Using My Maiden Name is gorgeous. If it weren't so purple-leaning I would definitely consider having it be my "something blue" at my wedding. But as it is, it's definitely more of a purply-periwinkle. I think it's the tiny pink microshimmer that really makes it look so purple from far away. I wore this on my fingers and ChG Tart-y For the Party on my toes (which is a straight-up pastel purple), and my friend said to me this weekend, "Your fingers match your toes!" That's how purple this polish looks. I had to correct her and be all, ACTUALLY...etc. The formula on Using My Maiden Name was really nice, if a little thick, and I only did two coats here.
As for its name, I've been thinking a lot about keeping my own last name after I get married. Ben doesn't like this idea at all, and my mom thinks I should change it, too. I've told this story to various people a few times over the past couple months, but here it is again: my mom, grandma and I were sitting around talking about wedding stuff a while back when I brought this up. I told them that I was leaning toward keeping my own name, and my grandma very feistily replied, "Well, I think you SHOULD, if that's what you want!" It was cute. She was sort of progressive in a lot of ways. Plus I feel like my last name is a big part of my identity and I don't know how I feel about giving it up. So when I saw the name of this polish I was all, it must be mine (just in case). So thanks, Rach!
I only have a few days left in New York now, and I can honestly say that the past week or so has sort of seemed like I'm on vacation here. I had a fun last couple days at work with some good lunches and good conversation. On Friday I went with a friend to see the James Turrell show at The Guggenheim, and I have to share these photos.
These were taken from directly below the spiral rotunda main galleries while I was on my back looking up. It's even hard for me to believe that that's what this is looking at the pictures. The lights on each level would change color periodically and the effect was totally mesmerizing. We were lying there for probably a good thirty minutes just looking up. But so was the rest of New York.
This was actually around 10:45, really early in the day, so the viewing space got a lot more crowded. By the time we left there was hardly room to stand in there.
And of course, a couple of really necessary selfies. The most important thing for you to notice, aside from how cool these look, is that I finally got a LOBSTER DRESS. Yes, friends. After years of searching I finally found a Modcloth lobster dress on eBay for $25. I have been obsessed with the idea of getting one ever since I saw Pollock and the actress who played Peggy Guggenheim wore a white dress with a huge lobster on it. This made me ask the inevitable and extremely important art historical question: did Peggy Guggenheim actually own a lobster dress? Absolutely. And it was this dress:
[source]
I can tell you that I was SUPER EXCITED to wear my own lobster dress to this particular museum as an homage to Peggy. Only in my head does this make sense, but that's okay. This dress at this venue was a pairing YEARS IN THE MAKING, and this outing resulted in ULTIMATE WARDROBE CATHARSIS.
For real, the amazing Turrell exhibition combined with this dress made me feel like this:
After that we had lunch at Alice's Tea Cup, which I really love. So that was a great day. On Saturday my friend Sam was in town so we got to have dinner. I picked a tapas restaurant in Greenwich Village, and I'm pretty glad I did. It was kind of amazing.
on our four minute-cab ride to the restaurant
afterward we got crepes. because duh.
It was really good to see her. Now that I'm moving away from the east coast for a while I won't get to see her as often as I have been (which is still not often at all). I'm glad that we got to have a dinner date before I become a midwesterner again.
On Sunday morning I dragged myself back downtown for brunch with another friend. Although I was reluctant to wake up and get on the subway before 10am on a Sunday, it ended up being completely worth it. Eggs benedict and BOTTOMLESS BLOODY MARYS made me a really happy girl. Also I hadn't seen my friend since February-ish, so we had a lot to talk about. We sat outside in the shade and chatted and boozed for a few hours. Then we tipsy-walked to Chinatown and shopped for really classy jewelry:
I'm headed back down Village-ward tonight to have dinner and drinks with someone else, so that'll be fun, too. I've also been intermittently packing, which is less fun. Hopefully I'll have time to post once more this week.
So to end this monster-of-a-post I guess I'll ask: what's your opinion on the whole keeping one's maiden name post-marriage deal? I'm genuinely interested to know.