Don't Call Your Wife "Baby"

So, yesterday (ok, two days ago if you want to get technical since it's after midnight) I went to dinner and the theater with my parents, the perfect excuse to wear my new 1950s dress from the vintage show ;) We saw David Mamet's Oleanna. It was good, though more of a credit to the writing than the actors I think. Mamet's language is incredibly tough (so many short phrases and interruptions) and I could feel Stiles and Pullman struggling with it in the first scene. However, as the play progressed, they picked up the pace and I was fairly impressed with both of their performances, especially by Stiles because I think I expected her not to be very good and she did a nice job. What makes the play so interesting (the whole thing takes place in the Professor's office and only between these two characters) is the intricate power relationship depicted and how it is so carefully manipulated by Stiles' character Carol. It's amazing how a mere accusation can destroy a career. We actually had a talk back with Benjamin Brafman, a big shot lawyer, after the show (run by the very funny Lionel) which was really interesting. Stephanie March was slated to be at the talk back too and wasn't which was kind of a bummer.

Anyway, you don't really care about all that, do you? ;)

You care about this:



{vintage dress, mom's belt, vintage dooney and burke bag, mom's tights (which didn't stay up very well... haha), shoes purchased by mom at housing works for $6}

And my new glasses from Fabulous Fanny's circa the 1960s, and made in France!

Also should have taken a heel close up for you. I rarely wear heels and in theory I would love to wear them more, but in practice, well, probably not so much. These are a little big (my mom's feet are a tad bigger than mine) but were just so perfect with this outfit ;)

Anyway, these pictures were taken an hour or two before it suddenly became winter in NYC. Then today, boy was the weather nasty! I thought I left Ithaca for the week. haha. Though apparently, we had the first snowfall in Ithaca today and I missed it! ... Which I kind of don't mind considering it's October. I'll catch the next one ;P

However, the weather didn't prevent me from getting the pinkberry I planned on indulging in today. So good. And they have a new policy- instead of separate prices per number of toppings (and the max is 3) you pay one price for the size and flavor of yogurt and can get as many as will fit in the cup! I got four toppings :D

I also had a mini reunion with a bunch of the Public Theater crew from the summer up at Barnard this evening to see Tartuffe (yep I not only brought the weather back from college for my break, I also saw college theater, haha). One of the twinterns was stage managing and the other had designed the set. It was great to see everyone and the production was a fun spin on the classic, but the set was definitely the highlight of the show-- it was awesome!

Regards,
Freddie

p.s. If you ever needed more food porn in your life (and I mean, who doesn't) go to this site. It's amazing. It even generally links to recipes (which are generally on foodie blogs, aka love) so if you're really ambitious you can make the food yourself! ;)


{tastespotting.com}

p.p.s. What on earth is going on with facebook?? Did somebody just hack it?? :o

Hot Town, Summer in the City

I really like Mary's little "I wore, I thought, I saw" format, it's very nice and straightforward, so I'm going to try a little something like it, though I mostly have a lot of "I saw" and a little of "I wore."

So, I saw:
Thursday: my old high school's band concert and a lot of old friends. My old band teacher is retiring and a lot of alum came out to support him. It was really nice and afterwords a bunch of us (including our old yearbook teacher) went to our favorite local diner... and our old teach paid for our food on the school's dime! Haha, shush, don't tell :o

photo credits: school website, wikipedia

Friday: my old crew of high school friends for a sleepover in forest hills. We made sandwiches with brie, apple, and caramelized onions as well as chocolate banana boats. Yum.

photo credit: another print please

Saturday: Exit the King, my first Ionesco, which was SO fantastic, brilliant and absurd. I loved it and highly recommend it to anyone looking to see a really interesting, unique, and moving play which is both funny and terribly sad at the same time. The NY Times review does a better job than I can in describing it.

Geoffery Rush and Susan Sarandon

Lauren Ambrose and Andrea Martin

pictures: Exit the King on Broadway

I waited for them all at the stage door and they were just as wonderful in person as on stage. I got autographs and saw Susan Sarandon's whole fam, complete with a cute little white puppy dog and learned that Andrea Martin rides her bike to and from work - just like me! Also, Lauren Ambrose has played both Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) and Ophelia (Hamlet) at Shakespeare in the Park, where I am working this summer, and I think I officially want to be her.

