Killed By Crafts

I Wish It Was Christmas Today

2011-12-23T20:23:00.005-05:00

One of our best Brimfield purchases: an aluminum Christmas tree. With the color wheel (and the 8mm iPhone app 60s filter), it looks so awesome.

Sadly, a few minutes after taking this video we realized the bulb might be just a little too hot so we shut it off, but it was fun while it lasted!

The Sunshine State

2011-11-27T19:22:00.014-05:00

I haven't been all that interested in going to Florida in my adult life, but Miami seemed like it might be a little bit different from the rest of the state. I just got back from a little Thanksgiving week trip there, and while I had fun, it doesn't really make me want to go back there. If I want palm trees and beaches I'll go to L.A.--there's better food and even better cultural offerings. But that isn't stopping me from posting some pictures...

We learned of a vegan food truck that was serving lunch in Coconut Grove, so we took a walk around the neighborhood beforehand and stumbled upon a little waterfront park (can't remember the name of it). At the end of the pier there was a sort of repository of boats.

Almost looks like a toy from this angle.

Some spilled paint on the pier.

A grove of palm trees on the other side of the pier.

After that we went to Crandon Park, which includes a beach, golf course, tennis court, amusement park, etc. We went swimming at the beach and later on wandered around the gardens, which are actually the grounds of a former zoo.

They left a few of the cages there, but with the bars mostly removed.

I love the murals on this one.

There's very much a feeling like the animals have just recently escaped and are still lurking nearby, especially with all the crazy sounds from the dozens of birds roaming the park.

We saw peacocks, ibises, vultures, some really tall birds we couldn't identify, a group of really angry ducks that hissed at us a lot, and even a bunny.

We went there just before dark as the sun was setting. I love the low light in these pictures.

Coconuts!

Another Brimfield Fair

2011-09-12T21:12:00.013-04:00

I know I said I'd be posting all these updates from the summer...you'll get them eventually. Instead, here are some photos from the Brimfield Antique Show, which I went to this past weekend. I didn't get quite as much good stuff as last yea r--a small wood crate for the top of the fridge (something to stash all those loose chip bags in), an off-brand Evergleam Christmas tree (now we just need to find a color wheel), a vintage Copco baking dish, and some wood type. I guess not a bad haul, really. Maybe I just felt more exhausted this time.

It's not hard, not far to reach

2011-09-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'm going a little bit out of order, but I'm starting with Rockaway Beach. These photos are from July, but I just went there on Sunday so it's still fresh in my mind, in a way.

We've been going to the beach at Jacob Riis Park for the last couple of years (definitely the best beach in the city!), but I'd never realized there was a boardwalk a couple of miles down. I still prefer Riis for their huge parking lot (we drove around quite awhile looking for a spot near the boardwalk) and the awesome abandoned military base, but the boardwalk has its perks.

This year they've opened up a series of hipster concession stands, including Blue Bottle Coffee, Caracas Arepa Bar, Rockaway Taco, and Rippers, a burger joint that has a decent quinoa black bean burger.

I'll bet it's weird for the locals (definitely heard some guy complaining about "all the faggy shit") but it's a great ploy to get people to make the trek there from Brooklyn and Manhattan. I'd still be going out there anyway but I love that now the day involves great food too.

I was a little skeptical at all the surfboards I saw people carrying, but look--people actually surfing (albeit on tiny waves).

Under the boardwalk

A rusty yet active skatepark just off the boardwalk.

How I spent my summer vacation (eating)

2011-09-05T19:46:00.015-04:00

So I more or less took the summer off from blogging, even though I hadn't intended to do so at first. But I'm back, or so I'd like to think, and am going to start with a recap of the summer. (It might take a couple of weeks...I have a lot of photos to share, and as usual, I can't narrow them down as much as I want to.)

While it rained a lot this summer, mostly on weekends, I did manage to fit in some fun excursions to both new spots and old favorites--Los Angeles, Provincetown, Beacon, Storm King Arts Center, Red Hook, Saugerties, and so on.

But I'm going to start with what I ate. Or at least the photographs of food that I found on my computer, taken with intentions of posting here but never followed through on.

Garlic scapes

We used them to make a pesto,

some of which ended up on this pizza (under the cheese, so you can't really see it). Amazingly, these photos were taken months ago but I still have some pesto in the freezer, which I plan to finish this week.

Tomatillos and a couple of jalapenos, about to be roasted

and turned into salsa.

Mushroom empanadas before,

and after.

Pasta with red chard (I love how it turns the sauce pink).

A pretty salad, made with radishes and lettuce (and maybe a couple of other items)

Strawberry shortcake

I of course ate a lot of other great stuff this summer (both home-cooked and in restaurants) but for whatever reason this is what I photographed.

Vintage matchbooks from Dallas

2011-05-31T09:00:00.002-04:00

While in Dallas I happened upon a basket of vintage matchbooks in an antique store. I've never collected them before, but after glancing at a few of them, I ended up scouring the basket for at least five minutes, a pile of matchbooks stacking up on the floor next to me.

I was able to narrow it down to these twelve.

Some of them I loved for the illustrations, some for the subject matter, some for both. I guess Smokey the Bear is the mascot of the Parks Service, not Yellowstone National Park, but I still had to laugh at the bear on the matchbook cover. Maybe it's okay to play with matches sometimes?

I thought Oberg was a city in Sweden but it seems to be a common surname. I haven't yet figured out what the special offer for high school drop-outs is but it seems noteworthy that it was the only one whose matches had all been used.

I've always loved generic hotel postcards--same goes for matchbooks, I guess.

The one on the left is for a private investigator, which is so awesome. Love the fingerprint with the hat. Also note the illustrations on the back of the Yellowstone matchbook.

I also found another use for the letterpress tray: displaying these. I just wish more of the slots were wide enough to fit them.

A few more from Austin

2011-05-25T09:00:00.001-04:00

A few more random photos from my week in Austin.

Waiting at the traffic light near Austin Books and Comics.

The Boston Cream Pie and Orange Dreamsicle from Casey's New Orleans snowballs

The cupcake truck in the rain.

We witnessed this house being demolished. *

Bowling at Dart Bowl, where I once saw The Big Lebowski in the parking lot. *

Chocolate chip pancakes courtesy of my gracious host

The preserved Daniel Johnston mural on the side of the former Sound Exchange. *

More street art around town. *

*Photo by Dave

Food trucks in ATX

2011-05-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

I noticed that, like in New York, the food truck craze has caught on in Austin in a big way. For the most part, they seem to set up in designated areas, rather than rotating spots on city streets. All over South Austin we passed by dirt lots with three or four trucks parked, some, conveniently, with picnic tables, though most of them were closed every time we tried to partake. But there were a few exceptions such as the incredible Chi'lantro (please open a branch in NYC--or maybe not*) and CoolHaus (which has in fact just started up in New York).

We encountered trucks selling grilled sausages, food served in cones (except, strangely, ice cream), fried green tomatoes, cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches, Korean tacos, Mexican tacos, and even a trailer where you could adopt a pet (also closed when we passed by).

Here are just a few of them:

*While I've witnessed an explosion of new food trucks popping up within a three block radius of where I work--on any given day there will be at least three lined up on Hudson Street, maybe more, with new ones showing up every week--I have yet to really frequent any of them very much (which the exception of Joyride, which has created the Wednesday tradition of Stumptown coffee). The one time I tried getting lunch at Taim Falafel it took nearly 45 minutes from the time I got on line to when I was handed my sandwich. This seems to be pretty standard across most of the trucks--everyone wants to eat there, and they just can't churn out the orders fast enough. And when I only have an hour break, 45 minutes is way too long to be standing around waiting.

Remember the Alamo

2011-05-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

After a day in Dallas we made our way down to our one-time home of Austin, where we spent the week swimming at Barton Springs, eating tacos, watching midnight movies at the Alamo Drafthouse, and all the other things that make that city great. A few photos from around town:

Texas is the reason

2011-05-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

While in Dallas we decided we had to make a stop at Dealey Plaza, the site of the Kennedy assassination. The Book Depository where Oswald was allegedly stationed has been converted into a museum, and the infamous window is set up to look as it did on 11/22/63. (As Bill Hicks said, "It's really accurate...cause Oswald's not in it.")

We'd been to the museum the last time we were in Dallas so we skipped that part but decided the plaza was worth another visit. This picture was taken while standing on the spot where Kennedy was killed (it's actually marked with an X). The sixth floor window is visible all the way to the right above the trees.

Wasn't kidding about that X.

I also love how "Grassy Knoll" is labeled as such.

The Zapruder film was shot from atop this concrete slab.

Many believe a second gunman was stationed behind this picket fence.

I don't really consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but this picture is pretty creepy, especially given that those people are probably standing on the X.

Love the shadows in this concrete structure behind the grassy knoll.

Deep in the throat of Texas

2011-05-16T21:57:00.012-04:00

Just got back from a trip to Dallas and Austin. I'm still adjusting back to NY weather and working, but I thought I'd get the old slide show going...

At La Guardia Airport we actually got to board the plane from the runway. Very old-timey.*

Our first stop in Dallas was our hotel, where we found this giant stone slab carved with the Ten Commandments. Yup, definitely in Texas. *

Inside Twisted Root burger, where we ate some very sloppy but delicious veggie burgers.

Across the street, above the Eight Track Museum (sadly, not open when we showed up).

I don't know where this was but I like it. *

The sidewalk on the route to the baseball stadium (the reason we were in Dallas). Those holes in the concrete look cool but are a pain to walk on.

The man in front of us rang a cowbell every time the Rangers did something good. * This got old very fast.

Next morning, in front of Oddfellows while we waited for a table. * (Good breakfast/lunch**, by the way, but they don't know how to make a banh mi. Don't know why that's surprising.)

*Indicates photo by Dave. (He may also choose to take credit for the use of the word "old-timey.")

**I have an aversion to portmanteaus. I shudder whenever I hear someone say "staycation." Can't help it.

More scrap paper notebooks

2011-04-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

I mentioned a few months ago how I'd gotten into the habit of stockpiling scrap paper at work, and that this scrap paper notebook tutorial seemed like the answer to what to do with all of it. So one cold Saturday afternoon I sat on the floor watching a movie and folding pieces of paper, which I then glued together into notebooks. I may have gone a little overboard in terms of volume. This isn't even all of them.

