Charley and I- New York Urban Planers, I mean Co-Presidents, I mean Co-Gods, I mean Kanye and his Phoenx.

Charles: i say we just get rid of queens and slide brooklyn up

actually midtown too

so brooklyn is still close to downtown

and no one really needs midtown

me: I hate midtown

except for bryant park

Charles: maybe hell's kitchen can be an island

and we'll move bryant park into hell's kitchen

i like that reworking of the city

hmm, although losing queens might not be the best, make it an island too

i say replace it with staten island, but keep the subway connectivity

then just throw staten island into the middle of the atlantic

me: lets get rid of SI

take all teh ass holes, put it on the island and give it to NJ

Charles: yesss

me: we're so smart

Charles: we should be mayors of the city

me: yes

bicycling for everyone!

Charles: who needs midtown!

me: and lots of buses!

Charles: with bike racks on them like in SF

me: and chicago!

Charles: and congestion pricing! and upper manhattan being closer to brooklyn!

me: yes

Charles: i love how i'm charles in your gchat btw

me: hah

its your name dude

Charles: i should legally change my name to charley

like next job i have i want it to just be officially charley

in my signature i still put charles

like my formal signature

i'll still say regards, charley

and then charles ferrari client relationship manager IHS inc corporate corporate corporate

me: CORPORATE

Charles: that's exactly what it says

corporate blahdy blah

me: nice

I love that

when we start a company can it say that at the bottom of our signatures

Charles: yes

yes it can

me: when we are co-presidents of nyc

Charles: charley ferrari

co-president of nyc

corporate blahdy title manager relationship strategist specialist

me: hah

destroyers of midtown

Charles: lol

slayers of staten island

Charles: maybe we can swap williamsburg and greenpoint for inwood and washington heights

i mean they're kind of the same shape

and the architecture in north brooklyn sucks

me: green point is good stuff

Charles: the art deco apartments and hilly topography would be a nice complement to brownstone brooklyn

yea some parts are

ok greenpoing can stay

Charles: bye bye williamsburg

me: see ya bushwick

Charles: yeaaa

me: hello inwood!

Charles: just pop inwood sideways there

but keep the water surrounding it! so make it like a little inlet with inwood popping out

like seriously, we should be city planners, our plans are amazing

me: That's true

except this is more than city planning, this is earth planning

screw being co-presidents, lets me co-gods

Charles: yess

me: of nyc only

Charles: i really like this plan

we'd make awesome gods

the cloisters can be our mount olympus!

how AMAZING would that be

like i always thought, if i ever became a vampire, i'd totally live in the cloisters

me: yes charley- if you ever become a vampire

this is very likely so its good you have a back up plan

Charles: god or vampire is likely?

i think vampire is more likely

god is a good backup

i'll also be very content with satyr

me: five year plan?

Charles: hell yea

i would be an awesome vampire

i've been told on more than one occasion my teeth already look like fangs a bit

like my incisors are very pronounced

me: good to know

Charles: if you were to be something supernatural aside from a god what would you be?

besides a gho0o0o0ost

me: like an established thing, or something I can make up?

Charles: you can make it up, be entrepreneurial

me: I'd be a kanye

Charles: i could be your phoenix!

me: perfect

Tie Dying

Rebecca is one of those fantastic ladies who while sometimes takes a wild ride on the train to crazy town, most of the time its a good kind of crazy. She's always making. She's a maker of things. If you want to feel inspired, watch her finger some new fabric she's just bought, or pull out plastic baggies filled with different kinds of beads and talk about its potential, her plans for its future. The best part is unlike most, she follows through. If you stop by a few weeks later, you can see the finished product, a gorgeous skirt, or a stunning necklace. There is no bullshitting in Reboc's world.
She decided that the latest thing of interest, besides learning French (she's in Paris right now, don't you know? Avoir l'amusement ? Tu me manques! Et dites bonjour a Agathe pour moi!), is learning how to tie dye. She invited her "besties" over for a day of fun in the sun and Avatar-blue hands.
When I got on the roof I was, admittedly, a few minutes (or an hour) late. But this is how I roll. Everyone was already tying up their tee shirts and pillow cases into little cloth sculptures in order to block the dye and control the pattern. We soaked them in a bath to prepare them for dying.
There were two kinds of dying to try out:
Tom here is doing an indigo bath, which I didn't realize wasn't just dying something blue. I learned that it actually needs to oxidize in order to achieve the correct color. When placing your garment in the bucket to dye it cannot be moved because that will introduce air into the mixture and oxidize the bath. It also cannot touch the bottom because some of the chemicals will have settled to the bottom and I guess its better to leave them undisturbed.
After the garment comes out of the indigo bath we laid them out to dry on this plastic sheeting. The pieces actually came out this awesome neon green and then we WATCHED them turn blue as the air activated the indigo. HOW COOL IS THAT?! Some of us lamented that we wished we could hold on to that great green color to which Rebecca replied "Its indigo, get over it!"
Jon tried out the other kind of dying, which is your more garden variety, sleep away camp style tie dye. We had a reddish purpleish and a yellow to play around with.
While we waited for our clothes to accept the dyes the sky put on a magnificent show for us.
And one trip to the laundromat later, we were Tie Dye Champions!
Oh yeah, I cut my hair. Its actually been short for a while, and check it, there's some pink in there too.
All in all this was a most fun day of making and hanging and drinking beers- and summer's not quite over so GET ON IT!

