The Highline

PHOTO BY Lindsay Kurz

Bursting on to the scene at the turn of the century (that's the recent turn of the century, folks) the Meatpacking District was just too cool. With trendy clothing boutiques and faux dive bars popping up next door to every meat packaging house left, the turn around was so quick one wondered whether the lingering smell of beef carcasses was supposed to be part of the ambiance.

The Meatpacking District today is still, of course, cool, but not like it was seven or eight years ago. The darling of the neighborhood, the Chelsea Market is still visited but it is not talked about as much as it once was. Evidence of this slowdown in hype is the simple fact that the meatpacking operations were not completely "gentrified-out," as you will notice if ever you visit the area in the early mornings and stumble across the refrigerated vans unloading their goods.

However, this summer the Meatpacking District is cool again. With the opening of the much-anticipated (semi-urban-legend) Highline last month, the buzz is again re-focused on this neighborhood. (On the opening weekend in June the queue to see the Highline stretched around the block).

In keeping with the neighborhood's self image, the Highline is an exhibit in sleek lines, steel and concrete and a capricious pattern of gardens. Not wanting to be mistaken as trying to hard, the garden colors are variations on lavender, sage and white, making the statement that its design does not need to rely on flashy, overly-saturated flowers for effect. The vegetation almost feels alpine, with aspen trees and grasses, - giving the effect of a Colorado ski resort in the springtime.

The Highline currently stretches from Gansevoort street to 20th Street (above 10th Ave.) Along the way the elevated path swerves left and right and even meanders through a newly constructed apartment building. With views of the Hudson River to the west and the neighborhood streets below, you'll have to admit that indeed, this is cool.

Sweet Cuppin' Cakes

With the explosion of various chic cupcake bakeries around town I imagine you're expecting the post where I publish my informal results of a cupcake competition. Is it Billy's or Magnolia? Crumbs or Cupcake Factory? (Yes, inevitably that post too come, . . . but at the moment I am still eating myself around town. I must carefully weigh all the options, you see).

However, if you prefer to skip this tired competition all together and instead think you can make a cupcake as good as from any of these trendy cupcakeries, then I suggest you head to N.Y. Cake & Baking Dist. shop to stock up on baking supplies. The shop is filled with cake tins, decorative paper cupcake cups, frosted flowers, baking tools, candles, cake toppers, frosting dyes and glitter, silver gilded almonds, sprinkles, cake stands, wedding cake supplies and so much more. Even if you are not a seasoned baker, browsing the aisles of this shop might just inspire you to go home, remove the handbags and winter hats from your storage closet, ahem, I mean oven, and bake a cake or two.

N.Y. Cake & Baking Dist. is located at 56 West 22nd Street, between 5th and 6th Aves. The service is very rude, but you might have to put up with it as this may be the only baking store in Manhattan that is this good.

Just a word of warning - remember, you live in NYC, . . . your kitchen is TINY and you already use your oven as a storage closet. Don't buy too many baking supplies!

June Bride

The happiest day of my life! Photo by Melissa Blemur

With wedding season in full swing, what better a month than June to talk about weddings. I myself was a June bride exactly a year ago (June 21, 2008), and during the long course of planning leading up to the big day I discovered a few great resources here in the city for wedding planning. While hosting the actual wedding in the City would be extremely expensive, there are a lot of free and unique resources to be found here for wedding planning. (I spent last year in NYC planning my wedding and benefiting from the vast array of opportunities and inspiration, but the wedding itself was held upstate in Ithaca).

One of the best things I discovered was The Wedding Library on the Upper East Side. The Wedding Library is a shop/library/wedding planning center. They have swatch-books, portfolios, and contacts for bakers, bands, caterers, calligraphers, cleaners, DJs, floral designers, linens suppliers, makeup artists, musicians, officiants, party planners, photographers, registries, stationery, stylists, venues, videographers and wedding dresses. It is open to anyone and though reservations are strongly encouraged, I did manage to stop by unannounced and they were happy to help me and let me browse through their collections of stationary (which was great help in giving me ideas for designing my own invitations). With so many resources all under one roof it is a great place to start wedding planning and gather some ideas of how you want to shape your own event. The Wedding Library is located at 43 East 78th street. They also have an e-newsletter that I suggest you sign up for and you'll receive new wedding related ideas every week in your inbox.

