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!

Camp Lo

One day, way back when snow was still on the ground, I got an email asking me to come to Camp Lo from Terry, my Boston pal. Not really knowing the fuck Camp Lo was I inquired and I got this email responding to my inquiry-

hey nora,

camp lo is the best time of the year.

charlie or ashley never told you about it?

you should come... seriously,

terry-

So Camp Lo was to remain shrouded in mystery...
After some back and forth with Charley and Jersey (no one I know calls her Ashley...) I figured out it was like a sleep away camp for "grown ups" complete with an arts and crafts table, boating, tubing, hiking, and drinking. Lots of that.
And then I forgot because snow and cold doesn't make me want to leave my well heated apt and think about living on an island on Lake George.

Fast forward several months- the gang's all here, in size order, on a dock.... waiiitttinngg for the mystery boat to pick us up with our gear.
The prep email we all received said something to the effect of
"You don't have to call, just be there by 4 and you'll get on the boat. If you miss the last boat, you don't get to come to the island until the next day."
To pass the time Charley had the really awful idea of playing badminton with himself right on the edge of the dock.
45 minutes later we decided to call.
And our trip was able to begin! Being a city gal, getting on a boat to get to an island where there is nothing really like civilization at all is really exotic. Even if is only a ten minute boat ride tops. And a walkie talkie. And iPods.
The NYC kids (us) were supposed to be on clean up duty after dinner, but I missed the memo and came too late to really help. I contributed by taking photos of Babs cleaning the skillet. She seemed to be having such a good time I didn't want to impede on her fun.
And later that night we played round after round of 13-person-teamed Flip Cup. It was my third time playing. Ever.
I loved it!
We must have played close to 10 rounds of the game. My team won all but 9 of them.
(see what I did there?)
The next day it RAINED every single moment. This didn't stop anyone from going on a boat, tubing, or swimming in the lake. The weather just contributed to making me sleepy as fuck, resulting in the most EPIC NAP EVER! Now that's what I call vacation.
Babs made her beer can carpet all by herself! Babs also loves skull caps and Joe Boxer bathing suits.
And any favorite rainy day activity- FACE PAINTING TIME! By the time I left most ladies had facial hair. Its tres chic indeed.

Sunset

Oh New York, the way your architecture grabs the last rays of sun, like a lover resistant to let go of its beloved's hands.
Oh, I can wax poetic.
This photo is an argument for the lost art of making beautiful buildings that have thoughtful details and static materials that are not GLASS and CEMENET, ones that have some staying power.
It is also a testament to my never ending love affair with the city. This just does it for me.

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes!

Oh fashion week- you're just a few measly weeks away. Oh yes, how I miss you, like long distance lovers waiting to be reunited, I stare at your pictures online and sometimes feel butterflies in my stomach, tingling in anticipation.
To tide me over until we meet, so soon, so soon- the Custo Barcelona finale- a video.


I know, my posts have been video heavy lately. Whaddya think? I'm kinda into it, but maybe there's a downside?
Lemme know!

PS1 Warm Up!

Every summer PS 1 MoMA hosts Warm Up on Saturdays. Let me tell you about a good time. If you want to have one I think you should head over before it comes to an end. There are two things that make Warm Up better than just visiting the museum.
The first is there is always live music and people dancing. Usually its DJ stuff, but every once and while you get a band too. And its super fun to be dancing with all these people in the middle of the day with our devil may care attitude.
The second best part is the outdoor installation, usually interactive, done in collaboration by the Young Architects Program. This "gives emerging architects the opportunity to build projects conceived for P.S.1’s facility in Long Island City, Queens," according to the website.
This year the installation was so simple and subtle, that it really was just right, perfection. Like a reflection of a great summer day- one that involves both sun and shade, relaxation and activity. Streching over the expanse of the yard was a great trapeze-like net held up by several poles. The great net hosted plenty of brightly colored exercise balls which created nice patches of shade to hide from the sun. There were also strategically placed hoops through which you could bounce the balls out from the net and let them careen down to the ground (or attempt to throw back into the net... which I failed at spectacularly) to sit yer ass upon. Or bounce around. Or throw at your friend's face. The whole installation encouraged interaction, and not only did I see people trying to get the balls out, but every once and a while I spotted intrepid people climbing the poles:In the side room, the poles made different sounds as you wobbled them. They were connected to the internet, and if you had a iPhone you could control the volume of the poles with it.
Also there were a few hammocks scattered around, but it was almost impossible to snag one. They did look comfortable though.
The art inside I have to say was the worst collection thus far. I guess when you don't have Olafur Eliasson everywhere everything else just pales in comparison. There was this neat tree, cement dust installation- a comment of the de-rainforestation going on in Brazil.
I've heard that one before...
And of course the basement is always cool, both in temperature (zing!) and if you like old relics. Someone had been gold leafing bits and pieces everywhere, but all we saw of his/her presence was bits of gold scattered on the ground and smatterings of leaf on the vintage machinery.

We headed back outside to get some dance party in:

And from somewhere balloons floated out into the crowd. Those balloon combined with bubbles from a bubble gun added to the fun! I took a picture but BARBARA PHOTO BOMBED THAT SHIT!
Take two-
Also- this guy was there...
And these guys. They are art.

That Time That Phil Almost Got Run Over By A Camel

PART TWO!

When I showed this to my mom she seemed to be enjoying it... right up to the point where I said "Oh my fucking god." Then she looked at me and went "Nora!" Mom doesn't like cursing.

Gas Stations and Camels and Deserts, oh my!

This is from a few months ago, but so bizzare I had to share. This was within minutes of the first time I ever saw a desert in my whole life. I don't know how someone gets to be my age without ever experiences a desert, though I could understand how someone could go their whole life and never have the experience I had during this video.



Part Two- the Camel- coming up next!

3rd Ward Music Machine

About a zillion years ago I headed over to the 3rd Ward to check out this interactive music installation they were raving about. Guess what!? I totes loved it.
The artist had created this electronic board that was basically like a metal piano keyboard that did not move. When a key was touched, it activated the kinetic parts, mallets hitting the metal curved bars. What was really cool is the sculpture went all the way down the hallway, taking over the whole space, creating pathways and visual interest.
There was a nice moment where everyone shut up and the artist played for us: