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.

spring roll out is COMPLETE

So spring roll out at Anthropologie is officially over and after my 13 hour work day on Friday I cannot be more relieved. Never fear though next week starts prep for the Earth day windows so there is no rest for the wicked. Sketches for the window were due last week so at least the ball is already rolling for that! I'm hoping for a calmer May...

But enough talk about how much physical and mental labor went in to making all these art installations possible, here are some photos of the store. I'll be putting more detailed/ well thought out photos next week after I do a photoshoot of the store but for now this is what we've got.

What got me through the week was having a lovely belated birthday brunch with my besties! (alliteration much?) Bottomless mimosa's, great conversation and  huevos rancheros can cure anything. I think the envelopes Chrissy and I addressed to Kat say a lot about who we are. Mine says "Call me Kitty Kat"  and Chrissy's is a lovely drawing of a cat face with a heart above it.

aahhh...another great weekend

After a particularly crazy week of working through lunch breaks to go the extra mile for displays I had yet another awesome relaxing weekend. On Friday I felt like a real New Yorker as a sped straight from work to my friend Chafin's modern dance performance. I got to the lower east side about a half hour early so I grabbed a slice of pizza and waited for Chrissy to join. After our pizza we walked over to The wild project which is a gallery space that plays hosts different art events. On this particular night there were 5 modern dance performances that blew our minds. We had known Chafin from our freshman year of college and frequently loved watching him and our other dance friends perform but have yet to see him perform since. His piece, which he choreographed and performed in with three others, was thought provoking, inspiring, entertaining, hysterical, deep, and of course filled with immense talent.

After the show we joined all the performers down the street at Sigmund's which during their happy hour serves up a free gourmet pretzel of your choosing with your beer. Chrissy and I chose the churro pretzels and were deeply in lust with it. 

On Saturday Mike and I spent some quality time at Sweet Afton after a Thursday and Friday night apart. He had the chicken and bisquits with a bloody Mary and I had the pimento cheese B.E.L.T and a screwdriver that was one of the best things I've ever had the pleasure of sipping on so we decided to recreate the recipe at home later that day. 

It called for vodka, hefeweizen, ginger, honey, and orange juice over a tall glass of ice. I garnished mine with blueberries.

After a relaxing, rainy afternoon of roasting beets and watching stand up comedy and house of cards we attempted to go bowling however it seems everyone in Astoria had the same idea. Since we didn't want to be on the wait list for an hour we decided to postpone it for another day.

Sunday morning consisted of home made multigrain pancakes with fruit and yogurt and church via Rock City.

If you want to know what I've accomplished at work this week with the help of my handy dandy assistant take a look below. This upcoming week is the last week of our spring interior roll out and the week after we get started on prepping for the windows!

UCB!

Well I think I can honestly say I've had one of my favorite NYC weekends to date.  Now that the temperatures are hovering above freezing and I have a fancy new coat I can venture outside! A few weeks ago when I was waltzing around Astoria while my laundry dried I discovered a paper sign that said "drink and draw" which immediately got my attention because it is something the "cool art students" would do at OSU. This drink and draw was at a local bar with a back room where a live model would pose and you draw using whatever medium you like while you enjoyed some good conversations with fellow art lovers and beverages of your choice. I absolutely LOVED it and wish they offered it more than once a month. This was only the third session Q.E.D put together but it was a packed house so I'm hoping it will turn into more like a weekly occurrence.

Q.E.D  describes itself as a place for grown ups to learn and a place to show and tell. They feature daily talks, comedy shows, informative work shops, henna tattoo practices, and classes that anyone can take. Some things are free, some are 5 or 10 bucks, and all of it seems amazing. I cannot wait to become a regular here as I'm already hooked after the first time. And look they even had a fireplace on the TV and anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for a fireplace.

Anyway drink and draw was Friday night and so Saturday night I wanted to plan a date for Mike and I so we went out in Chelsea for some fancy mexican food and then finally got to see an Upright Citizens Brigade show. For those who don't know the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational comedy group that was originally founded by Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, and Matt Walsh. Since Amy Poehler is a hero of mine I could not wait to check it out.

The show we went to had a cast of up and comers who are writers and performers in various shows around the city such as SNL. To say there were hilarious would be an understatement. I had only been to improv shows in college and wasn't a huge fan which is why I would normally frequent stand up comedy shows but this improv show titles "grandma's ashes" was full of some very talented people who know what makes a good show. The "theater" is more like a very intimate basement where I'm guessing about 200 people can fit. Mike and I managed to get in at the right time and snag a front row seat. The photos below were not taken by me but will give you a good idea of the theater set up. 

Welp, I'm about to go let this phenomenal weekend continue by getting my work out on, watching some church courtesy of Rock City , and who knows what else. Happy Sunday everyone

Update! We went to a new vegetable and fruit market in Astoria today and bought a ton of fresh produce and made this awesome salad! 

And I stained this table while I was cooking blueberry/lemon muffins! I'm a very project based person I've come to notice...

new websites and displays

Hey ya'll, I know its been awhile but don't worry I've been busy busy busy for Spring roll our at Anthro. I'm especially excited for this years roll out because we are using one source of inspiration (grass lands) for all of our main apparel concepts which is a totally new way of doing displays. The home concepts will still each have their own inspirations and each of the apparel concepts will feel very unique because of the different material choices, yet cohesive because of the overarching inspiration. I'm happy to report that our front of store display is DONE and I'm moving on to the rest of the store. A two story store means a lot of large scale displays but hopefully I'm up for the challenge. Here is a look at what I've done so far.

Mainly turning this...

 into this....

And finally, into this...

 

other than that, I've had a wonderful couple of weeks doing laundry,working on my portfolio, building my website, purchasing a warm coat, planning out all the wedding I get to attend, working out, and of course celebrating Galentines and Valentines day with flowers delivered to my work and some New Orleans cuisine. Speaking of my website - check it out! http://laurenskunta.com!