sunday afternoon: slowing down

this past week was so busy i didn't have time to write or cook or clean my little apt..it was a blur of late hours spent working and several days straight of pizza and leftover indian food. yuck.

what a relief it was to wake up yesterday to a beautiful sunny day and the luxury to finally SLOW DOWN.

i'm making some big changes because i've realized how important it is to me to find happiness in all aspects of my life. i came to the realization that the 40 + hours a week i spend working at my job are not making me happy, so it's time to move on.

i get so much joy from spending time with my friends, making things, cooking, taking pictures, writing this blog..there must be a way to take the things i love doing or find something else that makes me equally happy and incorporate it into my work life. time to find out...wish me luck.

on another note, this weekend everyone was talking about their thanksgiving plans and looking ahead to winter holidays. it really is a wonderful time of year. soon there will be beautiful white lights at night and colorful window displays. every year i promise myself i won't go crazy shopping for gifts, but like clockwork my inner pavlovian consumer kicks in the second i see those holiday lights go up and i start lusting after the perfect...everything.

one of my favorite things about december in new york are the holiday markets that go up in union square, columbus circle, and bryant park. these markets offer hundreds of vendors with gift options for everyone you've ever known and then some. if you have the shopping stamina, you can go spend a few hours there and get all of your gifts in one shot...i'll admit i have never been able to resist treating myself to a new necklace or pair of earrings there--they have the best jewelry and great deals.

i was happy to find out yesterday at the brooklyn flea market in ft greene that despite this past weekend being their last in brooklyn, they will be packing it up and migrating to an indoor space on the island of manhattan for the winter with their own holiday market called gifted. it's going to be on 4th & lafayette, and it will feature all of the same wonderful vendors that have been spending their summer and fall weekends in ft greene and dumbo. i love this market and have spent many a saturday afternoon grazing through their selection of vintage clothes and one-of-a kind antiques and sampling many of the delicious local treats they offer. one of my favorite foodie vendors is local pickle hero purveyor, rick's picks, who fearlessly add unconventional ingredients to their brine, like wasabi to green beans, smoked paprika to okra, and pink peppercorns to asparagus. so addictive...

i'm also a fan of amazing vegan chocolate company fine & raw, who get bonus points for their injection of silliness into the ingredient list (and also for being on a mission to save the world one cocoa bean at a time).

i think my favorite thing i saw at the flea on saturday was this vintage blue prom dress that looked like it was hanging from the sky.

as long as we're on the subject of gifts, i am going to take this opportunity to start my wish list. this list will probably continue for the next several weeks, but let's kick it off with this water tower humidifier from annie's blue ribbon general store, one my favorite shops ever and always my go-to for fun gifts. while i was there, i also decided i wanted one of these fish clocks, because...because i just do.