New York was awesome.

Quick recap of my trip to New York -

Monday night, we got to the Algonquin Hotel in time to see Talk of the Town - a little musical about the hotel's history. It was cool and covered important highlights over a ten year span. It was kind of like a dinner theatre too because we had dinner while we watched. It was a great start to the week. Linda stole a piece of silverware for me!

Tuesday, we went up to the Frick museum - old rich steel magnate who collected art and had his home built as a museum to display his collection. Afterward, Linda had plans with her girlfriends so I window-shopped my way over to the Whitney only to find it was closed. The restaurant was open so I had lunch there - yummy chicken pot pie that really hit the spot on a cold day. On my way out I stumbled upon an Art-o-Mat. I had read about these before and was so excited to see one! I bought my token, inserted it into the reclaimed cigarette vending machine and received a small cigarettepack-sized painting! Took the subway back to the hotel, napped, then got up and went out to a metals store nearby to start supply shopping. That night we saw Sweeney Todd - it was so so good. Very creepy. And it was really cool that the entire cast was also the orchestra. They all played an instrument when they weren't part of the scene. We had dinner and drinks at Ruby Foo's - a really cool sushi place near Times Square. Linda is a good drinking buddy.

Wednesday, I spent most of the day walking around to bead and metal wholesalers buying supplies. In the evening we went down to Union Square and had dinner at the Union Square Cafe and then saw a play called Dog Sees God. The gist of the play is that the gang from Peanuts are now teenagers and, let's just say, it is pretty updated. It was pretty cleverly written and I really liked it. Also visited Strand bookstore and bought some art books, one on Art Nouveau and another on illuminated manuscripts.

Thursday, we saw the Rauschenberg exhibit at the Met and then a fashion exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt National Design museum. I super enjoyed the Rauschenberg works. I don't know what it is in collage that appeals to me! I found the headphone tour to be annoying so I dug out my Ipod and listened to some Miles Davis. Spent the afternoon supply shopping. That evening Linda went to the opera with her friend and I had dinner by myself and went to see another show called Putnam Co. Spelling Bee. It was okay, not my favorite show of the week but Linda had kindly bought me the ticket.

Friday morning I hit the streets early and finished up my supply shopping, then we shopped around in Soho, walked through Grand Central Station, the lobby of the Chrystler building and then Linda gave me a really good tour of the New York Public Library. That building is so amazing. I was glad she was there to tell me all about it. She is a good tour guide. They also had an exhibit of illuminted manuscripts dating back to 1200 and older. It amazed me that after so many years, the colors are so brilliant and the marginal designs so fresh. After that we got on the airplane and came home.

Okay so that wasn't a very short recap but I just wanted to record everything we did. It was such a nice trip! I loved getting to stay at the Algonquin. Dorothy Parker is one of my favorite writers and it is inspiring to be in that environment.

Speaking of inspiration, I really just felt so much inspiration from the entire city. I was thinking a lot about working with metals and sketching beautiful ornamentation from buildings and ceilings. Linda seemed to understand where my head was, I think that is why she kept leading me into old buildings.

I was really tired when we got home. I spend all day Saturday resting and sorting through my new supplies. Oh yeah, and trying to set a new goal for myself - I really want to try to be more regimented. So - for this week, I am going to try to actually work on a schedule. I am just trying to work through my time-management issues!!