The last couple of weeks in New York have gone by in an exhilarating blur! My time here almost feels like a dream, and every morning I wake up excited for what the day has in store for me. This is the precise thing that makes me love with this city, you just have no idea what you’ll see and what experience you will end up having. It’s almost impossible to have a predictable day in NYC, because there are so many options and endless possibilities. I totally thrive on this energy and feel so alive when I’m here. But, it can be exhausting too if I don’t take the time to rest and recalibrate. Figuring out the balance is something I’m still working on 🙂
For the past few weeks I’ve been connecting with lots of friends and been taking in some new sights and sounds. It started when my buddy from Vancouver, Pennylane was up here for a wedding. Since she went to art school at New York University she knows some of the best arty things to do in the city. We met up for a late brunch and then took the subway to Williamsburg to check out the Kara Walker Dominion sugar instillation. I had always thought the old sugar factory looked cool from the outside, but I had no idea what to expect when we made our way to the lineup outside the gates. We waited in the queue for well over an hour and by the time the exhibit was open there were hundreds of people behind us. Kara Walker is a very famous artist who constructed a massive sculpture of a woman out of sugar to commemorate plantation workers in the South. It was absolutely incredible to see and well worth the long wait!
The next day, my friend Nathalie Lussier who I met in Marie Forleo’s Mastermind, put on a business conference called Off The Charts. I was very excited to see Natalie and connect with some of my other entrepreneur friends. I ended up learning so much during the 2 days, that I filled up an entire notebook! Nathalie herself is such a wealth of information, but I also got so much out of the other speakers too especially the women behind Simple Green Smoothies. In under 2 years they have over 315,000 Instagram followers! They shared with us exactly how they have been able to do this and absorbed as much juicy green info as I possibly could! I also got to spend sometime with Tracy Matthews who runs the Flourish & Thrive Academy, which is an online business program for jewellery makers. We had met before and will be spending some more time together while I’m here because we have some big ideas of how we can serve the community.
In January I was at the Alt Summit in Salt Lake City and one of the sponsor dinners was put on by Kollabora, which is an online community of makers who share what they create. I’ve kept in touch with one of the women who works on their community development, and we last week to chat more about how the craft industry is evolving. It’s always so interesting to get different perspectives and brainstorm different ideas to grow and expand. I love keeping in touch with awesome people and figuring out ways to possibly work together in the future. So much fun!
I meant to write last week but my brother Chandler ended up booking a last minute trip and we spent 5 amazing days hanging out with our younger cousin and exploring the city. We went to Coney Island on Sunday which I had never been to before. It has a world famous boardwalk featuring some iconic rides that are almost 100 years old. There is a beach that stretches out in front of the rides and it is a pretty amazing site to see. The weather was super hot and the beach was packed with thousands of sunbathers. We went on a few rides, ate hotdogs and drank ice cold beer. It was pretty much the perfect summer day!
On Chandler’s last night we saw Sleep No More which is best describe as an interactive theatre performance based on Macbeth. It takes place in the fictitious McKittrick Hotel which is made up of a bunch of old warehouses in Chelsea. There are 5 floors including a mental institution, hospital, hotel and ballroom and each is decorated very elaborately in a 1920’s noir theme. The audience is a few hundred people and we all were required to wear white masks the entire time. For 3 hours it’s choose your own adventure as you follow various actors around the space trying to piece together the story. There is no speaking and everything is conveyed through action, music and dance. In the end everyone ends up at the bar to enjoy a post show cocktail and try to figure out what everything meant. I’ve seen a lot of theatre in New York over the years, and this by far was my favourite experience.
Today I discovered the best place to have some quiet time and do work; the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue. The building itself is like a museum with ornate marble, brass carvings and arched ceilings…plus they have free wifi and air conditioning! There is something so wonderful to be surrounded by all of those books. I decided I’m going to go there instead of crowded noisy coffee shops to work on my book proposal. It’s such a magical place.
I’m having the time of my life in New York and despite having a few lonely moments initially, I now feel like I’m finally getting the hang of the city. I am trying to take in as much as possible while still staying in the moment to savour how extraordinary this city really is. I’ve connected with lots of friend and met new ones too. I’m constantly grateful that I’ve been able to spend so much time here and can’t wait to have 10 more glorious days. Coming to NYC one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time 🙂
If you have any comments or your favourite place to travel to, please share them below. For more photos of my time in the big apple please click here.
Sparkly New York love,
Jenna