Sunday: a great friend from school who just got back from Rome. We had lunch at Eli's, I satisfied my craving for a rainbow sprinkle cone, we wandered about and tried to see UP with two other friends, but it was all sold out. Movies are too expensive for me here anyway... $12.50, really? I just saw a freakin' Broadway show for only $26.50!


photos: Eli's Vinegar Factory, Pardon Me for Asking, The Girl Who Ate Everything, wikipedia

Also, I've been running into people left and right the past few days! I love how small this city is sometimes.

I Wore:
Sunday:

{vintage blouse, second hand reconned skirt, hand painted silk scarf, target sandals}

The blouse was my Aunt's way long ago, she bought it in Mexico when she was a teen, and gave it to me four or five years ago. It has the most gorgeous hand embroidery (I should have taken a close up) and must be around 40 years old by now. I used to wear it all the time, but now it has a few holes in it and I'm afraid of how delicate it is. However, the holes are hidden by tucking it into this skirt (seriously one of my best thrift store purchases ever... I wear it to death!) and clothes were meant to be worn, right?

Anyway, next time I do a post like this I should really take some of my own photos :P but it was really kind of fun digging these up from all over the net!

Work tomorrow and tech for Twelfth Night starts Tuesday which means I'm working late 3 days a week and only have one day off (Saturday for me) on weekends. This may mean you will here from me less... wish me luck!

Regards,
Freddie

p.s. Sorry no more nice roof outfit photos... now that it's nice out, it's way too crowded up there for me to take pictures!

Wearing big hats helps keep people away from you on the subway

So this is the hat I bought at housing works the other day. Problem: It likes to catch the wind and doesn't want to stay on my head! I need to possibly find some ribbon and a cute way to fix this problem. The hat did originally have a tacky Hawaiian print band which I carefully peeled off, and I'm not sure if I should replace that with something else or leave that part be.

{second hand hat, h&m blouse, gap shorts (I'm practicing), sandals from shoegasm}

Also, I did more shopping between my dentist appointment and haircut (I can see again!) on Tuesday. Whoops. Some of it was justifiable as for work though and some of it was on sale and I promise to show you soon.

Today I tried to see Billy Elliot with some friends but couldn't get tickets so instead we saw Blithe Spirit. A little slow to short but very kooky and very funny by the end. Yay Angela Lansbury!

The bff comes home from Texas tomorrow (well today technically) and I can't wait!

Regards,
Freddie

If I were a bell I'd go ding dong, ding dong ding!

Hmm... do you ever think up blog entries all nice and eloquent sounding in your head and then more things happen and you have more to say and it gets all jumbled up and you don't know where to start? Well, that's what's happened here so we'll see what I can do ;)

I suppose we'll start with the origins of today's outfit. I've done a little shopping over break, but not a ton. I did however finally get that skirt from American Apparel that everyone and their mom has, and let me tell you I am so glad I did! I need one of my friend's to start working there though so I can have a discount and buy more in different colors. It is just so excellent and versatile, I wore it for the first time today and have to say that if I had to wear one item every day, this might be it. Anyway, enough raving about that skirt because I bet you all know how fantastic it is already, and on to more interesting things:

In addition to getting the skirt (and two pairs of bike shorts- good for wearing under summer dresses when I still want to ride my bike around campus) at American Apparel I also did a little bit of thrifting. I went to one shop on 3rd avenue near my house and got a belt and a pair of too big for me (on purpose) jeans. They are great and comfy and nice when rolled up and worn low. However, today I thought I would try rocking them high waisted and they almost worked, but I wasn't quite sure. I had to belt them in quite a lot but if they had been my right waist size they would have been way tight in the thighs (a problem I often have) and a totally different look... so maybe high waisted jeans just isn't a look I can pull off. It seems to be a fine line between fashion and mom jeans and since I couldn't decide what side of the line I fell on with the outfit... I changed into the magic AA skirt, haha.

