glitterstruck

such a sucker for a sad song

Shawna — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:28:51 +0000

you sit with your guitar cradled like a first love,
held the way i wonder if you’d ever hold me

and strum me “blackbird,”
quiet as a daybreak,

blinds slowly lifting to expose a stream of newborn gold

at which i grapple to harness in my morning fingers

as you close your eyes and slip into your darkroom

of music and shadows

and this is when i love you most
& when i lose you,

every time.

you and your make-believe.

Shawna — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:41:09 +0000

we lay quietly in the silences preceding pre-dawn secrets,
reinventing each other from the ashes of muted truths and liar’s swords
and i said the only thing i thought could make you stay
as the snow began to fall:

“tell me a story”

relief fluttering your voice like a breeze through a stifling room
as you fell into fantasy with such practiced ease:
dragons and far-off lands
where fair-haired girls who look nothing like me
fall terribly in love with the hims they just can’t live without
(and all i ever wished for was a silly paper crown)

& come tomorrow or once upon a time,
we will speak nothing of this
as you slip into the gray day like a faded knight
and i drink coffee with my mother and she hands me the truth,
simply as a child’s prayer:
“if you can live without him, do.”

i don’t even like dragons.
(true story.)

it’s just a season thing (part ii)

Shawna — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:44:01 +0000

this was the season we’ll look back upon
and say, “something just never felt quite right,”
likely placing blame upon the easy culprits:
global warming and shocks of skin, scarfless and exposed,
our Winter throats pale as apple flesh
against a thinning sky,
against inclement eyes

so we went ahead and fell when the snow refused to,
shooting down such a warm December like an injured dove
a Wendy-bird
a child’s paper love,
feverish hands buried deep in pockets
where our secrets thawed and ached
& when you said “i could get used to this” and promptly lost your gloves,
i prayed for snow and knew
we’d already frozen over.

ever feel like this?

Shawna — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:18:24 +0000

‘cuz i do.

every day.

Holiday in Spain, part 1

Shawna — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:19:07 +0000

When I was a senior in college, my favorite band of all times played a show nearby. I’d seen the Counting Crows live before, but this show was magical for me and has remained with me ever since as one of those indelible moments of sheer beauty that seem so very perfect, you couldn’t have painted it into your life if you’d even been able to imagine it.

I hold fast to my assertion that Adam Duritz may very well be the most incredible lyricist/poet of our generation. Don’t believe me? Just read through his lyrics. It’s like Beauty, harnessed from thin air and molded into syllables and characters we just might stand a chance at attempting to comprehend. The man is crazygenius.

They ended the show with their then-new song “Holiday in Spain,” on a dark stage pinpointed with candles and lights, and the whole moment was so surreal and transcendent for me that I found myself moved, quite literally, to tears. (Yes, I was “that girl,” crying at the concert. We all have those emo moments, don’t we? Let me believe we do. Thx.)

All this, then, to segue into my most recent Wanderlusting adventure: a holiday in Spain, perhaps inexplicably forshadowed by my obsession with this song. I can’t say I’d ever held Spain high on my list of “must-sees” until I went to Paris last year, and everyone kept telling me I had to see Barcelona. Couple that with the line “Or we could simply pack our bags and catch a plane to Barcelona, ‘cuz this city’s a drag,” and I got the hint:

Spain was calling me. So I went.

It was a little over a month ago now, this whim of a trip, and I’m ashamed it’s taken me this long to write about it. Sometimes the most delicious adventures are the most difficult to put into words, because you’re doomed from the beginning in your futile attempts to convey the magic you experienced with mere dotted “eyes” and crossed “tees.” You can try, but you can never fully explain to someone what you felt like when you fell into that other life and lost yourself completely.

In Barcelona, I discovered that Gaudi built me a little nook in Parc Guell. How thoughtful!

Everything was amazing: the weather, the culture, the architecture, the food, the people — I loved it all. I’d been forewarned that I might fall in love with Barcelona, but I actually ended up enjoying my time in Madrid even more so. (Posts about each city to follow.)

So it was Paris in 2010 and Spain in 2011…I think I need to continue this European-trip-a-year thing in 2012! Italy or Greece, anyone?

best Christmasy date idea ever

Shawna — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:30:04 +0000

December in New York swings you helplessly into a frenzy of activity: gallavanting all over the city to holiday parties, more holiday parties, crowd-crazy shopping, dressing like Santa, and enough sweets and champagne to keep you on a sugar high til Valentine’s Day. i’ve been somewhat of an Energizer Bunny this unseasonably warm December, and i think i’ve exhausted everything red and/or sparkly in my wardrobe. i’m not trying to fast forward through the holidays, but let’s just say, i’m hoping for a little more sleepy time in January. this city just keeps going, so they say…

and last night, i finalllly partook in the magical, quintessential (albeit-somewhat-touristy) Christmas activities that make New York the most wonderful city in the world at Christmas time. i might have been more excited about my NYC Winter Wonderland Christmas night than any of those champagne parties i attended in the past few weeks…and i wasn’t let down.

i saw the famous Rockefeller Center tree (which is traditionally a Norway Spruce), which came this year from Mifflinville, PA and stands 74 feet high. and of course i took the obligatory camera phone pic to dazzle you all:

so beautiful. even more so when viewed live, above the ice skating rink, with hundreds of Christmas-happy people smiling and enjoying being alive in this city at this time of year. my lil camera hardly does it justice.

then we ate at the Rock Center Cafe which sits right along the rink, waving to the skaters (and slip-and-sliders) just outside the glass. it was lovely to nestle right into the heart of a NYC Christmas experience, and i love how everyone around us was infused with the glow of the season and the giddiness of how Christmas makes us all feel young again, and content to simply be.

after dinner, we strolled up 5th Ave to take in the fabulous store window displays. although i’m a fan of Fendi’s sparkly belt buckles and dripping lights,

and love to see the variety in all the stores, none even come close to rivaling the amazing artistry of Bergdorf Goodman and their “Carnival of the Animals” theme for 2011.

