Just some stuff that I shot during my rainy commute today. I don’t even mind the rain, as long as it stays warm. Ah spring.

I was on Park Avenue today shooting a lookbook preview for SoJones. I arrived a little bit early, and they were giving a tour to some group from FIT. So I wandered out on the balcony and grabbed a quick shot of Park Avenue S. (below) It is hard to tell in the bw version, but there are little leaf buds on those trees (here is the color version, if you are interested).

Spring is here in full force. Although, judging by the temperature the last couple of days, one might think that it was Late June or Early July, not the beginning of April. But, you won’t hear me complaining. Looking forward to some blossoms in DC, this weekend.

We have had fantastic weather all weekend long. Saturday, Reagan was feeling a bit under the weather, but we did make it out for a walk in the park.

Sunday Morning, we had Easter with Piper. Reagan woke up early and dyed some eggs for her to play with.

She was a little bit groggy, when we first arrived, since she had just woken up from her nap. But she ended up giving us some smiles, before it was time for us to leave.

The weather today was phenomenal. The thermometer in the car, on the way back from visiting Piper said 76 degrees. Reagan and I took advantage, and broke out our bikes. We filled the tires with air and made our way down the Hudson River path to the 80′s somewhere, before stopping to hang out.  Of course I brought the camera. I got a few photos of Reagan that I was pretty stoked about.

I was also pretty pumped to finally be able to use my new cheeseburger bike bell, that I installed right before our ride. Reagan got it for me as a gift, a few months ago. So awesome.

I really liked this one:

There are a few more photos from the bike ride, over here.

I have been so bad at running lately (by lately, I mean, since last October). When I heard that we were going to be back into the 60′s weather-wise, this week, I knew my excuses had run out. It seemed a bit nutty to try to get back into a routine, two days after daylight savings kicked in. But I had to get up to move the car this morning anyway, so all I had to do was will myself not to get back in bed afterward. I have to admit that the conditions were not ideal, and it was still a little cold for my liking. But I’m glad that I went, even though it was short and slow.

It was so nice to just be out running, by myself, not on the treadmill. I forgot how much I missed that feeling. It is like something I remember from a former life, from before it got cold and started snowing. Oh, wait, that was last September, not a former life. Hahahaha. I even got back in time to record a pretty decent sunrise from our roof. When I can give this same report in 3 weeks, without having slacked, then I will really have something to feel good about.

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I have read in a few places that this spring has been an especially bad one for allergy sufferers, because of the abnormally high amount of pollen in the air. Little did I know, some of our own household is contributing to the problem. This plant of ours, that lives in our home office has been there since we rescued it from a dumpster a little over a year ago. Since then it has grown about 3 feet in height, and now, is apparently germinating. The freakish part is that this bloom in the photo above seriously popped up virtually over night. Here is a photo of this very same plant that I posted to my photo blog on May 4th. The 2 foot long branch containing all of the blossoms is no where to be seen. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it, if I hadn’t walked in the house last night to the aroma of honeysuckle permeating the entire apartment. I have to say that the trade-off of having a little extra pollen in the air is well worth being greeted by the smell of fresh flowers when I walk in at night.

Today is absolutely beautiful outside. I took a little stroll this afternoon, down to the BPC promenade, and shot a couple of pics along the way. This one is my favorite. Fixie, green Yankees jerz, fully tatted, looking right at me.

Let’s hope that this nice weather continutes all weekend. Reagan and I are running a 4 mi. race early in the morning on Mother’s day. Other than that, we have pretty much all weekend to just relax and hang out with Piper. I can’t wait.

When I first woke up today and saw the weather, I sort of panicked for a sec. All of these things were going through my head: ” I’m going skating, I’m going running, I’m going biking, I’m going to the park.” When I checked my phone, I had an email from the guys who run the Broadway Bomb, about a skateboard race in Central Park. I also had a note from my friend Jared about going golfing in the Bronx. It was a very tough decision. Ultimately, I decided that I should hold off on longboard racing until I have had a chance to get out and push around. I haven’t skated since last summer. Plus my friends Jared and Debi are super cool. I wish that Reagan could have come with us. But, being the popular girl that she is, her day was booked long before she got up and looked at her phone this morning.

I was a bit curious about what it was going to be like at the driving range. I mean, when I think of the Bronx, the first thing that naturally comes to mind is golfing (after gang shootouts, of course). It was actually a pretty nice course. Although, we didn’t actually end up playing the course this morning. Jared and I just hit some balls on the driving range, while Debi read magazines and took pictures of us (because we that good). But I think that we are going to try to make it back up there to play the course, now that we have seen what it is like, and that it is so easy to get to. The best part is that, right when we were getting toward the end of our session, the cart went out to gather the balls. This is fun on any driving range, because it is moving target practice. None of us were expecting what happened next. The driver parks off to the side, and gets out wearing a ball glove, smoking a cigarette and taunting all of the people hitting. Hahahahaha. It was the craziest thing ever. So there he was, running all over the range, like an outfielder on crack. I guess that is how they do it, at the muni-course in the Bronx. There is a shot of the guy below.

As if the driving range wasn’t enough fun for one day, we headed back down to the UWS for burgers, then spent the afternoon in Fort Tryon Park Hitting some Croquet. It was pretty packed, but we managed to find a spot of lawn large enough to set up. The lawn hadn’t been mowed for a while, so it was a little bit extra challenging. Thanks again, Jared and Debi for letting me be the third wheel.

On Saturday, after it finally stopped raining, I had a chance to get out and snap a few more photos with the new cam. Reagan was doing hair all day, so I took a little walk up the street to Ft. Tryon Park. The rest of the photos are lumped in this album. There is also this.

Of course I had to mess around a bit with the new toy, as soon as I left work today. I’m still learning all of the functions, etc. The last SLR that I had was a hand-me-down from my dad. Everything was analog and I had to duct tape the film door, or else it would randomly pop open and ruin everything. Back to taking photos: Get ready to be slammed with 5 photos in one post. Sorry. The overcast light was crappy, but the blooming trees were still pretty in BPC–

Mixed in a little bit of the Battery Park City wildlife–

Then, of course, some captive animals when I got home–