Good Day at MoMA

More later kids!

My Kind of Marathon

Pam and I went to Coast of Utopia yesterday. We arrived at 11 AM and walked out of the Vivian Beauont Theater somewhere around 11 PM, with large sighs, utterly satisfied. It was a tremendously moving experience, and I couldn't possibly do it justice here in the few moments I have before Sunday brunch in the east village, so I will just say - it is surely one the most beautiful things I have ever seen a group of human beings do together.

I hope wherever you are there is something to cause you to ruminate on beauty, art, and love.

Oh Damn I Forgot To Water the Window Boxes!

Also forgotten? My address book, so if anyone out there expects to get a postcard, you might want to send me your address. I love to send postcards.

I've been trying to figure out what else I've forgotten, like sandals and really I could have used one more pair of jeans and the flats I brought are totally useless since they gave me a blister in about twelve seconds flat. But then I talked to Pam on the phone, and she told me that she packed hardly anything, because after all, being in New York is really about New York, not me, not the jeans or flats or even the postcards.

And the truth is, it's pretty easy to be in the moment and let being in New York be about New York when you are staying in a posh hotel in your favorite neighborhood, and when you are a girl who LOVES hotels. I love hotels! And the Bowery Hotel is lovable.

Look! Adorable little toothpaste container! Those keys that you leave at the front desk when you go out! In the little boxes! Delightful. And a good-looking lobby with a bar where they make sure they have tables for those of us who are staying at the hotel. Makes me feel a little smug, to be honest.
After lounging in my hotel room, Allison and I went over to the place where they have the best lattes in the East Village, and had some luscious snacks, including a duck terrine and their special homemade pickles. God, I love pickles. They had cucumber pickles, green tomato pickles, green bean pickles and okra pickles, all with unique pickle flavors, one with a little curry, one with a slightly asian flavor, one with some spice... delicious.

Before I let you go, I do want to say yes, I voted for Joseph and his cute nursery, let's all vote for him! Go Josey Ladd!

On My Way...

... to NYC. Yay!

This Boy Needs to Win!

So Dakota has entered Joseph's nursery in a nursery design competition and we all need to go vote for him!

They could win a $2000 store credit! I know that you have to register to vote, but it is actually quite a cool site and it takes only a moment.

I know that you all HAVE to think that he is as adorable and scrumptious as I think he is and he deserves all the wonderful deluxe baby stuff that they would be able to buy him with that credit!

Plus, I think Dakota and Clay deserve some props for making such a cute and stylish nursery out of such a teeny tiny space. Its colorful and whimsical and not a 'brand baby' nursery, which I think is especially cool in this day and age when everything is so Disney-fied.

See how cute! Now. please, go vote! Consider it your good deed for the day.

A Little Late, But Still...

Another lovely field trip yesterday. Several of them, actually. First there was coffee with Ben, back to the old standard, Fiore. I was extra late, so when I came in and just sat down with him rather than waiting. Bobby saw me and called over to ask if I wanted him to make me a latte. Fun as the coffee shop field trips are, that kind of thing really only happens with your neighborhood coffee shop.

After coffee, there was lunch with my delightful friend Paul, where we determined what the secret to relationships is, for us. More on that later, maybe. From lunch I was off to a play date with Dana and then Bright Eyes, as pictured earlier.

Surely the most difficult thing about my life these days is the fact that there's no way to capture all the fun on the pages of this blog. Don't you feel sorry for me? Ha. I must have half a dozen post ideas that I just haven't been able to get to. How many posts will you all read in a week anyway? I've always been curious about reader habits, whether people check the web site and just read what's on the front page - or do you scroll back and read earlier entries that you might have missed? I have to confess that when you post, Allison, I sometimes delay posting so that I won't "bury" what you've put up. Sometimes.

Anyway, the photos above are from Adventures with Dana. We had a great time, and her hair was lustrous as always. I had always wanted to go to Open Books, the all-poetry bookstore here in Seattle, so I was pretty excited when Dana suggested it. If anyone can keep a poetry bookstore from being scary, it's Dana. There is something a little intimidating about all poetry all the time, don't you think?

Turns out I needn't have been afraid at all. What a fantastic place! I loved all the quotes on the walls, the old typewriters and books books books. The guy who was there was one of the owners, I think (I should have asked!) and he was great, totally approachable and helpful. After we left, Dana said "I love going there, it's like having your own personal shopper, for poetry!"

Fact or Fiction: The Killington Curse...

An alpine skier, a snowboarder and a telemarker. There's a joke in there somewhere...

So, last weekend we were trapped in the city by Doctor’s appointments and Eugene’s work. We managed to salvage some fun by having dinner with my climbing ladies Friday, going out to dinner Saturday night and to the Bronx Botanical Gardens with the aforementioned climbing ladies on Sunday. Including HK who is wonderfully, gigantically, lusciously pregnant with her little girl and Tamara, who brought her precocious 3-year-old Sophie, and Elizabeth, who I just really, really love to see.