Anyway, in much more exciting thrifting news, some of you may know I have been looking for a trench coat for quite a while now. Well, I went to my local goodwill which is usually pretty crappy but I figured it was worth a browse since I still had some time to kill before getting my bangs trimmed. Well, I saw a trench coat on the rack, my eyes lit up and I took it down and tried it on and turns out it was from H&M and too small. Alas. Then, I had an awkward moment and came across this:

{please excuse all the crappy cell phone pictures in this post,
I sadly did not have my camera while I was out shopping on Tuesday, silly me}

Why is this awkward you ask? Well I had to take a silly camera phone outfit picture to show you why:

{target dress and shoes , tights - a gift from my mom a long time ago,
j.crew sweater, cirque de soleil bag, H&M coat}

Yes, that's right folks, me and the dress hanging on the end of the rack (no I didn't move it there, it was right next to the mirror where I was trying on coats) were wearing the same thing.... well, uh, you know what I mean. You say I can't have an awkward moment with an article of clothing? Psh, if that dress could talk I know it would say, "who do you think you're wearing." Haha, ok... well, I thought it was amusing, alright? I guess not really that surprising considering the dress is from target, but still.

Another amusing thing that happened that day:

The bagel place had green bagels for St. Patty's day! haha! ew...

Anyway, back to goodwill. I came across this cutie:

and contemplated buying it. I'm still a little sad to have left it behind, but I left goodwill that day with the trench coat to end all trench coats, the trench coat of my dreams! When I was trying it on in the store, trying to decide between it and the coat above (my goodwill isn't cheap enough that I could get both, it's NYC, the goodwill coats are $20, but my trench was oh so worth it!) an old woman walked buy and told me the trench looked really good on me. haha.

Anyway, I got the trench, and was able to get some good shots of it today :)

Yes, it has a hood (which buttons off!) and full skirt and other awesome details and everything. I am in trench coat heaven.

Oh, and here's what is hiding underneath my facade of being a super cool Audrey Hepburn-like spy:

{H&M blue button down, urban purple tank, j.crew sweater, just thrifted belt,
American Apparel skirt, target tights, vintage boots}

And yes, this outfit does include brown, black, and navy blue. Deal with it. (The tights are actually navy and black houndstooth I believe, so blame them, haha)

p.s. notice my bangs are significantly shorter in these pictures than in the ones above? Haha, yes, I can see again!

Anyway, where did I go in my awesome new coat (Can you tell I'm kind of enamored with it?) with my fairly newfound ability to see? Well, an old friend and I tried to get tickets to this but they sadly were not doing student rush today so instead we ended up getting standing room to this. While I agree with the reviewers who said the production was less than fantastic and the actors lacked chemistry with each other (kind of ironic if you are at all familiar with the show...) I did really enjoy it. It is such a fun show and it was definitely enjoyable and had some (actually a lot of, but maybe I'm just easily amused) hilarious moments and a great show stopping number (Rocking the Boat).

ALSO, although my feet were a little tired, standing room meant we were right near the exit and got to be right in front at the stage door to meet who? The lovely Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls fame! I grew up on that show and man I love her, she is so funny! And she was a very entertaining and hilarious (though again, not absolutely fantastic) Adelaide.

I let a little bit of my inner fan girl out (I'm usually a bit too embarassed to let her show) and got Ms. Graham's autograph (though I do always get my playbills signed... I'm still lusting after Mary Louise Parker's autograph from Hedda... alas) and snapped this picture. Ah, Lauren Graham is so great and was really nice and funny in person too, and although she didn't take individual pictures with anyone she explained to us that was because she wanted to get around and sign everyone's playbills ;) Anyway, happy times.

Alright kudos to anyone who actually read all of this. I know most of you probably just looked at the pictures and then when you got to the one of Lauren Graham maybe paused to read what it was about. Haha, it's ok, I would have done that too.

