Day 60's rockin' the Paleozoic

Waiting for the train today (with full cell service!) I was trying to figure out which track to be on, which direction to go in, how many stops, etc. I found the CTA's super-helpful signs which clearly marked each track and it's direction. This one, for example, shows the access options, which lines stop here, and that dinosaurs and spaceships often pass through the station. Helpful and exciting! I've been waiting four years to see Dinos cross through the 59th/Lex station with no luck. Chicago 1, New York 0.

day 60: boxes and carpet

day 60?? wha!! today i came home late and was greeted by this.... for some reason there are cut up, flattened boxes lining the hallways of my building. hello? mom? was the carpet cold? are we expecting a monsoon? i'm thoroughly confused as to what purpose this might serve, exactly.

Day 59 doesn't know who's posting

Yo. Today I tried something brand new. For me. Not for you. Or my blur-happy cohort. I was getting pretty tired of her 9 trillion blur pictures as I'm sure all of you are. But I thought I'd give it a shot tonight. And you know what? IT'S THE HARDEST PHOTO I'VE EVER TRIED TO GET. She's either a brilliant photographic wizard or severely demented. I'll let you choose. However, after many, MANY failed attempts... this one's kinda cool. Don't worry, I'll never try this again. As for that other poster, I can't promise anything...

day 59: spellcheck, please?

don't you love finding little mistakes like this? this pho[credit] goes to brenda, who, after enjoying this delicious milk chocolate treat, noticed this error. this is a lesson to us all.... spell check is our friend. use it. love it. need it.... you get the idea.

Day 58's favorite things

In the kitchen of my new place is this rack of old stamps. It's the weirdest and coolest thing I've ever seen someone use to decorate with. It makes me think of movies where people collect bits and pieces of old trash or tools and keep them as treasures (ie. The Little Mermaid). I don't really get it, but I like it.

Ps. Word to our new sister (daughter?) blog Pho365SEA formed by my good pal KCanny. That's right, fools! We done inspired someone to branch off! We're so proud of you and we can't wait to see what you shoot over the next year. Anyone else who wants to be a copycat and steal our hard work and ideas for your own selfish personal gain- go for it!

day 58: wet and shiny

back in the new york pho365 action! i can't say it enough, i'm obsessed with shots like these. i literally could stand in one place and take pictures of cars going by for hours. but i try and control myself so that you loyal readers don't get too bored.

on an awesome note - i'd like to officially welcome the seattle edition of phototally 365 (bookmark this link and read it everyday)!!! Kira is an amazing, trashy, hilarious, super cool and hip friend of ours who now lives in Seattle. She has caught the pho[bug] and today was day 1.

If anyone feels the spirit move you to start their own photo blog YOU SHOULD DO IT!! I know we have readers out there in Hawaii, Cali, Mass., Texas, DC, and foreign lands like Astoria and Brooklyn...... and the people need to see your pics!!

Day 57 ran off to join the circus

AVH and I went to Navy Pier today before she left. It reminded us of a fake place we drove through with our good pal Kenny, of several places in New York and of a really lame Six Flags. It was pretty much deserted which was both really cool and super creepy. I'm glad this picture came out the way it did because it's pretty accurate to how the whole place felt. A little pre-Halloween creepy for you, good readers.

day 57: sitting by the water

its weird posting a picture i took in chicago as i'm sitting in my apartment in new york. the cohort and I enjoyed milk shakes and a cup of coffee (so random) by the waterfront in chi-town. it was cold as hell and all those feelings of loving chicago froze to death. seriously.... sooo cold. this little guy was also cold. he sat so incredibly still i was positive he was in some kind of bird coma.

Day 56 jumps for joy

By now you've read about our day in the sun. We went to see The Bean today since AVH hadn't been there yet. I was so bored since I'd already been there but I just mustered the strength to get through the afternoon. Then we jumped. And all was good.

day 56: JUMP!

yay chicago!! today my horoscope said it was a day for play and "doing cartwheels in an open field". well it turns out that the open fields in chicago are roped off and that i don't know how to do a cartwheel so the boo and i decided to jump off of things. this was the result! good times for day 56!

day 55: they'll huff and they'll puff

are these bears or wolves? i can't tell..... if their not wolves then this title makes absolutely no sense. its odd that these wolves are standing and also reading. not that a wolf doesn't enjoy a good romance novel. the one on the far right clearly has to use the bathroom. these wolves wouldn't stand a chance in new york. there would be homeless people sleeping all around them and urine stains all over that. beautiful.....

