Long Live McQueen

And for now, he lives on at the Met in the Savage Beauty exhibit.

And I FINALLY went on Saturday, but just wait... We'll get there.

Let's start with Friday night...

Sushi and a night in with these girls made me SOOOO happy that I went into my crazy laugh which was terribly annoying and makes me sound like a psycho, but it had been TOO long since the three of us had had alone time. When Minners called last minute and said she was going to drive into the city (she lives in Westchester), I canceled my plans to head to Harlem for a bday party and forced Diddz to take a cab over in her PJ's so that we could do this...

and this...

And then we crawled in bed and laid there discussing Real Housewives of EVERY city and shopping in catalogs like 80 year olds. I cherish these girls and nights like this.

The next day, I met Lu and friends (Melissa and Kristin) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit. We waited in line for probably close to an hour to see his brilliant work. For those who don't know, he was a beautifully tortured genius and overly talented fashion designer who passed last year. God rest his soul.

Worth it?

Yep.

And then some.

There was no photography allowed so I googled some images to give you guys an idea of what you're missing out on.

(The above piece had gorgeously detailed, hand-carved, wooden legs - so cool!)

Every piece was stunning and presented in such a cool way including a lot of footage of his runway shows which are little works of performance art all their own.

One of my faves was a show that was an onstage chess game with models for pieces.

You do know that I love that it ends w/Elvis, right?

Other cool videos were this and especially this.

His work is sometimes a little gothic but I learned that he had an appreciation for the ugliness in death and endings because he says it is almost always the start or rebirth of something new and beautiful.

Have I mentioned that I think he was brilliant? Because I do.

(R.I.P.)

After the Met, we walked over to The Great Lawn in Central Park to enjoy some waffles from The Waffle Truck. The girls ordered it with Spekuloos. It's delish. It's like a peanut butter that's not made out of nuts. Or butter for that matter. But it does spread. And it is all gingerbready and snicker-doodle-y and cinnamon-y. You know? No? Well... highly recommended!

I've seen some weirdy things since living in NYC but one of the most impressive will now be this girl.

That takes some serious talent. One thing to know about pogo sticks, other than their difficulty to use, is that they are extremely noisy! She had no shame in bouncing very slowly and very loudly along the path to who knows what sort of destination. What sort of place do people on pogos hang out (other than the circus of course)?

My walk home was delayed when, only 4blocks from my front door, I saw a 90yr old man take a hard fall splitting his head wide open on the sidewalk. Poor thing fell backwards and somehow hit head first making a crashing sound even over all the traffic. Two other people witnessed and the three of us sat with him until an ambulance came. They called 911 while I darted into the closest grocery store and grabbed paper towels. I sat with him, his head in my hands, waiting for the ambulance to arrive when I surprisingly found myself consoling the other woman witness who, at this point, had started bawling... poor thing, she just cared SO much. Anyway, they were all so sweet and helpful and although I was terribly sad that the man had fallen, it made me ecstatically happy to know that there is such kindness in the world.

I like to think that people are inherently good, but I've become so hardened and jaded that more times than not, I tend to notice the evil out there and not the guy who helps the single mother carry her stroller down the subway stairs. Or the woman who escorts a blind stranger across the street. Or the person who helps you hail a cab when you're arms are too full to do so.

One of my favorite things about living in NYC is that everything happens in front of your eyes. Not so great when a bum is peeing into the corner drain, but particularly special when people are showing selflessness and love.

:)

~Kare