It started with a pop-in at one of my local coffee shops today. I had just dropped off my dear daughter at school. I cruised into Think Coffee, ordered a bowl of minestrone soup and sat down at a table near a window, which, if you know me even a little bit, is always the spot I'll choose if given a choice. There were two girls next to me talking about auditions for Bath & Body Works commercials and voiceovers. One was wearing flip flops, the other wearing black suede boots which she purchased at DSW for $85. (I was by myself, pretending to read something. I didn't mean to hear every word.) The girl was cute, young, and knew what she was doing. That's all I needed for confirmation that my boots from last year will work for this year. Strike that worry off my list. 
Just sitting there, in the window, alone with my soup, listening and looking around, I felt lighter. Maybe it's NYC. Maybe it's a few moments to myself that completely recharge me. I do know that I need to be outside to feel alive, which is why staying inside this summer made me want to take lots of pills. Think Coffee today wasn't terribly interesting, but I wrote down what I saw anyway:
students, models, actresses. alone or with friends. reading, drinking, thinking, talking, computing, writing, texting. 50/50 caucasian and asian. mostly girls. the caucasian gals were fair-haired and freckled with animated gestures talking to friends. the asian-esque gals were reading or working on their computers. alone. (I'm really screwing this up from a pc viewpoint). a 65 year old lady wearing a replica of an outfit i have at home.
That's when I left.
So I've got a great pair of boots I can wear AGAIN this fall and winter, but I need to get rid of that old lady outfit. See what you can learn while drinking coffee?
After I left the cafe, I strolled over to Union Square. It's a Wednesday so the Greenmarket was in full swing. Today there was a special eco-friendly exhibit, which I checked out. Park rangers, light bulb folks, eco road pavers, solar panel vendors, sustainable goods, everything you'd expect to see was represented today. But then I spotted it. The gem. It looked like a table of old stuff, but when I saw the sign I realized there was more to it than that. Film Biz Recycling. Yes! I looked at the price tags. $4 here, $9 there. Good, cheap finds from film sets. Liz, in the photo, used to work in the film business and she said that when films wrap, they have all these props that they don't know what to do with so they panic and throw things away. She and her boss decided to create this wonderful little eco-friendly, repurposing, charity where they collect the goodies from film and tv sets and then redistribute them back to those of us who watch films and look at tv sets.
I brought cash to buy vegetables at the market, but I couldn't resist two items. One was functional and the other was a little fanciful. Below is my "functional" and therefore, totally justifiable, tambourine. It has a nice sound, retro look and was used in the film, Taking Woodstock. This tambo has grit. And for $5 it was a steal!
The other treasure is from the film, Eat, Pray, Love. I will admit it. I loved the book. And I enjoyed the movie. Regardless of what people want to say about Elizabeth Gilbert, I have tried to ignore the negativity of critics and any of those pesky, unfortunate facts surrounding Ms. Gilbert and just enjoy the book. And then the film. I found both of them to be a welcome escape. To the right is a photograph of my little treat from the film set. It is a decorative bottle, presumably used to capture angel dust or fine, French perfume. It is about 5 inches tall and is adorned with gold wire. I like it. It was $6.
Moving on to my last find of the day. My favorite: the fruit of our soil.
I love going to the Union Square Greenmarket. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, you will find farmers, florists, bakers, and other vendors selling their wares. I particularly adore tomatoes. When my dad was alive and tending to his garden, he grew the best tomatoes. I didn't care much for them as a young girl, but his enthusiastic attempts to get me to like them over the years eventually won me over. Now, I especially love Heirlooms. Side note: When you get a sweet, juicy Heirloom tomato, put a slice on top of a warm "everything" bagel with a little cream cheese and you will be in love (thanks, Kate P. for that delicious tip).
Back to my point. Today I bought a variety of pesticide-free cherry tomatoes. In my bag I placed four types, which were named (according to the vendor): Sun Gold, Chocolate, Brown, and Red Cherry tomatoes. I'm not sure about the validity of a few of those names, but they sure taste good. A pint for $3 was a pretty good deal.
My little jaunt brought me a lot of joy today and a few items that have inspired me:
1) for dinner it looks like homemade Chicken Parmesan with pasta and cherry tomatoes;
2) in honor of my new tambourine, I think I'll write a new song about coffee shop observations;
3) my gold-adorned jar will catch the dust of angels as they fly by and keep me cool and sane when the temperature threatens to rise above 80; and
4) for fun, I'm going to put on last year's boots and walk around the apartment in my underwear just to keep it interesting for the office-bound stiffs across the street. They need inspiration too, you know.
Get out and enjoy life. Grab that special something hanging in the air just waiting for you to take it. Then go and make something even greater from it.
xo
Paulette
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