So now I'm just experimenting with different ways of covering them. So far I've used this ruler-print paper, which I'd bought about a year ago with no particular use in mind, sections of old maps, and my print Gocco (need to try that one out again).

I left a little pocket open on the smaller one, for storing scraps of paper and other bits of ephemera.

Now, what to do with the notebooks is the next question. (Write in them, yes, but since I'm not much of a journaler, I can't think of an actual function. Sigh.)

Flakiest biscuit, indeed.

2011-04-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've tried this recipe for biscuits several times and have not been disappointed. Its proclamation of "flakiest biscuit" is pretty accurate. I may have overbaked this particular batch (the timer went off, I said to myself, as soon as I'm done scrubbing this dish I'll take them out of the oven, and the next thing I knew, many minutes had passed) but they're still pretty awesome. They work well for breakfast with jam, or with a more savory meal. I think the key is the cream of tartar and the dough-folding technique.

A visit from the Easter puppy

2011-04-24T09:00:00.002-04:00

My mom made this cake. It's supposed to be a lamb but I thought it looked more like a puppy. So much so that it was kind of disturbing when she started cutting it up. Eventually it fell over without a body to support it and there was just a puppy head laying on the platter staring up at us as we ate.

Street art at the library

2011-04-10T19:13:00.010-04:00

Saturday after a visit to M0MA, we ventured across the street to the former Donnell Library Center to check out Pantheon,

a window exhibit featuring work by graffiti and street artists.

For me the whole appeal of street art is encountering art in an unexpected place, color and creativity where there is usually none. So when it's all collected together in a window, it loses something. Still, it was a pretty cool exhibition.

The location seems particularly fitting, considering the fate of the Donnell Library Center, which was one of the main branches of the New York Public Library for more than 50 years. In 2008 the library closed after the building was sold to Orient Express Hotels, with plans to raze the building and replace it with an 11-story luxury hotel, with the library operating in the lower level. Then of course after the financial crisis, the deal fell through and the library remains empty three years later.

Looking into a non-exhibit window at the construction inside.

I liked these door handles.

After that we got dinner at the Shake Shack (always worth the wait, even in the cold), were nearly attacked by a crazed squirrel hell-bent on stealing my fries, and saw a very funny movie.

Where I've been

2011-03-27T17:17:00.005-04:00

Less than a week ago I was looking at this. I went on my first ever business trip (what a grown-up), for a conference in Florida. The conference part of it wasn't so much fun but it was nice to be able to eat outside and bask in the sun whenever I could. Then I came back to NY and the next day it snowed.

I looked at what I was posting about a year ago and apparently by late March 2010 we had already gone on at least one excursion. Which only made me more annoyed. It's warmed up a tad since my first day back, but it still seems kind of chilly--I guess I just need to man up and get outside before I go crazy with cabin fever.

In the meantime, I've pulled together a list of all the places around the NY and CT area that we went to last year, in no particular order. Some we'll revisit, but I do have a list of as yet unexplored places that I want to check out too. I wish these guys would get their way already!

Garrison, NY (Russel Wright House)
Beacon, NY
Jacob Riis Park/Fort Tilden
Old Croton Aqueduct Trail
Staten Island
Elephant's Trunk Flea Market
Red Hook, NY (the town, not the Brooklyn neighborhood)
Walkway Over the Hudson
Millerton, NY (apparently I didn't blog about it, but it was a pretty great day)
Brimfield Antique Fair
Roosevelt Island & Long Island City
Governor's Island
Storm King
Blue Hill Farms
Wave Hill
South Bronx
The High Line

Chocolate pudding pie

2011-03-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I decided to try out this recipe for Mexican chocolate pudding pie. It's pretty much a combination of a lot of good things.

I decided to forgo the instant pudding, and instead used a recipe for chocolate pudding from this cookbook zine. The process is insanely easy.

The moment when it thickens up into pudding really kind of feels like magic. It happens very quickly--one second you're starting to doubt if it's actually going to work, and the next, pudding!

I also decided to make my own graham cracker crust rather than buying something pre-made, by smashing some graham crackers (always fun), combining the crumbs with melted butter, and pressing it into a pie plate (and baking it for a short time). That's really precise, I know. Also, I need to accept that I am not much of a food stylist. The plastic bag of chocolate chips and crumbs on the table are not really adding to the ambiance.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished pie until a few days later. It was pretty good. Although at the same time, I think I'd be just as happy with chocolate pudding alone.

The walk home

2011-03-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

After leaving the armory we took the 4 train to the last stop and, after seeing that the next bus wasn't coming for another 20 minutes, we decided to walk home through the cemetery.

A little history: Woodlawn Cemetery opened in 1863, established as an alternative to Brooklyn's Greenwood cemetery, which at the time was the only place in the city deemed a proper burial ground for the well-to-do. Among the many notable people buried there are jazz legend Miles Davis, Moby-Dick author Herman Melville, former mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Joseph Pulitzer (of the prize), Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (founder of the Whitney museum), and on and on.

I'd never been in there before, but had been meaning to check it out for awhile. We stuck to the main route that leads from one gate to the other, but one day we'll go back and explore it in more detail. Regardless, what we did see was intriguing enough for now. I love this statue--the dirt covering the face really adds something.

When I took this photo I wondered if this particular Woolworth was the one with the department store, and apparently it is. The sphinxes guarding his tomb really make a statement.

I found myself drawn to this door (love the effect of the patination).

The roads within the cemetery are all marked with these quaint-looking green signs.

I noticed a bunch of these random letters on the ground. I'm guessing they're marking the sections of the plots.

So many beautiful, creepy statues.

I have to imagine that some joker put this "endowed" plaque next to the "Seaman" stone. Although I did see a number of those plaques elsewhere, and I have no idea what they're supposed to mean.

This tree trunk kind of reminds me of the Elephant Man. No disrespect.

The Eighth Regiment Armory

2011-03-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

Now that we'd awoken our penchant for exploring*, on Sunday, despite its being a bit chillier than we'd hoped, we embarked on our first long walk in almost six months. The journey took us around the perimeter of Woodlawn Cemetery, past the subway station, along the southern tip of Van Cortlandt Park, curving around the Jerome Park Reservoir, and ended at the Kingsbridge Armory.

Built in 1910 to house a unit of the National Guard, today the Kingsbridge Armory is a gigantic empty castle in the middle of the Bronx. In recent years, there were plans to turn it into some kind of shopping center, which fell through because the developer would not require tenants to guarantee a living wage for their employees. Which is all pretty unfortunate because this building is incredible, and it'd be great to see it put to use for something. (At the same time, it'd be nice for people to be paid decently.)

There's a giant chain link fence going around the building, so it was tricky to get good photos, but you get the idea.

A stray cat slinking through the grass.

Here's one of the entrances. I think the engraving above the door says "258th field artillery."

A view from the subway platform. When you're on the 4 train coming the opposite way, it almost feels like you're going right into the armory, it's that close. In fact, seeing that view out the window is part of what inspired me to come check it out in more detail.

*I just spent about ten minutes trying to figure out how to word that without saying something silly like "whetted our appetite". That's about the best I could come up with.

First walk of the season

2011-03-14T11:47:00.001-04:00

On Saturday the weather was actually kind of warm, so we decided to investigate the situation with Muskrat Cove, a trail that runs along the Bronx River near our apartment. It had been Dave's favorite jogging spot last summer but then it was covered in snow for a few months. Plus, someone had set up camp under this overpass, and it was kind of like running through someone's living room.

The snow and the tenant were gone, but due to excessive rain and flooding last week, the paved path looked a little like the bottom of a river in some parts.

This graffiti looks fresh. I like it.

I took more or less the same photo last time we were there but it still looks cool.

Not sure why, but I also took a lot of pictures of trash caught in tree branches.

I think there's actually more trash than tree in this one.

Someone spraypainted this sign solid pink.

I have no idea what this means but it's stenciled on the ground near the entrance.

Anyway, it was a pretty short walk but it was nice to get back outside—can't wait for more!

Typographic images

2011-02-16T09:00:00.003-05:00

I'm always saving random images that I like, or that give me an idea for something else, to inspire me again down the road. Of course, then later on I never remember where they came from. I decided to do some internet sleuthing to find a source--below are some of the instances where I was successful. Noticing a theme?

Now that I know what this is, I've been trying to find photos of the rest of it, with no luck.

I don't know why, but I love punctuation marks. Particularly ampersands.

I think I need to get this book.

Never saw the movie but I'll take their word for it.

XoXo

2011-02-15T20:51:00.002-05:00

For Valentine's Day I gave Dave a few odds and ends--some books, a VHS copy of The Year Punk Broke (I don't know why it's not available on DVD!), and a tin of Jacques Torres hot chocolate. I made the valentine with a blank postcard and some wood blocks (those are really getting a lot of traction lately--see the T-shirt project), with a paper heart garland to decorate the wrapping.

Dave gave me some chocolates and this necklace I had wanted from Les Morceaux. He also brought carrot cake from Lloyd's and we enjoyed the evening re-watching Freaks and Geeks.

Bedroom updates

2011-02-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

I've been wanting to upgrade our comforter for awhile, and finally decided to go with a plain white one, topped with the rug, now being used as a blanket. (Which probably makes more sense anyway.) I really like how it looks, and the new comforter is pretty...comfortable. (It's been particularly hard to get out of bed since purchasing it.)

We also bought a slatted bench from 30 West (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Olivia the french bulldog before, but she is seriously one of the cutest, friendliest dogs I've had the pleasure of meeting, and she hangs out in a pretty great store). We'd been wanting one for a little while now, and while this one is a little beat up, I think we'll be able to clean it up and refinish it (just waiting until the weather gets a little warmer so we can open up all the windows while we work on it). I really like how it looks at the foot of the bed. It's also adjustable, which is pretty cool.

So now I just need a new rug to replace the old one. And a pair of new dressers to replace the ones that are kind of falling apart. And, now that I look at that photo, to clean all the junk out of the corner.

