Let the sunshine in, man.

There are a few things I don't like about snowstorms in New York City: it's cold. Everything slows down--the sidewalks, the subways, your commute to work. The snow turns black the next day. And it will eventually melt into gigantic and oftentimes unavoidable puddles of water at most street corners. (Heaven help the poor soul who's nearby when a taxi or bus gets too close to the curb!)

But here's one thing I do like: winter storms mean that some Broadway shows will offer discounted prices to entice people to come in and fill up their now-vacated seats. So last Friday during our latest snowfall, I decided to work late, then head a few blocks down to get tickets to see "Hair"--a steal at $40 (and how did I know about it? Twitter. If you're not on, sign up ASAP. It's like magic). (And P.S. Follow me at @amyheartsny).

I had never seen the show before, and ended up being pleasantly surprised (who knew that "Let the Sunshine In" was actually a poignant, mournful song?). True to my inner theater geek, I've now listened to the soundtrack about seventeen times and have pretty much memorized every song. Which means that I'm all love and peace and Hare Krishna and everything today. And also not shaving my legs. (At least not until Tuesday.)

Here are some little goodies inspired by my last-minute theater outing. Because I totally love you, man. Peace.

Dapper Men (141 Dudes T-shirt), $23, Chop Shop

Peace Sign Blank Greeting Card, $3.50, Gold Teeth Brooklyn

Flower field lily basic tote, $71, drika.b

Plain Jane - vine crown, $40, whichgoose at etsy

A is for Afro print, $10, dpsullivan at etsy

Joint Organic Catnip toy, $5, OhBoyCatToy

images: linked to their sources above

Bits of the BK

Happy weekend! See you on Monday.

(Peace out from the big borough.)

Spray roses…pffffft.

In honor of my week of Brooklyn posts, I tried to make this latest installment of my One-Bouquet-a-Week Challenge completely BK-inspired. I got the idea of using roses from a little girl at the bus stop on Sunday while on my way to brunch at Perch in the lovely Brooklyn nabe of Park Slope. The girl and her mom couldn't stop discussing the giant poster plastered on the side of the stop showing Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (the girl kept saying he looked like a "crazy, crazy man"; I kept thinking he just looked like Elijah Wood).

The whole short conversation with that Brooklyn shortie made me think of one of my favorite parts of the "Alice" story: when the Queen of Hearts orders her cards to paint the roses in her garden red because she hates the white ones. I've always loved that image--big, blooming flowers surrounded by lots of full greenery, dripping in red. So after brunch, I set out to hit my neighborhood grocer to pick up pink spray roses (no red or white available; I felt like pink was a good compromise) and a bunch of green leafy somethings. The results are above (I even placed them in a new Brooklyn-IKEA-purchased vase, so there's that).

And they're lovely and full and pretty and they smell good, but here's the kicker: the spray roses wilted big time after about one day. Such a bummer. Would have been nice if they had decided to stick around for a little while longer. Because you know what happens when the roses make me mad:

Off

with

their

heads

!

Big up to Brooklyn

I am pretty sure that, if all five boroughs were lined up in a race to determine who makes the most--and best--artsy-type creations about its particular neck of the NYC woods, Brooklyn would cross the finish line way before the other guys, grab its gold medal, tweak it in some crafty new way, and then rock it like a champ at the after-party in Bushwick (mostly to make Manhattan jealous).

We Live in Brooklyn poster, $20, claudiagpearson at etsy

Brooklyn Chinoiserie Platter, $46, MayLuk at etsy

Spoon Me Brooklyn screenprint, $30, Spoon Me Love Me

More-Light "South 3rd" Shade, $350, Re-Surface

Graphic T-Shirt, $34. Brooklyn Industries

Brooklyn Poster by Jim Datz (pre-order; available end of February), $48, Three Potato Four

Brooklyn Town gocco screen print, $20, wonting at etsy

images: linked to their sources above