Day 55: Fleece and Turbo-power

Nothing says warm, cozy and Autumn like Land's End fleece and power tools. This Fall, warm yourself up with these brightly-colored sweaters and a matching leaf-blower. How festive!

day 54: flying the high skies

i hate flying in a big way. i snapped this picture before my flight then went to my happy place of sudafed and pharmaceuticals and woke up in another timezone! as you can see from the previous post that i'm quite exhausted so this is all you get and now i'm off to bed. gnight all!!

Hush little Day 54, don't say a word

Shh. AVH is here. But you be quiet so you don't wake her. She works a big girl job with long hours in an office and then had to fly all the way out here so she's very tired. I guess we'll hang out tomorrow...

day 53: truckin' through

so i guess this isn't really a good picture because you can't really read it well but the bottom line says "love your president". i don't know if i can say it enough how much i'm in love with the interest and passion i see around the city for this election. in the oddest places and from the oddest people you see little buttons, pins, messages, anything that pertain to whats going on in politics now. its incredible and amazing to watch and be a part of.

Stick Day 53 in your pipe and smoke it.

Every time I go to get coffee near the theatre I look out the window and see this. I keep meaning to snap a photo and I finally remembered to bring my camera tonight. Only when I got closer did I realize it's a fence. I think it's probably the coolest fence I've ever seen and it's literally in an alley. It's a good half-block long and taller than me which equals a lot of pipes. Simple but fascinating, I think.

Day 52 tastes like chicken.

Yesterday was the craziest day I've ever had. I was literally running around all morning to get things set up for the show. Right in the middle of the day I'm mid-New York walk-run with head down and face ascowl to go pick up my credit card machines (which haven't been working since last week....) and I stumbled upon this gem. It's a gated box of pigeons drawn to a flame in the middle of an open plaza. Cripsy!

Ps. I'm an awful person and for the first time I forgot to post. Because of said crazy day I got home and passed out. I'm sorry, readers! I'll work on getting a REALLY good photo today.

day 52: animals on the walls

it's a known fact that some of the ny subway stations truly do look like someone took a bag of poop and just threw it all over the walls, the ground, the benches, the turnstiles.... etc.

but others, like this gem, have my favorite thing in the world.... intricate tile work! its not actually my favorite thing in the world but its awesome and i am eternally fascinated by it. that being said.... this ENTIRE station (two floors) has animals on the walls. truly awesome stuff that i bet took years and years but all those years were so worth it because the result is truly wonderful. thats all, just had to gush about the subways for a change. :)

gnight, all!

Move down, move down, Day 51

Continuing with this week's theme of Alice and Wonderland photos, I went to get some much-needed coffee at the insanely early hour of noon today and found this kick-ass sculpture hanging from the ceiling. That was the longest sentence in history. And this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in a coffee shop. It's all mugs and saucers and the top part is a net of spoons. I asked the (creepy) barista if I could take a picture and he told me it was fine as long as I didn't take a picture of him. Helpful. Here is my photo, not of the counter-help, but of the awesome mobile.

Ps. I've gotten coffee from this place several times and never noticed it before. Either it's new or I need new glasses. Not bifocals, Kenneth.

day 51: sweets everywhere

today's blog features the incredible hand modeling of brenda the design superstar. holla!

you can always tell Halloween is approaching because little mini snack size bags of candy start showing up everywhere. in your kitchen, in your office, in your purse, in duane reade.... there's no escaping it! i took this picture at the beginning of the day, and i swear to you by the end of the day over 50% of it was gone. we love our candy down in the lafayette.

day 50: fat cats

do ya'll remember day 16? new [pho365] friends, now is the time to catch up! h'anyway, that awesome artist who painted those lovely ladies is back. this time.... with a very fat cat. it's like he's trying to tell me something. some really important message and i'm just not getting it. is the fat cat a commentary on the wall street millionares? is he calling me fat? does he hate felines? man, i could never be on CSI.

i had a teacher who looked just like that cat once.

peace!