Mason jar container #2

2011-02-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Several weeks ago I posted about using mason jars to store food items. This past weekend I finished off another jar of vodka sauce, this time to contain coffee beans.

I once again covered the lid with paper so it doesn't look so much like a jar of vodka sauce.

I tried to use a complementary pattern. I think they look pretty good together.

Here they are in their cheese crate, along with a coffee grinder. Which, admittedly does not really go along with them aesthetically, but it fits perfectly in the crate (and of course correlates thematically).

Summer meal in the dead of winter

2011-02-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

My birthday was last week, and a few days beforehand Dave asked me if there was any special meal I wanted him to make for me. I started looking through recipes and nothing was really jumping out at me--I mean, I certainly like food, but nothing particularly exciting was coming to mind. Until I got to the fried green tomatoes.

I wasn't even sure Dave would be able to get them at this time of year, but Whole Foods came through. He made one too many, I think, so my sandwich was about six inches tall, with more on the side. (Not a problem, really.) He also put together this pasta salad, served with a bag of Zapp's. It was the perfect winter escape, and we ate it while daydreaming of warmer weather, long walks outside, and road trips upstate.

Eames house of cards

2011-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Several years ago, after being inspired by this DIY project, I made a custom Eames-style house of cards and gave it to Dave for Christmas. Much like the classic Eames card decks, which are adorned with brightly colored images of what the Eames called the "good stuff," these feature sections of various photographs, paintings, vintage advertisements and postcards, which I scoured from the magazine clippings I'd been saving for years (this is the type of thing for which that comes in handy).

And then they sat there in a stack for a couple of years, until a few months ago when we decided to finally start playing with them. (We like to make it a game, each taking turns adding a card.) Here's our first design.

After seeing some pretty impressive and intricate constructions on flickr, we decided to try to incorporate an arch. This one's been left up for awhile now, but I think I'm ready to take it down and try a new one. In fact, I'm thinking about making some more cards in general so we can create some really complex structures.

Egg carton bowl

2011-01-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I'll see a project online that I want to try, so I go to the store and buy the materials, and then never actually make the project. I was looking through my bins of supplies and came across this bottle of fabric stiffener, along with an empty egg carton, and decided that today was the day to put them to use.

Fabric stiffener is exactly what it sounds like--a glue that you can use to stiffen fabric in whatever shape you'd like. I'd saved the egg carton with the idea that I could use the fabric stiffener to make a bowl with different compartments to organize small craft supplies.

I started brushing the glue onto both sides of the fabric with a foam brush.

When it was pretty saturated I started shaping it over the form of the egg carton (after lining it with some plastic wrap so it didn't adhere to the paper). It wasn't really taking the shape of the carton very well so I stuffed some pieces of plastic bag into each crevice (and one foil ball, after I ran out of plastic).

Then I waited awhile for it to dry...and look at that.

Not sure what I'll actually use it for, but you get the idea. Buttons, jump rings, magnets...anything small that needs organizing.

In hindsight I think I would have made the piece of fabric larger so that there was more of a lip to the bowl, as it looks a little weird like this. Oh well, live and learn.

Wood block T-shirt

2011-01-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

I really like the look of old wooden letterpress type, and have picked up a few here and there at flea markets and the like, mostly for decorative purposes. But the great thing about them is that you can use them to make things as well, even if you don't have a press.

I wanted to spruce up this t-shirt so I laid it out on the floor with a few pieces of paper in between, just in case ink seeped through (it didn't), and played around with the arrangement of the letters until I arrived at one that I liked.

I applied some ink to the back with a foam brush (I used Jacquard textile paint but you could use any screenprinting ink). You don't really need too much, just a thin layer. Also don't mind the weird glare on the 5.

And then I pressed them into the fabric by hand, one at a time. I like the varying degrees of texture, how some came out lighter than others.

Finally, after it dried I ironed on the back of the print for about 30 seconds to heat set it. And that's it. The bulk of the project probably took about 5 minutes.

Mason jar containers

2011-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago I decided to move my vintage cheese crate to the kitchen counter, to corral the bags of coffee and sugar that were cluttering up the space. To further the de-cluttering, I decided to move the coffee and sugar into mason jars. We just finished a jar of vodka sauce that was perfectly sized, so I washed it out, wiped off the label, and glued some decorative paper to the lid (because otherwise it just looked like a spaghetti jar lid). Now I just need to consume another jar's worth of vodka sauce for the coffee.

Marimekko bowl + avocado dip

2011-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

I recently made the totally frivolous purchase of two Marimekko bowls from the Crate and Barrel shop in Soho (I had a gift card, though it definitely did not cover it). I've been eyeing a lot of their designs online for quite some time (particularly this dress and this plate) but a pair of bowls seemed the closest to practical choice (we had a couple of bowls break in the past year...see?).

As for what's in the bowl...I gave this avocado dip a try. Not bad, though if you're going to make an avocado dip, you might as well make guacamole, which is just that much better. But it's nice to switch it up every now and then.

Museum of the Moving Image now open!

2011-01-17T15:42:00.007-05:00

On Saturday we headed out to the American Museum of the Moving Image for their grand re-opening after being closed for the past few years. We're very excited about all of the great programming that's coming up, especially now that we've decided to buy a membership.

After watching several rare 8 mm George Kuchar films from the early 60s, we toured the museum, which was a combination of brand-new, bright white interiors and old familiar exhibit space. The gallery of vintage video games no longer exists, with most of the games having been moved to a different, smaller area.

I didn't see Tempest, but otherwise most of the classics are still represented.

Dave played a little Breakout.

Afterward we went into Tut's Fever, a reproduction of an Egyptian-style movie palace that shows old serials in the afternoons. If you "pull here" the coffin opens (with a surprise inside).

After we left the museum we consumed veggie burgers and the best chocolate milkshake ever at Bare Burger, and headed to Williamsburg to see Tyvek at Glasslands (blurry photo above). I hadn't been there in a couple of years, and the interior has changed a bit since then. Not only do they now have a fully functioning bar, but there's a crazy kind of paper sculpture hanging above the stage that, when combined with white Christmas lights, creates a really cool effect. I found a few random photos on flickr that better illustrate this.

My very own yeti

2011-01-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last year I got to work a bit with a book called Beasties, which is a craft book on how to sew imaginary beings. The author built some great staged scenes of the projects using cinnamon sticks, cardboard, watercolors, and the like. (You can see a few of them here.) My department purchased a few of them from the author for our sales people's use, and I became rather enchanted with the yeti.

A couple of months ago, I had the nice surprise of receiving one of my own from the author as thanks for the work I'd done to promote the book. (She actually made various creatures for everyone who worked on the book, which is pretty crazy as they seem rather involved--but no complaints here!) Right now he's been hanging out on my bookshelf.

He looks kind of terrified in this picture. I suppose the ominous shadows in the background don't help.

Losing my Gocco virginity

2011-01-11T09:00:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend I completed a few more scrap paper notebooks. But more importantly, I used my new Print Gocco for the first time to decorate them. I've been a bit of a shut-in lately because of the cold and am already starting to wish the warmer weather would come back so I can get out and start exploring again. Thus, I decided to go for a travel theme, and printed out part of an old Texas roadmap.

Overall the process was pretty easy, though it did take me quite a few tries before getting a decent print. At first I was pushing down too hard (see the print on the right)--turns out you barely have to tap it down to get the right amount of definition. At least in my experience. I think I generally picked a trickier image than I should have--there's way too much detail in there, plus I had a hard time getting the whole image to print. Although I do kind of like how there are spots missing where there wasn't enough ink on the screen--which I guess is technically a mistake and might not work for other images.

While the general process of making screens and prints with the Gocco is very simple and quick, I was a little disappointed to learn how fast you burn through the supplies. The bulbs can only be used once--after making one screen they go into the trash. The screens can be reused to make additional prints, but only to a point since the frames are made of paper and don't last too long. And unlike regular screens you can't erase them to create a new image. To make matters worse, because the product has been discontinued, the replacement supplies, while easy enough to find online, are rather expensive.

Someone needs to start manufacturing new supplies that can be used on the existing machines. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already! But for now I'll just have to be very careful and strategic with what I already have.

Handmade ornaments circa 1998

2011-01-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

I took down my Christmas tree over the weekend and while packing the decorations back into boxes to be stored away till next year, I came across a handful of ornaments that I'd made when I was about 16. They're pretty awesome.

I'm think my mom had just bought me a miniature fake tree for my bedroom and I must have felt the need to fashion some punk-looking ornaments to make it cool. They're a combination of black and white inkjet print-outs and sharpie marker lettering, glued to pieces of cardboard. You can kind of see the tiny holes poked through for the hooks. I think there used to be a Germs ornament too (a blue circle with a black background, of course), but I don't know what happened to it.

I didn't even realize I still had these. I guess I couldn't bear to part with them after all these years. Maybe if I get a bigger tree next year I'll put them back into rotation.

DIY striped shirt

2011-01-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

One of the best things about my job is that they give you the whole week off between Christmas and New Year's. With the blizzard and general coldness I wasn't really in the mood to go outside so I worked on a whole lot of projects.

I'd been planning on trying this striped shirt project, using painter's tape and fabric paint, but then I realized that I didn't have any tape. I was so set on making something that I turned to the freezer paper, which yielded something even better.

I cut out strips of the paper, purposely leaving ragged edges and uneven lines, and placed them on the shirt, right up to the collar.

After ironing the strips on, I cut out a few triangles and played around a bit with where I wanted to put them before ironing them on as well.

Then I applied several coats of fabric paint using a foam brush. I purposely left the ends a bit rough.

I had such a hard time waiting for it to dry before peeling up the paper. Here's a little more info about making freezer paper stencils.

The happiest girl in the world

2010-12-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

Dave really outdid himself this year in the gift-giving department. While I was buying him all the staples (pajamas, sweaters, heavy wool socks, Stumptown coffee, etc) he was hard at work tracking down some of the cool stuff I've been trying to find lately.

First of all, I finally got this beautiful book of Margaret Kilgallen's work. Not that it was so hard to find (you can buy the reprint editions at Curiosity Shoppe). I just never got around to purchasing it. And now I don't have to!

