urgh

flight is going to suck so bad.

because of snowstorm Draco American Airlines canceled our flight. turns out draco did nothing.

now we are booked for a 6pm flight out of grand rapids

we have a two hour drive to the airport
flight from grand rapids to dallas,
dallas to los angeles (arrive after midnight, our time 3am)
wait for baggage, shuttle, check in a hotel
shuttle, back to the airport at 8am, re check in
LA > Puerto Vallarta arrive 4pm?

that's fucking 24 hours of traveling.

the moon

can you believe the semester is almost over?

i am currently obsessed with the moon, stars and space.  while doing research for my final painting, i learned something new.  did you know the crater side is the side we (earthlings) never see?  it is also the side that meteors hit so that is why it is so bumpy (with craters).  insteresting, huh?

wedding weekend

last weekend we were in LA for my brothers wedding.  it was so wonderful.  a magical day. will post more later.

art classes

When I was a little girl, I used to draw a lot.  I wanted to take art classes in college but they were too many hours and I had two jobs (and shh on academic probation for a semester).

I am really happy I can take art classes now.  This semester I am taking a painting class.  My second painting class ever.  The teacher is really good and I am having a good time.  Although the critiques scare me still. 

The second project deals with memory.  I have an idea of what I want to do.  I explained my idea to the teacher and he told me to look up an artist.  The artist is Antonio Lopez Garcia.  I know him from his baby heads at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.  <-- I think my teacher was impressed with my museum knowledge.  I hate you still Mr. Lubenkov.  You suck.

He is a Spanish painter and known for his realistic style.  Well since his introduction, I want to paint more still-life's.  Isn't his stuff gorgeous?

The teacher asked me if I was from Boston (because I knew about the scuptures). Hello?  I don't have the awful accent (Boston/Maine accents are the worst). I guess my ebonics/valley accent isn't very nice either. 

3 years

Today marks my third year in Mount Pleasant.  Time goes by so quickly.  I still remember leaving LA that Wednesday morning.  

Today we started our day reading the Sunday Times.

We also hung out by the river.  Such an idyllic day.  This makes me really happy.

... and to top it off Adam is cooking me dinner (i think its mac & cheese and panko chicken).  I am really lucky.

exercise

My brother is getting married!! I am so excited. I get another sister!

When I was younger I always wanted a sister (a twin sister).. but maybe it was good I was the only girl. Girls get all the mom's attention. :)

As usually I am going off in a tangent.  I have to start exercising for the wedding.  Is it working? No.  But as I type, I am eating popcorn and having a cocktail.  But I did go to yoga today. My first Friday class in a year.  The regulars were all there and said, "today is the return of the prodigical child." that's good, (Adam says that is probably not the word they used)?  Okay must start exercising and eating right (sips cocktail).

photo by charles masters for real simple magazine

grill

Have you been grilling this summer?

We haven't been able to grill as much since we've been out of town a lot this summer.  But when we do Adam grills a lot of fish and vegetables (and pizzas!). My favorites are the branzino and mahi mahi. 

Image by Francesco Tonelli for the NYT

projector

I'm a bit of Sofia Coppola-file.  I like her style, her films, and I especially like this photo of her bedroom.

I've always wanted a projector in the home to watch movies or to have screenings in the backyard.  We've had one successful screening of Blue Velvet.  I totally want to have more screening/parties.

photo via

Chicago Weekend (Day 4)

Our final day in Chicago. Turns out that Leslie was also in town visiting friends this weekend. So we met up and had brunch at Lula Cafe.

Mimosas!

Leslie ordered the graham cracker griddle cakes. It was like having smores for breakfast.

I ordered the chorizo and new potato hash. Delicious!

After we ran an errand at the Art Institute, we drove 23 miles out of Chicago to Arlington Heights to go to Mitsuwa Chicago. I think it is the biggest Japanese Market in the Midwest. I really miss all my markets out here.

We had a late lunch at the food court.  I ordered from Santouka. The usual.

Chicago Weekend (Day 3)

We visited the Museum of Cotemporary Art Chicago. The museum store is supposed to be the best store in the US.

We started our day at a brunch place called Nana's.  Adam's huervo rancheros

my nanadict

table scene

my bloody

i took adam to see the bean/cloud. he was pretty pissed because i took too many photos of him.

Chicago Weekend (Day 2) continued...

The reason why we came out to Chicago was for a Guided by Voices show. They played at a pretty cool venue called the Metro. It kind of reminded me of the Troubadour in LA. Ian said we could kill two birds with one stone (it is really close to Wrigley Stadium).

Guided by Voices

This is their 3rd encore. It was awesome.

Adam and the die hard fans were singing their hearts out.

here are some reviews of the show:
brooklynvegan
timeoutchicago

Chicago Weekend (Day 2)

We visited the Art Institute of Chicago on Saturday. They had a special Lichtenstein exhibit.

The Art Institute's most famous painting is probably Seurat's Sunday Afternoon.

Ruscha

Rothko (you know, I didn't start to appreciate Rothko until I started taking Graphic Design classes).

I made Adam go to all the intelligentsia coffess in Chicago. 

My latte

Chicago Weekend (Day 1)

Adam and I drove to Chicago for a long weekend last week. It is about 260 miles from Mount Pleasant (closer than LA to LV).

The husband got hungry after a couple of hours so we stopped at a cute town in Michigan called Benton Harbor.  We had a lunch

Once we arrived in Chicago, Adam wanted to eat again so we had a snack and cocktails at Chez Joel.

Cocktails

French onion soup

The Chicago Skyline

Boxes of cereal at Ian's.  He lives alone.

Ian took us on a tour of Logan's Square (hip neighborhood of Chicago).  It was awesome to catch up. 

kind world

have you seen this tumblr page kind world?  i think i saw the link through npr.

 

 

http://kindworld.tumblr.com/

be kind, rewind.

travel: Chicago

we are taking a roadtrip to chicago this weekend for a guided by voices show.  guided by voices is to adam as radiohead is to me, well at least in the 90s-00s.  adam has seen them many times in many states.  this will be my first GBV show. so excited.  do you think it will be bro-ey?<- not a word.

we'll be making pit stops at superdawg and mitsuwa chicago.  better make a list.

travel: new york

So last weekend, we took a kind of spur of the moment trip to New York city.  We realized we haven't taken a summer vacation with just the two of us for no reason trip. :)

The last time we were in new york was in 2009-2010 to buy my ring.

When I'm visiting a city, I get so excited every morning I wake up really early (5am).  Adam won't wake up till 10am at least (he's on vacation mode).  So we've started this new thing.  I wake up, have a coffee, croissant and go people watch.  I bring back a coffee and croissant for Adam.  We start our day.  This is my pre-breakfast (this is one of the many reasons I am so fat).

Another one of my pre-breakfasts at Le Pain Quotiden

We didn't have a schedule.  We ate and drank a ton, saw friends, visited museums.  Almost got Dan Ruhe to come visit. 

dream car

Remember my Dean and Deluca/ Felicity obsession? (this juice cost $7)

What's a trip to New York without an everything bagel?

I love the city.  I can't wait to go back.