little wedding in the big (windy) city

My goodness, all five of the Bockheim girls are now married!


The year we celebrated two weddings within just a few months. I'm impressed at how each wedding expressed the unique personality of the couple.

Christy and Kurt asked me to do their wedding invitations, which was easy because they already had a bicycle theme in mind. After a quick tutorial from Heather on illustrating in Photoshop, I was on my way.




Oh yes, we'll be there!

(photo by my sister)

And the post-wedding getaway? On a tandem bicycle, of course!

last week

Here is a smattering of photos taken over the past couple of weeks. Nothing in particular, but some fun things I thought I would share.

We had the pleasure of meeting some of our cross-town neighbors in the West Village at a giant block party last weekend. The event was based on the Palios of Siena and was organized to raise money for historically-based streetlights on the block.


Tables were stretched the full length of the street, and what a stylish bunch of New Yorkers!



The kids got busy playing bocce while the grown-ups chatted and ate terrific foods prepared by the neighborhood restaurants.


And here's proof that the Jump Rope Dress can also climb walls (but not very high--see that worried look?)...

...and waits nicely for the bus downtown. (No, she doesn't usually wear silk to school. Believe me.)



And I want to give a public shout-out to my former studio mate and dear friend Michelle, who worked tirelessly for the past two or three years to launch her Sea Warriors exhibit at the South Street Seaport downtown. See her beautiful flags on the lampposts?

Here's Tsia showing you her matching T-shirt,

and here's Michelle at the opening. I love the hem of her apron dress!


Another of her flags. I'm so proud of her!


If you ever visit the Seaport, you must see Bowne and Co. Stationers, where the curator/printer will demonstrate letterpress for you and you can purchase beautiful samples of his work.



After the opening we were treated to a special after-party in this fascinating building. (Our apartment complex doesn't exactly have an over-sized chandelier in the entry-way like this, you might be surprised to learn...)

We headed to the roof of the building where we could look up through the tree-top garden to the buildings of Wall Street overhead.



I especially liked the outdoor fireplace, which was perfect on a cool evening.


But what's that security block on the street below us?


Why, it's the New York Stock Exchange, just across the street! What a frieze for an eye-level view, no?


Back soon.

playdate

I think I cut out this pattern just before Heather and I left for her Vermont sewing workshop in July. It's finally finished, after snatching a little sewing time here and there when I passed "the workroom," as we facetiously call our converted closet.

This is an Oliver + S Playdate Dress, shortened and with the pockets removed to be a tunic for Tsia. I made it from chambray (what's not to love about chambray?), and cut the ruffles on the bias so they would fray a bit and didn't need to be finished on the edges. She loves it!



Can anyone tell me where to purchase girl's bobby socks? We only seem to find sporty socks in the shops around us, and we really need something that looks better with her school shoes.

Also, I was thinking about why I haven't been blogging much. I think it's mostly because I'm tired of lugging the giant camera everywhere. But Tsia's little digital camera (it's a regular digital camera, but we purchased it mostly for her) just isn't doing it for me. After two shots (that photo at the top is one of the shots) I decided I'd better start carrying the big camera, after all. I'll work on it.

the wilds of industrial Brooklyn

Take a little walk with me, will you? I want to show you what I found on my four-block walk from the studio to the subway this evening.

First of all, say hi to a pair of our resident pigeons. They live in the space between our building and the next, so when it's quiet and the windows are open you can hear them cooing. Ever wonder where baby pigeons come from? I'm pretty sure they all originate from the canyon just below our windows.


Ok, do you see this building on the corner, with all the weeds growing up around it? Some of the weeds are taller than me. But look closely at the weeds behind the trash by the stairs. Look closer. What are those green and red things? Berries of some sort?




They're tomatoes! I nearly fell over when I noticed this last week. Remember, we're in industrial Brooklyn. Warehouses and factories, not gardens. This makes me so happy, to think that a tomato plant survived the summer in a crack of the cement! And look at all those green tomatoes! They're ripening, a few every day. I wonder if someone eats them for lunch? I'm not quite ready for that. Maybe it's the trash surrounding them that throws me off. Or the not knowing just what sort of soil is hiding in that crack.

So now let's do a little wildlife tracking, shall we? Just around the corner are some footprints that were left in the wet cement. I don't think they're real pigeon prints, but we can pretend, can't we? Just to add to the wilderness atmosphere of the evening, with the sun setting behind us?



And I saved the best for last. Remember our greenhouse bicycle friend? Well, I've intentionally NOT tracked down the mysterious owner, since I actually preferred to make up my own stories and was concerned that the truth would be a bit disappointing. But here is our beloved garden bike, being transformed from pink to yellow courtesy of TWO biker-gardeners! And the real story is at least as good as my imaginary ones: this couple gives "hidden garden" tours (maybe my weedy tomato plant has other fans?), they have a roof garden nearby, and they maintain a wagon garden at a gallery just around the corner. The basil harvest is in ("We love basil," they told me), and the bike will be going away for a while. But in the meantime perhaps I'll pay a visit to the wagon garden.

remembering

and feeling grateful that the future hasn't been as bleak as it seemed. I love New York.

first day

Isn't it fun (and shocking!) to see, from year to year, how they grow? Every year we take a first-day-of-school photo. And yes, I cried this morning as we brought S for her first day of pre-K. Even though she's been going to preschool for 1 1/2 years now, I got all emotional. Couldn't help it.


And I almost convinced her to wear her new raincoat, but she's still rather attached to this jacket from her older cousin who she deeply admires.

So anyway, this is how the world really works when you're four. According to Tsia:

• after it lands, someone needs to wipe all the clouds off an airplane.

• seeing eye dogs drive cars for blind people, who sit in the back seat (like a taxi, I presume?) while the dog takes them where they need to go.

• A make-up swim class means that everyone puts on makeup before they go swimming.

Tell me your child's world view. I know you've got some good ones.

A Little Inspiration from Claire McCardell

Just a quick stop to share with you this book about one of my favorite designers.

I admire Claire McCardell for her innovative approach to clothing. She elevated "common" fabrics like denim and canvas, which had previously been used only for work clothes, and constructed elegant, fashion-conscious clothing from them. She designed for the American woman, and her clothing was modern and flattering while still enabling the wearer to move freely at a time when most designers still relied on rigid structure to their clothing, which restricted movement. Claire McCardell's clothing was made for every-day wear, and she invented sportswear as we know it. As a result of her innovative work, I think she drew many people's attention away from the big-name European designers of her time and helped to establish the idea of American fashion.





Beautiful designs, yes? I found a Claire McCardell dress in a vintage clothing store a few years ago. It needs a little work, but one of these days I'm going to wear it proudly. It's a timeless and interesting design, which is something I think fashion is lacking today.