OH.MY.GOODNESS. these windows were unreal. it’s possible that my jaw actually dropped. i haven’t seen a display this amazing since the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met this summer. i mean, these visual artists are ridiculously talented.

each of the five windows feature a dazzling, glamorous bella…

floating in the center of a glitzy aquarium,

or crooning in the middle of a brass menagerie of birds,

or popping champagne with animals at a chandelier-dripping North Pole cocktail party in luxurious Winter White.

i won’t ruin the other two for you, because really, you need to go see them if you live close enough.

perfect ending to a truly memorable Christmasy evening in NYC.

Merry (almost) Christmas, loves!
xoxo

and now i’m always watching my steps.

Shawna — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:55:49 +0000

we fell in love the way other people fall down stairs:
a rough-and-tumble blackening out
in the shudder of a misstep, landing askew
with my hair a tangled mess as though from fitful dreams
and your limbs all wrong,
jagged angles jabbing deeply
where we should have just
fit.

do you really think it’s supposed to be
this hard?
my mother asked me,
her words like pebbles in my shoes
that i just couldn’t shake out
because really, i just wasn’t thinking at all
with you around.

i finally walked away after my screams flew
ragged as a murder, black wings against a dusking sky
your eyes darkening as you lied
and couldn’t stop,
a rockslide of black diamonds
i’d no longer collect.
“goodbye” just seems so utterly unfair
when there’s no good in the way you let me down
and let me go.

SantaCon

Shawna — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:05:20 +0000

An annual phenomenon occurs each year in New York City in early December, where the already-tourist-laden streets swell and teem with hundreds (thousands?) of zealously-festive Manhattanites – all posing as Santa.

Well, that’s not entirely true. You’ll also find lots of Mrs. Clauses, or elves, or reindeer or presents or Christmas trees or anything remotely Christmasy-ish, festive, or red. They call it SantaCon, which I suppose means that the city is swarming with so many wanna-be Santa “con artists” that you’d fail to find the “real Santa” even if you were Nancy Drew.

I can only imagine the terror and confusion it must cause little kids. Poor things.

This was my first SantaCon experience, and I have to say, it was utter silliness. Imagine every street flocked with gaggles of giddy Santas, parading around in swarms of holiday cheer and infesting this city as if it were the North Pole. Talk about a way to bring random strangers together, well…this definitely achieved that. Santas overtook the subways, the parks, Times Square (yes, I saw elves doing choreographed dances in the middle of TS), and hundreds of bars and restaurants. It was like an all-day, holiday version of Halloween…times a bajillion.

Oh, and did I mention that I met Jesus, hanging out at the Village Tavern in the West Village? I have no idea who this guy was, but it definitely warranted a photo op. It’s not every day you meet Jesus in a Santa hat and purple polyester jumpsuit. Score.

Basically you just grab your friends, don your festive duds, and follow the crowds. Who knows where you might end up?

My day started in the West Village, swung through Bryant Park (where we scarfed down some delicious kettle corn as we wove through the crowds), sashayed up 5th Ave and skipped through a few Irish pubs where we sang “All I Want for Christmas is You” about thirty times.

Holiday spirit, a lil dress-up, and a full Saturday of Christmas silliness with some of your closest girlfriends? Can’t think of a better way to kick-off the Holiday season.

Merry December, loves!

photo fun

Shawna — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:52:35 +0000

hi loves!

i know, i know…i’m sooooo behind, and have a lot of catching up to do on here! i have lots to fill you in on — like my international traveling and my fabulous adventures in Spain and fun NY silliness lately, but for now, i’ll just leave you with this very talented photographer’s fun site to check out — and i promise to post about my goings-on really soon.

one of the highlights of my recent trip to Spain was meeting new friends in Madrid, one of whom is a great photographer who so kindly flattered me with a feature on his photoblog. please visit his site and enjoy his photos!

Dokmateo’s Photos

happiness is…

Shawna — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:46:31 +0000

an entire weekend spent laughing with your best friend in the entire world (not exaggerating when i say there are no two friends who have a friendship that even begins to rival ours)…

going for a looooong walk around the city with your roommate on an unseasonably warm Sunday morning in November, and stumbling upon this little treasure in the Harlem sidewalk:

discovering the sweetest little coffee shop tucked right down the street from your apartment, with dozens of homemade delicious biscotti flavors (including pumpkin!).

Bis.Co.Latte may be tiny, but that only adds to its quaint charm — and what it lacks in shoulder room, it makes up for in quality. both the biscotti (my faves are the Oatmeal Craisin Raisin & the Pumpkin, of course) and the coffee are delicious, and it has an artsy, cozy atmosphere. no computers or electronic devices allowed — this is a quiet little tuck-away from technology where you can enjoy unique biscotti flavors (including sugar-free and wheat-free options) and home-made soups. we fell in love.

an absolute must-go, if you’re jaunting around Hell’s Kitchen (10th Ave at 47th st). Jess and i went twice in the two days she was here and sampled a variety of the flavors…and you can bet we’ll go back next time she’s in town.

hot coffee and a crunchy little not-too-sweet-treat on an Autumn day?

yum.