Ye Olde Schoole Shoppe Signe

The corner store around the bouts of where I make da bling bling has been revamping their space. The took off their old skuzzy awning to reveal their even older and totes awesome sign! I hope they keep the sign going after they finish their remodeling, its so pure, subtley retro, and stunning in its simplicity. Please Super Ace Markets, keep love the old skool love alive!

The Invisible Dog

The Invisible Dog, a gallery located on 51 Bergen Street, is really the something special the neib needed. Their story goes as such- the space was a factory, as were many on this particular block (I remember as a very young child walking past the cheese factory everyday on the way to school- and it smelling exactly how you would expect a cheese factory to smell, like kinda/almost good, and really smelly. This factory doesn't exist anymore, someone now lives where it once stood. I often muse to myself as I walk by "Does the space still smell like cheese inside...?") and this factory made many goods, but as the economy and the landscape of manufacturing changed the only thing the factory continued to produce, up until 2006, was those invisible dog leashes that you can buy at Disneyworld. Improv Everywhere used the leftover leashes for a fantastic and good humored prank a little under a year ago.
Now the factory is a wonderfully patina'd gallery space, hosting some really fantastic work. On the first floor was a mish mosh of all different kinds of work. I don't know if it was the space, the installation, or the curation- probably a combination of all three, but even though the works were not cohesive, it worked viewing them all together.

Off to the side was a nice group of work made out of old metro cards. This one I thought was particularly good advice:

One of the windows had a small step ladder, and I was up for a mini adventure-It led to a bizarre garden space.
I fell in love with this lamp, and the wall in which it was hung- and the mossy neglect. I know neglect is a word that usually has a negative meaning, but I felt there was no better way to show off the beauty of this wall than to leave it alone for many seasons. Let the Spring water find its ways into the cracks, and the freezing Winter chill expand the water droplets, growing the cracks, let the Fall spores find good, solid homes in the nooks and the Summer heat nurture the moss and the mold.
Somewhere inside me a hippie poet is fighting to get out.
And since we're talking about old relics, check out this sign I spotted on the way to third floor. Obviously from days of yore.

MOMO

Last Thursday I headed over to the Invisible Dog gallery to check out the work of MOMO, or, as he was named, Maurice Maréchal. I've walked by the Invisible Dog gallery plenty of times, but this was the first time I ever went inside.
It was really a phenomenal space, and as with most things that appeal to my aesthetic preferences it was cleaned up just enough to have people and art inside- but the bones of what it used to be, the beautiful patina of years of use as a factory was still ever present. What a perfect host for art! I have a whole post planned on the Invisible Dog, so for right now- on to zee art!
There was framed work on every starkly painted wall. The tactile quality of the work sang inside the Invisible Dog's bare bones post-factory interior- thick gobs of paint created undulating paintscapes upon old ledger pages and found objects like sheets of old, oil stained butcher paper and tree leaves preserved by a glossy shellac found homes on the page. The work was emotional, textured, joyous and painful all at once, it had history and told a story. And this very affecting work was mostly housed in these... generic... frames. I don't think the work was diminished because of this, but I think the pieces could have been enhanced with a different approach. I guess I came away thinking the two were a bit incongruous.
Also- I hate frames in general...
Part of what made me want to stay with each piece was the level of detail within the work.
This was in her fore arm(sorry its sideways), and this-
on her other arm.
My favorite thing in the whole gallery was MOMO's sketch book. I could have spent the whole time just loving the book. I wanted to take photos of every page, but had to restrict myself.
And again he had beautiful details hidden in the work. But I could get up close and inspect it.
I found this character doing his angry rain dance on this page-
There were also pages in the old ledger book that appealed to my interests in fashion. Being ever the girly girl I liked these explorations in lace-
And the dip dyed effect gave such a nice ombre to this neck piece-
I waited for almost two hours in this really very hot gallery for Michel Gondry to show up and kick out the jamz (which may or may not have been my impetus to go in the first place). While close to 8 there was still no sign of him- I bounced out because my legs had gotten so sweaty that they effortlessly slid against each other as though I was in a pool. NOT CUTE!
Over all- great show! I can't wait to check out what else the Invisible Dog has to offer.

Bubble weekend

A whole bunch of my bubble friends came to Brooklyn for a delish dinner (thank you Olive Vine Cafe!) and good times. It felt so natural to be all together in the same place again. As though we had never left our bubble bus to pursue real world activities again. As though we were in a dream land where bubbles never popped but just floated back to each other in bubble time...Alas, it was just a wonderful break to the real world. But during this fantasy evening I was able to, for the first time, ride a tandem bike. How fitting to realize a dream during such a fantastical night!
AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I DREAMED IT WOULD BE!
There is alot of trust one must put in their front driver, and it was nerve racking to ride without that kind of control, but it was also a kind of lovely. Perfect for a warm, springtime Brooklyn night.
These two amazing neighbors and I suggested we hit up Soda Bar afterward. We ordered a round of drinks but the booze must have gone to everyone's head. The bubbles were drifting off into various states of sleep, and so the night ended young. Dreams found their beginnings in the sleepy heads of my friends, and my tandem bike dream came true in the humble boro of Brooklyn.

