Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Gettin' Around

Check out these baller ways to get around in the hot hot summer time heat. A TANDEM RECUMBENT BIKE! WHAT?
YEAH!
And one of these guys, you can even take the kids. Its like a car, but its not and its only for tourists. And awesome people.
And yes this is a car, of which I'm not the biggest fan, but if you have to get around in a gas guzzler, then this is the beautiful machine that should do it (minus the Havanas advert).

Monday, June 21, 2010

DUMBO Arts Center

The DUMBO Arts Center hosts an open gallery event every first Thursday of the month. Many first Thursday's ago I was invited to check out the work of a friend showing there. It was my first time at the DAC but I was blown away by the quality of work.
I finally have a chance to present it to all y'all, and I'll do so without any commentary. Well I will just say that I was aesthetically drawn to this work on a visceral level and without outside information. So- without further adieu...









Friday, June 18, 2010

Climbing the 'Dacks!

It seems like when I go upstate to climb the weather just turns to shit and makes any attempts at outdoor climbing almost impossible. Saturday it rained the whole time so we hollered at the indoor gym instead.While the gym is mostly a bouldering gym, as the ceilings are not super tall, I was able to get some leading in.
What a thrill. My gym has a super rigorous lead test on an inverted wall at a super high rating (not fair! I'm a lady, I never claimed to be able to hold onto a wall for that long, upper body strength ain't my forte) so I don't get to climb lead there (YET), but I am able to climb at AIR, which I love. The thrill pushes me harder, and I love a throbbing forearm. Its less climbing vertical and more traversing at this gym (again, because of the low ceilings I presume) which can be more intense, especially 20 plus feet off the ground.
Someone at the gym had set up a swing out, aka super terrifying. Brendan has climbed about 6 and a half feet away from his last clip in and is prepping to jump off the wall any second now. Its like trying to tell yourself to walk off a cliff.
Every good gym has a dog. This one is Riley. She's adorable.
Speaking of dogs, look how good Brendan's are. SOOOOOO CUTE!fdasklg;jasklag
We took the dogs camping with us, but since it was raining and gross we did "fake camping" at Nate's grandparent's cabin near the lake. It wasn't real camping, but it was a real good time. One bottle of Jameson later, we all went skinny dipping, something I haven't done since 8th grade graduation. Even the dogs joined us!
One hung over morning later we got ready for some outdoor climbing!
We got ready very slooowwlllyyy....
Across the street from the lake shack was this house, which is maybe the ugliest, most poorly decorated, designed, and thought out house ever. Lets chat about it, shall we?
Oh yes, the ever popular vertical siding, commonly used nowhere, a mysical floating colbat mirror orb on a pedistal, THE LETTER Q, and last but certainly not least, an empty shrine, or as Nate insisted, a urinal. So bizarre.
We brought the dogs climbing- check out that figure 8 on the static line we used to keep them from jumping off a cliff. YEAH!
The walls were so wet from the day before I really struggled against the slime. Also our first routes were crack climbing, instead of face climbing. The most common way of climbing a crack is by jamming, which is exactly what it sounds like. Shove your hand or foot into the crack and twist it around until it stays there. Some people say if it hurts you're doing it right. Needless to say I'm not a fan of crack climbing.We switched to a climb called Afternoon Delight, which was something like 65 ft high. The exposure was fantastic but boy oh boy did I get super scared up there. Total adrenaline rush! I can't wait to get back at the walls!

