RIP Alexander McQueen

It would appear cheesemongers also loved fashion luminary Alexander McQueen...  This sign was hanging today at the Bedford Cheese Shop.

Alexa Chung, Madewell, et Moi

Many of you may know that throughout 2009, I embroidered clothing at events for the J. Crew offshoot, Madewell.  Well, looks like I'll be starting up again in March, with one of the brand's Denim After Dark events.

This morning, while leafing through my one few vices, amNew York, I saw that there is at least one fellow Williamsburger interested in Madewell...

Alexa Chung, whose MTV show was canceled last month, will be the first celebrity to design a line for the label.  High-waisted skinny jeans will be amongst the pieces in her line.

Inneresting if it weren't totally boring.  Yet despite the ridiculousness of the new wave hipsters (gag), I happen to like Madewell jeans.  How about you?  Will YOU be brave enough to wear jeans that are not only tight (jeans + totally tight = teans?), but leave nothing to the imagination by rocketing above your navel? 

I say be bold, fashion soldiers.  Surround your jiggly wonderful bellies in yet another STIRRING rendition of the skinny jean.

Snow day

NYC declared a snow day for public schools due to the 'huge' snowstorm (I'm from Wisconsin, so the few inches that have accumulated thus far seem ridiculous).  My kid is delighted, and so am I.  It feels like a weekend, and Brooklyn, usually so grimy, looks clean- dare I say, PRISTINE. 

I'm writing up a storm (haha), and later this afternoon, plan to get out there to run around a bit by the East River.  I'm envisioning a massive snowball fight.  Anyone want to join us??

Happy Snow Day!

SOLD!!

 

 

My friend Tom has been in town for a few days before leaving on a many-month stint working in the jungles of Colombia.  It's been great to see him- an added bonus is that this past weekend he brought a friend by who not only loved my work (much of which is littered around my loft), but asked if it is for sale!  Obviously, I answered in the affirmative, and she picked up the above piece, called 'The Hand That Feeds', one of my favorites from my solo show this past summer at Spacecraft. 

If you like what you see, check out my Etsy site for pricing/images/more info about some of my other work!  And if you happen to be a friend or even a friend of a friend interested in a particular piece, shoot me an email and we'll work out a special deal.

Victorian Photocollage Exhibition at the Met

 Check out something I wrote for Lost at E Minor about the uber-awesome Victorian Photocollage exhibition at the Met.  The above pic from the exhibit reminds me of some of my own work (see picture below).  Make sure to check out my Etsy store for pricing/more info about my art!

SO not even close to becoming a starving artist

Hey all, Williamsburg Greenpoint News + Arts just posted on their online publication a story I wrote for my new blog, Brooklyn Reject.  In the story, called 'Brooklyn Reject: SO not even close to becoming a starving artist', I write about unemployment, underemployment, hunger in NY, and provide a couple of snarky comments about folks pocketing large bonuses.  Check it out, here, and leave a comment to me know what you think!

Endless Endless Endless

Hey folks, check out a little something I wrote up about the band, Endless Endless Endless, on Lost at E Minor, as well as news on an upcoming gig.

Brooklyn Reject

Well, folks, I just couldn't keep it to one blog... 

Check out Brooklyn Reject, a blog that will record my New Year's resolution of writing, receiving rejection letters, and ultimately, of getting published. My first post discusses my game-plan.

In my second post, I mark the special event of becoming a true reject. 

If you like what you see, or at least can empathize with a reject like myself, spread the word and share Brooklyn Reject with your friends!

Budding fashion designer, meet the president

As I refuse to spend money on Barbie clothes, my kid has been designing her own. On the left, 'Bluey' wears a short repurposed shift dress from last year's summer line as well as a lovely necklace from the winter jewelry collection. On the right, 'Steve Obama' wears a muumuu from the spring 2010 line.

And yes, she really did name him 'Steve Obama'.

Getting the hang of it!

Greg gave Anevay one of his decks (her old board was a nightmare), and then my girl and I went to KCDC for trucks and wheels. $100 later, and we walked out the door, ready to ride. She's picking it up fast, and I think by spring you can expect to see us tooling around the nabe.

Unfortunately, thought, I'm having a little board envy- Anevay's is great- I want one just like hers! Anyone out there have one s/he isn't using? Let's make a trade? I know you've always been hankering after a piece of my beautiful... jade plant? Or perhaps a nice rooting from one of my philodendrons?

Sigh. I think it's any day now that Anevay realizes just how big of a dork I am. Hopefully she won't take the news too hard. Until then, skate or die!!

My work in New York Magazine, and the reopening of my Etsy store!

