Chelsea walk

On Saturday we went for a short walk around the Meatpacking District/Chelsea, and Dave took some pretty great photos that I can't resist sharing.

I just saw this building on Bored to Death--it was a really cool shot that pulled out of the frame so you could watch the characters through the little portholes. (I feel like I didn't describe that quite right.)

At one point we found ourselves walking through a small craft fair. It was really not particularly auspicious weather for the occasion though, as you can see--a huge gust of wind more or less took out this booth. Hand-sewn bibs and beaded necklaces were blown into the streets. It was madness.

I don't know what it is about these things but every time I see one I cannot stop smiling.

Not pictured: chocolate ice box cake from Billy's Bakery. It was pretty intense.

Scrap paper notebook

I have a several foot-high stack of paper under my desk at work, comprised of printer mistakes and meeting notes and the like, which I can't bring myself to throw away. So after seeing this tutorial for making scrap paper notebooks, I knew what I had to do.

I didn't follow the instructions to a T, using card stock for a cover instead of pieces of decorative scrap paper and masking tape. My favorite cityscape stamps were used to decorate the front.

Trip to the zoo

After living in the Bronx for a year we still hadn't gone to the zoo, so on Sunday we fixed this matter by making a visit with Dave's family. Here's his 7 year-old nephew getting a good look at a rhinoceros.

The zoo is celebrating Halloween all month long, so there were a lot of costumed children, which kind of enhanced the experience.

He did not want to wear a costume though (I guess 7 is just too old...)

In addition to a haunted safari and hay maze (the latter of which was kind of a letdown), there was an extinct species graveyard. A lot of them seemed straight out of Edward Gorey, from the great auk to the pig-footed bandicoot.

Apparently flamingoes would be white if it weren't for the pigments in the food they eat (which entails a lot of shrimp).

Giraffes. Obviously.

This guy was hanging out right near the edge of the fence. At one point it seemed like he was trying to break out.

This turtle was also on the friendly side, or so it seemed. I heard one little girl say "Daddy, I think he likes me!"

Riding on the monorail towards the end of our zoo trip.

Spiky moccasin bracelet

I've been meaning to mention this bracelet that I got last week from Manimal. It's made from scraps of leather leftover from their moccasins, so not only does it look awesome but it's also a great way of re-purposing materials and reducing the amount of trash that they produce. I wish mine had a little bit more color (like the one pictured on the website) but I still love it. It kind of reminds me of the studded wristband that I wore when I was in high school, except made of colorful pieces of leather.

Mad Men party

Lately my main focus at work has been Mad Men. Luckily, I am a big fan of the show, and so this is a good focus to have. We've just published the book Mad Men: The Illustrated World, which is an illustrated guide to the show and the 1960s era. It looks gorgeous, and the writing is on the irreverent/funny side. (To take a look at some of the pages and enter for a chance to win a copy of the book, plus the first three seasons on DVD, head to penguin.com/madmen. Okay, enough selling.)

Not only did we do a lot of advertising for this book, but we also threw a little office party to celebrate the publication, and to reward ourselves for all of our hard work. (Which in my case was admittedly fun work.)

Here I am (all the way to the left) channeling my best Peggy look. I actually wore pantyhose instead of black tights in order to be more period-appropriate. I tried to make my hair a little bit bigger but that didn't last very long. So I covered it up with a hat. Also pictured are the publisher, publicist, and editor.

A few days before the party we made these cupcake toppers by shrinking some of the drawings from the book, printing them out in color, laminating them with a sticker backing, cutting them out, and sticking a toothpick between the adhesive part of the sticker and the backing. Which I think worked pretty well.

We also made these two life-sized cut-outs of the characters holding copies of the book so that people could pose as Joan or Don. (Or in some cases both.)

Whiskey sours were served, and the Mad Men soundtrack was playing in the background. Overall I think it was a pretty successful party.