So I am the mother of a New Yahker!

The following is a guest pots by my wonderful mother:

So I am the mother of a New Yahker!  I just returned from a wonderful visit with Lauren and Beautiful Mike Anthony.  Lauren picked me up from the airport early Fri morning and we first went to see their apartment in Astoria. Their apartment is very small - by midwest standards - by oh is it cute!  They have it decorated beautifully and make the most of  their space.  I really enjoyed looking out the window from their living room at the Manhattan skyline!

Then we went to her store on Long Island to see all her hard work. I really was impressed with all the interesting things she has created - I had no idea how intense and detailed all the displays were till I was standing there seeing them and realizing how many hours went into achieving certain effects.  We spent nearly three hours in the store - time just flew by!!!  

Then we went to Kick Shaw for a wonderful brunch - we sat at the window and watched the world go by.  We talked and talked and boy do I miss her!

  Onto the the 911 Museum and then back to Astoria to meet Mike for dinner. We went  to alot of interesting and delicious places to eat -Il Bambino, Milk Flower, Sugar Freak and Seva.  I really enjoyed trying new foods. On Sat  morning we boarded the subway and headed to Manhattan. Mike suggested we get off and go thru the farmers market and try some vegan cookies which would be a first for me - I  have to admit they were very good!!!

Then Mike used his Uber and got us a ride to Battery Park where we boarded a ferry over to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island(Mike is great at figuring the logistics).



Then back to Astoria for a wonderful dinner and movie (Fast 7)  I can see why they love living there for now - they can walk to everything they need - it's very exciting -always something to do and new to see.  Mike and Lauren were the perfect hosts - they went out of their way to make me feel .welcome and comfortable.  I would love to go visit every weekend but don't want to wear out my welcome!!

terrain!

 you know spring is here (and URBN employee appreciation) when I make my annual pilgrimage to what might possibly be my favorite place on earth - TERRAIN (sorry whisk you're a close second for all the things I didn't know were missing from my kitchen). We made the 1.5 hour trek to Westport, CT to have brunch in Terrain's garden cafe and to finally pick out the petrified wood slab I've been dreaming of for oh...about a year now. literally. Here is a snap shot to how beautiful the garden cafe is...

and here is the petrified wood slab. It has slowly been turning from wood to polished rock over many many many years just for me! Oh and I also bought a glass soup container - shocking I know.

Anyway back at Anthropologie we are adding some summer touches onto our spring display. Here is a few scoops of ice cream made out of newspaper.

And here is a seagull on a piling I made with some rope details.

More rope details.

And more pilings with a couple hundred pounds of sand and cat tails made out of various cream and white fabrics

no rest for the wicked

Well it took awhile to get out of vacation mode and back to work work work but it happened! Because I took a few days off to have an amazing trip out west while getting to see on of my best friends get married, things had piled up when I got back to work (which is one of the reasons there has been a gap in blog posts). I now see the downside to being a one-person department. Anyway, the windows are done and work has already started for the summer refresh of our floor plan. Things are going to a makeover sailing style so stay tuned for that! But for now take a look at the earth day windows! I’ll have a full series of photos up next week after the photo shoot but I’m pretty happy with the results so I wanted to share a few. 

Anthro’s earth day windows always strive to make the public more aware of issues involving mother earth. This year the focus was creating a rainforest while using recycled materials i.e. newspaper. There is also informative text on the window saying that 80% of the flowers found in the rainforest are not found anywhere else on earth. *if you look closely you'll be able to see little Willie, our rainforest frog mascot hiding in the leaves*

Other than my day job I have committed to working towards my goal of having my own business and the name is………..ELBOWGREASE.  I’ve been doing commissioned work and selling artwork here and there but I figure if I work this hard at my day job I should be channeling that energy into working for myself. I’m still in the early stages of paper work and websites and building clientele so don’t get too excited just yet! I will be focusing mainly on wedding decorations, backdrops, window displays for small businesses, paintings and fun anthro-like trinkets that can be purchased. So if you or anyone you know needs to center pieces for an event, a consultation for space layout, or would just love to learn more about elbowgrease please feel free to give them my email: laurenskunta@gmail.com

Big Sur, Big Fun

This weeks post is a guest post. Enter Mike Anthony…

Having never been to the bay area before, I was really excited for our long weekend on the other side of the country. As they say, the west is the best. Our time was divided perfectly. The first half of our five day mini-vacation was to be spent hiking and exploring one of the most beautiful places in the country, Big Sur. The second half was to be spent in sunny Saratoga celebrating the marriage of Sam Schiff and Josh Beren

We got into SFO late afternoon on Thursday. Being greeted by a yoga room in the airport terminal was a nice touch, and really captured the difference between the east and west coast attitudes.

Our first priority after getting off the plane was lunch. We got our rental car and headed straight for downtown San Francisco. My dad recommended Fisherman’s Wharf, so we headed straight there and had some of the best fish and chips of all time. Delicious, flavorful, and succulent, to say the least.

Post-lunch we were off to Big Sur. Even though the drive is a few hours from San Francisco, it flew by due to the breathtaking views.

We spent two nights in Big Sur. We were exhausted from traveling the first night, but we still got the lay of the land. The second day we were up and at em’ at the crack of dawn, and started a 12 mile hike along the coast around 9am. We even had a close call with a deer. We saw some sights and did some more driving along Highway 1 late that afternoon, and capped off the day with a fantastic dinner over the campfire.

Saturday marked the halfway point of our trip. We woke up, had breakfast, packed our things, and headed for Berkley, CA. The rehearsal dinner for Sam and Josh’s wedding was awesome. Great people, great location, and great food. I wasn’t sure if the wedding could top it.

But it did! Set at a mountain winery in Saratoga, it was one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to. I’m grateful I got invited. The ceremony was outside overlooking the mountains and was followed by a cocktail hour on an enormous patio. Everything ended with the reception and dinner inside. Everyone had their dancing shoes on that night, so it was a blast. A true celebration.

Overall, both parts of our trip were equally amazing. As we left Big Sur, we both turned to each other at almost the exact same time and said “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a more beautiful place in my life.” And as we flew back to New York Monday afternoon, we both talked about how insanely fun the wedding was. I can see why so many people continue to migrate to the golden state year after year.