Da Do Run Run

Before 7:30am


After 10:30am

Alex ran his first ever marathon on Saturday, making good on his self-imposed time limit of two hours. Official time: 2:01:37. I met him at Prospect Park to collect his tshirt and other things he wasn't running with, then met him at Coney Island after the finish line. A fun day, a beautiful day, a wonderful food-filled day:


We rode the train back up with Chris & Patty to have lunch at the Flea


This is the Wangding from Asiadog, a beef hot dog topped with pork belly, scallions and Chinese BBQ sauce. Oh my lord.


Baby Henry. I was trying to wave my Mexican corn at him to get his attention. There was an even fatter baby I couldn't catch, super chubby with bright red hair.


Then we bought wine and antipasto and watched the Cavs fall to the Magic with Christine & Cinco to complete the cypher. Ricotta cheese, fig jam and prosciutto di Parma on thick, chewy sourdough is my new favorite snack.

Saturday at the Flea

We were standing in line at Choice Market when a huge gust of wind caught the tent and WHOOOOSH! It flew right over our heads! This is the Elsa's Empanadas tent, experiencing the same problem.


As we ate our breakfast - me an iced coffee and croissant and Alex pork and beef tacos, we watched these two children in front of us. The boy had a pair of binoculars and I could swear he was trying to see up my skirt!


Asia dog, a new addition to the food stalls. They weren't set up yet when we got there so next week will definitely have to try this. How can you resist something called Wangding??


Beautiful cotton-silk scarves at Kingdom of Nan. I bought a beautiful summer dress here and will be back for scarves. The prices are super reasonable.


I went gaga for these posters but sadly they were too expensive.


Detail from a huge display of letterpress fonts and designs. I love these but what to do with them?


I sat with Deb at her booth for the whole day and we spotted this guy weaving past us in the crowd. CRAAAAZY dread! I also got to meet pretty much her entire family - her sweet parents, her older brother and her genius niece and bf.


A little mid-afternoon treat from Fine & Raw. Smooth, fudgy chocolate ice cream! This and a salty caramel macaron from Alex's Lemonade Stand across the were was delicious. Deb also had some banana granola that she sprinkled into the ice cream as we neared the end, making it "healthy."

Great sunny/breezy day at the Flea. It feels wonderful to be back in Brooklyn!

Oh goodness

I'm cleaning out crates of old things. Old photos, journals, sketchbooks, Filofax/planners dating back to 1997 (I've kept them all since then)...

Here is a list of "Things I want to do before I hit 30" that I wrote in 1998:
1. Travel Europe, S. America, Africa, Iceland
I've been to Paris, London, Frankfurt, Switzerland and Helsinki
2. Visit New Orleans, NY
Well now I live in NY
3. Sky dive & bungee jump
Is this still possible w/ my jacked up back?
4. Have my own house
AHAHAHAHA!!
5. Fall in love
Been there, still there. And have left some carnage along the way.
6. Know myself
After many years of trial & error, maybe this is a not-too-distant possibility
7. Know what I want out of life
I had some grand ideas back then!

Also, many poems and rantings that I penned whilst baked out of my mind. This all makes for horribly entertaining (and mortifying) reading!

Lynn Hatzius

Awesome work by illustrator Lynn Hatzius. I love her collages, they remind me a little of Judith Supine.

Southwest

Back from our desert paradise! We played mini golf with dad, ate great TX steak and wonderful TexMex, rode the Wyler Aerial Tram, visited missions, went shopping at the outlets, saw the Very Large Array, stayed at an awesome bed & breakfast in Santa Fe, drove through the Painted Desert, hiked the Grand Canyon, ate a giant burrito, shot a 9mm Beretta...

A wonderful trip, I'm so sad it's over.

Please be sure to check out the slideshow - the photos have descriptions, be sure to include the information:

Ta for now

We are off to the southwest for about a week. See ya on the flipside!

Farm life pt. 2

november 5, 2005

i promise there are no horse nutz anywhere in this email. those are long gone, after 2 long weeks of smashing up pills, mixing them with syrup and shooting them down said stallion's throat with a syringe. twice a day. and by twice a day i mean rushing back from the bay area tripping on shadows and skidding to a halt in front of the barn in the benz at 11pm. (i didn't know how to drive manual so instead of using the trucks i got to drive their mercedes. wooo!)

killer dogs update: both bitches are in heat. i put them in a big dog run so they'd be away from the male dog and then left to go check on horses. i wasn't gone 5 mins before i heard squealing and barking so i ran back to find that the bigger one was mauling the little one. it was nuts. and the workers just ignored everything so i am wondering what happened last time when they killed their own mother. so the little one had a puncture wound not unlike a vampire bite on her neck. then i tried locking the male dog up and having the 2 bitches out but the bigger one went straight for the little one. have seriously considered putting her down and telling my bosses that she got run over. instead i've locked her up; bitch is grounded!! no dog dick for you!!

then there is the irate neighbor who is complaining about the smell of horse shit. we've all been here for over 15 years and he is only now complaining about the horse shit.

other than that i've been getting deep tissue massages at the chiropractor and watching way too much tv.