However, the weekend before we capped off our ski season with some sunny (70 degrees!) deep mashed potato snow skiing (or riding in my case) at Killington. It’s a mountain that is about an hour north of our house in Vermont where they accumulate enough snow to stay open until mid-May. Crazy people were skiing in bathing suits!

So happy! So sunny! We needed sunscreen for the lift ride.

We’ve always suffered from ‘The Killington Curse’, whereby something must go terribly wrong while we are there (I had a snowboard stolen, our car got sideswiped, our passes wouldn’t work, etc. etc. ad nauseum). However, with our mountain closed and so much delicious snow still around, we had to give it a try.

Euge and Kenny giving me their manliest pose before ripping down the black diamond behind them. Note Eugene's plaid and Kenny's jeans. We don't need no waterproof ski gear!

So we wrangled Eugene’s friend from college, Kenny, up from Boston. You may remember him from the wedding. He was the expert videographer who caught Euge diving over my head during our first dance. Anyhoo, he hopped into his Mini Cooper S and hightailed it up for the day.

The mini! So cute!

We had an awesome time. The day was sunny, the snow was deep, the terrain was steep and there were relatively few people there. Yay!

See! It's just us and the mountain...

And the Killington Curse? Well, Kenny’s bindings broke so I suppose there is still something to it. Ah well.

Me, apres ski. I got a bit of a sunburn.

This post was somewhat delayed because I was waiting for my photos to come back from the developer. These bad boys were taken with a disposable camera….

Toys Under A Microscope

Concert aftermath - musta been seeing all those youngsters that took us back to our high school days and the ever-reliable Dick's Deluxe

Went to the Bright Eyes show at the Paramount tonight. Looooved it*! As much for the fact that the entire crowd seemed to be made up of high school students as for the music, all hoodies and text messaging. I am old and after three hours of standing, all I can say is - my back hurts. Hee!

More later.

* please understand, though, as cute as he is, he is still no Jeff Tweedy, Isaac Brock, Kevin Russell or Jimmy Smith.

Something, Anything and Some More Art

Coffee at Third Place Books in Ravenna with Katherine, who truly lives up to the name Katherine - think tall and statuesque with all the humor and boaty charm of a Hepburn

So. I'm having some internet issues. And I have to tell you, it's kind-of refreshing to be sans internet most of the day. It's too too easy to waste time on email and reading blogs when you've got working internet at home. You know I spend plenty of time in cafes with wi-fi, so no chance that we'll lose me on the internets entirely, though.

Amber was in town this weekend, and we had a divine time. Some people just get me talking, and Amber is one of them. Even a day of migraine couldn't keep me from enjoying her company, and she sweetly accomodated my need to lounge on the couch all day like an invalid. We picked sock yarn for her, and I realized that she was the first person to actually pick yarn with full access to The Stash. Momentous occasion, indeed! She also lounged on my chaise longue looking elegant and long-limbed, willowy and smart.

Tonight I'm back at Joe Bar to give Chris a check for Biter, and as I speak, they are hanging a show made up of these amazing handmade dolls, all characters from movies, like Amelie, Joan Crawford from Mommy Dearest, whats-his-name from Clockwork Orange. Remember the two-headed Rudolph doll/pin I gave you for Christmas one year? Same artist. When I bought that, I went to her house to pick it up and I have to confess I wanted to just look through everything. You know how some people's houses are like that? They just exude creativity, and you feel like looking at everything there will make YOU want to make something. The artist, Sara Lanzillotta, is 4'11" (I heard her say that tonight) and has a bright pink ponytail and she has overalls on to hang her show. The Liza Minelli/Cabaret doll is really fantastic and again, there is just this obsessive quality to it all that I adore. I love this little peek into the Seattle art scene.

Well, when I sat down, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do a blog entry on, but clearly I've got plenty to say. Just proves the old idea that you just need to plant your butt in the seat and get to it. Which is a good thing to have proven, because I have to tell you... the novel? Meh. Today is the first day that I have really CLAIMED the fact that it is not Going Well. I'm hoping this will help. We shall see.

XOXO
H

Handiwork For Your Feet

Are those good socks are what? Legs courtesy of Candice.

Coffee Shop Tourism Part Deux

While you were out stalking Roosevelt High School's most fabulous Broadway star, I was continuing my coffee shop explorations here in Seattle. This time it was Joe Bar on Capitol Hill, just across from the Harvard Exit.

I love the Harvard Exit. Every time I look at that old brick building with it's green trim and the little ticket window on the side, I get a craving for real buttered popcorn and Market Spice tea. Do they still serve that in the lobby? I confess I haven't been there since Brokeback Mountain and I wasn't paying attention to tea at the time.

