fun for me. I also stayed caffeinated a lot, which came in handy. I think I met a lot of amazing people on my trip-got to know others who were in my class. Before then, I'd not really connected to them and let my hair down. I've been nervous this entire year. This trip was almost like a bonding experience for us all, as well as a vacation/relaxation weekend. I loved it.
Well, I gotta bounce, guys. My eyes feel sleepy, and I want to take a nap. I can't, so I think I'll go draw instead. I've gotten most of my makeup work done for school already, so I don' have to worry.
Weeee~~~<3
Well, here it is. This was from the beginning of the year. It's my design product menu!!! It looks like crap, and I started by using a lot of pink...a lot. A. Lot. It looked cool at the time, but not now. So, instead, I've branched out into other colors, styles, etc. I've gotten better, I know that much!
Tadaa~ This is my Christmas card!!! I loved how it came out, no joke. I might have made the red too dark, though, but I'd made it a JPEG and flattened the layers, so I couldn't change that layer on the gift box. Still, I love it!
Ok, so this isn't at all my best, but I took photography classes early last year, and I thought a vivid picture would look good. Still, this was also done in five minutes from a picture on my ipod, so I'm not surprised it came out this way, but I'm updating everything I've done, so here it is!!!! Pretty flower from last year!!!
Alright, so this is sorta bright... I just figured I'd do something for spring. It really isn't a project from school, but I love Illustrator far more than photoshop any day day of the week. Look how pretty it is, though I still think the yellow flowers are a bit off colored. I loved adding the bunny though!!! Enjoy!!!