spring awakenings

So after complaining that everything was a little bit mundane two weeks ago, I've come out of that corner fighting and have just had the kind of week that reminds me of why I love being in New York so much. After finishing writing my article on Tuesday, I took Wednesday off and was rewarded with the most amazing spring weather. After lunch with The Russian, I spent a couple of hours in Central Park which is bursting out with blossoms and new spring foliage. I was so excited that I went back again on Friday, had lunch with Christina and then wandered around in even warmer, summery sunshine. It was like the Central Park from movies - people lazing around, playing sport, ice cream vendors, rollerbladers and rollerskaters, sunbathers, the whole thing.

After walking the length of the park on Wednesday, I took myself to the Guggenheim to see the exhibition by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang which Elle had raved about. And it was absolutely amazing! I walked around with this kind of goggle-eyed wonder for much of it, especially his massive scale installations. In the central atrium of the museum, top to bottom, he had 9 cars suspended in space with fibre optic explosions coming out of each one. Another of the installations featured 99 life-sized stuffed wolves frozen in the motion of running in a huge long formation towards a glass wall, which they would hit head first and collapse to the ground. The notes said it was an allegory of human ambition and our societies' failures to heed past mistakes. And on the top floor was the shell of an enormous wooden boat which had been excavated from a beach in Japan, and here was sat in a beach of broken porcelain plates and figurines. Astonishing.


The week's treats continued on Friday afternoon with a visit to a day spa, courtesy of the fabulous gift voucher for my birthday, where I received an hour-long full-body massage followed by a half-hour facial. Complete gorgeousness. And if that hadn't all been relaxing and enriching enough, I spent Saturday and Sunday in Rhinebeck in upstate New York staying with Siobhan and James and some of their lovely friends. Siobhan and James have a great holiday house in a beautiful, quiet wooded area outside of the town, and we spent Saturday night cooking and eating and drinking, after which the lounge room became a make-shift nightclub and we danced like maniacs to random music choices from James's amazing record collection. I had my first ever go at spinning records on the turntables, with a little rudimentary mixing thrown in, and I think I caught the bug. It's all about power and control. Apparently I was so focused on the task that I missed the raunchiest part of the evening taking place behind me. Must investigate learning to mix properly!