jamaican fantasy ride

i think our trip to jamaica last week was my favorite vacation i've ever taken (with the exception of when my family drove cross-country when i was 15 and there are pictures of me scowling in front of all the most important national monuments. that was a travel highlight.)  warm people, delicious food, perfect water and so much in the way of wild life! we'd be eating breakfast and a pink humming bird would buzz by, then a little lizard would scurry up a tree - we saw families of dolphins on the open sea, big ol crocodiles up the the black river, a rainbow of tropical fish on the coral reef, and the coolest cat ever, chris blackwell, chillin at the bar with a redstripe. 

please excuse my gratuitous use of the photo function. i just can't help myself. treasure beach 4 eva!

OMG!!!

so many chills!!

last week we were in a pleasure dome of foliage. we stayed in this here cottage - top floor - called seahorses UP:

the second one looks like a brain! it's really light and filled with floating seed pods. i wanted so bad to explode the green brains, but i was afraid the eco-tourism-hippie-gods would spew their wrath on me. that might be the worst kind of wrath. 

waves

i'm going here for the next week to detox my brain and rest my little eyes and ears from computer screens and traffic and subway screeches. seafood, sunburn, and sand!

one girl's treasure...

i found this great industrial salvage lamp at a flea market a few weeks ago. it's from an old jar factory. i love the color and its charming lines, but it's just going to be too much work for me to repair in the confines of my studio apartment.  I'm putting in on craigslist, but if anyone's interested, please let me know. 

she's from a simpler time when men wore hats and women were dames, and dames didn't take no flak from no one. this lamp set the scene for Gill when he went to cook the books down at the plant one Friday night, but captain faherty was there waiting for him when he got out, and Daisy was waiting in the car, face half-lit, taking drags off a long cigarette watching it all go down. yeah, this lamp has seen some things, all right...

flowers & fishes

these gorgeous kumquats look like they did a round of 'roids before sauntering over to the flower market with that awkward body-builder waddle... which is to say they're bold and beautiful.  

eeeks! creepy fish eyes! just the other day these dudes were swimming the the ocean, and tonight they'll be beautifully plated on the upper east side.  unreal.

full disclosure: i have both drugs and global food production on the brain after reading this disturbing article in theTimes by Nicholas Kristof about antibiotics in pig feed causing huge problems for us human creatures.  it's a lot to take in. thank god it's friday night and i'm giving my brain the night off. i'll let it marinade in the back for a while.

hearth gods!

tomorrow night i'm reading a short story at the WONDERFUL hearth gods series at Jimmy's no. 43. come check it out! i'm honored to be on the bill with such a talented bunch. and the beer selection there is really good.

the beach is calling me with its siren song

i'm going to treasure beach in jamaica next week which is really exciting because it will be my first time in the tropics! (not counting tropix nightclub, obv)  it's also a recession, so my goal is to not spend dough on clothes before i go, which is nearly impossible - all reasonable vacation fantasies involve stunning new beach ensembles.  SO, i have decided to make new items, which may sound like a stretch, but stick with me here. my first attempt is made out of an old t-shirt + a sewing machine and an hour of my time. i give you.... the beach cover-up:

it's convenient that i like un-finished edges and clothing items that could have been attacked by a wild animal.

*

just when you think winter is never going to end, and you contemplate getting a hat permanently super-glued to your head, new york hands you a spectacular sunday that jogs your memory to the glory of sunglasses and spring coats and outdoor dining. before the stink of summer, before you have to lug your air conditioner out of storage, before dirty sandal feet and humid urine-scented subway platforms ... come sublime lazy sundays in march. 

First to the pulse art fair. i don't necessarily get the whole point of art fairs, but i like looking at art and putting it into one of the following categories:  a: we could totally make that (35%) b: why is that in this show? (30%) c: it takes a ton of balls to stand behind that, but now that you have i'm mostly on board (28%) d: this is blowing my mind (7%).  how much is real talent, and how much is just having an idea, then having the confidence to go through with it and hang it on a wall? in some instances the emperor definitely wasn't wearing any clothes... but i had a great time and saw the requisite weird videos of naked women in the woods wearing body decorations made of trash. so i'm satisfied.

i really loved this beautiful & macabre wall hanging by jodie carey made of feathers and bones

vadis turner's tampon cake was both beautiful and cheeky

it's a mechanical bull! decorated with beer cans and spikes! kristian kozul - i want you at my next party.

next on to cafe 'ino for sustenance in the form of this amazing antipasto plate and something with bubbles, and the recipe for the perfect sunday is complete.

purdy parcel

my peeps over at brown parcel press just launched their new website & blog.  check it out. eye candy abounds...

wild is the wind

artist tim knowles arms trees with writing utensils, creating wind-powered art.  

doesn't this tree just look like it's bending toward the canvas? amazing!

my great aunt & uncle live across the road from a sunflower field in northern minnesota. they get HUGE - high as an elephant's eye if you know what i mean. indoors, however sunflowers are a little blossom for me usually, but today they just looked so pretty and bright. it's gonna be 60 deg this weekend! bring on the sun!!!

i never liked callas until this moment....

y'ello

van! + vintage gift trimmings

i cannot contain my excitement - tomorrow i'm going to see van morrison play astral weeks LIVE. as in the entire album from front to back. it's going to rock my transcendental brain wave. this will complete my early '09 trifecta of 60's Men Who Still Rock Really Effing Hard - the other 2 angles of the tri being comprised of Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon. I'm in concert heaven and it's only March!

also: here are some gifts i wrapped for the specialist of special friends. My girl E re-uses everything, so i'm sure this stuff has been reincarnated as something special like origami cranes or cat box liner....

the honky tonk in my heart

my good friends and favorite ny band - the defibulators - are having a huge cd release bash this wednesday at the bell house in bk.  meet me there. we dance. i can't wait to get my do-si-do on! 

and they're a "critic's pic" in time out this week - check it.