A Summer of Artist Dates in NYC

Hello lovely.

It’s been a while since I updated this space. To be fair, I ended the year with such high hopes that I wanted 2024 to be epic. Well, it’s been epic—as in, this rollercoaster that I’ve been on hasn’t stopped since the start of the year. There have been really big highs and really low lows, and I guess I’m just waiting for it all to balance out.

I’ve been having a very busy year filled with a lot of ups and downs, and practice in patience. To be entirely honest, I’ve had a lot of great things happen to me and for me this year, but deep down inside I feel sad like something is missing. Have you ever held happiness and heartbreak in the same hand? It’s definitely that And Space Liz always talks about. I don’t understand why I can’t step out of my own head just for a moment to enjoy all the good things happening all around me. I’m still so stuck on the one thing that’s not happening.

Normally, at the start of the year, I have a very clear set of intentions. I choose a guiding word, write my intentions out in my Unraveling journal, and vision board them. This year, however, I didn’t settle on a word and haven’t written a thing down in any journal. To be honest, I only really want one thing this year—finding the love of my life—and it’s been proven very difficult to attain,

I’ve been so preoccupied with finding my person that I think I forgot to be a person. I haven’t crafted or made any art all year. I don’t read or film videos anymore. I don’t know, I just feel like my focus has been on what’s out there that I don’t have yet rather than on myself and what I already have going for me. I have a great job that I love and I just closed on an apartment—my very own apartment! For whatever reason, I don’t feel great about my accomplishments and I’m just here wondering why.

One of the things that has been coming up for me all year has been the act of facing fears and letting things go. I feel like both of those things have been popping up for me ever since my ex ghosted me. And I want to stop—stop holding back because I’m scared and stop holding on to things because I’m scared of what would happen if I let go.

I chose the phrase “Have courage dear heart” as my word for the year because I wanted to keep my word Heart from last year but also embrace the word Courage. But I don’t think I’ve been honoring my heart or practicing courage.

The ending of last year I did a total of 14 solo artist dates and I promised myself that I would go all out this year and do every single date in my jar.

I haven’t touched my jar and those dates since December 2023.

But it’s mid-June and I’m revisiting my jar of artist dates.

What I’ve decided on is to just do them—all. I shifted through and emptied the jar of dates that I had already gone on. I looked through the dates I had left, wrote a list, and started to plan them out. I have a few already queued up and I will share them once I’ve gone on them.

I also began another list and wrote down every solo date I’ve got on so far this year, even if they were in my jar. I just felt like all of my solo outings doing new things need to be honored. So here’s what I’ve done so far.

Journaling Classes with Emily

This is my favorite new activity that I’ve been treating myself to once or twice a month. It was absolute magic how I met Emily and I really do enjoy my time at her events. I’ve been journaling a lot this year and I feel like I’ve just been in a season of writing my feelings out. I’m embracing it. These journaling classes are my way to honor that season while also getting myself out of the house and meeting new people.

Reading Rhythms

Another event I went to this year was Reading Rhythms. Actually, this is the only jar date that I’ve gone on so far. It’s basically a reading party. It was interesting. I will say, I did get a lot of reading done but I can’t say I made any connection to those at my reading party. I suppose it could’ve been that particular crowd (though I was also in a weird mood that night) that maybe another reading party might be different.

Drink n Draft

I attended a Drink n Draft event at The Book Club Bar in the East Village. This was basically a creative writing workshop hosted by Little Nights. This reoccurring event has been on my list since last year when I first began putting dates into my jar and I just got around to attending one. Honestly, it wasn’t my favorite, but it was a nice way to get out of the house and have a reason to check out The Book Club Bar.

The Moth StorySLAM & StoryTell

The Moth StorySLAM was a new addition to my jar this year. It’s essentially an open mic for short storytelling centered around a theme of the night. Storytellers put their name in a hat and 10 are randomly chosen to tell their story. Each story has to be a true story from their life related to the theme. The event I went to was in Brooklyn and the theme was Bad Timing. I didn’t sign up to tell a story or anything. I just enjoyed the show. At the end of the night the storyteller that scored the highest from the audience judges won the story slam.

Similar to The Moth, I attended a collaborative event with StoryTell and Journaling Classes at The Drawing Room in midtown. First, I just want to say that The Drawing Room is an amazing space. I definitely need to go back there to do some art. But StoryTell has the exact same premise as The Moth’s StorySLAMs except that it’s super lowkey and more intimate storytelling. The theme of the night was Courage and you bet your girl entered her name into the hat for this one. Courage has been my theme this year and I got chosen to tell my story!

Tarot Readings and Astro Charts at Flower Cat

I was introduced to Flower Cat, a cute little floral shop cafe in Greenpoint, Brooklyn while at a journaling class that was held there. They did tarot readings one weekend last month around the Full Moon. I’ve always wanted a reading, so I decided to go back to the cafe on my own and get a reading. My reading got me really emotional that I ended up making an entire day out of being in Greenpoint/Williamsburg. I decided to wander around. I ended up at Yoseka Stationery and then visited Marsha P. Johnson Park for Smorgasburg. I ended the day with journaling in McCarren Park before heading home. It was a bittersweet day.

Another evening I attended an event hosted by Funkoven called Art Your Chart. A small cozy group of us spent two hours that evening creating a visual representation of our birth charts. This event was so refreshing and fun! My table mate and I got super crafty and made an absolute mess while creating our charts. And they came out so amazing! I would 100% do this again.

Some other dates I went on:

Rocky Horror Picture Show at Rooftop Cinema Club. Paul McCartney’s Beatles photography exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. A Soundbath and Herbarium class at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. A day trip to New Haven, CT to visit the sights at Yale—Yale Peabody Museum and The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library—and do a bit of shopping. I also finally got to visit Printed Matter and attended two Broadway shows—The Notebook and Moulin Rouge!

I’m hoping to complete most—if not all—of the remaining dates this year. And I’m going to document them all the best I can. Wish me luck!

xx Tiffany