love forever

Miami: Out and About

A bunch of random images from this year's Art Basel in Miami. It's difficult to categorize these images into one post but also impossible not to share.

the breathtaking first floor of the Delacruz Collection


The always amazing Swoon with a wheatpasted piece that made me, um, swoon.From the Underbelly Project show.


Concrete bunny by Ross Bonafanti at Aqua.


Asmall corner of Greg Haberny's installation at the Like the Spice gallery at Aqua. Wonder if anyone partook?


Achair that manages to be both modern and very traditional at Design Miami. From Priveekollektie Gallery.


A fashionable couple at Fountain Art Fair.


Love the kicks. At Fountain Art Fair.


Fashionistas. At Fountain Art Fair.


Some seriously good street art.


Some seriously funny street art.


And the obligatory, check-out-my-feet vacation photo. Thanks to the hammocks at Scope!

 

Wanderlust: Three Days in Providence, RI

I've talked about my intense wanderlust instinct before. It's definitely a bit of a grass-is-always-greener syndrome- I spend three days in a cute town, city or hamlet and I instantly want to move there. But I swear, I could actually live in Providence for reals. When Squam friends Elizabeth and Christine invited me to spend a few days in their adobable city, I jumped at the chance.

Providence rolled out the perfect fall weekend for me with crisp sunny days walking through leaf strewn sidewalks and lazy brunches nibbling on pastries and drinking tea. Elizabeth and Christine were perfect hosts- that just right combination of lots to do and see but no hurry to do it in.



On Friday I hopped the train (I love train rides don't you?) from NYC and got into Providence very late but luckily Christine's house has a separate entrance so I snuck in to find a gigantic king size bed piled with pillows just for me and note telling me that there were homemade muffins and butternut squash soup in the fridge. What is this magical place? My personal heaven?












Saturday we walked all over the city, stopping for a delicious, local and somehow still inexpensive lunch at the art collective space AS220. My favorite part of the day (and possibly the month) was a visit to the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, part of RISD but open to the public. Artists of all kinds can peruse the thousands of specimens, rocks, shells, feathers and animals there and then sketch, sculpt and paint them at the giant tables there. I think I could go there every day. They also had a beautiful exhibit about the geometry of plant life and nature. Just the kind of nerdiness that I go for.







We had dinner at La Laiterie, another local type retaurant. I had steak with mushroom gnocci and sunchoke fondant. It made my head explode with happiness.











Sunday started off with the aforementioned lazy brunch at Elizabeth's beautiful light filled house (and her vey own mini- Nature Lab). Seriously Providence, why are you hogging all the sun? I like my house fine but let's be real, it is a dark South Philly cave. After that we took another walk, did some shopping, followed by dinner at Christine's (why didn't I take pics of here house too? Dang!) and dessert at Pastiche.

And Sunday I took a walk with Elizabeth then headed home. Even the adorably cute train station had good food: I got myself a grilled cheese on sourdough bread from the local bakery with avocado and bacon. Take that Penn Station.

Good eats and pretty scenery aside, the best part of the trip was the talking. You know when you are with people that just get you, regardless of how short or long they've known you and the conversation is just effortless? I came home inspired and happy, ready to start lots of new projects and dream lots of big things.

Greetings from Squam Lake!

I'm spending the rest of this week up in New Hampshire at Squam Arts Workshop so I'm turning the phone and computer off for a few days. Just got here and I immediately had to dip my feet in!

The American Restaurant

Who wants to take a road trip to the American Restaurant in Kansas City? We can wear our Mad Men best, have some champagne, caviar and a flambé (restaurants like this always have a flambé, am I right?). In the late 1960s, the area was in a total state of decay when the founder of Hallmark cards built the Crown Center, it's "crown jewel" being the American restaurant designed by Warren Platner.
I am over the moon for the sparkly ceiling and those plush pink banquettes!

photo via b for bonnie

Out West

photo by Mikael Olsson

I'm out in Arizona visiting my dad and soaking up as much sun as I possibly can before I have to head back to the snow globe that is the Northeast. I'm loving the desert, the cacti, the grapefruit trees, it's like flying to Mars for a few days...

New York Weekend

Totally weird photo of a corner in Red Hook, taken by me.

One of my close friends from Brooklyn went out of town last weekend and offered up her place (and the love of her awesome cats!) for a few days. We jumped at the chance! Trips back to Brooklyn are always bittersweet, usually involving me going on and on about how much I miss it there and then trying to convince myself that my standard of life is much higher (true) and sometimes the struggle of living in NYC isn't totally worth it (also true).

Usually we go to New York with some sort of purpose like a wedding or a birthday but this weekend we just got to hang, spend time with friends and have my idea of the perfect unplanned Brooklyn weekend, where a Saturday brunch can easily turn into shopping all day then turns into dinner and going out all night, sleep then repeat.

Some favorites:

lunch at one of those hysterical Indian restaurants covered in glitter and party decor on First Ave.

papusas, stroopwaffles and the search for the perfect vintage boots at the Brooklyn Flea

the Print Fair at the Armory on the Upper East Side

the most amazing pizza on earth at Paulie Gee's in Greenpoint

drinks at Veronica Peoples Club (I can't resist a bar named after a character from Heathers)

a quick viewing of the New York Marathon

southern style brunch at Fort Defiance in Red Hook, featuring a seriously amazing breakfast martini

shopping in Red Hook

Whew! It was some weekend. I'm hoping to do it all again real soon.

 

 

 

Weekend Plans

photo by Erica Shires

This is the first weekend in recent memory that's free of extra work, moving out, moving in, visitors (you know I love you!), travel, errands and any other responsibilities at all. The next two days feel full of promise and fun. Or nothing at all. I can actually decide.

A few things I would actually like to do:

Go to the opening of Three Potato Four in Manayunk.
Explore Manayunk.
Eat pancakes.
Grill things on our new, first-ever (hey, we were apartment dwellers in Brooklyn for the better part of the decade!) grill.
Paint my craft room (Tailor's Chalk by Martha Stewart).

What are you up to this weekend?

Let's fly away

 

I don't know what it is lately but I have a serious case of wanderlust. 

Tops on the list: a tent in the woods at Blue Hills Farm and a lounge chair poolside at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. I love this video of the Ace in 360 degrees. You can click and drag on it to see different parts of the hotel.  So cute!

I Heart Brooklyn

 

Valery Rizzo is NY based photographer. Her photos of Brooklyn, currently featured in AmericanPHOTO Magazine, are like a love letter to the County of Kings, a celebration of the incredible diversity of people living there. Brooklyn is almost impossible to define: first of all, it's gigantic!, but more importantly, each neighborhood is totally different and unique from the next.
I miss it a lot. 

Luckily for me, I am off to another store opening in Manhattan next week with a little weekend of fun after in Brooklyn. Yay!

El Cosmico

All I want to do right now is get an Airstream and drive. Or at least rent one and stay in the desert right here. Who else wants to move to Marfa with me?