Day 50: A Golden Oldie

Fifty days, yo! We rock. I was walking back from Target (woot!) this evening and I saw noticed this view from where I was standing. The rain, the clouds, the light from dusk, the leaves turning... Fall is here! It makes me nostaligic for hot cider, warm jackets, hay-rides, pumpkin-carving Fall goodness. I never grew up with any of that but you get the point. I thought some bright yellow leaves were appropriate for a golden 50th blogiversary post. Only 315 more to go...

Day 49 fell down the rabbit hole

Dirty Dancing opened tonight! Official US opening night. It was very exciting and very stressful and very... big. Everything was giant. Including these lamps at the W Hotel where the after party was held. These were in the lobby and we couldn't get over how inappropriately large they were. I thought it was Pho-worthy. Happy Opening!

day 49: bustin' out

this picture needs no caption or thoughts imparted onto (unto?) it because its just awesome. its oozing with awesome-ness and awesome-ness is coming out of it from every angle. when i stopped to take this picture, people trying to walk by me on the sidewalk were pissed i was blocking them but then they turned their gaze over to this beauty and a single ray of sunlight from heaven shown down on them and they saw the light. and the light came in the form of a giant obama bust screenprinted onto the side of a clothing store.

have you seen the light??

day 48: paint it up

today i broke from my normal weekend schedule of sitting around doing a whole lotta nothing and volunteered with NY Cares at a middle school in queens. it was kind of a hot mess in terms of organization but touching up murals and helping out was fun and fulfilling. however.... children with paint was involved with this process and that was neither fun nor fulfulling. here's a little preview of the paint disaster that we had to deal with.

Day 48 likes necking

This is the wall in the alley outside our theatre. I think it's awesome and old-timey and I wish it wasn't so hard to see, trapped between two buildings. I walk past it whenever I can because it makes me think of quieter, simpler times. You know, when I didn't have to run around to restock shirts or fix displays or change price sheets, covered in velcro and safety pins and hot glue. It's been a long week....

There I was, in my office, when this Day 47 walked in

These are the clothes I wore for my fashion shoot today (more on that another time) but I really like how this picture came out kind of Noir-ish. Plus I got this hat for $20 and it will look good on me if I say so.

day 47: help, i need somebody

friday. friday. say it with me now..... FRI-DAY. i saw this awesome post-it in my office today and it made me really happy. there is a mystery board on my floor where it seems people are writing down constructive thoughts to help the company. obviously this is the best idea ever i've ever heard and i'm pretty pissed i didn't think of it myself.

moving on... this one particular work of art is at the center of this board of wonder. i'd like to see someone top this illustration. but you can't. you know why?? cause it rocks.

today's lesson: never blog while sleep deprived. gnight!

Day 46 might go gay for the financial savings

Who knew? Men are crazy cheap in Chicago. Let me know if you need me to stock up for you.

day 46: party in the moonlight

tonight was a beautiful little gathering of peeps at a bar that i swear to you, had no lighting. that shit was lit entirely by candelight. i mean, they were serious about the pub concept except that unfortunately for all those use to overhead lighting, this meant the pub concept of the early 14th century. that being said, there were beers, burgers and fries a plenty. and that, my friends, is what makes the world go round.

day 45: brief.

okay people, today we're going to keep it brief. brief because there is a lot of television to catch up on!! the debate, project runway, svu, how to look good naked, samantha who?.... these are all an important part of my life. also, i hope to watch all of these and get to sleep in the next 20 minutes. clearly this is impossible and i have no friends.

gnight!

Oh no Day 45 McDi'in'

I came across this beautiful display today and I thought it was a really powerful message. Perhaps we can replace the tired, old synonym for sex "do" with this updated Double Arch-ified "McDo". As in, "I'd like to McDo her all night long". I think it will hold up to some other conjugations, as well. As in, "He McDid everyone in our class", "I hear she McDoes it with the lights on" or "They're McDoing it behind her husband's back". It'll catch on.

