Every Friday I feature some fleeting moments from my week that made me stop and think, “I’m so lucky to live in NYC!” And maybe some that made me think, “Bahaha this city is ridiculous and I love it.” Here we go for Valentine’s week…

Found a Flower Flash! Floral designer Lewis Miller creates gorgeous floral arrangements that he occasionally drops on the NYC streets. Sometimes using garbage cans as vases, sometimes writing out messages in hundreds of flowers: it’s beautiful, alive guerrilla art. Flowers, especially in the cold hibernation of winter, put a spring in my step (pun intended)! I happened upon this Valentine’s Day/Fashion Week flash while on my way to Home Depot, of all places. It was outside Bloomingdale’s on the Upper East Side. To follow where his next Flower Flash may be, I recommend following @lewismillerdesign on Instagram.

New York Fashion Week on the subway platform. This week was NYFW, a phenomenon that is easy to miss if you’re not in the industry. I used to work a lot of events for Fashion Week (and have some great stories- including the time I worked with cliché bitchy models) but it was barely on my radar this season. Until I was in the front row for this thorough photo shoot on the 49th Street N/R/W platform. Trying to get a flattering photo in the harsh florescence is ambitious!

Got screamed at for taking this photo by a mad cliché Angry New Yorker. I was wandering around in the West Village trying to capture the perfect NYC streets shot. It was golden hour, the sky was blue, and the red brick buildings on Cornelia street created a striking primary color scheme. I crouched over a puddle, trying to find the right angle to capture an above water tower in the reflection. My concentration was broken by the shrieking of a woman across the street, “WHAT ARE YOU PHOTOGRAPHING!? ARE YOU PHOTOGRAPHING ME?? YOU DON’T HAVE MY PERMISSION!!”
“I’m just photographing the puddle! Not you!”
“BUT WHY ARE YOU FACING MY DIRECTION! YOU’RE VIOLATING MY PRIVACY! HOW DARE-”
“Not photographing you ma’am! HAVE A GOOD DAY!” There was nothing to do but walk away. Was this photo worth getting verbally berated? Yeah, I think so.

Found an adorable lending library also on Cornelia Street. The ugly of being screamed at was balanced out by the joy of this DIY library! Featuring classics like “Little House on the Praire” and “Disney Princess’: Learning with Friends”, it was created and maintained by @EmilChynn. Of course I looked up him on Instagram and learned he was the first MD to arrive at Ground Zero the morning on September 11, 2001. There’s always a story in NYC.

Got Valentine’s Day pedicures! My fella and I opted out of the Valentine’s Day New York restaurant madness and got romantic V Day pedicures instead. It was so relaxing, chill, and the place even threw in a free treatment or two. I highly recommend this date night alternative! So does my boyfriend, who left the spa crowing “That was AMAZING. Why doesn’t every do this for Valentine’s Day?” We have ourselves a pedi convert. I’m trying to convince him to write an article about it to convince all the men in your lives, dear readers, to start getting pedicures too.

So there are some fun little moments from my week. How was yours? I’d love to hear what you all did for Valentine’s Day, how you feel abou dude pedicures, any fun plans you have for the (hopefully) long weekend! I’m spending mine scrambling to meet freelance deadlines, hopefully catching Match: Lit’s production of Romeo and Juliet, and going out to Long Island for some fella’s family time. If you miss me, you can always find me on Instagram and Twitter. 🙂 Have a great one!