I'm also excited about my new calendar from my favorite printers, Yeehaw. (I do still want to get a refill for last year's but this one is much bigger. So I don't feel like it'll be overkill.)

And I'm not sure how Dave knew that I'd been eying these vintage elephant banks, but he did. Now the laundry quarter supply will be looking extra stylish.

I know Dave was aware that I'd been looking for one of these Finel enamel bowls for quite some time, but it's still a testament to his thoughtfulness and eBay skills. He even managed to find one without any unsightly chips!

I was pretty sure that bowl was going to be the pièce de résistance--until I opened up the Gocco printer. These things are out of production, though all the supplies (ink, screens, bulbs, etc) seem to be easy enough to find online so I'm not too worried about running out.

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with it, though I do have a few ideas up my sleeve. More to come on that one.

Fun with gift wrapping

2010-12-30T11:14:00.010-05:00

I had kind of wanted to post about this before Christmas, but I would have been revealing too much to one particular person.

I was really into this plaid gift wrap we bought--it's just Christmasy enough.* This year I tried a few new decorating methods, such as the above strand of what look to me like paper buttons. (See here for how to make them...though it should be pretty self explanatory.)

I made the bow using a variation of the above technique (that is, by cutting much larger circles and folding them in half).

I bought this giant postcard from Yeehaw Industries at the Chelsea Market holiday pop up shop and decided it would look great decorating the outside of a box.

I also made some gift tags using a silver shopping bag and rubber stamps. I really like how muted the stamp looks on the silver paper.

Dave did a little bit of stamping too. Of course the only picture I took of this one is out of focus but I think it's too amusing not to share anyway. Tune in tomorrow for what's inside the boxes!

*I know how much paper is wasted every year wrapping gifts, but I'm not about to start wrapping everything in fabric like some blogs suggest (besides, who's to say that some of the recipients won't throw out the fabric too?). I do reuse a lot of other materials anyway, from shopping bags to tissue paper.

It's Christmas all over again

2010-12-22T09:00:00.004-05:00

The stockings are hung, the tree is out (though not lit in this photo for some reason), along with all of the other random decorations I've collected over the years. (Funny to see how bare the wall looked last year, as we'd just moved in.) Every year I can't help making (and buying) a few new ornaments to add to the rotation. (I suppose I probably should think about getting rid of some of the ones that I keep confined to the closet.)

I actually made this paper ball ornament last year, using some pages I cut out of a book, but I don't think I ever posted about it. So here it is.

This year I made this paper tree using an old magazine. A little tedious, but super easy. I love how sculptural it looks.

Last fall my step niece developed a bit of an obsession with picking up acorns and shared a handful of them with Dave (which, adorably, he saved). So I already had a dried acorn hat (as I like to call it) for making this ornament, which was only slightly more difficult than the paper tree. I wish I'd had more spare hats because I would have made a whole family of wooden acorn people. (I guess there's still time!)

I also ended up buying a few new holiday things while I was in L.A. I couldn't resist this squirrel candy dish from Yolk. (I like how we have a mix of Christmas and Halloween candy in there. The pumpkins were half price and someone could not turn down a bargain.)

After hemming and hawing over some of the pricier (but beautiful) items at Plastica, I left with just this sweet little wooden Swedish bird ornament. (Note my little acorn friend to the right.)

Here's my garland from last year. Maybe next year I'll make a new one. It's always fun to change it up. I've also promised Dave that next year we'll get a real tree, so that'll be a pretty big change. I've never had a real Christmas tree for as long as I've lived, and I've decided it's probably a good time to go au natural.

Watts Towers

2010-12-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

On our way to the airport we made one last stop: the Watts Towers.

Named for the neighborhood where they are located, the Watts Towers are a collection of 17 interconnected structures, the tallest of which is 99 feet high. They were all built by one man, an Italian immigrant construction worker named Simon Rodia, who created them in his spare time over the course of 33 years.

Constructed from steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh, and coated with mortar, the towers are embedded with pieces of porcelain, tile, and glass, and found objects such as bed frames, bottles, scrap metal, and sea shells.

These tiles spell out "SR 1921" (his initials and the year he started the project) and "Nuestro Pueblo," which is what he called the property. The flower shapes pressed in the concrete were made using garden hose spigots.

You can see a lot of fragments of vintage soda bottles.

The whole place is shaped like a boat. Our tour guide said he guessed that Simon intended to recreate the ship he sailed to America on.

In 1955, Rodia mysteriously left Los Angeles, giving the property away to a neighbor, and never returned. A year later his house, which was located within the structures, burned down. There is a wooden platform indicating where the house once stood, which was quite an unexpected revelation for me, as it's really hard to imagine this place as someone's backyard.

After the tour we watched this short film about the towers, made in the 50s while Rodia still lived there. Interestingly enough, the musical score, which was created just for this film, was later used in a very famous TV series. (I'll let you figure out which one.)

And so concludes my long and drawn out vacation slide show. I hope it was actually enjoyable for anyone else who was reading it!

LACMA

2010-12-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

I know it's a little unbelievable that three weeks later I'm still posting about L.A. but that's really just a testament to how many awesome things we did there. Our last night in town we went to LACMA, the L.A. County Museum of Art.

Outside there are lots of Eames wire chairs scattered about (a nice counterpart to MoMA's Bertoias).

Also in the courtyard is this sculpture, called "Urban Light," which consists of 202 cast iron street lamps that once were used in the streets of L.A. The Hipstamatic Dali lens does some crazy things to it.

After looking at the William Eggleston photo exhibit and thinking "what a great museum," we realized that there were quite a few more buildings to explore. We saw Andy Warhols, Alexander Calders, Richard Serras,

Giacometti sculptures, Paul Klees, Philip Gustons,

Henri Matisses, Ed Ruschas, Donald Judds, and on and on.

I took a lot of pictures of the "Fashioning Fashion" exhibit. It really photographed well.

And also from "Eye for the Sensual."

So I was pretty impressed with this museum. Nine buildings filled with ridiculously incredible art. And it's free during the week for California residents! (Which of course didn't help us, but just sayin...I can't think of any NY art museums on par with this one that are also free for locals.)

I love you, you big dummy

2010-12-17T19:45:00.002-05:00

Totally depressing.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology

2010-12-16T09:00:00.002-05:00

The Museum of Jurassic Technology is located on a fairly nondescript block in Culver City. But the interior is anything but nondescript. I'm not sure I can even explain what it is--a cabinet of curiosities, "a specialized repository of relics and artifacts from the Lower Jurassic, with an emphasis on those that demonstrate unusual or curious technological qualities." It's a dimly lit labyrinthine place, with beige rotary phone receivers in the wall that play back information about the exhibits when you hold them up to your ear.

In this room we heard the tragic story of an opera singer.

From butterflies behind glass to miniature mobile homes to dogs of the Soviet space program, the museum houses a strange variety of collections,

many of which are charmingly "out of order."

As Dave pointed out to me, many of the displays look straight out of a Nine Inch Nails video.

Especially when you photograph them using a Dali lens.

While I at times couldn't fully comprehend what I was looking at, I always felt a sense of wonder and amusement (and maybe a little bit of confusion). In that regard it's almost like a big art installation, an experiment designed to invoke various reactions in the visitor.

Bela Lugosi's Dead

2010-12-15T09:00:00.001-05:00

A little over a week ago marked the 30 year anniversary of Darby Crash's death. The singer of the L.A. punk band the Germs, he died at the age of 22 of an intentional heroin overdose.

The Germs were one of the first punk bands I listened to. Fifteen years ago I came across an article about them in a random music magazine and became obsessed with their story. It took me over a year to track down their music--at the time the internet was still in its jurassic stages, so I couldn't exactly Google them, and I wasn't yet familiar with the concept of independent record stores. I finally found a copy of MIA at a Strawberry's while on vacation in Boston, and to this day I still love the Germs.

So when I went to L.A. I of course had to make a little pilgrimage to find Darby's grave. He's interred at Holy Cross, a Catholic cemetery in Culver City, his plot marked by a flat rectangular stone that I quickly noticed seemed to have been a frequently-used generic design.

Dave had unsuccessfully tried to find the grave the last time he was in L.A., but he hadn't been able to research its exact location. I can't imagine how many hours it would take to find it without any direction whatsoever--it'd be like, well, finding a needle in a haystack. (Dave also wrote his own meditation on Darby's death anniversary. It's the inaugural post of his new blog, Savage Aesthetic. Go read it!)

The website where I found Darby's grave location (Section R, Tier 8, Grave 114, by the way) lists a number of other celebrities buried at Holy Cross--among them John Candy, Sharon Tate, John Ford, Rita Hayworth, Jimmy Durante, Bela Lugosi, and many others. I sought out Lugosi's grave as well (and, without trying, Bing Crosby's), and was warmed to find that someone had recently wished him a Happy Halloween.

Bela and Bing are in the section referred to as "The Grotto," where this altar and statue of Mary are situated.

Closer inspection reveals a variety of candles, prayer cards, and other Catholic relics placed on the altar, and in the rock wall.

It might seem a bit morbid, but if I'd had more time I would have liked to have explored the whole place a little bit more. It is an actively used cemetery, but as long as you're respectful, I don't see anything wrong with a little bit of graveyard tourism.

Hanging out at the Eames House

2010-12-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

Constructed in 1949, Case Study House #8 was designed by legendary designers Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen. The house is in Pacific Palisades, a fancy-looking neighborhood of L.A. just north of Santa Monica. I made a reservation to take a self-guided tour of the outside (only one tour of the interior is granted per year, to Eames foundation members).

When we got there it turned out that the tours are actually guided, which was nice as we learned a lot more about its history and design. Even though we couldn't enter the house, the design is so open that we could easily look inside and see the whole thing (with the exception of the upstairs)--I learned that the intention was to give the impression that the patio was an extension of the house.

Dave sitting in Ray's swing, which she thought provided the best view of the house.

Here's their doorbell.

The space between the house and their studio is of course nicely designed as well.

The pathway is made of a variety of materials, with various carefully placed potted plants.

A view of their studio, which is located about fifteen feet (maybe more...it's pretty close though) from the house. Note the giant praying mantis.