That's me just about to pee my pants doing the swing out.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Museum Mile

Every year the Museum Mile happens, and every year I miss it. I have always had something or another going on and can't meet up for the live music, the street performers, the open museums and Fifth Ave, clear of cars and full of chalk drawings. Every year until now.
I met up with these three fabulous ladies to czech it out, but apparently this was the worst Museum Mile ever! Having nothing to compare it to I just loved on it. We only made it into one museum, the Cooper Hewitt, which was SO crowded that it just wasn't worth it, even if the exhibit looked interesting. What I really enjoyed was the outside-ing.
This band is from the Czech Republic! They played really cheesy, yet traditional (I'm assuming) music. I liked it in a funny way.
And some teens, doing it! Play it!
There was this really cute girl making really adorable art on the sidewalk also.
And the school for kids who want to play music did a little demonstration. These kiddies did much better than I can do, so its safe to say I was impressed!
Or- Its safe to say I can't play a string instrument!
Culture!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Hair...a remix

What if I cut my hair so I looked like this?
Ladies and Gents, what do y'all think?

Dino Don's

Hey hot stuff? What's going on with you?

My darling amazing friend and super duper pinkie-holding buddy invited me and some pals up to her dad's estate in a Philly suburb. I jumped on board right away, since it sounded like a nice relaxing weekend away from the city. Plus her dad is Dino Don.
I didn't know what that really meant but I soon found out it meant more good times than I had initially imagined. He is more or less the coolest dad.
Greeting visitors as they enter the estate, a Raptor. Its tail might be kinda molding off, but still, a highly original entrance. Little did I know that dinosaurs were wandering all around the estate.
Can you spot the Triceratops?
Also, a garage full of them.
Does this guy look familiar? Just a lil bit? This is why-
Yeah- Dino Don has the dino's from the movie. Baller? Totes!
And bubble Jimmy had fun with a fellow carnivore.
Another cool thing on the property was this electric car. ZAP! Check out what's under the "gas cap-"
A plug! That's right, you can pull it out and just plug it in. (that's what she said) Dino Don said that you can travel up to 40 miles on one charge, though it doesn't really go fast enough to sustain highway speeds. It can totally handle over 80% of most people's driving needs though, such as trips to the grocery store and stopping by your neighbors for a visit. Most errands essentially. And at (if I remember correctly) 20 cents a mile, totally worth it!
This is Paris and Nicole, the goats on the land. Yeah, that's right, Erica's dad is so impressively with it he picked out amazing pop culture names for these goats. And like the real Paris and Nicole, the goats were kinda vapid and stupid, only caring about food, but they were fun to watch!
The boys declared this a mostly shirtless weekend, which was good because there was swimming to be had!
You can't tell from this photo, but a dinosaur was totes creepy watching us from the corner.
The weekend was amazing, I got to see several kiddies from my Israel trip, hang with my best Barbara and my favorite pinkie buddie, eat good food and relax the shit out of the place. Thanks Erica and Dino Don!
Also, I got to wear my hippie dress. I just thought that was important to note.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Dinosaur BBQ

Charley and I had grandiose plans that never really came to fruition in regards to our "training" for the Five Boro Bike Tour. We were going to bike through all the boros (yes! even Staten Island!) and find sketch bars, visit landfills, and get proper lost in different and obscure neighborhoods. We wanted to fall even more in love with our great city, and find that off the beaten path stuff we crave so. We wanted to meet crazies, and have good stories worth sharing. Of course our ambitions were bigger than our packed schedules would allow. However, we did make it to Dinosaur Barbque. Its apparently no big deal to the kids who went to Columbia, its right next door, and like a zillion other people who were there (the wait for a table was an hour!) but to me and Charley we were Dino virgins and totally amped about it. I mean its NAMED AFTER DINOSAURS!
Now I'm a vegetarian so I just drank a beer, but I was still kinda excited about this seemingly isolated restaurant, under a highway at 131st street. We were just riding our bikes past on the West Side Bike Lane and ESP'd to each other that this place was probably a good spot to grab a beer. We made a big circle and locked up our bikes outside.
It looks like they have live music often- and if you like gross BBQ food, but feel like Dallas BBQ is too touristy, check out Dino BBQ. It'l be a blast! Tell 'em Nora and Charley sent you! (ed note: They will be confused as to who we are.)
Happy weekend y'all!