Art – Uptown Moxie

Mid-Year Travel Recap

May 9, 2017 MandyLeave a comment

Though the year has already a fair share of ups and downs, I’ve had the good fortune to be able to do a bit of traveling in 2017. I visited Las Vegas and Mexico for work, and Los Angeles and Ohio for play. I have a few more trips on deck for this year – including my biggest/furthest away trip to date – that I’m really looking forward to as well. Leave it to the one year I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution to travel more that I actually travel more. I digress…

Here are my 2017 travel superlatives to date:

Location with the brightest lights: Vegas
My favorite trip/city: long weekend in Venice/Santa Monica
Most impromptu weekend: home to Ohio
Hottest work escapade: 8 days in Cancun

Beautiful Brooklyn Botanic

June 10, 2014 MandyLeave a comment

Hello there, and happy summer! Sorry more than a few hot seconds have passed between my last update and now… it has been a very busy couple of weeks. I have a lot I’d like to update you guys on, but I’m going to take this one post at a time. :)

My parents came to town a few weeks back, and one of my favorite places we visited was the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Not only a nice (and affordable!) escape from the “city” part of The City, but it was also an excellent excuse to break out my old (still pretty new) DSLR. Here’s a few unedited photos that I thought turned out pretty nice.

Although Cherry Blossom season had come and gone, this place was bigger and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. If you live in NYC and haven’t been, don’t wait to use visitors as an excuse to check out this place. It’s well worth it on your own.

More updates to come, sooner rather than later. ;) But for now, happy Tuesday!

A Photo Shoot in Carl Schurz Park

January 27, 2014 Mandy3 Comments

Since I’m going to moving neighborhoods in the near future, I’m trying to get my fill of exploring the Upper East Side in the next few weeks. On a recent day off, I stumbled upon Carl Schurz Park along the East River in Yorkville. It was a very cold yet peaceful afternoon, and I was pleased with some of the shots I was able to get. Not that I know the first thing about photography, but I’m having fun getting to know my camera…and of course still tweaking some in my free version of Photoshop. :) Any UES joints I should add to my list of things to check out/potentially review? Let me know! Carl Schurz Park 3

Window Shopping

December 16, 2013 MandyLeave a comment

New York is great all year round, but it’s especially magical around the holiday season. From the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center and carriage rides through central park, to the selection of holiday markets and ice skating rinks that seasonally spring up around town, there’s just something special about Christmas in NYC.

Being a creative person and a forever retail rat, one of my favorite seasonal things to do in the city is to check out the window displays — especially strolling down 5th Ave. Since I just received my new ~~child~~ camera in the mail, I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and take some practice photos while moseying about midtown East. Here are a few of my favorite window fronts this season:

Bergdorf Goodman:

Tiffany’s:

Bloomingdales:

Anthropologie:

Henri Bendel:

Saks Fifth Avenue:

What’s your favorite thing to do in NYC over the holidays? Still two weeks left to accomplish it all!

How Bizarre, How Bazaar

November 18, 2013 MandyLeave a comment

Do you guys remember that song from 1995?!

Brother Pele’s in the back, sweet Zina’s in the front
Cruisin’ down the freeway in the hot, hot sun
Suddenly red-blue lights flash us from behind
Loud voice booming, “Please step out onto the line”
Pele preaches words of comfort, Zina just hides her eyes
Policeman taps his shades, “Is that a Chevy ’69?”
How bizarre, How bizarre…

This past weekend, my friend and I hit up the Brooklyn Night Bazaar: an indoor festival of local food, drinks, music, shopping and art. It basically has everything you could ever need in a weekend wrapped up into a mere few hours. It’s located in the some sketchy warehouse in what felt like the middle of rural(?) Williamsburg, so if you go, be prepared for a small hike to/from the train. I wasn’t and whined about getting slaughtered in a storage unit the entire way there and back. It’s a miracle I have friends.

I didn’t get as many pictures as I wanted, due to A) my phone being a diva B) my camera still has not arrived and C) the lighting was weird. But it’s a designed to be a hip, fun place (and there was like, a concert happening), so I’ll let the lighting slide.

There’s a number of great food options to choose from (i.e. Oaxaca Taqueria, Morris Grilled Cheese, Briskettown). My friend and I both ordered from The Lobster Joint and thoroughly enjoyed our meals. You have to be 21+ to enter, so there are a few bars throughout the venue from which you can order from a list of beers (maybe/probably wines too?),walk around and shop while sipping on your beverage of choice.

The booths snake up and down the middle of the venue space, and there’s everything from artwork to jewelry to clothing. A few vendors that my friend and I took a liking to were RHLS for their crazy, hip sweatshirts, Milly & Earl for their adorable, vintage trinkets, and Adopt a Robot for obvious reasons. (Spoiler alert: friends, you’re all getting robots for Christmas). Also, BlissfulCase had an amazing vintage TV iPhone cover that I can’t stop thinking about. Although I could have spent a lot more money, my only purchase of the evening was on a Leroy’s Place Ziggy Stardust pendant and thick gold chain. Because this girl is hoping for some cha-cha-cha-changes in the near future. Ugh, I know, that was bad.

All in all, we deemed the trek out to Brooklyn well worth it. The Brooklyn Night Bazaar takes place every Friday and Saturday night from 6pm to midnight. Check out their website for more information!

Ooh baby, Ooh, baby
It’s making me crazy, It’s making me crazy
Everytime I look around, Everytime I look around
It’s in my face…

You’ll have that in your head for the rest of the day now; you’re welcome. If I have to suffer from the bad 90’s pop music, I’m brining you all down with me.