I'm not sure Joe Bar is the name I would have chosen for the cafe that sits across the street. It's sort-of a french little place, with a selection of crepes on the menu and bottles of Lillet and other beverages you might find in Paris tucked away on a low shelf. If it isn't the official coffee shop for Cornish College of the Arts, it sure seems to be, and there are lots of cute girls there who look like they would be played by Charlotte Gainsbourg in the movie version of their lives.

I was lured in by the fact that one of my favorite Seattle painters, Chris Crites, is now curating the little shows that get hung there.

Let me just confess that when I walked in the door I wasn't all that excited by the show. It looked a little naive and cartoony on first glance, and I was afraid of the collage element because that is such an easy thing for people to do badly. There was a short line for coffee, and I'm glad there was because it gave me a chance to stand with the pieces for a few minutes, just looking at them, and I quickly fell in love. The drawn elements of the pieces have a confidence to them that overcame that first impression, and the composition and colors of each piece gave them a satisfying balance, while the collage felt obsessively done, in that "I am possessed by my art" kind of way that I love. The best part was that each piece had a certain something that incorporated both a humor and vulnerability that I think is apparent in the piece above on the postcard for the show.

Okay, I'm no art critic, and I'm sure there are terms I've used here that would have some other meaning which I don't even begin to understand when used in the whole art critic world, but since that's not where this blog lives, and those of you who read this are not art critics, I hope what I've said gives you a little peek into what I liked about the show, and why, next time you're over here, you'll get a chance to see the piece called "Biter" for yourself.

Stalking Noah Racey Part Deux

Go Roughriders!

So we did it! We went to the show, we waited afterwards and successfully accomplished our stalking objective to get a picture with Noah.

The show, Curtains, was very entertaining. It's really an old-fashioned sort of musical - which is really the kind I like best. I am not loving musicals with synthesizers (Le Miz, Rent... I'm talking about you! Avenue Q gets a pass because it's just so retardedly funny).

Any hoo, It stars David Hyde Pierce - whose signature we got on our Playbills as we waited for Monsieur Racey - as a Boston Homicide Detective. He's investigating the murder of Noah's leading lady on opening night. The whole theatrical troupe has to stay in the theater to re-stage the show with a new leading lady and madcap hilarity and singing and dancing ensue.

As in Never Gonna Dance, Noah was just fantastic. The dance style of the show wasn't as much to my taste as Never Gonna Dance - it was more Oklahoma-ish with some Astaire-style dancing thrown in. Noah was born for a top hat and tails, so that was sorely missed. Happily, he got to wear some Gene Kelly-esque sweaters and loafers - so that worked for me.

Afterwards, we waited outside the stage door, like the total dorks that we are. Owning our dorkiness, I would like to think. Despite the cold and the fact that both of us were hungry enough to consume one of our own body parts.

Finally, he came out and Dana announced herself - in that very wonderfully bold way that she has about her. "Noah! Noah Racey! It's Dana! Go Roughriders!"


He seemed pretty entertained by our being there, though perhaps some of the stalkerishness of us being the only people left at the stage door at that point gave him pause. He was with one of his co-stars in the show, who kindly took the above photo.

Then we wandered off in our separate directions for libations and food.

And no, I did not bring his Tolot picture for him to sign. That would have been creepy. Don't you think?

Photobooth Friday!

Regular readers know that I love Photobooth Friday, hosted by Hula Seventy. Some of you have been subjected to the photobooth experience recently in the last few months - it was one of my 35 things to do before I turn 36, after all. I think Amber's the last on my list of targets and she's all mine this weekend. Sweet.

This strip of me and Susan came from one of the new-fangled machines, digital, I think, and, well, I have to admit, we had a little bit of trouble trying to work the thing. As you can see from the photos. Yeah. We kinda got it together for the last one, though. Just for the record, we've been taking photobooth pics together since approximately 1983. That's... yeah. A long time. A lifetime. A fun, but not always pretty lifetime. I've got a great one where I have a huge chiffon bow on my head, from the same year I bought Madonna's first album on tape. I listened to it a kajillion times on my walkman on the car ride home from our annual trip up to Vancouver to shop for school clothes.

But you didn't need to know all that. The day we took this strip, we were on a long walk, from my apartment on Queen Anne, down to Pike Place Market where I bought one of those huge bouquets you only pay, like, $7 for. I tried to get some of those mini-donuts, another thing I've been into since about 1983, but it was too late in the day. I've been craving them ever since.

Then we went to Sephora and looked at lip glosses that cost $20 before deciding that since boys don't really like gooey lips anyway, we (I) might as well just wait and get the $5 version at the drugstore.

Then we took the monorail!

Look, here we are.