Day 44: A Guerilla Marketing Manifesto

I'm a firm believer in guerilla marketing and I always stop and read stickers, posters, flyers on the street when I have time. Many marketers don't think the practice is worth anything and don't believe it works. This sign caught my eye tonight and I think it's awesome. I realize a lot of them are trash and graffiti but they look pretty neat all together. Some of you might remember a guerilla marketing expedition one night last summer which started with lots of beer and ended with one of our own drinking some stranger's soda. This proved conclusively that guerilla marketing works and drunken outings late at night in the Village lead to diseases.

day 44: what could it mean?

ahh, new york. don't you love a city that fully embraces freedom of speech.


today - behold exhibit A.

This beautiful work of art is either an expression of someones love for the male genitalia (for which the brits have a number of diff words for, fyi), or a love for dick cheney. i truly hope it is the first option. no one loves dick cheney. even republicans don't love dick cheney. but does the owner of this sticker love dick cheney?? we'll never know.....

Day 43 has seen the light(s)

Today we went to walk around Andersonville and Roneet showed me all the fun places she'd seen before. She had mentioned a very special photo opportunity, hereby know as a "photopp" (it'll catch on), and made sure we found it. Sure enough, as soon as I saw this spectacle I knew it was my photopp for the day (see? you like it already). Since it was just around dusk the sign wasn't lit up just yet and we wondered if we should wait until it got dark enough so I could get the full effect of this bizarre Vegasy church sign. I snapped a few pictures and chuckled about how weird the sign was. As we walked away we wished the church would have put on a better show and both turned around at the same time to find the sign all lit up. That's right friends, Jesus turned on the lights for us. He does exist and if you pray hard enough for him he will show you the truth: neon lights are the way of the Lord.

day 43: moving, moving all day long

i'm obsessed with this day and i never want it to end. except i am tired and do want to go to bed so i guess that's a contradiction. anyway, today was one of those days where i got to the office, sat down had some breakfast and worked on some things then looked up and it was 12pm!! Then i have some lunch and laugh a lot with brenda and sara then look up again and its 5pm!! that was a special treat on a work day for me that was a holiday for the rest of the world. so here's your pic of the day - it may be my favorite of the week. i know its only monday but i love it!


enjoy, friends!

M-I-C K-E-Day 42, M-O-U-S-E

Why? Because I love you. No, seriously. Why is this just a Y?

day 42: gorgeous sunday buildings

I'm aware that this picture is not as interesting as ostrich eggs.... i apologize to my public.

But i love this building in a big way. it has a very brooklyn feel, very not-big city like vibe. I love things like that. Besides that, it was a beautiful and gorgeous day and for some reason this building looked all warm and nice to me.

that's all for this sunday installment of the pho[365]. good night all!

day 41: from my head down to my legs

do you guys get the title reference? anyone? anyone....?

h'anyway. leave it to whole foods to have the most random shit. these ostrich eggs are available for purchase at the low, low price of $39.99. does anyone buy these? do i have to remind people that we're in a recession?? this is not the time to be spending money on eggs from a bird that is larger than you are. What kind of things do you make with these? really large omelettes? massive amounts of egg sandwiches?

okay so out of curiosity i had to google what you can do with an ostrich egg. apparently its just like a chicken egg, except....

1. it's 3lbs.
2. equals 18-24 chicken eggs
3. you have to boil them for 2 hours to cook thoroughly
4. you have to use a small hammer to crack it open
5. a scrambled ostrich egg yields 10-12 servings

whoa. this post felt more like a discovery channel episode. you're welcome.

Day 41 reminds you to buckle up and wear your hard hat.

This sign was posted outside a construction site right next to the normal signs about the right to work, safety reminders, permits, etc. I have no idea if it's from today or ten years ago and why "grandpa" is wiped off but I think it's pretty intense.

Day 40 hangs out in back-alleys.

