The Sylvester spot and Travis Somerville

I've been house sitting for my people, my lovelies that collect antiques and art, martini glasses and cats, flowers and wine. An ever prevalent artist among their collection is one named Travis Somerville. I went to see some of his work at the Catherine Clark gallery near MOMA.

Travis is an American artist (who was born to civil rights activists). He is known for tackling Southern racial issues, his works incorporate collage, painting and sculptural elements, as well as site-specific installations.

My favorite piece of his is 'The great American let down' where he took vintage photos, old photos, painted half of them in blue representing water and placed them on top of a tin roof, representing those lost in New Orleans (see below though the photo does little justice).

I am not sure what the following two are titled, but they are in the house, ever prevalent Kennedy, great large pieces in the hall.

His most famous work (in my opinion) which toured with the Smithsonian is 'The only begotten son' below, it is such a huge and fiercely moving piece.

A few black and whites.

Feeling a bit nostalgic, a bit sad for the past and what can not be....so I thought black and white photos were fitting.

Tomorrow is a new day.

I am sorry, but unfortunately I can't tell you where these are from (I've had them for awhile).

Just Muse, just brilliant.

All I can say is that Muse put on a great show! They played covers, new stuff and old stuff and their visuals changed with every song. One of the best concerts that I've seen at the Oakland Arena! Check out these photos which attest to its greatness.

PS The first picture, those are plastic eyeballs sent out into the crowd, great big balloons filled with red confetti just waiting to be burst by the mosh pit, letting off a feast for the eyes.

China

I am ready to catch another flight. I believe it's that time when I should go visit my father whose other life is in China. I haven't been there before so I am excited. I just have to see about the visa and buy my ticket for May. I also want to stop in London and visit my peeps there! Here are a few photos to get me in the mood:



I might need to bring a mask, below is a smoggy photo of Chengdu, look at all of that carbon omission!


Photos from: loveinflation, dutchuncle, downa, and youcleverfox

Things I like: floor to ceiling bookcases

I've been thinking a lot about bookcases or bookshelves as on my list to do is to organize my literature collection. I love a floor to ceiling piece because I have a lot of books and they effortlessly bring color to a room. Check out the ones below:



And a more unconventional piece designed by Stanislav Katz from freshome:


Photos from Desiretoinspire, Freshome, andApartmenttherapy.

Maybe you can have your cake and a chocolate cookie too.

This past week has been special, but sad.

I've house sat, gone for a few cruises in the mini and celebrated the life of my uncle who passed away. I met with a friend for sushi and a walk on the beach at sunset, went for oysters, and went for a tour of Deutch Bank. I did some temping for an all woman's commercial real estate agency, super intense, super fun. I went to the aquarium with a few friends and listened to music.

And this weekend I went down to Monterey/Carmel. I always forget how beautiful it is there. My mother and I stayed at my Godmother's place. It's great and so is her neighbors and her dog Pip (and neighbors' dog Bently). I missed her and her 'honey's', 'pet's' and 'darling's', she truly is the best godmother. Saturday we headed to a jazz performance by my cousin Marie, who was brilliant on the bass, she also plays the huge trombone (I think). Dinner of lobster/halibut and ice cream on the pier followed with three of my aunts, mother and two cousins, a nice little family treat!

I am dreaming of a place of my own today.

Someday

When I have my own office......

When I have my own living room (and I am not even into pink)....

Someday when I have my own room.....

If I had a lot of space (look at that swing!!)....

If I had a big blue bath.......

If I had an outside space or even a studio......

Someday!

Images from apartmenttherapy.com, marthastewart.com, elledecor.com

Don't give up the ship!

He was a beast of a man.

Our common good should come first.

Director of all things important.

Your wish is my command.

She sucked the light out of the sun.

Photos taken randomly from the last week or so.

My homemade invites.

Micaela is having a baby, that's right! And so I thought I would hand-make her baby shower invites. All was good until I realized I sent out 40 or so of my creations to her close family and friends with her name spelled incorrectly! The only saving grace was that her mother didn't notice and I did ask Micaela to proof read what I wrote. C'est la vie! I got the purple paper from Paper Source and had my friend photoshop Micaela and her husband's photo. Her colors for her baby girl are purple and teal. I had different color purples and different color ribbon (as I ran out of various ribbon). I used the ribbon to tie together the velum with shower details and the purple card with their baby photos. Oh how I love stationary.

Down in the dumps....an update

So I didn't pass the foreign service exam, didn't get the job, didn't win the lottery, didn't....just didn't. Needless to say I haven't been the happiest of bunnies so I contacted a career counselor at my father's behest. I have a meeting next week. I also organized a few friendly plans for the next few days to take my mind of things. I am off to Bar Basics tonight. And then I am meeting another friend at Mua Friday.

I found these photos which make me happy (very vintage and California-ish) by Jen Zahigian on Design is mine a favorite blog of mine, go check it out.

I've also been writing again, slowly, oh so slowly and I found some great music, Tindersticks, Zero 7, Tempertrap, just to name a few, which I am excited to burn and share. I've got to post my photos too, of my lovely little invite and my paint job on my mother's dresser (it didn't really work out, but oh well).

Straight up now tell me.....

I make fun of my neighbor Debra because she likes a few shows that I would never go near, like American Idol, but last night she forced me (yes forced me) to watch Andrew Garcia do his acoustic rendition of Paula Abdul's, 'Straight up now tell me' on the show and it was great! I wonder why no other artist has ever re-made Paula's song?!