Tourists in our own town, and you know how I love that. I'm still mad that I couldn't talk her into air hockey at the Fun Forest though. And why do I always leave my annual pass to the Space Needle at home? I gotta get that thing tattooed on or something. If only there were such a thing as a Lifetime Pass. I'd do it. You know I would! In any case, Amber's not leaving town without a trip up to the top of the needle, that's for sure.

Art In LaConner

Charlotte Meyer

Charlotte Meyer

Bernadette Y. Vielbig

Just a quick post with photos from the show we saw last weekend at the Museum of Northwest Art. It was called "Raiment" and contained some pieces that I really enjoyed for their evocative nature and the craft that went into making them. I'm not one of those people who would ever argue that craft is not art, I think that's a fine line, but by using the word craft here, I am just trying to say that the part of me that loves knitting socks loved seeing the really detailed handiwork that went into some of these pieces. I love art that shows that artist's touch, that makes you imagine making something yourself, and today I am left wondering if part of the reason I've been waking up writing isn't all the art I've looked at and all the reading I've done over the past few days.

Missed You!

Guess where I went to lunch today?

Momofuku!

It's sunny but chilly and I have been tormenting my co-worker for weeks with talk of Momofuku. So we decided to take a little extra time at lunch and run down there.

It was gooooooood.

And I think its fun to say MOMOFUKU!!!!!!

I Suppose I Was Just Looking For An Excuse, Really

Does this look familiar? Blue Pearl Royal Granite counter from Norway? View of the park out the window? I didn't think so.

The weather has turned here in Seattle. The sunshine that had all the Fiore customers camped out on Adirondack chairs lined up on West Galer drove them all back inside today and the result was that there was literally not a single seat free this morning. So, I took my little book bag and zipped off to the coffee shop I shall now refer to as Espresso Versace. An homage to our friend at 9th Street Espresso, you know.

It's a good coffee shop. Not walking distance, true (though there is one closer than the Cap Hi location where I went today) and parking is, well, just what you would expect in that neighborhood. Customers - a little grungier in an interesting kind of way. I wanted to take a photo of the girl in the dirty orange flats and grey cords, with the Kiki Dunst hairdo, or the one with the pixie cut who was nuzzling her cockatiel, but my boldness with the camera so far only extends to objects and landscapes, not strangers. Some day.

Anyway, I sat looking out the window, which is what I like to do in Fiore too, did some writing and enjoyed knowing no one. I love being places where I don't know anyone. Strangers generate this curiousity in me, I write little stories about them in my head and find myself wanting to see what it'll take to get them talking. I have to confess that this is one of the things that I love about Sambar these days. When I sit at the bar, Jay introduces me to the people who come in to see him and that delights me. As E.M. Forster says - "Only connect."

Twilight LaConner and One Happy Year

Holy blog-o-rama! Hey reader, did you catch all those posts? Wow! There is so much more waiting in the wings, too. The phase I went through where I felt like there was nothing to say on the blog is clearly over, and I'm pretty pleased that you've found that camera, Ali. I want to see some photos of your outfits. Right?

We've been at this for a year now, you know. I meant to commemorate our blogiversary back on April 10th, but, well... I didn't. It's been an amazing year. In the beginning I didn't even have a camera, and of course I had no idea that I would be going to the ranch, quitting my job, or that I would knit more than twenty pairs of socks in a year. Really, that's just crazy.

Over the course of the year, I've become a slave to the camera. I always have one with me, even if it's just my phone, and I often take over a hundred photos in just a few days. As you can see from the photo above, I've gotten pretty comfortable taking random photos, and am always snapping things that appeal to me, even if I am not quite sure why they appeal - like the spooky old house with the light in the window that looks like fire.

I'm also a slave to adventure now. Seriously! I think I've said this before, but having a blog really makes you think about what you are doing with your days. Almost every day for the past year, I've written a little something about my life. And not the journal-y kind of stuff I wrote as a teenager, full of self-doubt, or worry about money or talk about boys. The writing on the blog has all been an attempt to find something I wanted to tell you about, something fun or pretty or true.

That definitely helped me entertain myself more thoroughly over the last 300-something days, I hope sometimes it did the same for you.

XOXO
H

Spring is sprung

So, it was a beautiful warm and sunny day out. And I was stuck in my office.

This is the view from my office - of all the people out by that fountain, that you can kind of see in the distance, enjoying themselves. While I was in my office.

Tomorrow promises to be another nice day and I may sport a pair of my nice new open-toed shoes. I'll take pictures.

All of this seems rather strange, considering we were skiing last weekend.

Anyways, now you know what I see out of my office window every day. If I get really close to the window. Like practically in the window sill. Those years of rock climbing come in handy to offset the height-induced nausea.

I try to remind myself that it's the building from The Devil Wears Prada, it adds a little glamour to the day.