We noticed this little guy in a far corner of the property. It was a gift to the Eames for their grandchildren to use, and came from a London playground. Reminds me quite a bit of this...

We also noticed these toy dump trucks elsewhere on the property (it's a pretty huge piece of land). I love how everywhere we turned there was another little surprise. The yard is situation on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean--those Eames had pretty good taste.

We weren't allowed to take any photos of the indoors but I found this site that has a few interior shots. I love the bookcase. It's hard to see but they have several LTR tables lined up in the hall between the kitchen and living room. And now I of course really want one. Sigh.

This is Dogtown

2010-12-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

Friday we were back on the coast, this time staying in Santa Monica. In the morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at Peet's (amazing how many Peet's there are in California), where we noticed the most amazing Christmas tree in the courtyard outside.

It's made of dozens of shopping carts stacked on top of one another, with giant silver balls dangling in the centers. This thing is brilliant. I would have liked to have seen it being assembled.

Afterward we walked along the beach toward the pier. We'd watched Dogtown and Z Boys a few days before we left and noted a few of the famous skating and surfing spots that were mentioned.

I'm pretty sure this is where they filmed some of the scenes in Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, which we'd seen just days earlier. (About 30 seconds in from here.)

I feel like a lot of movies must have been filmed here. (I'm pretty sure Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is one of them--the part where Christina Applegate and her boyfriend are under the pier--though I'm not sure why I remember that.)

Later that day we went to the Venice Canals. The area was originally planned as a resort town called Venice of America, with sixteen miles of canals comprising most of the thoroughfares. But in the 1920s with the rise of the automobile, this proved rather impractical, and the majority of them were filled in and converted to roads.

In the 90s the canals once again became a sought after locale, with fancy modern homes replacing vacant lots, and in 1994 the city refurbished the six remaining original canals.

These photos don't really do them justice. Here's one on flickr that shows the full extent of this place a little more. Walking around on the narrow sidewalks alongside the water, we decided that this was where we were going to live. We imagined waking up every morning and having coffee on a sunny patio overlooking the water. Then I saw that an average rental costs around $3,000 a month. So now we just have to win the lottery.

Joshua Tree (not the U2 album)

2010-12-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

After leaving Palm Springs we headed over to Joshua Tree National Park, about 45 minutes away. The week before I had watched a documentary about Gram Parsons, who apparently died in Joshua Tree (in fact, you can still sleep in the room where it happened--seems a little bit weird that they advertise it, but that's just me). I hadn't realized how much of a hippie town it is, a cluster of vegetarian, health food, and vintage shops in the middle of nowhere. (It was Thanksgiving when we went, so nothing was open, but it was all there on the main road.)

There's one main road going through the park, with various points of interest and hiking trails along the way. We took a one-mile loop trail to Barkers Dam, which was constructed in 1900 by cattlemen. I wanted to walk out on the ledge like this man but was too nervous. It's really narrow, and I'm not that graceful.

Not sure what this is--a water trough?. It's very Georgia O'Keeffe.

This place is called Skull Rock.

We decided to drive to Key's View, which is located on the crest of the Little San Bernardino Mountains, and affords views of the Coachella Valley and the San Andreas Fault. It was so windy that this woman's knit hat was blown right off of her head and into the valley. I felt like I was going to blow away myself.

The view.

We had hoped to drive to the Salton Sea and Salvation Mountain afterward, but didn't leave early enough, and it was already growing dark by the time we left the park. Maybe next time!

Desert oasis

2010-12-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Now where was I?

After we left the dinosaurs, we continued on to Palm Springs, and after a few unsuccessful thrift store runs, arrived at the Ace Hotel. This kid really loved his scooter--I saw him riding it every time I walked by here, on both days.

Here's our room number.

I feel like I didn't really take such great photos of it, but the room was awesome. I have to admit, this was our main impetus for taking this little excursion.

They provide you with plenty of snacks, though I'm guessing they aren't free. (We did not partake of them to be on the safe side.)

Dave peruses the Ace Hotel guidebook. I was into the denim bed covering--it kind of inspired an idea for our own bedroom (which I of course have yet to carry out).

Say what you will, any hotel that has pictures of 70s-era Dennis Hopper pinned to the walls is okay in my book.

After exploring the room for a bit, we ventured over to King's Highway, the hotel's restaurant, which has a decidedly mid-century lodge feel to it, with the stone walls, hanging globe pendant lights, and the giant wicker elephant. I had the vegetable pot pie, which was pretty good.

The tables are outfitted with white Eames shell chairs with Eiffel bases. We sat in a booth for dinner (one of the most comfortable booths I've ever sat in).

Next morning at the breakfast table. The coconut French toast was satisfying, though Dave's chocolate croissant was even better.

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and went on a little self-guided driving tour of Palm Springs architecture before heading out of town. Here's the visitor center, housed in a former gas station. Sadly, it was closed that day.

Even though we were barely there at all, we had a good time in Palm Springs. I'd go back! I wish we'd spent a little more time in the hotel--they had a lot of good amenities that we didn't get to take advantage of. It was so cold we didn't even get to go swimming (though we did take a dip in the giant hot tub).

If we did go back, though, I might like to stay at the Del Marcos hotel, which we passed by on our drive. It's pretty much what the Ace wants to be, except it's been in business since 1947.

I know you are, but what am I?

2010-12-06T09:00:00.001-05:00

I'm interrupting my vacation coverage (haha) to report back on The Pee Wee Herman Show: it is 90 minutes of awesomeness. If you are in the NY area, you need to go! Now! (It ends January 2 so there's not a lot of time left.) Most of the classic Pee Wee's Playhouse characters are there, some played by the original actors (Miss Yvonne, Jambi, and Mailman Mike), with a few new ones, including a talking Sham Wow. Pee Wee wears an abstinence ring, and does a pretty great trick involving a balloon. I was trying to show off my Cabazon Dinosaurs shirt, though you can't really see it in the picture.

I now leave you with one of the greatest photographs I've ever seen (okay maybe that's an exaggeration but it's still pretty great).

Let's talk about your big but.

2010-12-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

Tonight I'm off to see the Pee Wee Herman Show on Broadway (!) so in honor of PW, I give you...

The Cabazon dinosaurs. I was pretty excited when I found out that these dinosaurs from Pee Wee's Big Adventure were right on the way out to Palm Springs (which is where we were headed on Wednesday).

Well, they weren't glowing, but they were still pretty awesome. I got curious about their history and learned that they were built in 1964 by Knott's Berry Farm sculptor Claude Bell in an attempt to bring in customers to his restaurant, the Wheel Inn (the diner where Pee Wee pays off his meal by washing dishes, hair net and all).

After re-watching the movie when we got home I remembered that Pee Wee and Simone pass the night up in the T-Rex's mouth, which made me sad that we didn't try to go up there. (A search on flickr shows that you can get up there, though there is no seating and the teeth are covered in chicken wire.)

We did walk up into the apatosaurus (named Dinny), which is actually a giant gift shop. And that's when we discovered something rather surprising.

It seems that the dinosaurs changed ownership in the mid '90s following Bell's death, and the new owners are using them to promote creationism. You can buy T-shirts and books that say "by design, not by chance," and there are signs telling you that "creationist scientists" have found evidence that man and dinosaurs lived at the same time (6,000 years ago, at the same time Adam and Eve first hit the scene).

We went into the Wheel Inn to see if we could find any real souvenirs and we certainly did. These T-shirts were available in every color imaginable. I settled on a nice baby blue.

The restaurant, by the way, was absolutely deserted. I didn't see a single customer. No shrine to Large Marge either.

Just behind the dinosaurs are these wind turbines lined up as far as the eye can see (well maybe not that far). They look pretty awesome, and together with two other locations in the state, they are responsible for producing much of the world's wind energy. ( In 1995, these areas produced 30 percent of the entire world's wind-generated electricity--I don't know what the stats are today, as for some reason they're not listed on the website.)

The hills have eyes

2010-12-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was all about the Hollywood hills. In the morning we had breakfast at the Laurel Canyon Country Store, a small grocery store that's been around since the hippies were hanging around the neighborhood (apparently the Doors sang about it: "there's a store where the creatures meet"). And let me tell you, they have the best coffee stand out front, with some really delicious pastries. I'm still thinking about their chocolate cherry scones.

After eating we accidentally started driving the wrong way up Laurel Canyon Blvd and never really found a place to turn around. And then before we knew it we were pretty far into the hills and figured we'd keep going. Eventually we turned onto Mulholland Drive, and came to a lookout point, where we admired the view for a few minutes.

Our next stop was at the Getty Center, which is also at the top of a hill (although you get to take a tram ride up).

The collections at the Getty mostly consist of ancient art and 18th century European paintings--not really my cup of tea. But I was mostly interested in the architecture and design of the center itself (and I was not let down).

The exterior design and landscaping is pretty great, with ivy-covered walls, gardens, sculptures, and the like.

I loved these little mini gardens in cement planters scattered throughout the steps.

Although I think my favorite area was the cactus garden. Note the view of downtown in the background.

After that we made an excursion to Freakbeat Records in Sherman Oaks and an amazing lunch at Auntie Em's in Eagle Rock (if you have a chance to order the chocolate pomegranate torte, do it), we rounded out the day by attempting to drive up to the Hollywood sign. Of course, we didn't think about the fact that we were out of gas until we got near the top. Winding our way through the insanely narrow, winding, and steep streets, we started to panic and after hurriedly snapping the above shot, rushed back down to the first gas station we saw. I'm pretty sure we couldn't have gone much farther anyway.

From tar pits to pizza

2010-11-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

We started Monday morning at the La Brea tar pits, which looks like a regular old pond but definitely smells like tar. The replicas of woolly mammoths are a little sad (and also kind of weird for some reason). I guess it helps one to imagine the types of creatures that used to hang around there.

There's also a huge fence going around the pit (I squeezed my camera lens between the grates, but trust me, it's there) which reminds you that you could actually still succumb to the same fate as the poor guy in the first photo if they let you get too close.

I didn't go inside the Page Museum but they have a cool roof.

Following the tar pits, we ventured over to the Original Farmer's Market for lunch. Which was amazing. If you haven't been there, it's not so much a farmer's market as a huge open-air cafeteria with various awesome food vendors, surrounded by a mall. I ate a mashed potato and poblano burrito. Enough said.

