Kelly Purkey: nyc

January 30, 2017

Subway Therapy

I've been lucky to spend almost a decade of Decembers in New York City - it truly is the best time of the year to be in the city. Last December had a couple of magic moments including seeing the Subway Therapy displayed at the Union Square subway station. I had seen some photos from friends posted on Instagram but trust me, seeing them in person was a completely overwhelming experience.

Several walls of the station are covered from top to bottom in many layers of post-it notes. The handwritten messages on them range from political to simple hellos to anti-Trump to pro-Hillary to lots of expressions of love. (My favorites usually are the ones with Harry Potter references.) You literally can't believe what you're seeing, there are so many notes. And each of them represent a person on this planet who took the time to stop and share their own personal message. I walked through three times during the week and each time I stopped and read. And cried a little. A happy and sad cry.

No matter which side of the aisle you land on, I'm sure that we can agree we all went through some rough times during the election and fall of 2016. I still carried that gray cloud over my head during December and seeing the Subway Therapy notes really let the clouds part and some sun shine in. It gave me hope and it made me feel like I wasn't alone.

I left a note each time I went by and on New Years Day I discovered the most amazing thing. I was going to post one of my notes on Instagram and while I was scrolling through the #subwaytherapy hashtag, I found that a stranger had picked out one of my notes and posted it on her own account:

I was so amazed and touched that out of all the notes on the wall, this woman had spotted mine and connected with the message enough to share it. The lyrics comes from the song Seasons of Love from RENT - a show that taught me as a teenager about equality and diversity, about standing up to The Man, and about love. I believe in love and kindness and am challenging myself to spread more of both.

You might be feeling that these are tough and uncertain times right now. I do. I hope you see the Subway Therapy photos and know that no matter what you're feeling, you are not alone. We are in this together.

Posted at 08:00 AM in nyc | Permalink | Comments (6)

June 02, 2015

New York City: the New Whitney Museum

In the beginning of May my Instagram feed started being filled with snaps of the new Whitney Museum. It looked amazing, so I made a date with Jodi to go as soon as I was back in NYC in the middle of the month. The day we chose was an incredible spring day, which only added to the incredible experience.

The Whitney used to be located on the Upper East Side, which was pretty inconvenient to get to, so I'd only gone for special events. The new Whitney is located down in the Meatpacking District, right alongside the entrance to the beloved High Line park. It couldn't be more perfect.

It was really crowded the day that we went so I didn't take that many photos inside of the art, but to be honest the real sights to see there are the views of the city and New Jersey. There are plenty of places to sit and just take everything in. There are several floors of outdoor patios and balconies, along with those now (over)Instagrammed colorful chairs.

You can see up to the Empire State Building and down to One World Trade Center. I can only imagine how spectacular it is at night with the city all lit up.

If I still lived in New York, I wouldn't hesitate for one minute to gift myself with a membership to the new Whitney. There's a cafe up above and Danny Meyer's restaurant Untitled from the old Whitney moved right along downtown with this one. I can't imagine where else I'd want to escape to on a nice day to sit back and enjoy the masterpiece that is lower Manhattan.

Posted at 08:00 AM in Art Museum, nyc | Permalink | Comments (3)

April 28, 2015

Maman NYC

There are two cookies in NYC that I often think about getting on a plane just to eat. One is the chocolate chip walnut at Levain's. I lived next door and when I slept with the windows open I could smell them baking in the morning. The second is at the recently opened Maman, which has one killer nutty chocolate chip cookie. They've even been named to the list of reasons to love New York.

Last winter my friend Sara told me about Maman and after going once, I was hooked. It's now in my required list and I go just for the cookies. When you can get them fresh out of the oven, it is pure heaven. The inside of the little cafe is so beautiful, it just might be what heaven looks like.

I'm a sucker for cute little touches and there's no shortage of them here. Starting with those take-away coffee cups. Ending with the tiles in the bathroom.

Be sure to stop in and get yourself a nutty chocolate chip cookie. But be warned, may lead to browsing daily for flights to New York City.

Maman
239 Centre Street
New York, NY, 10013
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Posted at 08:00 AM in nyc, nyc eats | Permalink | Comments (6)

April 20, 2015

CW Pencil Enterprise

Every month when I'm in New York City, my friend Jodi + I get together and wander the city. It always includes eating something tasty to start (and usually again at some point in the day) and going in search of cool places to snap photos. When I was there last week, she had sent me a link to CW Pencil Enterprise so we put it on the agenda for our day.

When I was younger I had a prized pencil collection, so this was like a dream come true for me. It's the tiniest of stores but full of great treasures. So much to look at and love.

I wanted one of everything but made a careful selection of a vintage eraser and a single pencil. I love how they're each labeled with their original and most importantly how they're displayed in the store.

Be sure to make a stop into CW Pencil Enterprise and pick up one (or two or ten) to add to your own collection.

CW Pencil Enterprise
100a Forsyth Street
New York, NY 10002
Website | Twitter | Instagram

Posted at 08:00 AM in nyc | Permalink | Comments (9)

March 09, 2015

Brooklyn: Julianna's

There's no shortage of amazing pizza in Brooklyn, but one of my favorites can be found down in DUMBO. Right under the Brooklyn Bridge you can eat at Grimaldi's or Julianna's. They've got a long related history (along with Patsy's) and when Grimaldi's moved out of the tiny space to a large building on the next block, Julianna's moved in.

Julianna's is one of those places that has endless two hour waits, especially in the summer when everyone comes down to hang out on the waterfront. But on the coldest day of the year I was the first person in and when my friend Jodi met me, we had the place all to ourselves for quite a while. I'd never seen it empty. It was unreal.

Julianna's serves up classic New York style pizza with a thin crust and light tomato sauce. I like to get just plain pepperoni and my favorite part is how it curls up then almost snaps when you bite into it.

So now your know the secret to getting a seat at Julianna's... coldest day of the year plus come ten minutes before they open. I'll meet you there.

Julianna's Pizza
Website | Facebook | Instagram

Posted at 07:00 AM in brooklyn, nyc, nyc eats | Permalink | Comments (2)

Kelly Purkey