better late than never!

I only managed to get a few Christmas cards in the mail this year, and just barely pulled that off. But I'm choosing to believe that the old adage still rings true,

better late than never!

Merry Christmas, blog friends!

a pettus christmas

After watching the Apple Christmas commercial and feeling nostalgic for family Christmases past, I was inspired to make a little holiday video of my own so I could remember the craze and joy of the day this year. I'd say this captures a little bit of both—but who says there's a difference?

Enjoy and Merry Christmas, a day late!

Christmas 2013 from Perryn Pettus on Vimeo.

christmastime in the city

It really doesn't get much better than this. Christmas trees for sale on every corner? I can't think of anything more festive.

visions of sugar plums

This weekend I took a special little friend of mine to see the Nutcracker. We sat front & center on the first row and could see every detail, every smile, every wave of the dancers.

At the end of the Sugar Plum Fairy's dance, the woman next to Grace leaned over to her.

She said, "The Sugar Plum Fairy just blew you a kiss!"

Grace leaned over and quietly said–without taking her eyes off Jenny, "Yea. That's my mommy."

tis the season

Indeed it is. 

Happy Christmas from my home to yours! 

Can you tell I really got in the spirit last night?

banksy: tribeca

Somehow I ended up seeing two Banksys in one day (which made for a very happy girl). The sad part was that the Tribeca Banksy had already been vandalized by the time I got there only a few days later.

I had high hopes that this one would remain intact and unscathed since it was a tribute to 9/11. The ironic thing is that the art itself wasn't damaged, but the sheet of glass installed to protect the art was shattered. I was thrilled, nonetheless, to see two of his works of art, and only wish I had caught him when he set up shop in Central Park to score one for my living room wall-o-random.

Maybe I'll catch you next time, Banksy. Until then, keep inspiring the artists.

banksy: uws

I fought my way to the front for this head-on photo.

To find my first Banksy, I went on a brief excursion from the Upper East Side to the Upper West Side (which is practically no excursion at all). It was a crowded mess with people swarming the art, adding props to the scene, taking photos with their face somehow incorporated in the stencil, but I was glad to experience Banksy's NYC madness. Plus it's a pretty cool stencil, if you ask me.

finding my banksy

When Banksy took New York by storm during the month of October, I jumped right on the bandwagon. I followed his instagram account so that I could know the minute his new art was revealed each day, and much to my excitement, I was able to track down a couple of his pieces in some of the neighborhoods I frequent.

While making my way to the first Banksy sighting, I made this video that literally tracked my steps; and if you look closely I'm pretty sure you'll see that there's an extra pep in my step as I make my way across Central Park and the New York City terrain. I sure am glad I got a small taste of Banksy during his New York City jaunt. You're welcome here anytime, Mr. Banksy.

on wisdom

"Wisdom is knowing what to do with the 80% of life where moral rules don't apply."

-Tim Keller

hi, from beacon

Last week I went on a quick trip to Beacon, NY for a staff retreat at work. If you haven't been there, you should definitely make the effort to go. And make sure to check out the Beacon Roundhouse. Because there is a waterfall there, and you will feel like you are a million miles from the city.

last week I moved.

Last week I moved and this was my view for pretty much the first 30 minutes. And then things got crazy. And have continued to be crazy ever since. But I'm finally beginning to resurface amidst the sea of boxes and screwdrivers and hammers & here's hoping to some normalcy again very soon...

cheeky sandwiches

Brendan's been raving for a month now about this new lunch spot he found: Cheeky. When Brendan raves, I'm always game to try it because he knows good food, and I like good food.

And he rarely ever raves.

I'm here to say: Brendan's raving is always worth the hype—despite having to trek to a restaurant in the pits of Chinatown. This was one of the best chicken sandwiches I've had—ever. The chicken was perfectly cooked with the perfect flavor (which I often have trouble finding in NYC) and the biscuit was unbelievably tasty, buttered, and not the least bit overcooked (also, a feat to find in NYC). I was nervous about the "cole slaw" and the gravy on the sandwich. I like gravy, but only in its proper place and on a lunch sandwich isn't the place for me. But for the fellow naysayers: I stand corrected, this gravy added the perfect touch. I could have eaten two or three of these sandwiches...but, I was able to exert some self control (and have bread pudding for dessert instead.) To top it off, all of this heavenly goodness—or, the sandwich at least—for $6.50.