Some of you may remember that last year, New York Magazine contacted me to embroider illustrations for two pages in its 2010 Winter Wedding issue. The magazine also included one of my wedding handkerchiefs, which I thought was pretty great. Amazingly, when the issue came out, I was so consumed with other things that the work I did for the magazine was quickly forgotten. Even when one of the magazine's fabulous art directors dropped off a couple issues at my door (thanks!), I leafed through their pages and then forgot they existed. Job searching, embroidering, freelancing, writing and being a single mom all seemed a little overwhelming, so at the urging of friends/family (who said I was taking on more than I could chew), I cut out the embroidery for a bit.

This morning, after reopening my Etsy store after a many month hiatus, I remembered the issue, and thought it a fitting time to share the images. I embroidered and beaded the wedding cake, as well as the outlines for both pages (which took forever by hand).


Those of you who know my work are probably familiar with my more, well, macabre images. But those of you who REALLY know me understand how much I enjoy weddings. I love them. They make me cry, laugh, dance my ass off, and feel hopeful in all sorts of ways. I love being in weddings (as a bridesmaid), I love being invited as a date (hint hint). They just make me happy, which, as we all know, is pretty great. I guess what I really get off on is seeing people in love.

That said, my romantic soul is firmly mired in reality, meaning that I realize that true love is hard to obtain and even harder to maintain. Unfortunately, that feeling often doesn't. Not many things last forever... This is why, perhaps, I turn much of my art to more gruesome subjects- I see a certain comedy in it. Exposing a little muck is better than glossing it over, yes?

Below are some of the art pieces I have up in my store. They were shown last summer in a solo show at Spacecraft Brooklyn. Since I'm poor and am in serious need a break, I think you should buy them. Or, at the very least, suggest to anyone you might know who has just received a yearly bonus, that s/he should buy them. I think they'd make perfect weddings gifts. Hm... Maybe you could commission a piece? I'm envisioning a bride and groom with bird heads... Muah hahahaha (evil laugh).

Click here to see my Etsy Store!! (if you're a friend, shoot me an email... Perhaps I can cut you a deal;)

I'm Nobody

Yesterday an old friend, Cameron, emailed me pictures of Anevay and Carlos, taken about four or five years ago. Perhaps Cam was reminded of the pictures after someone sent him a link to a Wikepedia page that has been set up for Carlos? Who knows. (A brief aside- if any of you have good secondary sources to add to the Wiki-page, please take a moment and click here.)

In Cameron's pix, Carlos sat with Anevay looking at all of her little treasures. He used to spend a lot of time going through the things she collected. It's nice to have one of those moments documented. I don't have many photos of Anevay from that time. Such a sweet little thing, yes? And the pictures of Carlos, though they make my heart break, also make me smile.





There's also a photo Cameron sent of a gang of us from the same day, taken after a great brunch we shared in Greenpoint. I still remember what I ate: mushroom crepes! From the pictures above, you can see that Carlos is the only person on the planet who manages to look amazing in pink pants, a winter coat AND flip-flops. From the pic below, you'll also be able to get a glimpse of what a happy dork he was. The picture documents an interesting time- Jessica and Gil soon before Leo was born, me with my broken arm (which, speaking of Carlos' pink pants, happened while wearing pink fishnets at Greg and Camille's roller-skating pink party a week or two earlier. Can you see the pain written across my face??), and of course, a vibrant and very much alive Carlos.


After seeing Cameron's pictures, Anevay asked to make the following little video so that she might dedicate a poem she likes to Carlos. The title of the poem, 'I'm Nobody', is pretty perfect:

Revising

Writing takes work.  A lot of work.  Some people, I think, believe that writing is as simple as thinking a thought and getting it down on paper.  Well, that's a part of it.  But making it coherent and appealing, at least in a short story or a novel, isn't as easy as writing a quick blog post.

Just wanted to put that out there.

Blood, sweat and tears, baby, and a whole lotta ink.  (click on the image above for a larger photo)

Vomit-flavored jellybeans?

Funemployment

The video below might not make it look as though I work hard, but believe you me, I do.  I really, really do.  My writing has been taking off, the world has been spinning in a brand new way, life has been good.  Yet I have, in many ways, foregone having a social life in order to keep things moving.  I think one has to do this, at times,  in order to prioritize, and, in this economy, make money!  Today was wonderful in that I took a moment away to relax, which doesn't happen very often.  Usually, when Anevay is at school, I'm busting my butt, writing, revising, working on Excel spreadsheets, etc.  All good, positive, productive stuff, but today it was nice to let it all go and kick it with a friend.

Word of the day: Funemployment!!