Anyway, in closing: my flickr is officially full so until I decide it's worth paying for it I will be using a combination of picnik and photobucket for my pictures, so if anyone finds they have trouble viewing anything, let me know. Also, I am going to set a goal of at least one post a week from now on, I think that is semi-reasonable for myself, but we shall see. And finally, I am going to try and find some good outdoor photo locations for taking pics up at school, though it's kind of hard to find a secluded spot on a campus of 13,000 (and I'm embarassed to run into someone I know while I'm photographing myself, haha) ... especially when you still don't have a tripod and therefore need somewhere to balance your camera. haha.

Well, anyway, goodninght,

and regards,
Freddie

I'm burning your baby...

Not really in the mood for a long post but I wanted to leave you with something since I'm going back to school tomorrow and I don't know how much blog time I'll have when I'm there (though I hope some!) Also, I'm leaving by 1pm tomorrow... and it's 2am... and I haven't started packing. oops.

So today I had an interview-ish thing with this company, and saw this show which was a rather odd/not that great an adaptation/translation, but I loved loved loved her. Sadly, she escaped out of the other side of the theater so I didn't get to meet her or get an autograph :( And while my bestie got his Daniel Rad. And Richard Grif. autographs, I did not :( oh well. Tough luck.


{L'onneau dress from last summer's renegade craft fair, wool tights and white long sleeve tee - ?,
vintage red cardigan, H&M cloche hat and umbrella, cashmere scarf from TJs, target flats}

That black scarf might be my favorite item in my wardrobe. It's rather boring and I only got it because my grandmother took me to TJ Max and forced me to find something I wanted but I swear it is the softest thing you have ever felt in your life. (and also very warm)

And oh, want to see something really really cool? Today Mike and I walked by the back of the Hilton Theater where they were unloading Young Frankenstein (one of the 9 shows to close this past Sunday... so sad) and got to peak inside/backstage. So cool! (or at least, in my opinion it is)



Anyway... back to school (well not classes, but physically) for me tomorrow :( Not really looking forward to it, but maybe if I dread it, it will be better than I expect?

Regards,
Freddie

At least I galloped - when did you?

Today was a long day... I didn't have to wake up quite so early because I almost forgot, and thankfully then remembered, that the box offices don't open until noon on Sundays, but was still out of the house by 10:30am. We got to times square a little after 11 and waited on line for about an hour to get our student rush tickets for Equus, which were all the way stage right, second row orchestra (though we did end up moving a few rows back and further center). I made another poor shoe choice and my feet almost froze off while we waited, but we went to the bank, Starbucks, and then Europa Café (one of our usual time square eateries) for lunch, which helped me warm up. We still had a lot of time to kill before the 3pm matinee, so after checking out the new TKTS, which Mike hadn't seen yet, we wandered around Virgin and Toys R Us for a while and then got a huge slice of carrot cake cheesecake to share (which we still did not finish!) from Juniors. Then we went off to the theater to see the show, and oh was it fantastic! Both Daniel Radcliff and Richard Griffiths gave absolutely stunning performances. The show was eerie, chilling, and just truly remarkable. It had me glued to and gripping to my seat. (And yes, yes... I did see Harry's magic wand :P boo puns boo)

After the show we did go to the stage door, but, not surprisingly, it was an absolute mad house of Harry fans. We got pushed to the other side of the street by angry cops who basically tied us in between two lamp posts with caution tape. Daniel signed the playbills of the people in the very front of the two main barricades (probably not more than 15-20 in the crazy mob of hundreds, though to his credit I think he may have been a bit sick, and understandably wanting to get home... though that certainly did not hinder his stunning performance) and popped right into his snazzy escalade with his body guard. haha. oh well. Mike really wants to go back Wednesday afternoon and try to wait for him after the matinee (ie: show up before the show lets out to be right in front) to get his autograph, and I suppose I'll go with him if he does, but I'm not generally keen on being such a crazy fan girl... (Though I would really like autographs of the whole cast, I generally try and do that for shows I see, especially with original casts or especially noteworthy productions). Then again, I am absolutely dying to meet Mary Louise-Parker after Hedda Gabler on Wednesday night, but that's really different, right? ;P


{H&M shirt dress, vintage vest, j.crew tights, target flats}

And oh, hi... meet my glasses. I have two pairs. But they are only for reading since I'm really an old lady apparently. I also beat my dad (pretty badly too!) at scrabble tonight which is an accomplishment I am quite proud of.