*all photos taken with lomo lc-a

Zodiac

Whoa whoa whoa! This is what happens when you follow the Jewelry Hunter (formerly Dynamite Jewelry) on Twitter. She links you to fab jewelry sites that aren't on her blog, like Anomaly Jewelry. This is the best zodiac jewelry I have seen thus far, really taking the signs and making them spooky and wearable. I've always hated my sign's personification but I would snatch that squid baby up in a heartbeat!

Libra

Aquarius

Sagitarius

Virgo

Some sunshine on a miserable Sunday

Yesterday Alex & I braved the weather (we had no choice) for the trek up to Randall's Island to see Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. This is only our second time to see one of their productions live, but I loved every second. This one reminded me of the programs I used to watch as a kid, which were more like circuses.

Kooza tells the story of The Innocent, a loner in search of his place in the world. In the first half, he explores the world that the Trickster has created for him. In the second half, he steals the Trickster's wand and the world morphs into a mirror of his subconscious, full of skeletons and other dark characters.

The production was really interactive, as they pulled audience members onstage and hoisted one into the air via her own seat! Also, weaving in and out of rows as they chased the Pickpocket and shooting confetti into the audience. A really great, fun production, if anything a little mature at times for children.

I heard a rumor that they will be taking up residency in NYC - hooray for us :)

Whistle while you work

I need to expand my blog searches because most things I've made lately have been from the Purl Bee. Can't help it - their tutorials are great, informative and easy to follow. Below, two things I'm working on. Not pictured are another lace scarf and tote bag. That's right - four projects at the same time. Helps when I get bored with a project to keep working!

My finished Calla Coasters. I used organic cotton yarn from Knit Picks and the Riviera sampler from Connecting Threads, a partner of Knit Picks. I hate having to order but the price is right. From $15 worth of fabric I can make about 60 coasters! The pattern also calls for some crocheted pieces but try as I might, I could not teach myself. Very frustrating for me since I taught myself to knit pretty easily.

I will enlist the help of Heike, Alex's mom, when she comes to visit.

This is another Elisa Nest Tote I am working on. I made it a little wider than the pattern called for and am doing striped I-cord straps instead of a solid color. I think it will look good. To do the striped I-cord, I had to look up instructions on this blog. It's a pain in the ass because you have to wind the inactive color as you go along so with each stitch, you have to remember to do this. But it is worth it, to make the bag look more interesting. For the next one, the entire bag is going to be striped.

I have a lot of yarn stockpiled now that I have to make use of them. I am going to make a matching hat to go with the handwarmers I made earlier. I also need to make a little belt in garter stitch - I bought a great sundress at J. Crew in bright turquoise that I love but it is pretty sacklike and needs some cinching.

Woo! Back to work. I just finished making sangria and put my chicken wings into a Peruvian marinade. Up next, empanada dough and the filling. Read about it tomorrow on The Itis!

Almost forgot - starting Monday May 4, it is POLAROID WEEK 2009! Any instant cam will do. Check out the Flickr group for more information - I am brushing the dust off my Fuji Instax right after this. Stay tuned!

Every little thing I do you're on my mind, you're on my mind...

I was inspired by Deb at Bonbon Oiseau when she asked, "What are you thinking about?" So here you go:

the open road, originally uploaded by ambientlight.

Rajon Rondo

The Kentucky Derby (this is Dunkirk)

Koshare watermelon kachina via laheringer

The Very Large Array in New Mexico via duncandavidson

Carla Bruni

Quitting.
Beginning.

Knitting.
Sewing.

Mayer Hawthorne.

My father.

Empanadas.
A clam & pork ginger stir fry.
Shabu-shabu.

Frames & wall space.
A mood/inspiration board.
A new fridge.

Des millions d'etoiles.

I feel so broke up, I wanna go home

I had a dream about Brian Wilson last night. If you don't know who that is, I feel so sorry for you.

I was organizing some big musician get-together at Pete's Candy Store and he called to tell me personally that he was going to be there and to ask about the space, etc. He was so nice. And I was so excited! I hung up the phone and was screaming OMG OMG OMG!!!

Happy Friday!