For wedding dresses, the best place to go is Kleinfeld's. (Perhaps not necessarily to buy the dress in the end - prices are steep, - but as the first place to look at dresses and figure out what styles you like). Kleinfeld's is a beautiful luxuriant gallery of wedding dresses. You must make an appointment first, often a few weeks in advance. When you visit you will be assigned a personal dress consultant. You can begin by browsing the showroom or closets for wedding dresses (like a kid in a candy store), or if you have an idea of what you want your consultant can find dresses that fit your description. But go in with an open mind. I myself never envisioned a strapless wedding dress, but at her suggestion I tried a few on. . . .turns out strapless looked the best on me and in the end that is the style I went with (though I purchased the actual dress from a more discount store). Your consultant will help you try the dresses on and you can try as many as you want on in your 1 1/2 hour appointment. Visiting Kleinfeld's is not only a great way to explore the vast possibilities of wedding dresses and figure out a style that suits you, but it is also an exciting experience a bride-to-be would not want to miss. After all, isn't the dress the most exciting part of the wedding to plan?

Whereas the upscale places such as The Wedding Library and Kleinfeld's are great resources to look at for inspiration, New York also has extremely budget places that are absolutely unique to New York. Keep your eyes open in Chinatown, the Lower East Side and the area just south of Herald Square for Asian import stores that often sell bridal accessories such as veils and hair pieces. They are often the very same pieces you would find in wedding retail stores, just with out fancy packages and high prices. I found my veil in one of these stores on 6th ave around 27th street for a third of the price you would pay at David's Bridal (and even David's is known for low prices in bridal retail).

For corsets and specialty bras, go to Orchard Corsets in the Lower East Side. Run by orthodox Jews, the small shop is a throwback to the early 20th century with an antique sewing machine, old-fashioned decor and cluttered shelves of corsets in cardboard boxes behind the counters. Again, prices are much lower that you would find in a more, ahem, modern looking store. Orchard Corset is located at 157 Orchard St. They are closed on Saturdays.

If you are the kind of DIY person scouring the city for deals and planning every detail of your own wedding, then I assume you'll also be handling your own flowers. For this, the best place to go is the Flower/Plant District on 28th St. between 6th and 7th Avenues. I won't go into details on all the stores - but stay tuned next week for an upcoming post on the Plant District where I will highlight all the best stores. I will say that the Plant District is a great resource for exotic flowers and cheap prices, and is unique to New Yorkers. Much of the flowers that come into the U.S. from South America and around the world pass through this street on their way to the rest of the country. Take advantage of this, people! You can compete with professional floral designers in having access to the best variety of flowers for your wedding!

Get Out. Find Others. Meet Up.

There are over 1.5 million people in Manhattan and almost 19 million people in the greater NY-NJ-CT metro area (that's almost two-thirds of Canada's entire population, folks!) With this many people, chances are there are others out there in the city who share your same interests, passions and hobbies . . . whatever they may be. It's just a matter of finding them. Enter Meetup.com.

Though not NYC specific (you can use Meetup in any U.S. city), Meetup.com is a great way to find people or groups that share your interests. And with so many New Yorkers, it is especially easy to locate groups or clubs dedicated to every odd hobby or field. From proffesional associations to music groups, sports clubs, discussion groups, foreign language groups, activist organizations, support groups, volunteers, collectors, enthusiasts, etc. chances are you will find a specific group through Meetup, find out how often and where they meet and join the group yourself. This is not simply an online meetup forum, it is area specific and the goal is to get people together, to meetup face to face.

For the past three years I have been a member of the NYC Web Design Meetup group and one of the Bellydance groups. The Web Design group meets usually once a month downtown and we spend a couple hours discussing new web innovations and design issues, as well as sharing our own work with others in the group. It is a chance to meet with others, ask questions and learn and contribute. The Bellydance group meets to dance, watch bellydance shows and listen to Middle Eastern music. Each meetup group is different and shaped by what the members want.

And if you can't find the type of group for your oddball interest - say a pigeon watching club - then you can start your own through Meetup and begin uniting all the other fellow urban bird watchers out there.