Enjoy:

Seen around the nabe

A Midsummer Night's Dream

I haven't been very motivated lately to write blog postings- but that hasn't meant I haven't been having fun here in NY!!  Anevay and I spent Christmas and New Year's with friends, two days up in snowy Rochester with my family, and this past weekend, we went to the NY Ballet to see A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Now, anyone who knows me well appreciates my obsession with Shakespeare.  Apparently Santa Claus knows, too...  Every year, Santa puts two tickets into Anevay's Christmas stocking.  Usually, he seems to make an effort to obtain tickets in the orchestra- this year, however, he must have been on a budget, as the tickets were on the fourth tier.  For those not in the know, the fourth tier is the highest level, VERY far away from the stage.  My sweet girl, however, upon finding our seats, clasped her hands together and said, "Oh, we have a great view!  We'll be able to see even more this year than last year!  Santa brought us the best seats in the theater!"

The ballet was beautiful.  Balanchine also adored Shakespeare, as well as Mendelssohn's music, which he said inspired his choreography.  Anevay was captivated by everything she saw, and spoke particularly about the young dancers.

Balanchine often choreographed parts for children.  In this particular ballet, their little limbs offered a somewhat ethereal quality to the butterflies and small sprites they played. 

Anevay even laughed at one of my jokes (now that she's eight, sometimes she's too 'cool' to laugh with her mother), about the huge orb of a light in the theater being an overgrown disco-ball, and wondering if the dancers knew they were all dancing to the wrong genre of music (classical, as opposed to disco or electronic).

Special days such as our day at the ballet- taking the subway to the formidable Lincoln Center, getting warm drinks afterward at a beautiful, sunlit cafe, make me rejoice in our living in NY.  Sure, there are ballet companies in every city, but NY just has a magic that other places don't have.  If only Santa delivered Anevay tickets to huge productions more than once a year- although for the record, we delight in all the other things NY has to offer- free watertaxi rides to Governor's Island, Central Park, even hanging out with Anevay's bike by the East River...

Happy Belated New Year's To All!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Brooklyn

This was a great holiday! Friends from all over the world came over to celebrate with a long fondue meal. The video below shows how terrible we are at memorizing lyrics to even the simplest of Christmas songs. Happy Holidays!!

Stingray Sam screening at Union Pool

 

Come join a whole mess of cool people, including the talented Cory McAbee, this Sunday at Union Pool for an all-ages evening of movie watching, beer-guzzlin' and other entertainments.  Cory is the mastermind behind 'Stingray Sam', a five part space western.  Willa, his daughter and my kid's best friend, plays the part of 'girl', and is really darn good.  Starts at 7.

Cormac McCarthy's typewriter

 

Cormac McCarthy's old typewriter was recently put up at auction and went for over $200,000.  Crazier than this is the fact that he actually wrote on the thing!  More than a dozen novels, plays, short stories, screenplays, and everything else he's put down to paper!

My.  God.


From the NY Times:

Glenn Horowitz, a rare-book dealer who is handling the auction for Mr. McCarthy, said: “When I grasped that some of the most complex, almost otherworldly fiction of the postwar era was composed on such a simple, functional, frail-looking machine, it conferred a sort of talismanic quality to Cormac’s typewriter. It’s as if Mount Rushmore was carved with a Swiss Army knife.”

Read more, here. 

I'm off...  to get some writing accomplished!

Noko Jeans

 

Jeans made in North Korea?  Check out my write-up, here.

Early morning on Bedford Ave

I didn't notice the owner of the vehicle was sitting in the driver's seat reading the paper until after I snapped this shot- he was so surrounded by animals!  I love Anevay's expression...

Paul Richard

Perhaps some of you have seen the Paul Richard 'artworks' along Bedford Ave?  Read about the artist, here.

Christmas in Manhattan

Living in New York for any extended period of time, it's easy for one to forget that she actually lives in New York.

Confused yet?  Let me explain...

For the past month, I've been working once again in Midtown.  For weeks, holidays decorations have been hung, and I've been so busy working, that I have barely noticed!

Today I let myself take a walk for lunch, and took a few pictures of the goings ons happening in a two-block radius from where I work.

Take a look-see:

Above: Rockefeller Center

The skating 'pond' below the Rockefeller tree.

Radio City Music Hall.

Giant decorations in the reflecting pool across the street from my building.

Above: Pretty obvious.

On my way back to the office, I stopped at the famous Magnolia Bakery.  I rarely allow Anevay to have sweets, but after my lunch-time walk around Midtown, I was feeling guilty that Anevay hadn't been there with me to take it all in, and I thought a couple of cupcakes wouldn't hurt.

Above: A blurry picture of my building, taken on my way home.

One of the cupcakes I chose has a Rockette on it...  although it remains uneaten.  Anevay chose a totally over-the-top blue and white snowman cupcake, while I threw myself wholeheartedly upon a decadent chocolate heart-attack.