How many farmer's markets have a barber shop?

We spent the rest of the day shopping in West Hollywood, though I didn't buy much. I did love these colorful chairs in front of the OK Store but they probably cost more than I'd be willing to pay. Plus, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't have fit under the seat on the plane.

Outside the Family bookstore. The sign above the door was painted by comic artist Ron Rege Jr. At least it sure looks like it was.

We ended the day at Pizzeria Mozza. Pretty good but it's still no Di Fara. They did have really fun placemats though.

Yes L.A.: Long Beach and San Pedro

2010-11-29T09:00:00.003-05:00

I just got back from a week-long trip to L.A. and I have so much great stuff to post about on here. I hadn't been there in about 15 years (and my last and only trip was spent doing touristy things like visiting TV studios and Grauman's Chinese Theater) and I found myself never wanting to leave. (Unfortunately, I did in fact leave and am sitting back home, though I did find myself looking into how much rent is out there--about the same as it is here.)

Our first stop Sunday morning was the Long Beach flea market. We missed the famed Rose Bowl flea market in Pasadena by a week but decided to check this one out.

It had rained pretty heavily earlier in the morning (note the huge puddles) so even though the weather had cleared up, the flea was pretty empty of both shoppers and dealers. As a result we didn't really find anything though it seems like on an on-day this place would be pretty hopping.

Afterwards we headed down to San Pedro, home of the Minutemen, to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

There we met some fish like this guy here. It was kind of a small aquarium but they had some really interesting exhibits. I feel like I actually learned a lot there!

One of the aquarium's project labs.

The aquarium is right on the beach in San Pedro so we took a little walk afterward.

Some birds hanging around. (A flock of seagulls, you might say.)

After that we ventured into the OC to Huntington Beach, which is kind of like the New Jersey of Southern California. I seem to remember reading about how the HB jocks discovered Black Flag and ruined the punk scene, and it makes a lot of sense.

After that we raced back up to L.A. and made it there just in time to get ice cream sandwiches from the CoolHaus truck (we were literally the last people he served; even crying children were turned away) and then watched a bunch of awesome movies at the Silent Movie Theater: La Brune et Moi, Shellshock Rock, The Slog Movie, and Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (all part of the Destroy All Movies fest). Director Dave Markey was there in person for the latter two screenings, along with Jennifer and Jonathan Schwartz, who appear in both movies.

And that's just day one!

Customized hairpin leg ottoman

2010-11-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

Dave had been talking about how he wanted a nice footstool so he can prop his feet up when he sits in his reading chair in the corner. I had first been thinking that I could make something from scratch fairly simply--get a square piece of wood and some padding, staple some fabric over it, then buy four hairpin legs and screw them in. Instant ottoman. Except the hairpin legs are kind of expensive, it seems.

So I set up an eBay saved search and within a few weeks found and purchased this one for the price of one hairpin leg. I wasn't too crazy about the fabric but that was an easy fix. I even had some left over from when I recovered the chair next to it so I was able to do it the next day instead of putting it off for weeks and weeks until I found what I wanted.

I turned the stool over and removed all the staples. (You can do this with a regular staple remover.) There was another piece of fabric on the bottom but I didn't take any photos of it.

Once all the staples were removed I simply peeled off the old fabric. The padding underneath was in good condition, thankfully, so I didn't feel any need to replace it.

I placed it on top of the new fabric like so, and began stapling each side, folding the raw edges under.

A close up of the staples. Pretty straightforward. I went around the legs though I suppose I could have cut out a notch.

Then I folded over the corners and stapled those, attached the bottom piece, and I was done within the hour.

It's just a tad too tall to fit underneath the chair when not in use, but looks just fine right next to it.

Flapper style

2010-11-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

For my flapper Halloween costume I made a sequined headband with a big felt flower. I'm not all that into sequins or big felt flowers normally, but I really liked how I looked with a headband. So I decided to try making something a little more subdued.

This is the only one that was successful so far, though it feels a little more hippie than flapper (I guess because of the floral fabric). I made a couple others but they were too stretchy and didn't want to stay on my head. I think I made them too tight. I need to do some more experimenting!

NY Art Book Fair

2010-11-08T09:00:00.001-05:00

I went to the NY Art Book Fair at P.S. 1 for the first time this past weekend. It was insanely crowded and it seemed like everything I wanted was priced at several hundred dollars. But there were a lot of cool books and posters. If I were a little bit (okay, a lot) richer I might have come home with lots of awesome stuff.

Dave took some great photos documenting the day.

In the P.S. 1 courtyard. I love how this person kind of fades into the mist.

I don't even know what we're looking at here.

Some book art on the walls.

I'm not sure what these were for but one seller had them stacked up.

On the wall in the subway station on the way home.

Halloween party 2010

2010-11-01T10:53:00.007-04:00

I've written before about Penguin's epic Halloween parties. Every year on the Friday of Halloween week, the various departments transform themselves from typical office decor into ancient Egypt, the Island of Misfit Toys, TGI Friday's--err, Penguin's, the Addams Family, and so on (those are a few of the actual themes from this year). And a lot of booze is consumed.

Actually, this year they banned hard alcohol, so with a little nod to the show Boardwalk Empire, my department went with a prohibition-era theme. I'm all the way to the right, with the black and red dress. I made a sequined and felt headband for the costume and realized that I look pretty good in headbands (I might have to make a non-sequined version for everyday use.) I wish I had some better photos of the decorations, as some of them came out pretty great. You can kind of see the brown paper boardwalk, giant movie marquee, and antique wooden crates (contraband liquor).

Here's a shot of the speakeasy, in sepia tone for effect. The fake barrel has a bucket of alcohol inside it (beer and wine was deemed okay). I made the Women's Temperance League sign in the background (it took way too long to cut out those letters.) Somehow the G-man and the Temperance Leaguer ended up behind the bar...seems a bit suspect.

A closer shot of the bar and bartender (sans mustache). The mirror and the empty bottles were a nice touch. (Lots of emails were exchanged about the collection of bottles, with replies like "I'll have a few more empties by lunchtime!" Good one.)

Here we are at the casino. I learned to play blackjack for the first time, and I won a lot of chips (no money though).

The worst part of Halloween is the Monday after, when you have to tear down all the fun stuff you put up and go back to boring office decor. The boardwalk was pretty haggard-looking (it was no match for spiky heels and general drunkenness) but I kind of wished we could have left up the movie marquee for a little while longer.

Chelsea walk

2010-10-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we went for a short walk around the Meatpacking District/Chelsea, and Dave took some pretty great photos that I can't resist sharing.

I just saw this building on Bored to Death--it was a really cool shot that pulled out of the frame so you could watch the characters through the little portholes. (I feel like I didn't describe that quite right.)

At one point we found ourselves walking through a small craft fair. It was really not particularly auspicious weather for the occasion though, as you can see--a huge gust of wind more or less took out this booth. Hand-sewn bibs and beaded necklaces were blown into the streets. It was madness.

I don't know what it is about these things but every time I see one I cannot stop smiling.

Not pictured: chocolate ice box cake from Billy's Bakery. It was pretty intense.

Scrap paper notebook

2010-10-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

I have a several foot-high stack of paper under my desk at work, comprised of printer mistakes and meeting notes and the like, which I can't bring myself to throw away. So after seeing this tutorial for making scrap paper notebooks, I knew what I had to do.

I didn't follow the instructions to a T, using card stock for a cover instead of pieces of decorative scrap paper and masking tape. My favorite cityscape stamps were used to decorate the front.

Trip to the zoo

2010-10-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

After living in the Bronx for a year we still hadn't gone to the zoo, so on Sunday we fixed this matter by making a visit with Dave's family. Here's his 7 year-old nephew getting a good look at a rhinoceros.

The zoo is celebrating Halloween all month long, so there were a lot of costumed children, which kind of enhanced the experience.

He did not want to wear a costume though (I guess 7 is just too old...)

In addition to a haunted safari and hay maze (the latter of which was kind of a letdown), there was an extinct species graveyard. A lot of them seemed straight out of Edward Gorey, from the great auk to the pig-footed bandicoot.

Apparently flamingoes would be white if it weren't for the pigments in the food they eat (which entails a lot of shrimp).

Giraffes. Obviously.

This guy was hanging out right near the edge of the fence. At one point it seemed like he was trying to break out.

This turtle was also on the friendly side, or so it seemed. I heard one little girl say "Daddy, I think he likes me!"

Riding on the monorail towards the end of our zoo trip.

Spiky moccasin bracelet

2010-10-12T09:00:00.001-04:00

I've been meaning to mention this bracelet that I got last week from Manimal. It's made from scraps of leather leftover from their moccasins, so not only does it look awesome but it's also a great way of re-purposing materials and reducing the amount of trash that they produce. I wish mine had a little bit more color (like the one pictured on the website) but I still love it. It kind of reminds me of the studded wristband that I wore when I was in high school, except made of colorful pieces of leather.

Mad Men party

2010-10-11T10:56:00.005-04:00

Lately my main focus at work has been Mad Men. Luckily, I am a big fan of the show, and so this is a good focus to have. We've just published the book Mad Men: The Illustrated World, which is an illustrated guide to the show and the 1960s era. It looks gorgeous, and the writing is on the irreverent/funny side. (To take a look at some of the pages and enter for a chance to win a copy of the book, plus the first three seasons on DVD, head to penguin.com/madmen. Okay, enough selling.)

Not only did we do a lot of advertising for this book, but we also threw a little office party to celebrate the publication, and to reward ourselves for all of our hard work. (Which in my case was admittedly fun work.)

Here I am (all the way to the left) channeling my best Peggy look. I actually wore pantyhose instead of black tights in order to be more period-appropriate. I tried to make my hair a little bit bigger but that didn't last very long. So I covered it up with a hat. Also pictured are the publisher, publicist, and editor.

A few days before the party we made these cupcake toppers by shrinking some of the drawings from the book, printing them out in color, laminating them with a sticker backing, cutting them out, and sticking a toothpick between the adhesive part of the sticker and the backing. Which I think worked pretty well.