Wake up my bubbles, gently, softly. I may just love you, a little bit.

Yay technology!

If you ride the L or have been to Paris you've seen the train countdown clocks. They don't make the subway come faster, and sometimes knowing that you have to wait THIRTY minutes is annoying, but regardless my station has one now, and I'm super amped! So is Barb!

Happy Friday. Here is so good happy Friday jam. This might be a new tradition, a jam for every Friday. What do y'all think?

Shabbat Brunch-o

Last Saturday I invited many of my peeps for my very first Shabbat. For those of y'all who don't know, the Jewish sabbath is from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. And there are all sorts of ways people choose to observe the sabbath, from not carrying keys, using money, or actively turning on lights to hanging out and getting piss drunk. And some people choose not to observe at all.
Since I just returned from an amazing trip to Israel, and love so many of the people from that trip, I decided to continue my ride on the enthusiasm train and host a Shabbat to gather my Birthright peeps with my non-Birthright peeps. Jews, Gentiles and us half-eys all ate the most delish bagels from Bergen Bagels (no really, you'll pee your pants, these bagels are boner inducing) and I made a fruit salad, cut up peppers for the hummus, pancakes were a plenty as were oj, grapefruit juice and mimosas. That's right this was a vegetarian event darlin! Mostly organic, and totally local. Wassap!? And all the vegans had plenty to choose from because that's how I like to do a thang.
Tara (pictured below; left) was the pancake master and made all sorts of amazing shaped pancakes. This was her crowning glory though, a dino shaped pancake. It was requested, I had no idea how to carry out such a demand, but Tara was allz like "I know everything pancake," and knocked it out of the park. The Jurassic park. She also made a star of David pancake,and just a normal star pancake. Because she knows everything pancake.
Hey peeps! Thanks for coming and making it the best brunch ever! And thanks Birthright for picking up the tab! I can't wait to have another one- so amazing!

Happy Friday!

I'm just excited about life- I'm hosting my friends for Brunch tomorrow- and that should be amazing (hello Bergen Bagels) and Sunday I'm off to Philly to holler at some bubbles, and getting out of the city for the day is never a bad idea (I love New York! Really!)
So because I'm in a good mood, here's a lil' something for you to feel jazzed about too.
xoxo!

Spring time, dress time!

What is better than wearing dresses every day? Probably not much (rock climbing, laying in the grass, dancing, picnicking, making out, bike riding... almost all of those things can be done in a dress) and now the weather is becoming more and more appropriate to be wearing a dress, and only a dress (and shoes!) and that makes me feel fancy. Fancy free! Spring time allergies make me feel like I have the flu, but that's another story.
Today I kinda sorta bought this dress, and I like it so much I'm sharing it with you, so I can spread my enthusiasm like my flu (its not a flu! You can't catch allergies, stupid). And keeping with the Israel theme, its Elli Tahari, and Israeli designer. BAM!

Spring! Scratch that- SUMMER!

In a typical fucked up kind of way, New York decided to forgo spring in lieu of hardcore summer weather straight off the bat. Hello heat wave! Which for those of us who suffer allergies, it was less than awesome, but still stunningly beautiful. I can't hate. I bet the cherry blossoms looks amazing in the Botanical Gardens.
I'm happy for the rain last night, kill those pollen drifts!

I know I've been a naughty blogger, so infrequent. I'm back on the bandwagon!

Five Boro Bike Tour

Woooo! I just registered for the 5-boro-bike-tour! I'm totally amped and a wee bit scared. 42 miles! On a bike! I'm so going to suffer biker's butt.
So who's with me? Training in Central Park? Who wants to ride down FDR with me and no cars? Who wants to ride a mile uphill on the Verrazano Bridge? Who wants to touch all FIVE BOROUGHS in ONE DAY!?
Register here.

New Years Ever

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven.. no WAIT! All night false alarms rang out as fools started the countdown early, at least twice an hour, even after actual New Years happened. My favorite fools. The fools of the century.
Despite the rain, and two of my favorite friends being out and about with dudes they like, this new years was one of the best ever, really.
New Years, generally a high pressure night, is almost always over rated unless, of course, you're partying with me. Then you know your night will turn out swimmingly. The key is not too many people, and never thinking about taking a subway or cab. Oh- and champagne and good jamz don't hurt either.
Three of my most favorite Chicago buddies came out to count down with me, and one of their lil sisters. Plus two New Jersey folk (I know, I know...), my brother and his pal, TOM! spent the night. Throw in my roommate and her boyfriend and New Years brought a record 11 people crashing that night in the Color Me Cannon APT!
Usually for the count down we head over to Grand Army Plaza and watch the fire works and drunk park slope moms get their game on, but due to the inclement weather, my apartment worked just fine.How did you ring in the New Year? Did you have a blast or was it a bust?
And most importantly, what did you wear?