Meditation at the Tibet House

It is often claimed that with the noise, the tight spaces and the crowds that it is stressful living in Manhattan. It is also claimed that meditation relieves stress. (Personally, NYC enlivens me rather than stresses me, and meditation sometimes can be stressful because of how much time it takes out of my schedule). So while I am not thoroughly convinced by these two claims, for curiosity's sake, I decided to try a meditation session at the Tibet House last night.

Each Tuesday evening from 7:00 - 9:00pm they have an open meditation session led by an experienced Tibetan Buddhist tradition practitioner. The session consists of half lecture and question & answer concerning the art and practice of meditation and the other half is devoted to practicing meditation. There were about 30 people who attended last night. There is a suggested $10 donation ("dana").

The Tibet House also offers various lectures and classes about Tibetan culture and Buddhist spirituality. The House has a museum-like gallery displaying various Tibetan antiques, artwork and photography as well as a Buddhist altar and a bookshop full of Tibetan and Buddhist books.

So whether you're just curious about Buddhist meditation or if you are a stressed out New Yorker, stop by the Tibet House on a Tuesday night to try a session. The Tibet House is located at 22 West 15th street, between 5th and 6th Aves., on the second floor.

Open your Mind, Not your Wallet

I wanted to announce another center in town that offers great free classes: The Open Center. I just attended their free introductory seminar of "Healing with Whole Foods and Chinese Herbs" last night. Though I might be a bit skeptical of some aspects, I enjoyed learning the basics of Chinese medicinal theory.

To sum up The Open Center, as described in their welcome statement, they are " dedicated to offering educational programs and cultural events that expand the mind, nurture the body and awaken the spirit. We offer workshops, classes, lectures, conferences and professional trainings, led by teachers of wisdom, passion and skill. Thousands have come through our doors finding fresh intellectual perspectives, paths of healing, deepening of their spiritual lives and new careers that allow them to be of service and express their true calling."

I myself admit that I am dubious of the more far-fetched practices involving "chakras," "life force" or most things with "spirituality" in the title. Still I enjoy learning about everything, and am open to trying new things. They offer a variety of multi-week long classes (that you pay for), but many of these classes start off with a free introductory seminar open to anyone. I should note that many of the multi-week long paid-for classes are in fact not that expensive themselves.

Topics range from Belly Dancing, Aromatherapy, Learning to play the Native American Flute, Prana Yoga Teacher Training, How to Communicate with Difficult People, Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy and hundreds more. From massage to spirituality to eastern medicine to psychology they cover a wide breadth of topics loosely under the holistic health and wellness category. They also have a shop that carries an eclectic selection of books, world music, cards and aromatherapy products.

The Open Center is located in Soho at 83 Spring Street (but next month they are moving uptown to 22 East 30th street). To attended a free introductory seminar pre-register by calling 212.219.2527 x 2.

Moi, a model?

Ladies, who would like to enjoy a free hair style, cut and color from a world renown salon? Ever heard of Bumble & Bumble Salon? That's right. . . . free! Just one of the many luxuries of living in New York City - Bumble & Bumble headquarters happens to be located right here in town and they are always looking for models! Not the skinny 5 ft. 8 models (though there happen to be a lot of those here in the city as well), but anyone with a full head of hair and time to relax at the salon.

Here's the deal: Bumble & Bumble runs a hair school, called B&B University, and just as they do for their regular customer salons, their University is top notch. They offer their students live models (not a plastic mannequin head) to practice on. So, I took the opportunity to sign myself up as model. All you have to do is sign up online and then show up for a scheduled "model audition" (which is just showing up with your hair brushed and they check to see if you have an appropriate length). Once you are an approved model, the fun starts. You can sign up for as many styling, cutting or coloring sessions as your schedule allows. Ever fantasized about being the practice-body for a massage school? Well, this is one of those instances.

Each session is about two hours, and each time I've left with an amazing new style. The students are always very nice, and usually are professional hair dressers themselves who are just attending to get B&B certification credit. They are from all over the world - the last session I attended the students were all from France. To encourage loyal models, each time you attend a session, B&B gives you a $10 credit toward any of the Bumble products (as if you needed this extra incentive?). And just as an extra bonus, the B&B Uni salon is on the 6th floor of a beautiful glass-and-steel Meatpacking district building, complete with skyline views of the city!

My only word of advice is that you should be sure to schedule a dinner date that eveing, as you'll be looking too fabulous to simply return home for the day. Go to the B&B University Model page to sign up and for all the details.