Walking home I walked past this Walgreen's and the angle and noticed the Drive-Thru Pharmacy sign. From where I was looking, it seemed like the sign was pointing at this van. While trying to get the right photo at the right angle, the door opened and some guy in all black started walking towards me. I think I stumbled on some mafia cartel ring. I'll be entering Witness Protection tomorrow so this is probably the last you'll ever hear from me. Peace.

day 40: wear your stripes

next to angry cab drivers, this may be as close as one can get to wildlife in new york city. (squirrels in central park do not count.)

this fun little paper mache masterpiece is in front of the childrens museum of arts downtown. it seems to be a joyous place of wonder and discovery. most times i walk by i wish i could get out of my big girl office clothes, throw on some sweats and my converses and go play. seriously... lunch time play hour! wouldn't it be marvelous. i think everyone on wall street should take part in a mandatory play time. just some time to finger paint and make beautiful cards with dried, painted spaghetti noodles all over them. ah, youth....

Day 39 is a copycat.

Fine, okay?? Yes, McDonalds's have been photographed before. But this one is near my apartment and some people have said it looks like the Jetsons. I just think it's nifty.

day 39: underground battle from now till always

i thought my fellow new yorkers would enjoy this. Mostly, ken comia. why, mta, why? why not just tell the truth.... and the truth is. NONE OF TRAINS WORK. YOU WILL BE LATE TO WORK EVERY MORNING NO MATTER WHAT. Go ahead, try and get up 10 or 15 minutes earlier. guess what.... the train will be running 15 minutes late! ah ha! MTA wins again!

this important subway message is brought to you by one very angry subway rider. but not as angry as i'd be if i had to pay for gas for a car. word.

day 38: bright lights kill the earth

you know how tourist go to times square and see all the bright lights and shiny ads and flashy screens and think "wow! this is really awesome and beautiful"...?

Well i see that stuff and think "what the fuck?? turn that shit off, you're killing the earth. polar bears are dying ." its new york,.... it just sucks the positive outlook right out of you!(but those polar bears really are dying *cough cough* sarah palin *cough*) truly, does this McD's need to have its lights on all hours of the day and spread its ugly yellow fluorescent-ness to one and all? i think not!

A B C, it's easy as Day 38

I like numbers. A lot. I just think they're interesting. Graphically, visually, functionally interesting. Especially forgotten or lost numbers. I think a lot about numbers and what they mean and what value they hold and who used them. This is an address but it appeared many times on this one papered-over, chained-up window to the point that I wonder who designed the store front to show the address so many times. It piqued my interest and I thought I'd share.

day 37: tally it up

its an election year my friends. this window method here may be more effective than the questionable polling booths in florida and ohio. i think they're on to something down in soho. overall i think i love this sign more than i should but i can't get over how awesome this is!

(For all those interested, final tally per this sign was 131-Obama vs. 16-McCain.)

Day 37 keeps fallin' on my head

It is rainy here in Chi-town. The whole city is soggy and gray. It made for a REALLY fun walk to the theatre today. But it also made for this ACTUALLY fun picture of our marquis reflecting on the sidewalk. I like it, hey Mikey!

day 36: morning battle

today started out really, really crappy. there was an epic morning commute battle with the MTA that ended with me in defeat and nearly in tears on the 6 train as we sat stuck in a tunnel. at that point i was still not at work though it had been over an hour since i left my apartment. me = late for work. BUT TOMORROW IS A NEW DAY. in the end all was well because i was surrounded by chocolate and snacks, all of which make the day go by faster and make me happy in my heart. what also helps.... ice cream.

goodnight!

Day 36 on wheat, hold the mayo

We ate at a Vegan restaurant tonight and Roneet and I split a BBQ "Bacon" Cheeseburger. It was delicious. I accidentally took all of the sprouts when I cut the burger in half and Roneet was unhappy about the lack of sprouts in her life. Sprouts, as in these. Little. Thin. Sprout-like. When she asked the waitress for some sprouts on the side she looked us like we were crazy and then brought us these:



Giant, mammoth, Mama sprouts. Roneet ate about 2.5 and then just had a plate of monster sprouts left over. Too funny.