Our Trip to Brooklyn: Museum, Thrifting, and Mumford and Sons

For my birthday Zack treated me to a day in Brooklyn, since he bought us tickets to see Mumford and Sons in the new Barclay Stadium. I've been conflicted on whether or not to split it up into multiple posts because we accomplished so many awesome things or just to do an overview of the whole day. I'm going with the later for now.....although I miiight go into detail later :3

We started the day off at a sushi place since we drove in around noon. Fiancé was super awesome and planned out literally everything. He asked what kind of food I wanted and was able to find restaurants with good ratings in the area we were going to be. This place was small, but it was so wonderful!

Then we went to the Brooklyn Museum. I didn't get to venture the whole museum when I went with the art club, so I really wanted to see what this museum had to offer. There were tons of great exhibits! My favorite part though was the visible storage room. Decades of house wares, drawers filled with artifacts and jewelry, and cases upon cases of statues, pottery, and furniture. It was just really awe-inspiring. 

My other favorite part was the GO: a community-curated open studio project, which featured five brooklyn artists and displayed their work as well as a video of their studio space and their process. It was incredibly exciting for me because I'll be graduating soon, so its nice to see younger people being able to accomplish credible series and have their own studio; it's a glimpse into my (hopefully very near) future.

After the museum we walked around a bit before we went to a yummy Indian restaurant and came across this little gem. Hooti Couture is a vintage shop that also sells handcrafted jewelry. Zack treated me to a couple of goodies from this store and from  Beacon's Closet, another much larger vintage store that I fell in love with. So many great finds! I'll definitely be making a thrifting trip in the city when it's warmer out. 

We ended the night with the concert. This was probably the first concert I've ever been to where I didn't care for the opening bands, but Mumford & Sons know how to put on a fantastic show. They're so energetic, especially since their primary percussive instrument is just a bass drum. Their harmonies are amplified when they perform live, which I absolutely adored.

The whole day was filled with all of my favorite things. I couldn't ask for anything better. All thanks to my boo. *aww*

TTFN <3
-Avé

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens | Brooklyn Museum - Field Trip!

Yesterday the SCSU Student Arts League went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum. For my first time in Brooklyn, this trip was perfect.

The botanical gardens was honestly the most relaxing and inspiring venture I've been on in quite some time. The conservatory included exotic plants from tropical, desert, and warmer climates; where I drew the most inspiration from. The textures and shapes in some of these plants were hard to ignore. I can't wait to incorporate it in my sculptures next semester! My favorite part was the Cherry Walk. There were two rows of the most beautiful cherry blossom trees I've ever seen. The weather was gorgeous--a slight breeze...toes between the grass...sun shining....ahh! So great. 

Between the garden and the Brooklyn Museum, my friend and I wanted to find a bite to eat. We walked a couple of blocks past the library to stumble across a farmer's market. I was NOT leaving the market till I had a cup of fresh apple cider :3. There were also a couple of venders selling tees, jewelry, and hand made totes. I fell in love with a pair of $65 earrings but sadly I couldn't afford to impulse buy, le sighh. 

The Brooklyn Museum was super great from what I saw. I only had enough time to wander on the fourth and fifth floor. I'm not the greatest museum buddy; I tend to wander around without a map and without a mission. However, I'm glad I saw two particular exhibits: The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago and Keith Haring: 1978 - 1982. Haring is one of my most favorite artists, so to see some of his early work was amazing.

The Matrix by Keith Haring in the Brooklyn Museum

Afterwards we had dinner at The Pour and caught the last couple of innings of the Yankee game (I'm not one for baseball, but it was a pretty good game!) I treated myself to a turkey burger complete with avocado slices and tatertots. Yes. Tatertots. Best tatertots I've ever had (Napoleon Dynomite would be proud). We made our final stop at The Strand. Our advisor described it as if "you were to open up your laptop, and walk into the book section of Amazon.com." It was a pretty accurate description. There's four floors, one of which is dedicated to just art books. Used, new, rare, cheap--all awesome. I will definitely make a trip back to The Strand with money and time to spend. It was a perfect ending to well overdue field trip. I've been a college student for four years a while and have yet to go on a field trip; I need to take advantage of what my tuition is going towards!