Today, although it was filled with the usual crowded subways and chaos of the city, felt pretty wonderful.  What made it perfect was being able to talk about it with Anevay, and to see her fact at the (unexpected) treat I had brought her.  I realized something pretty great- I don't shower my kid with many goodies, toys, cool clothes, or getting her own way, but I DO talk to her about things that matter- I tell her about my day and about things happening in the world, I take her to dinners filled with interesting people (often she is the only kid- fine by me, although I don't think I'll ever understand why other parents would want to so clearly separate their lives from those of their kids), and, when the mood strikes me to give her a surprise, she is so, so happy and thankful that it makes me nearly cry.  I feel pretty proud of myself for raising such a great kid, and especially proud of Anevay for having such a great and thoughtful head on her shoulders.

Brooklyn Revealed

Brooklyn Revealed is a great site about the history of our fair borough.  I learned all manner of fun things.  For example:

Did you have any idea that there was an area in Bushwick called 'Brewers Row', which once-upon-a-time produced most of the country's beer?  Apparently the last Bushwick Brewery closed in 1976- the year I was born- and Milwaukee became the capital of US beer-making (Somehow this seems appropriate, given my Wisco connection).

Or, even more interesting, did you have any idea that on the western tip of Long Island there was once a settlement founded by a woman?  Yep, tis true.  Her story is pretty cool.  I highly recommend you history buffs go to the site to read more and look through all the pics.

Bedford Ave Corporate Conundrum

The following post was reprinted in Williamsburg Greenpoint New + Art. Check it out.




I thought it was bad when Duane Reade opened a new location at N 5th and Kent. Who the hell does development at their head office?! Have they not yet figured out that we’re in a recession? I mean, c’mon, they can barely pay their underpaid employees, let alone figure out a way to pay their burgeoning debt (just a few months ago, there was talk of Duane Reade going under).

Call me blind, but I only noticed today that the hideous constuction across the street from Kings Pharmacy is going to become *gasp* yet another Duane Reade. Blame this oversight on the fact that my daughter and I have, for the last couple of years at least, avoided Bedford Ave like the plague. Don’t get me wrong, I love Williamsburg. I can’t imagine living anywhere else, but I’m not in love with the recent influx of new-blood that has moved into the ‘hood (I don’t even need to go into this, do I?!). Now, I have nothing against drunk NYU and FIT students, nor do I have a problem with trustfunders (I have love for all God’s critters, after all), but the things I love about my neighborhood are not the throng of people exiting the L-train with me each evening, and I certainly am not fond of the ugly, cheap constructions that now litter the waterfront and surrounding area. When I must walk down Bedford, I’m like a horse outfitted with blinders—after work I head as fast as I can for home, neither looking to my right nor left (although here’s where I insert another disclaimer: I love Bedford Ave. I’m loyal to my bookstore, my coffee shop, and other businesses found on this street).

I largely ignored the Duane Reade stores that seem to be on every corner of Manhattan, but now that one is moving across from Kings Pharmacy, I’m a little upset. It’s been easy for me to ignore the one on Kent. It’s largely been out of sight, out of mind. I can say emphatically that l will never feel compelled to walk through their doors. But this new one… Hm.

Here’s my conundrum:

I’m devoted to buying the few things I need from small business. I will remain committed to Kings Pharmacy. Yet Kings closes at 9pm. This has been an inconvenience I’ve had to deal with for years. Unfortunately, my kid doesn’t just come down with illnesses between the hours of 8am and 9pm. There have been times when I’ve needed to fill prescriptions, and fast. My reserve might be tested somewhere down the line when the clock strikes midnight and my girl is suffering an asthma attack. Kings: I hope you’re listening! I hope you can modify your hours now that evil is moving right across Bedford Ave!

I’m not the only one to have had problems with Kings. My roommate, unfortunately, is not able to use her Flex Spending dollars at their pharmacy, and has resorted to ordering online from Drugstore.com. Again, Kings, I hope you’re listening!

Kings, I love you. I love walking in and singing to the Cure on the radio as I wait in line. I love the sweet girl behind the counter at the pharmacy who was so sympathetic a few years ago after I broke my arm and had two surgeries (I think I lived at Kings for a couple of months, picking up various prescriptions).

What’s the answer to my problem? How will I deliver myself from temptation? Oh, I will do my best.

I will also pray wholeheartedly that Duane Reade, in its overzealous greed to grow even as their numbers have been so terrible, comes crashing down like the Tower of Babel. Is it wicked to think like this? Perhaps. Even so, I’d have you each think twice before spending your hard-earned cash at a business that cares nothing for its employees (firing them even as they build more stores!) and seeks to destroy neighborhood businesses (um, moving directly across the street from Kings is just an asshole move).

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Obama Pet!

Don't you just want to buy one for every single person you've ever met?  I think Michelle ought to put one in her organic garden at the White House, and Prez #44 should use them as centerpieces at his two state dinners a year. 

Simple...  elegant...  and small enough for White House party-crashers to slip into a large bag or coat!

Click here to read my brief write-up.