friday, i'm in love

It's Friday everyone. Kick off those dusty flats and put on some sexies.
Have a good weekend.

robyn

I didn't listen to her in the early-'90s, but I listen to her now!
love the bear heads.

fortitude

friend of an immigrant

For those of you angry about Arizona's unjust law, wear your solidarity.

($10. Purchase here)

le bon dieu est dans le detail

new york is such bullshit

I don't know what it was but this weekend, I had no tolerance for New York. So much trash and money and indulgence ... I found myself muttering to myself at every turn, that is such bullshit. $7 muffins and $12 flowers. Such bullshit. See through dresses and sky high heels. Absolute bullshit. Washing your hands in a cramped restroom while leaning over the toilet. Literal bullshit. "Secret" speakeasys with ridiculously overpriced drinks. Total and utter bullshit.

And yet, I. Love. New. York.

Perfect cafe au lait's three days in a row. Beautiful people inside and out. Life in the streets well past 12. Wild grass waving as if blown by a ghost train. Incredible gelato in surprising flavors (grape, olive oil, chili, grapefruit). And of course, friends -- who are really my second family. I had so much ridiculous fun this weekend that I didn't even stop to take photos save one: brunch. It wasn't the most incredible food I'd ever had, but it was good and lovely and shared with fun people.

Get thee to New York, asap asap asap. It is beautiful in the springtime.

my sister is so gorge

(wish I could get rid of the menacing guy in the background)

folk art fun

Uno's stitchery reminded me of my love for folk art, a form I appreciate mostly because it's created by a lot of regular "folk" (har har) who have an innate need for real and honest creative expression. It lacks the pretentiousness of some contemporary art -- which often seems to me like a lot of posturing.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is just a short metro ride away. Here are two art pieces I like to visit:

(Hawkins Bolden, Untitled, 1987
wood, cloth, galvanized iron, and straw)

"Bolden, who is part Creole and part American Indian, protects his beloved garden in Memphis, Tennessee, with scarecrows he constructs from washtubs, clothing, coffeepots, and other cast-off articles. Although he was blinded in a baseball accident as a child, his figures often convey distinctly human body language. This scarecrow, for example, seems to slouch lazily in its ladder back chair."

(Irving Dominick, Marla, 1982
galvanized iron)

"After a lifetime of fabricating gutters, roofs, ductwork for heating and air conditioning systems, and 'anything else that could be made from metal,' Dominick began making art. Taking a cue from a large tin figure that served as an advertisement on top of his father's sheet metal shop in the Bronx, Dominick began fashioning nonfunctional, imaginative forms. Marla, with her pursed lips, frizzed hair, and curly eyelashes, is an imaginative portrait of his ten-year-old granddaughter."

Weird? Yes. Hip? Not at all. Moving? Definitely. It's the narrative that grabs me -- I picture Bolden feeling around his garden at mottled tomatoes, pocked and bruised, muttering to himself: damn birds. He gathers miscellanea and after much thought begins fashioning a new friend.

Dr. King on globalization

A Christmas Sermon on Peace, by Martin Luther King, Jr.
December 24, 1967

It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom and reach over for the sponge, and that’s handed to you by a Pacific islander. You reach for a bar of soap, and that’s given to you at the hands of a Frenchman. And then you go into the kitchen to drink your coffee for the morning, and that’s poured into your cup by a South American. And maybe you want tea: that’s poured into your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you’re desirous of having cocoa for breakfast, and that’s poured into your cup by a West African. And then you reach over for your toast, and that’s given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. And before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half of the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.

"I could make that"

Look at what Uno made for me (click on image to view in detail):




She hand painted the bits of fabric, cut them into the appropriate shapes and then stitched the painted fabric onto another piece of fabric. I framed it and put it up on my wall at work. Isn't that lovely?

My sister is always telling me to try and make things before I go buy them. Sometimes her ideas fail, like the time we tried to make a laptop case for me out of cardboard, an old canvas tote, an orange mesh shirt (don't ask), and some needle and thread. We did not succeed (and I am still in need of a laptop case!). But in the case above, I'd say Uno's motto of "make before buying" really wins. Her stitchery sure beats any generic office art you'd buy at Staples. Thanks sister!

(P.S.: check out my computer screen in the second photo -- metablog!)

nails

I've gotten into painting my nails again, something I'd almost completely stopped doing as of 2 years ago. But the other day I bought a cheap-y nail care kit from Target and started learning how to use all those little tools that they use at salons. I'm getting better at trimming my cuticles and shaping the tips. I like to do all of this while watching reruns of SATC and Arrested Development or listening to NPR.

Now to learn how to do the toes ...
:)

my brilliant fella

Most of the time I can't understand what Chris writes about, but I sort of understood this one! Granted it's a blog post so it's probably written for lay people, but I think this is just brilliant. Good job dude!

Read it here.

more philly bashing

Jon Stewart gets in on the Philly bashing. Awesome!

www.thedailyshow.com

the darkness

When despair for the world grows in me … I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry, from his poem "The Peace of Wild Things"

spring things

coral polish, light dress.

philly video

Like I said, Philly was really boring and weird, but I got some funny clips of us so here's a video I whipped up right quick. Nothing special, but I'm sure we'll look back on this fondly. If you make it to the end of the video, you get a little treat: CBR singing a fun arrangement of Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will be, Will be).

Hope you enjoy!

hypnotic brass

HOT HOT HOT!



ht: Chucky

the girl crush continues

This is my last CBR post, I promise. I consider this a perfect outfit.

Philly was a lot of fun, but also really weird. The people are strange and I don't understand them. We spent most of our time on South Street though, so that's probably why we were so weirded out the whole time. The show, however, was "brilliant!"--as one concert-goer yelled out in between songs. Catch her if she comes to your town.

I got some fun footage of Chris and me with my flipcam, so I will try and put together another montage video, a la Statue of Liberty from last summer.