Take my word for it, you can't beat that.

summer daze

I think I'm in the mood for a slurpee (again) today. Seeing this picture from last week reminded me.

my day,

consisted mostly of this: 

staring at doors and people close to the royal baby, but not the royal baby.

until I went to lunch, rushed back to get to my desk, found a coworker using my computer while this was happening. I literally missed it by 4 minutes.

Thanks to Kyo for sending this screenshot. Almost as good as seeing it myself... 

Now back to regularly scheduled life. Much less interesting, much more productive.

a book to read

If you're looking for a good summer read, this should be on the top of your list: Rules of Civility.

It's a beautifully written novel about New York in the 1930s. The story follows two girls—who live as roommates—on their journey of making life work in this big city (but with much more drama and interest, of course, than just watching how they "make it work"). It's funny to see how all these years later, some things never change in the Big Apple. And never will,  I suppose.

(...Keep this on the quiet, and I'm not making any promises, but I heard the author speak last fall and he said there may be a movie deal in the works for this book! All fingers crossed.)

taylor swift's photo

If you follow Taylor Swift on twitter (who doesn't, right?), you may have seen this picture in a tweet from her on Saturday night.

This is a photo from her concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

I —along with 55,000 other teenyboppers—was there!!! It was a wonderfully entertaining time, and I have more pictures to share. But thanks to TSwift for kindly letting me use her photo for now.

hi, from my giant black hole

Does it look like I'm in a black hole in this picture? That's the look I was going for.

Er, by black hole—I'm referring to the giant time suck that has swallowed me in my entirety and kept me from doing anything on this blog in, well, months. But let's call a spade a spade: some of the space away from this page was much needed and much welcomed. Now that a lot of my day job is consumed by social media, facebook, blogs, blogs, writing, editing, reading, blogs, twitter, and more social media....I decided looking at one more blog when I got home from work might send me over the edge. But now I'm feeling better about the prospect of devoting some time to this again, 

so...welcome back & here goes...

pumpcast news

There is something so inspiring about watching people do what they love - completely uninhibited.



...so much so, that I just choked up a little watching these people interviewed on the Today Show.

Gah, I've gotta get a grip. But just watch for yourself....

lives of new yorkers

Last night as I was walking home I overheard a conversation between a homeless man (or perhaps just a beggar) and a passerby leaving the grocery store. The beggar was asking for money for food as a man with the grocery bag passed by him. The man with the one bag stopped suddenly, turned around, and said something I found so fascinating and have never heard before.

"You know what, this loaf of bread was bought with food stamps. I have $ 0.78 to my name, so I'm not sure I can share anything with you tonight."

Everyone has a story. Big or small, it's always there. I like having the chance to see glimpses of those stories, especially when on first glance I erroneously perceive so many to be just like me.

hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

...in none other than Times Square.

NY ❤ Boston

I've been a part of this great city for almost five years now, and I've seen tragedies big and small strike during my time here. And every time - without fail - the people of this city have come together as one. It's spectacular, really. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else before.

A city of 8 million people, united together. For our city and other cities alike.

conversation over dinner last night

Me: do you want one of these chicken fingers? I can't eat them all.

JR: sure. (takes bite) Why aren't there any bones in this?

Me: because it's a chicken finger...?

JR: what's a chicken finger?

three new yorks

Couldn't have said it better myself. If you've spent time here, you know this description to be true.

“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh yes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.”

-EB White, "Here Is New York"

hi, from times square!

Can you find Rose Lynn, Mary Pat, and me in this picture? We were right in the heart of Times Square yesterday, but totally hidden. It even took me a while to find myself.

and hi, from panna 2!

We couldn't let Mary Pat visit the Big Apple without having her experience the best & craziest Indian restaurant in the whole city, Panna 2: Where Chili Pepper Lights Meet Christmas Tree Lights.

hi, from the anthropologie dressing room!

I won't tell you how much time we spent in here yesterday with our deliberations but... 

we were all happy so that's what matters.

an elevator pitch

This week I rode the elevator with Tim Keller. We were both going to the 11th floor, but it stopped on the 10th floor instead of our intended destination. Tim looked over at me, smiled, and said,

"All have fallen short."

j-j-j-jumping for joy

Because these two are in a cab on the way to my apartment right now!!!

twinkies!