My break is quickly drawing to a close and I am oh so sad to see it go... I wish I had more time in my beloved city, but what can you do? I really shouldn't complain about Switzerland, or having to go back to school early (classes don't start until the 19th), even if I want to, because they are both things that were/should be at least somewhat fun... but I would just rather be here a wee bit longer...

Regards,
Freddie

The value of repeats

So much for doing the Switzerland outfit post yesterday, huh? I got pretty busy actually... and didn't even end up taking yesterday's outfit photos which disappoints me because I had pretty new boots (well, new to me) to show off. But it's an outfit that will surely be repeated up at school in the near future.

Yesterday, I woke up early (yay jetlag, though I think I am pretty much back on schedule now) and went to get student rush tickets for my best friend and I to see Gypsy, after which I went to Barnes & Noble, Goodwill and Housing Works. I snagged a few real gems, including a super shiny shirt to wear tonight. Some of the things are in need of a little editing (shortening and shoulder pad removal) but I am so excited to show them off when they are done. Housing Works was also having an end of the year 50% off sale, so I got a bag and a dress there for $2.50 each - fantastic! (Thift/Second-hand shops in NYC are not always all that cheap.) I also stopped briefly into Steve Madden and Orva Shoes to tortue myself a little, because I really want a pair of hunter rain boots (though what color, I know not) and, thanks to The Sylish Wanderer, a pair of clydde flats. My mom said I could choose one as a belated Christmashannukwanzukah gift as the only thing I really got were theater tickets, but I just don't know which to choose! ;)



Anyway, after that, I got my bangs trimmed, had lunch and then went home to rest/nap a bit before going with Mike to Ollie's (the good one, not the noodle shop chain) for dinner and then to Gypsy... which was, by the way, so so fantastic. I love the show and Patti Lupone never ceases to blow me away, she is a true, old fashioned Broadway Diva and does not fail to deliver wonderful performances. This may have been my favorite show that I've seen in a long time... it was long too, we didn't get out until 11 and then of course waited at the stage door to get Ms. fabulous diva LuPone's autograph on our playbills and such... but really, you could not feel the length at all, it was so wonderful. We also saw Jessica Rush, who was understudying Laura Benanti's role as Louise (Ms. Gypsy Rose Lee) and while I was momentarily disapointed to be missing Ms. Benanti's Tony award winning performance, Ms. Rush really impressed me as well.

Alright, alright, enough of that. I promise I will have less Broadway related blabbing to do when I'm back up at school... life is much less exciting there ;P

So, on to my Switzerland outfits, yes. As I mentioned, I was rather ill on Christmas day, but after spending the whole day in bed, I pulled myself together for the Christmas dinner we had to go to. It was pretty cool actually- we were in the bottom of a building, under a bar in an old fashioned bowling alley!


{vintage red cardgian, urban outfitters dress, white tights - ?, hotel room key}

I know this outfit is an almost direct repeat of a recent one, but this dress deserved a more official spin. Also, I was lucky enough to lose a button of my cardigan as soon as I put it on, haha, but now that I am home with sewing supplies it has been reattached ;)

You may also be wondering what exactly I mean by hotel room key. Well, I mean just that...



This key went to my closet in the hotel room (though it turns out it didn't even work) and I thought it was too fantastic not to wear. I really wanted to steal it, but in order to restrain myself and save my parent's friends a potentially absurd fine for a missing key, I decided wearing it on Christmas would have to do. I had to giggle when I got compliments on it at the party... I just said thank you and smiled to myself thinking about it's origin.

I also brought my tape measure print clutch, which is my usual going out bag up at school, and wore earrings which my dad had surprise gifted me with that day. We weren't expecting presents, but he brought the earrings for me and a necklace for my mom all the way to Switzerland from a shop on Lexington avenue. It was really sweet :)



So, I felt quite a bit better after a few glasses of prosecco at the party, haha, and even found out one of the Swiss-German girls around my age who was at the party is the cousin of a friend of mine from school. What are the chances??

