Back in NYC

“Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately.”
-Michel de Montaigne

 

This was a quote from the Happiness Project  daily quotes. It kinda summed up my day. 

What is a great way to spend part of a weekend in NYC and thus live appropriately? Go to a class with Dina Wakley and get inspirations left right and centre. 

Sorry Dina about the bad photo

Getting to the venue , Westbeth Gallery involved a train trip to W14th St. In the same carriage as me on the subway was a man carrying a standard lamp, tourists tracking their journey on subway maps and me carrying art supplies. Who knows what other interesting things were going on in the relatively crowded carriage at 10am on a Sunday. 

Walking through the streets of Greenwich Village along cobbled streets and paved roads taking the twists and turns that Map Quest guided me through it was delightful just to look around at the lovely brownstones and the wrought iron rails and fences as well as the occasional window boxes.

The class was fabulous- as one would expect of Dina. 27 participants, all intent on getting their piece of work done. She showed us a range of techniques for backgrounds for art journaling or for anything really. It was messy and speedy- so that in the three hours I have a nearly completed little book.

 

Continuing to live appropriately for the city I stopped at a little Italian restaurant and had a delightful lunch of spaghetti carbonara and some lovely bread and olive oil at a little restaurant called Malaparte. I have since checked their reviews which are mixed but I loved it. 

I had a brief respite back home and continued to live appropriately by going to a singing lesson with a meetup group called Vocal Brilliance. There were only 5 of us in the beginners’ lesson that went for two hours. I learned a lot and have some things that I can try to practice if I can begin to be more serious about trying to improve my singing. Is it ever too late to do something about that?

Back home and I was truly exhausted. I perhaps am leading and over stimulated life but then that is appropriate for NYC.