The High Line: Backdrop for our engagement photos

After visiting Manhattan's new High Line park in late June, not only did I decide that I had a new favorite NYC spot, but I discovered the perfect location for our engagement photo shoot. I immediately contacted the photographer we booked for our wedding, Stacey Ilyse, and she was just as excited about the shoot idea as I was.

And so we spent an hour and a half this Sunday evening on the High Line and in the Meatpacking District and had a BLAST. It was fun and relaxed, and we laughed a lot. Rob and I did a LOT of kissing. Even though the park was crowded, it really felt like we were the only people there. And I had some interesting costume change experiences (including stripping down near the ground floor elevators at The Standard Hotel...)

So while it was happening it felt like a positive experience and I knew we got some great photos.

But really...I was BLOWN AWAY by the finished product. I'm so critical of everything -- I never thought we'd end up with such perfect photos -- there's nothing I would change! Not only did Stacey capture our relationship -- the tender love we have for each other, the goofiness and giggles, and our obvious uniqueness and individuality. And she really showed off her diverse post production style (which is the reason why I was drawn to her photos in the first place).

I told Stacey I wanted to blog about the shoot so she moved around her schedule and was able to send me edited images within 2 days!!!! I can't stop looking at them. I'm soooooo happy! I want professional photos taken once a year for the rest of my life, haha.

Some of my favorites are below. A slide show of a bunch can be found here.

I love this photo because it truly captures the beauty of the High Line, and the post-production makes it look extra vibrant and surreal!


I love the softness of this one


And the vibrancy of this one!


Rob's favorite :)



My favorite :)



Or maybe this one is my favorite. I just love how we're both laughing but for different reasons. I'm pretty sure Rob is laughing at himself for not being able to balance on the train track and I'm laughing at him ;)



Still individuals!



I needed to break out the Louboutins and the infamous Renda DVF dress! Its not everyday that my fabulous shoes get to be photographed by a professional photographer! What I really love though is how this photo captures our personalities :)

Honestly, worth every penny. (If you know anyone who's engaged, tell them Stacey Ilyse Photography is running a summer e-session promo--$100 off and free guest book! No, I'm not being paid to mention that, haha.)

I just hope I'm still smiling when one day my kid sees these photos and shrieks, "MOM?!?!? That's YOU?!?! You and Dad look sooooo young. You used to be PRETTY."

Trimble's of Corchaug: Inspired by the Idea Garden

Our NY-centric staycation left us on the North Fork after the visiting the wineries, and any Long Islander knows that if you head out East without going to a farm for fresh produce, you've wasted a trip. As we were driving back to my friend's place, heading west on Rt. 25, I had one of those "WE NEED BERRIES" moments and immediately saw Trimble's which looked like a farmstand so we made a sharp turn into the small parking lot.

Turns out it wasn't a farmstand but a nursery. (The abundance of flowers should have tipped us off...) But I immediately forgot about my hankering for local strawberries since it was such a great spot. We had so much fun walking through it.

Next to the greenhouse and nursery, they have an "Idea Garden" with winding pathways and random accoutrements that you wouldn't normally associate with a garden: Bowling balls as decor, really??? But it achieved it's intention--it gave me the "idea" for a blog post and some inspiration for photos. Here are some photos from the Idea Garden and the nursery. I'll spare you the silly shots I took of Rob ;) No people pictures here...that's what Facebook is for!

What a lovely detour!

Long Island Wine Country Photos

During our staycation, we headed out East to see friends and spent a lovely afternoon on the North Fork at a few vineyards: Martha Clara, Raphael and Pindar. The Long Island wine was excellent but the location and the weather were the true highlights. I love being reminded how lucky I am to live in New York.

Fire Island: Punny Beach Houses

We spent 4th of July weekend on Fire Island, the small island off the southern coast of Long Island's Suffolk County that bans cars, encourages daytime drinking, has a thriving deer and conifer population, and lets you bounce between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay with just a 3 minute walk.

Most of the beach houses are quaint bungalows and even the ridiculously huge homes are fairly understated. The houses are named just like most of the boats docked on the shore, and I came across a bunch of "punny" names. I took these pics because my fiance LOVES puns, and thought I'd share them here as well. These are from the towns of Ocean Bay Park and Ocean Beach:



Get it??? Dew Drop Inn??? SEA'S the day? Golden Daze...cause its sunny and you spend your days in a daze!...wink wink ;) ;)

Layered Marketing Works on Me

These earrings by Amrita Singh are almost definitely going to be my wedding day earrings, and it was fate that brought us together.

I went to the New York Post's NYC Start-Up event last week for work, and sitting on a panel discussion about successful entrepreneurship along with my company's co-founder was Kevin P. Ryan, the former CEO of DoubleClick. While he was regaling stories of selling that company for $1.1 billion only to have it be sold to Google for $3 billion a few years later, someone asked him what he was up to now. He is involved in many start-ups but mentioned that one of the companies he focuses on is the exclusive shopping site, Gilt Groupe.

My ears perked up right away! Gilt.com is a members only shopping site that offers exclusive sales on designer clothing and accessories for very short periods of time. There are a bunch of sites like this that have cropped up over the past few years, but I consider Gilt and Ideeli to be the only major players.

During the panel, while I was tweeting entrepreneurial advice for Vault and the panelists were discussing the challenges of choosing a business name and finding URLs that haven't been taken yet, I kept thinking about how genius Gilt is, and how even their name is the perfect concept for their site: "Gilt" and "Guilt" are homonyms, just like how shopping for luxury goods is a guilty pleasure. And the notion of exclusivity and "members-only" even though there isn't a fee associated with membership makes you feel like you've discovered something no one else has. And when you get their daily emails about the sales starting and ending THAT DAY, it triggers the heart rate increase that only impulse shopping can.

Now, up until this point I never bought anything from the site (I came THIS CLOSE to buying fantastic Louboutins but I hesitated and they sold out), but I get their emails everyday about their 12pm sales and sometimes take a peak while I'm eating lunch. After the panel discussion ended and the food was served, I checked my Gmail on my phone and the first message was from Gilt Groupe, announcing their sale.

I'd been thinking a lot about wedding earrings and have been hunting down big chandelier earrings in the Etsy wedding section but couldn't find the right Art Deco vibe, so when I saw a jewelry designer in my Gilt promo email, I had to check out the Amrita Singh sale just in case. And, I found her Alexandra earrings!!! I was psyched, and bought them right away. (Hopefully credit card transactions via the iPhone are still secure.)

Now, I know Kevin P. Ryan didn't speak at the event because he wanted to sell more $80 earrings, but he had me thinking about Gilt at the exact moment that they were emailing me their daily promo. Maybe I would've just deleted the message if the day was different and I'm so glad that the double dose of marketing hit me when it did because these earrings are exactly what I've been looking for.

And to further plug the site, I placed the order at around 12:30pm on Wednesday and received the package on Friday morning.

Perfect coincidences like this make me happy :)