We also made these two life-sized cut-outs of the characters holding copies of the book so that people could pose as Joan or Don. (Or in some cases both.)

Whiskey sours were served, and the Mad Men soundtrack was playing in the background. Overall I think it was a pretty successful party.

Around Portsmouth

2010-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Portsmouth, NH, is just over the border from Kittery, Maine. It's a small town, but we love it so, and continue to return there just about every year.

When we got into town, there was a bicycle rice going on. Some of the streets were blocked off but it wasn't too hectic.

I liked this old sign, which seems to be cut off. (Steps away was a store selling delicious ice cream.)

One of my favorite things to do in Portsmouth is to walk to Pierce Island, where there seems to be a large groundhog population. Last time we went we saw lots of them, but this time there was only one. But he was kind of a friendly guy, and didn't mind us getting close enough to snap some photos.

At this point Dave bought saw there was an update from Hipstamatic with new film, so he bought it and tried it out. I like the bits of pink creeping in around the edges. It feels a bit hallucinatory. (That, by the way, is one of the bridges into Kittery.)

Walking back along the footpath from the island to the main land.

Leaving Maine

2010-09-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

We started and ended the Portland component of our vacation at a beach. On the way out of town we had a delicious breakfast at Scratch Baking Company in South Portland, and then walked around Crescent Beach for about an hour.

Seaweed elegantly streaked across the sand.

Puppies were frolicking, even if it was a little cold.

Told you there'd be more rocks.

I couldn't tell if it was man-made or occurring naturally, but there was a crazy stream in the middle of the beach, winding its way around,

and emptying out into the ocean.

Further down the beach were (yes) more rocks. This boy's mother was calling to him. I think he was carrying a buoy.

Shells and seaweed collected in the water pooled between some of the larger rocks.

Dave took a couple of nice shots of this part of the beach too. (Not that he didn't take some nice ones of the rest of the beach as well.)

Maine has a lot of rocks

2010-09-27T09:00:00.003-04:00

As usual, I slacked a little in the week following my vacation, but now I'm ready to show you lots of pictures, many of which involve rocks.

On day two, we drove up to Portland, Maine, and our very first stop was at the Eastern Promenade, which affords lovely views of Casco Bay. We walked along the rocks for a ways, which was a nice way to start off the afternoon.

I love the texture of the rocks here.

Someone very smart drew in some teeth and an eye.

Sailboats in the water. Not pictured is the party boat where a bad pop punk band was playing a show at 2:00 in the afternoon. As all of those types of bands do for some reason, they ended their set with a bad cover (Richard Marx, I think).

Until about a minute ago, I had thought this was a leftover sign from this year, but I now see that it's a section of a World War I poster encouraging Maine residents to "Eat More Potatoes and save the wheat. Every potato you eat is a bullet fired point blank at a made-in-Germany peace." (Which makes sense, since it's on the side of the Maine historical society building.) You can see the whole poster here.

The rest of the day was spent eating whoopie pies, buying books and records and an awesome shirt from Ferdinand, and eating not so good pizza. (Maine knows how to do whoopie pies, but pizza, not so much. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.)

Around Providence, RI

2010-09-20T09:00:00.002-04:00

I've been traveling around New England the past few days, on one last road trip of the summer (actually I guess it's been the only one unless you count day trips). Our first stop was Providence, Rhode Island, where we ate falafel at East Side Pockets, bought records at Armageddon Shop, some books at my new favorite store Ada Books (plus browsing at a few other shops), and were pleasantly surprised by a delicious dinner at AS220 (who knew).

No idea what this place was--might just be an old sign.

Some very nice graffiti on an old door.

A boxcar diner near our hotel.

Dave taking pictures of himself ad infinitum in the elevator in our hotel. (All above photos by Dave as well.)

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of it (these are stolen from the internet) but we did something a bit uncharacteristic for us and stayed in a kind of fancy hotel. Opened in 1922, the Biltmore (seen above, obviously) is a Beaux-arts style building that was designed by the same architecture firm that designed Grand Central Station in Manhattan.

Here's a shot of the rather grand staircase in the lobby. Our bed was huge and there were more pillows than you could possibly need (Dave told me he woke up in the middle of the night to see that a pillow had fallen on my head while I was sleeping) but other than that it didn't seem like that much of a step up from your typical hotel, other than the historic architecture. There's a Starbucks and a Red Door spa inside the building if that's your thing, but for us we probably could have skipped it. Regardless, it was nice to try something different, and we were able to walk to AS220 for dinner (again, really good food--last time I was there they did not have a restaurant, and I was a little bit skeptical about having dinner in a punk venue, but I'm really glad we gave it a try anyway).

Test prints

2010-09-15T09:00:00.001-04:00

I know I've mentioned the Hipstamatic iPhone app a number of times, since in the past few months quite a few of the photos I've uploaded were taken using it. When we went on our Staten Island ferry ride a couple weeks ago Dave took a series of photos to test out some new "lenses" and "films" he'd gotten for the app, and I really like how they look next to one another in a series. My favorite is the last one, but the greenish one is nice too.

Recent acquisitions

2010-09-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

For Dave's birthday I decided to go all out and bought this bright orange bullet planter. It's a reproduction (from Hip Haven), but that doesn't detract at all from its awesomeness. A couple weeks ago we finally got around to buying a plant for it. Apparently it's commonly known as "mother in law's tongue" and seems to be virtually un-killable. (We shall see.) I only wish I had a patio or front porch to keep it on. One day!

Last week I saw a couple of red Kartell Componibili round towers for sale in the Apartment Therapy classifieds and made a rather impulsive purchase. One of them is going to make a nice nightstand (it looks a lot better than the step ladder we had been using). I like how the compartments slide open.

I also bought another plant this past weekend. I didn't really need one, but this guy looked too awesome to pass up. I think I might try to paint the pot--not totally sure what I want to do with it but it needs a little sprucing up.

End of summer foods

2010-09-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Last week I found myself making a lot of summery meals--corn on the cob with veggie burgers, potato salad, fried green tomatoes, etc. Maybe I'm just trying to hold onto the last vestiges of the season, as the weather turns more fall-like. (Not complaining or anything though...bring on fall, please!)

In addition to the aforementioned meals, I made this pasta salad (recipe at Everybody Loves Sandwiches),

and I used up the last of the raspberries to make a crisp. I still have yet to open up that jar of jam I made but looking at this picture is really making me want to.

For good measure, the potato salad we made was also from Everybody Loves Sandwiches, and I think it might be a new favorite.

New house tour: living room

2010-09-09T09:00:00.001-04:00

Shortly after I started this blog about a year and a half ago I began gradually posting a house tour, with detailed shots of where I was living at the time. Now I look at those pictures and cringe a bit--partly because the house got so little light that the picture quality is kind of crappy, but also because they're just not that impressive.

While my new place isn't perfect, I think we've come a long way, such that I think I'm ready to show it off. At the very least, it's a lot more light-filled.

I figured I'd start with the living room, as it's probably closest to being finished. (For now--I still want to replace that coffee table. And maybe the side table.)

You may recall the story of our upholstered couch, and the Nauga monster that Dave gave me for Christmas. I want to make some new throw pillows one of these days, but these'll do for now. (Don't mind the crap under the couch.)

A side table outfitted with a shadow puppet, globe lamp, some pocket notebooks, and the awesome new Dovetail ceramics dish I bought a couple weeks ago at Clay Wood and Cotton. (I had posted awhile back about how I coveted these dishes, so when I saw them in the store I couldn't help but pick one up. You can't tell from this picture but not only are the illustrations great but the plate has a slightly organic shape.)

Okay, enough about that plate. Here's the collage of Gwen Frostic cards that I put together, hanging above my overgrown aloe plant, some Georges Simenon paperbacks, and a stack of postcard sets.

I think I posted a very similar photo of this corner awhile back, but who cares. This has been dubbed the reading corner, although I bet that isn't the comfiest reading chair (it sure is pretty though).

We'd been wanting to buy a credenza for the living room but when we came across this beautiful bookcase at 30 West we were smitten. The top is just the right size for the DVD player and our new flatscreen TV (an impulse/splurge purchase, but I think it was probably worth it).

I filled the shelves with my vintage paperbacks, Paris Reviews, DVDs (I kind of wish that bottom shelf were a little less crowded but c'est la vie), and a few random objects.

A stack of Evergreen Reviews, which I've begun casually collecting in the last year, and Raymond Pettibon VHS tapes.

Here's the sculptura chair that we bought last month at Brimfield, and our puzzle bookshelf. This time instead of pushing the shelves flat against the wall we took advantage of the puzzle aspect and shaped it around the corner. Which looks so much better.

Like the TV stand, I've filled it with some random objects, in addition to the books. Here's an arrangement of printers blocks and wooden carpenter letters.

And that's pretty much it!

That other borough

2010-09-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

Saturday we ventured out to a place that I'd never really been to before, at least that I can remember: Staten Island. (Guess I've been on a roll with visiting New York City's lesser traveled islands.)

The day started with a free ferry ride (not counting the subway ride that preceded it), which is part of the allure.

It was a gorgeous day, but a little windy (this little sailboat looked like it was about to capsize).

Once we got to St. George we took a bus to Joe and Pat's pizzeria (I highly recommend the vodka pie) and then we strolled through nearby Clove Lakes Park.

There we saw lots of ducks, and a heron (visible above in the distance). Plus a couple other birds that I couldn't identify.

Throughout our walk we came across several waterfalls, some more spectacular than others, most of them a bit difficult to navigate (there's a fairly embarrassing photo, not shown, of me struggling to climb back up a hill, hugging a tree for balance).

I love how the water cascades (err, trickles) down the stairs.

We made our way back to the ferry terminal (brilliantly, all of the bus lines in Staten Island lead there), where we saw this colorful barge floating by near the waterfront.

A little farther down (you can see it in the distance near the barge) is Staten Island's September 11th Memorial, dedicated to Staten Islanders who died in the attacks. Each of them is silhouetted in profile, with a listing of their name, birth date, and occupation (lots of fire fighters, bonds traders, and receptionists). It's a solemn memorial, but also quite striking.