A couple weeks ago I showed up to church...only to find that I was wearing the exact same outfit as a good friend's baby son. Yes, son. We should be in US Weekly for a Who Wore It Best piece. 

eggs & matching

For easter, Brendan and I made our way out to Brooklyn to have brunch with some friends. One of our little friends who attended the brunch is an adorable two-year-old girl with a bright personality. She gleefully passed out these dyed easter eggs (that she dyed) for each of us - which happened to match everyone's clothes! I see lots of art, color wheels, and design in her future...

my experience with Good Friday

With most of the churches I attended growing up, I never remember much emphasis on Good Friday. I hadn't been to Good Friday church services, but maybe it was talked about during the Easter season. Then, I moved to New York and my church had an entire Holy Week series of events. It was all new to me, but I jumped right in on the festivities. I remember the first year attending a Good Friday service on Friday night after work and thinking about what an incredible day it was. Dark and sad, yet light and joyous.

During my second Easter in New York I was talking with a coworker who admittedly put little to no value on christianity. He was a fashion designer who somehow ended up as an interiors intern at an architecture firm. But despite having a very low interest in christianity, he was always open to talking about it.

We would sometimes go to lunch together for udon and as we were talking about christianity, I pondered out loud, "I wonder why it's called good Friday if Jesus died on that day?" He looked straight at me and said, "because Jesus died to save the world from their sins on Good Friday."

Through the words of an unlikely source, I have never again wondered or forgotten what makes Good Friday so good.

bloggity backup

I've been asked twice if I gave up blogging for Lent. No, I didn't. But I did give up blogging for sleep.

On that note, I'm not sure if I slept away the month of March or if I was so busy that March flew by and sleep was few and far between? Either way, I'm hoping to make a fresh start in April. I've been here patiently waiting for spring to arrive and I think it may allllmost be here. Almost.

Because I can assure you there's nothing fun about blogging the details of a stubborn, unwanted winter sticking around into the spring months. So I chose to spare you the ugly details, and I'll just skip right to spring when it arrives. Yet again, as long as my sleep isn't in jeopardy.

balloons that bring hope, spring will come again.

an ode to new york

"Ode to New York" from the Huffington Post by Laura Steiner (This is a complete re-post of her article on HuffPo.)

I read this piece earlier in the week and immediately had tears filling my eyes. It's something I've never really been able to put my finger on until now and have definitely never been able to articulate the feeling in words like this. If you've ever lived in this concrete jungle, you will understand. -pp

"To the city you're always yearning,

New York is tackiness on the gravel of the meatpacking district, it's cool kidz on Bedford, it's yuppie parents in Prospect Park, it's characters out of Woody Allen's imagination in the Upper West Side, it's Dominicans in Washington Heights, it's Hasidic Jews in Borough Park, it's Asian groceries and Polish bars, it's Italians -- the real ones and the Jersey Shore ones -- it's movie stars, fashion stars, homeless, junkies, it's tourists, it's commuters, it's generations of New Yorkers.

New York is neighborhood. It's having your deli, your coffee place, your laundromat and, if you're lucky, your late night eatery in one block. It's drinking coffee on your stoop.

New York is museums, it's street art, it's music, it's theater. It's being constantly nostalgic about past decades. E.B. White said it best in his book Here is New York when he wrote, "In New York you feel the vibrations of great times." New York is Patti Smith, Henry James, Allen Ginsberg, Lou Reed, Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Jackson Pollock, Frank O'Hara, Hector Lavoe, Washington Irving, Andy Warhol, Billie Holiday, Jack Kerouac, The Ramones and other greatest.

New York is having everything to chose from and never having enough time to do anything. It's being surrounded by people and feeling lonely. It's also finding out you don't need other people's company, you just need the city.

New York is where the eastern European deli owner will never say a word to you despite the fact that you buy coffee from him every morning. But it's where the eastern European deli owner will one day tell you "Hey, it's nice to see you again" after you've moved out of your neighborhood and haven't seen him in six months. After that, every coffee in the world will be tasteless to you.

New York is where you'll probably live at least once (if not more) in an apartment where you'll have occasional visits from mice. But New York is where you'll learn to overlook the rodent situation because it's never about the mice, it's about the fact that you managed to score an apartment in a first floor walk up with windows and exposed brick in a prime location.

New York is finding comfort in the small things, like knowing your neighbor never picks up his subscription to the Sunday New York Times.

One day, New York will be the place you're no longer in, but the place you won't seem to be able to shake off your head.