Museum of the Moving Image Visit

November 11, 2013 MandyLeave a comment

Happy Monday!

This past week I made the trek out to Astoria to visit the Museum of the Moving Image. I got so caught up in the amazing Yelp reviews, I forgot that I’m not really too much of a movie buff [read: I don’t know the difference between Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery]. Thankfully, I was accompanied by the textbook definition of a media connoisseur, so luckily he was able to break down for me everything from details of film projector extinction to why I need to add Being John Malkovich to my ever-growing “Stuff I need to watch” list.

Some of my favorite parts of the museum were seeing some of the costumes used in movies/television (pictured above is an actual Cosby sweater), this really sick thing called a strobeatrope which I can’t even accurately explain, and the text message translating game by the museum’s entry. Overall, the museum was a pretty good experience, and on Fridays after 4pm it’s donation-based (i.e. free, unless you get the mean man working the desk who basically threatens to melon-ball out your eyeballs if you don’t donate). I would especially recommend it for normal people who have an average or beyond knowledge of movies/the film industry, unlike myself. I guess I just spend my spare time surfing Buzzfeed and watching reruns of The O.C.? My poor underdeveloped brain cells.

Verizon = Satan & Whitney Visit

November 5, 2013 MandyLeave a comment

Let me start by stating the obvious: I hate Verizon Wireless. Having no internet access from 48 hours + is QUITE INCONVENIENT for people who enjoy using/need to use the internet on the weekends. I DIGRESS…

In the theme of my Museum Monday series (which I apparently now notoriously post on Tuesdays) (Verizon, you’re the WORST!), I visited the Whitney Museum last week. The Whitney’s collection focuses on American Art in the twentieth century. It’s current exhibits feature a number of well-known artists (Pictured below are Charles Burchfield, John Marin, Georgia O’Keefe and Joseph Stella), and a few featured exhibitions, one of which is Robert Indiana: an Andy Warhol-esque “pop art” display that’s centralized on progressive movements in American culture. The LOVE sign featured below represents his exhibit: my favorite in the museum.

The Whitney Museum is open from Wednesday through Sunday, offers student discounts and is “pay what you will” from 6pm to 9pm on Fridays. Next time you’re on the Upper East Side, it’s definitely worth an hour or two of your time.

[Halloween-Inspired] Cherry Bomb

October 31, 2013 MandyLeave a comment

Happy Halloween! Or perhaps I should more accurately say, Happy Halloween-Themed Throwback Thursday?! Instead of posting a thrilling throwback post of myself dressing as Walter White, Sarah Palin, and a black cat a million times over, I instead give you an inspired Polyvore featuring the look of an iconic rock and roll artist: Joan Jett. For a few years, I’ve wanted to throw some punk-y all black ensemble together and roam the streets of October 31st singing “I Love Playing with Fire,” but it hasn’t happened yet. If you’re as last-minute as I am and are celebrating the holiday this evening, you’re more than welcomed to borrow my idea. Just don’t forget the choppy hair and confident attitude :)

Cherry Bomb by mandysmyers featuring low heel combat boots

Paley Center Visit

October 29, 2013 MandyLeave a comment

Due largely in part to some technical, internet-related glitches (and not at all due to busyness or laziness on my part), I missed a few posting days. Sorry about that. The following was intended to be my first “Museum Monday” post (a little something I’m trying out), but it’s Tuesday… so I guess Touristy Tuesday it is?

Ever since I began my new commute [from hell], I pass the subway station advertisement for the Museum of Television and Radio twice per day. Since it sounded like something up my alley, I did a little research and found that it was renamed the Paley Center for Media a few years back, but I wanted to check it out nonetheless.

Unless you’re attending a specific speaker or screening at the building, you go up to a room and basically watch TV for 90 minutes. They have a bunch of old (and new) programs and clips archived and easily accessible through their computers. I’d imagine this would have been a lot more unique in the days before YouTube, but I was still able to surface some cool footage I would never have otherwise searched for on the web. Conan O’Brien’s first monologue, old footage of Elaine May and Mike Nichols, a feature on Lucille Ball and an interview with Jerry Seinfeld from the 80’s were some of my picks.

Columbus Day Blues

October 14, 2013 MandyLeave a comment

Happy Columbus Day! While many believe today’s holiday is for celebrating the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, I know the true meaning: to commemorate the great city that is Columbus, Ohio. ;)

Although I didn’t exactly grow up in C-bus, my small hometown was a little under an hour away, so when describing where I’m from, it’s usually my default answer. Once my friends and I were of age to drive, we jetted South as often as we could and spent many weekends and summers in various Columbus neighborhoods, to add some kind of urban flair to our lives. To show my respect for the great capital of the Buckeye State, I’m going to make a list of the things I miss most about my almost home-city, Columbus.

Easton Town Center. Especially around the holidays. I loved it even when I worked there :)
Gallery Hopping in the Short North
Shakespeare in Schiller Park
Bento Go Go. (Cheap and amazing sushi which allegedly and sadly is no more.) I really just miss it because my friends and I posed in pictures like this there:

Bangs were a bad life choice. — Bangs were a bad life decision.

5. Jeni’s. How do I get my hands on some Cinderella Pumpkin ice cream, stat?
6. OSU Football. Duh.
7. Comfest: the best hippie festival in the state.
8. The Columbus Zoo
9. North Market
10. And because I’m a huge cheese-ball, the last but certainly not least thing on my list is all of my family and friends who live there. I’m definitely feeling more homesick than normal for central Ohio today. :(