Then we went to a baseball game, where wackiness ensued. (Lots of between inning races conducted on those large bouncing exercise balls, T-shirts thrown into the crowd by a man wearing two different colored socks, mentally handicapped people seated behind us and singing...such is the joy of minor league baseball.)

All in all, it was an enjoyable day. I'm kind of curious about what else Staten Island has to offer. And I really want another vodka pie.

Pickin raspberries

2010-09-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

Last year I picked my own raspberries for the first time at Secor Farms in north Jersey, and it was for the most part a good experience. We'd been meaning to go back again this year, and before we knew it, the summer was nearly over. Luckily, it's still not too late!

The lateness of our trip actually made it better. The weather wasn't as hot, and by now they've waived the "two pint per person minimum" rule.

Despite being towards the end of the season, we had no trouble filling up a couple of pints.

On a side note, it seems as though they were getting ready for the fall at Secor Farms--one of the greenhouses was full of these guys. They were all laid out on tables, making the building kind of resemble some kind of a morgue for scarecrows.

Getting back to the raspberries...yes.

The same night I made a batch of jam. I haven't tried it yet, as I want to finish the jar I currently have open (it's kind of torture, having to wait). And tonight I think a raspberry crisp is in my future. And maybe tomorrow, raspberries in my yogurt...

Detour to Roosevelt Island

2010-09-02T09:00:00.003-04:00

For some reason I'd been wanting to visit Roosevelt Island for awhile--something about it seemed intriguing. Maybe it's the island's storied history--it's the former site of a prison (then known as Blackwell's Island), a smallpox hospital, and a mental hospital, the latter of which has been converted into luxury apartments (I can't imagine living there--too many horrible moments from its past). Or maybe it's the fact that it's a largely ignored (except by its residents, of course) enclave in the middle of Manhattan and Queens.

While we were in Long Island City I suddenly remembered that I'd read about a pedestrian bridge leading from that neighborhood to Roosevelt Island, and it happened to be about three blocks from where we were standing. Which seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.

We stopped for a few minutes to take pictures of the bridge (and each other).

It seems that there's not a whole lot going on on Roosevelt Island though. You can pretty much expect find a nice park, views of other land masses, apartment buildings, a grocery store, and a hospital. I think there's a library too. We only walked to one end of the island so maybe all the cool stuff was in the other half. (I'm not curious enough to want to go back though.)

We walked to Lighthouse Park, located at the northern tip of the island.

I like the flecks of orange and green paint on the lighthouse door.

This man had a lot of fishing poles set up (with more on the other side).

On the way back to the bridge we noticed this sign.

Kids were skateboarding with a makeshift ramp under the bridge entrance.

Sculpture in Queens

2010-09-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

Saturday we went on a little cross-borough adventure, starting in the Bronx (obviously), moving on to Brooklyn to buy a plant and have some lunch, and then on to Queens to check out the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park. (There was also an unscheduled detour that I'll get into tomorrow, and then another jaunt into Brooklyn for dinner.)

In the outdoor garden at the Noguchi museum, which is filled with his sculptures. Noguchi was a sculptor, designer, and landscape architect. He designed a very nice coffee table that I wouldn't mind getting my hands on, and if it weren't for Robert Moses he might have designed a number of New York City parks that, from looking at the plans, seem like they might've been a lot of fun--one of them was to be called "Play Mountain."

This might have been one of the coolest ones.

Part of the interior of the building is open, with trees growing up from inside and poking out.

We'd already been to the sculpture park, which is more or less across the street from the museum, but thought we'd check it out again. Most of the sculptures were under construction (we literally saw people hard at work, hammering away). But we did get to see a few things, like the above tree made of steel and vinyl. (I have to admit it made me look twice.)

These plaster constructions look like snow angels in reverse. There were quite a few of them laying in the grass.

Looking up into a giant cubic sculpture.

A view of a building from the park. Not sure if it's still an office furniture warehouse but I like the signs.

Not quite invisible bookshelves

2010-08-31T09:00:00.001-04:00

Awhile back, I'd bookmarked this insanely simple and cheap DIY project: invisible bookshelves. This particular approach is even simpler than the ones you typically see, in that it doesn't involve ruining a book by actually screwing it into the bottom of the shelf. As a result, they're not actually invisible, but that doesn't really bother me.

A couple weeks ago I bought a collection of paperback books whose covers were illustrated by Edward Gorey, and decided that I needed a way to display them properly. One trip to the hardware store and $6 later, I was screwing a set of 4-inch L-brackets into the wall.

They'll be a little more invisible once I add another book to the stack--I just need to find a few more Gorey designs. I know they're out there!

Here's a flickr set of Gorey paperbacks for your viewing pleasure.

The Kansas City haul

2010-08-30T09:00:00.001-04:00

Before I move on to other things, I thought I'd share some of the great stuff that I brought back from Kansas City. In addition to about a dozen vintage paperbacks (not shown below), I picked up some beautiful objects around town.

One of my first stops in town was at Hammerpress, where I bought this postcard, printed on a nice, thick stock (more on the books it's resting on tomorrow).

And I couldn't resist grabbing some vintage Missouri advertising pencils. I especially like how the pink one, while primarily for a business that deals with saws, also reminds you to go to church.

The bulk of the purchases were made at the River Market Antique Mall, which consists of four floors filled with an incredible assortment of wares. I found a couple of Cathrineholm lotus bowls, in green

and orange. (They also had blue and yellow but I cut myself off.)

One of my favorite things I bought might be this antique carbolic acid bottle. I love the skulls on the label. I might have to add antique poison bottles to my list of flea market objects to look out for.

I feel like silhouettes are getting a bit played out, but for 5 bucks I decided to grab this one (labeled on the back "November 1962").

Grabbing based on bargain price seemed to be a common occurrence: for $2.95, a striped mug from Japan. Why not?

It was especially helpful that I found this locker basket (of slightly different design from the ones I got at Brimfield), which I used to hold all of the objects I picked up along the way. It's kind of a miracle that we managed to pack it all. We didn't even have to check any of our luggage!

Along the Missouri River

2010-08-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

On our last day in Kansas City we had managed to run out of things to do (got a little over-zealous the first couple days!--that and more places are closed on Sundays). So we wandered around a bit near City Market and stumbled upon this pedestrian bridge, which crosses over railroad tracks. We decided to explore a little more, and discovered that it was part of the Riverfront Heritage Trail, which it seems was completed fairly recently.

A train passing by underway. It seemed like it went on and on for miles.

We continued down the trail and came across the remains of this brick building. The walls are more or less in tact (with flowers in the window sills!), but there is no roof (not to mention doors or windows).

A railroad bridge crossing the Missouri River. There sure are a lot of trains passing through on a Sunday afternoon.

We walked along the trail until we got to a park, at which point we decided to turn around and have dinner before heading to the airport. It made for a nice farewell to the city.

Snowcones in the garden

2010-08-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

It may seem a little silly, but the idea to visit Kansas City didn't actually originate with a baseball game, though that was what led us to go on those particular dates. The germ of the idea came about when I read about Fresher Than Fresh snow cones.

Every Sunday afternoon this adorable 1957 Shasta trailer sets up in a garden and serves snow cones made from natural ingredients.

Blackberry lavender, green tea pear, watermelon basil...they all sound pretty enticing. But it only took about a second for me to know that I wanted the espresso Mexican cane sugar (which came drizzled with a bit of sweetened condensed milk on top). And I'm pretty sure it was the right decision.

Dave got the lime mint. Also very refreshing.

We took a stroll around the neighborhood, which contained a handful of restaurants serving fresh, locally grown ingredients (we'd had breakfast at one of them, Bluebird bistro). We also noticed quite a few amazing homes mixed in with some that looked like they were falling apart, and came to the conclusion that some artistically inclined people must be buying up these crumbling older houses at relatively low costs and renovating them. I love how the above one maintains some of the (I'm guessing) original facade, with the gray and wood additions to give it more of a modern shape.

An intriguing sign in the window of a building that looked otherwise empty.

Day 2 in Kansas City: museums and baseball

2010-08-21T10:35:00.009-04:00

I'd meant to get the rest of my pictures of Kansas City up here last week but it just never happened. You know how it is, recovering from vacations, transitioning back into your regular workaday drudgery. Anyway, I figured now is as good a time as any to start.

Friday we spent most of the day wandering around the neighborhood of Westport, with a few minor detours. We also went to a couple of pretty decent art museums, the Kemper and the Nelson-Atkins, both practically nextdoor to one another.

The Kemper is the smaller of the two, but it gets points for having this giant Louis Bourgeois sculpture out front. Unlike the one at Dia Beacon, though, you can't walk through it and under it and so forth (well, I guess you could, though there are signs threatening that the sculpture is monitored by security cameras).

The immense lawn of the Nelson-Atkins features sculptures of shuttlecocks, designed by Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen, which I like even more now that I've learned of their genesis: "They responded to the formality of the original neoclassical building and the green expanse of its lawn by imagining the Museum as a badminton net and the lawn as a playing field. The pair designed four birdies or shuttlecocks that were placed as though they had just landed on opposite sides of the net."

I also love that something I own (albeit in a different color) is on display in a museum. There were a few other iconic pieces of midcentury furniture design in the Nelson-Atkins--you almost want to just have a seat (probably frowned upon).

One of the museum's guestbooks--apparently a lot of people like unicorns.

Later that night we went to another baseball game, although it was rained out a little over halfway through. That is, there was a 2.5 hour rain delay, which we decided to leave about 30 minutes into, assuming the game would be called. They did end up finishing around 1 a.m. And we got soaked in the parking lot trying to find our car.

One of the things the stadium is known for is its fountains, which are turned on at various points throughout the evening.

What's the matter with Kansas City

2010-08-12T19:28:00.012-04:00

I just got into Kansas City this afternoon and have already had an action-packed day--a tasty lunch at YJ's Snack Bar, gorgeous letterpress cards from Hammerpress, window shopping at the craziest midcentury furniture store I've ever seen, the Negro League Baseball Museum, and dinner at Blue Nile Ethopian. (In short, there is nothing the matter with Kansas City...just a silly reference to the Thomas Frank book.) Now I'm off to the Yankee game that was the impetus for this short vacation--action-packed!--so I bid you adieu with some photos from my day.