Anyway, the next day I was feeling quite a bit better, though woke up with an eye infection, (which was probably just a stye and is now cleared up thanks to some antibiotic), oy vey. After sleeping in and then going to another snowboarding lesson, we had another long dinner and I went out with my parents and our hostess to "The Casa," the local discotheque which was in a big house. It was quite a thing to see, though not really much fun for me to go out to with my parents. I had a few drinks but we didn't stay long.


{vintage red cardigan, vintage pinstripe vest, h&m turtleneck, bitten locket, AG jeans, frye boots}

I really need to find a better way to get my shoes in these photos....

Speaking of shoes- Patti LuPone had the most fantastic shoes in Gypsy! She had a new pair with every costume- some t-strap, some buckled, some pumps, and all fabulous colors- yellow and orange, green... oh they were epic. I wish I could find pictures to share.

You can see her shoes in this picture, but they are far from the best pair:


Well anyway, I suppose that's all I have for now. A real mouthful anyway... haha. Time to start cleaning up a little for my New Year's party tonight, I'll let you know how that goes ;)

Happy New Year to you all!

Regards,
Freddie

I'm the seagull. No, that's not it. I'm an actress. That's it.

Today I went to see the Seagull with my father. It was the closing performance and it was wonderful. I mean, it was still Chekhov... but it was still wonderful. I'm mostly kidding, but it really didn't drag much and I loved the moments of self-referential humor. The actors were amazing, especially the ladies (Kristin Scott Thomas, Zoe Kazan, and Carey Mulligan) though I must say Peter Sarsgaard (of Garden State, etc) dragged it down for me a bit, but I think it was not just his acting but by virtue of the character as well. But anyway, anyway, this is not a theatre review site (though if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm pretty big into theatre- it's my major after all) and I have my old high school crew coming over within minutes for a good old fashioned sleepover, complete with sushi eating, baking and incredibly mature movies. haha. So let me cut to the chase.


{pinstriped jeans - ?, navy target tee, vintage sequined cardigan, navy keds,
black flower pinned on white ribbon as headband}





This last picture shows off the flower in my hair and the pretty awesome sequins and collar on the cardigan the best. Something about going to the theatre lately has made me want to wear mildly extravagant things on my head. hmm...

Anyway, I must run and this may be my last post for a week or so as I am off to Switzerland tomorrow evening! But we shall see... and hopefully I have some funny snowboarding pictures and other things to share when I return.

Regards,
Freddie

Feathers in my hair

So, today was my first full day back at home in the city I went to the holidays markets in Union Square and Grand Central. I was excited to see that the temperature was a balmy 38º, balmy at least in comparison to what the temperature probably is up in Ithaca (where I go to school) right now. Last night when I was out with my best friend I stole a free (ok, so then it wasn't quite stealing...) Christmas Tree branch from a stand which I thought I might use in my first outfit shoots today, and of course, I forgot. hah. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow.

Anyway, I do wish I had a better backdrop for these shots, but my room at home is not terribly exciting, and my lack of a tripod means I can only take pictures in places where there are ledges and such for me to put the camera on. I think I may have a nice picture-taking spot in my room up at school (if I'm able to keep up with the blog then - I hope so - my outfits are not always that exciting and my time is often rather incredibly limited) but we shall see.


{vintage bowler hat, h&m dress}
{locket, generally worn daily- my mom's when she was a kid}
{flik flack kid's watch (with dinosaurs) - also generally daily fare}


{N typewriter key ring - my last (almost) daily item}


{tights and boots, folded over - unknown}


{h&m coat, street fair scarf, vintage leather gloves}

When I got back from the markets (as well as a stop at urban outfitters where I grabbed a cute brown dress from the sale section) I got a call from my best friend saying he had tickets to go see Jersey Boys with his parents, but they could no longer go (though nothing serious to worry about). I traded my bowler for the lovely feathered headband I bought today at the Union Square Market (I'm a little obsessed with this thing... but a bit worried about how delicate it is) and off we went!


{dark taken after the theatre (which was great by the way!) shot}

Regards,
Freddie