Archive for the ‘GARDENS’ Category

Just some photos I took in Central Park and The Bronx Zoo… I’m finding I spend a lot of time in zoos, and I actually really enjoy it- It’s not JUST for the kids.  Anyway, I’m still learning how to work my camera as you can see, and I’m having a lot of fun playing with it… These photos have been collecting, and today is the perfect day to use them.

Enjoy!

A few days ago, I was walking home from The Met, and I noticed this absolutely spectacular mansion. I stopped in my tracks.

It’s the French Embassy for Cultural Services. The French, I thought, obviously don’t disappoint. Then I did a little research and learned a hell of a lot more about the mansion. It’s known as the Payne Whitney Mansion, built in 1902. Amazing. The entire block is actually gorgeous, overlooking Central Park and lined with old world mansions. It’s old time New York Chic, built in the Gilded Age of American billionaires. A little history below:

It was designed in the style of the high Italian Renaissance by McKim, Mead & White. It was erected in 1902-06 for financier, philanthropist, and sportsman Payne Whitney and his wife Helen, a poet and patron of the arts(sister-in law to the Whitney’s who founded the Whitney Museum.) Whitney had been given the land by his uncle Oliver Payne (who was an officer in the Civil War and the benefactor instrumental in establishing the Cornell University Medical College) as a wedding gift  for himself and his bride, Helen Hay, daughter of the Secretary of State for President McKinley.  The total cost of the land and building of the mansion was estimated to be around $1 million.

Stanford White designed and oversaw the construction of the exterior and interiors of the house, until he was murdered in 1906. Among the furniture and art that he sourced for the house was a cupid sculpture that was placed in the round foyer. Recently, the cupid was found to have been sculpted by Michelangelo!

Helen Hay Whitney lived in the house until 1944. The French government acquired the Payne Whitney Mansion in 1952. In 1970, it was deemed an official landmark of the City of New York. Today, the building is home to the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

OK – Guess what? you can rent it out for parties…

Learn more about the mansion HERE and rental inquiries HERE.

NYC is in full bloom, and its just so exhilarating… Yesterday I hit the Museum of Natural History and trekked across Central Park with 2 kids (alone), which was a fun adventure:

Gathering sticks,

Collecting rocks.

It was fun, and exhausting. I love how there are parts of Central Park that feel so New York, and parts that feel prehistoric.

I stopped to take a few photos along the way, and so did Cookie:

She takes my phone, and randomly takes photos of things. I wonder where she learned that from. Also, note the outfit: messy side braid, denim shirt, white jeans, messenger bag and cute sneakers… I was wearing almost the exact same thing.

Gotta love Spring Break!

Or desert, cause the plants are all succulents. I saw these photos HERE and I had to repost so I could hear your thoughts on them. Im torn between thinking this is super cool, and thinking its very creepy.

Creepy:

What a lovely tree:

The plants are ALLLIIIIIIVVVEEEEE, they are going to EAT YOU!!!!!!!!

A pretty cactus: 

Ahhh, they are coming for me!!! 

Hahaha… What do you think? PS, I adore everything else in that house.

 

Wondering what to do with a summer rental in Montauk or anywhere? (Montauk is actually on my list for weekend destinations this summer.)

Why dont you do what this dude did, rent a house, put all the original contents into storage and turn it into a “Surf Shack” for your employees to retreat to every weekend.

(Guests often sleep in these tepees!)

From the NYTimes:

Richard Christiansen, founder of Chandelier Creative, a buzzy Manhattan ad agency with a focus on fashion, turned a summer rental in Montauk, N.Y., into a weekend outpost for his staff. He removed the owners’ possessions (photographing, bubble-wrapping and placing each object in storage) and made a surf-themed set: the Chandelier Surf Shack. 

Here is how to have the best summer ever:

Buy all new colorful sheets.

Name your car: This Ford is named  ”Kelly” after, you guessed it, Kelly Bean head Kelly Bensimon.

Take everything you have out of storage and buy more stuff at anthro.

Plant the right stuff so that the honey you grow in your beehives will taste right. 

 Harvest that honey!

Surf!

How CAMPY! Bunk Beds!

Movie Night. 

Sitting on the dock of the bay.

How to have the best summer ever. Period. Its like summer camp for adults!

Read the article and see more photos HERE.