New York is the place you'll try to explain to everyone back home to no avail. You'll find there aren't enough words in your vocabulary. New York is not something you see, it's something you feel. It's a state of mind and hence hard to describe.

You'll go back home and reminisce about the city. People will tell you New York will always be there. But you know better. The city will withstand -- as it always has -- but the city you left behind, you left for good. The city won't miss you because you were merely a spec in its being and when you go back (and you will since the city is always calling) you'll go back to a different New York. The city never stops and already, only a few months later, you know it's changed: that's it's nature. New York is unapologetic and doesn't wait for anyone. It's a city that creates and a city that happens. New York doesn't need anything or anyone and perhaps that's exactly why you still crave it so much, because of it's idyllic unattainability."

my trip to the museum

Aren't these beautiful?! I can't believe I've missed out on 4 years of visits to the MoMa!

clockwise: [1] Van Gogh  |  [2] Monet  |  [3] Warhol  |   [4] Matisse

long awaited

In almost five years in New York City, I've never even been to the MoMa! My sister-in-law vowed that she was going to pick a day to come into the city and that I "must" join her for a visit (although she's been multiple times and lives in New Jersey). Annnd, today is the day: I'm meeting her and a few of her friends there this afternoon. I just checked out the website to see what is on exhibit right now and I'm even more excited.

Especially to see this:

a breath of fresh air

Yesterday was a nice little respite from the cold, snowy days we've been seeing lately. Besides my heater running at 98 degrees without the capability to turn it off or down, I couldn't complain. It was so lovely being able to work with my window open and breathe in nice warm-ish air. While I've thoroughly enjoyed the snow over the last couple of weeks, spring can never arrive too early!

hearts!

and, this melts my heart...

Hearts (The Valentines Day Video) from Moist Creation on Vimeo.

the final say

And, ta-daaa, the finished products for my Valentine photo-shooting escapades:

(oh, and this one that I posted this morning.)

Finished product (1)!

City-scene finished product (2)!

my valentine photo outing

I don't know what it is about Valentine's Day, but I love the colors, the sentiment, the candy...the everything. And, I may have gotten a little out of hand this year with my Valentine's cards. (Although, I've been known to get out of hand before with Valentine's Day...like the time I made a life-size cutout of myself with a sign reading "Hug Me.")

But boy did I have fun with this project. I spent the whole snowed-in weekend planning this out. I had Brendan agree (before telling him what my plan was) to be my photographer; I went nuts on the glitter paper at Michael's for these cutouts; and then I spent the better part of an hour trying to decide exactly where I should take these pictures, while even trying out a few different backgrounds and landscapes. In 20 degree weather.

It was pretty much a blast and I couldn't wait to share these cards with my family and friends. Since it's 2013, I decided to settle for an e-version instead of snail mail and send the cards via email. I also decided to share some of my outtakes here...gulp.

First trial with background. No good.

Second background trial. Much better!

More difficult than it looks to hold all of these in place.

City-scene. This was my photographer's recommendation!

Last shot of the day.

sending love your way today!

Wishing you a very Happy Valentine's Day today!

*photos courtesy of a gracious, creative, and very patient boyfriend

and here's to you, mrs. robinson

In order to brighten up the dreary winter days in New York City, I like to do things like paint my fingernails various shades of neon. Actually, I like to do that anytime of year but especially in the winter.

So, what's the color of the week?

This week it's Color Club "Mrs. Robinson", and it's even better and brighter in person.

Plus, I sing the song Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel a little bit every time I look down at my hands. Which is also a natural day-brightener.

a few more (& the last of) snow pics

I've probably overdone it with Nemo nor'easter pictures from the weekend, but I really loved taking them and that made it hard not to share them here on the ole blogaroo.

It's no secret that I'm no big fan of winter, but I do love a beautiful snowstorm occasionally, especially after the holidays when there isn't much else to look forward to except plunging temperatures. The white stuff makes the bleak winter months a little more bearable and exciting.

shin-deep in snow.

somewhere...under there...there's a car parked.

yes, this woman is skiing. or, trying to ski.

hi, frosty!

sheep meadow.

traipsing.

I mentioned this already, but I went traipsing through the park in the knee deep snow yesterday, and it was terrific. B and I went off the beaten path and tried to make our own tracks in the snow (since all of the high-profile fields in Central Park were already packed with people). We were only mildly successful on new tracks, but, oh my, it was nice to get outside in the fresh, crisp snowy air.