Catching up at the end of the year...

You might have noticed a flurry of posts, updated knitting blog, more stuff on Flickr... and finally catching up with things at the end of the year!
- CD designed
- Some illustrations in a magazine
- Notes from our NY trip made (and drawn)
- Two websites designed and launched (more on them soon...)
Phew...
Hoping to see in the New Year with a clean desk!
:)

sniff...

Wednesday
Rainy wanderings around SoHo, visit the Housing Works bookshop then head home to pack.. goodbye drinks at the place with no name.. :(

Chinatown & Cream cheese

Monday / Tuesday - Philadelphia
Take the Chinatown but to Phila. to visit M & S in their house in Queen Village.... walk lots, then dinner (and chat) at Gnocchi's and drinks (and chat) at a bar nearby... Walk along the Delaware river (cold and bleak) then head up along South Street for coffee and a bagel (with cream cheese of course!) at the bean cafe... lots of people drawing and free pictures pinned to a board, fortune cookies and men knitting :)
Further along come to the Magic Gardens wich have spread all over to include even a garden shed! Visit the Loop shop here (for research!) and then meet S and visit the Mütter Museum.. leave feeling a little queasy and head back to Manhatten.

Ho-bo-ken or Hobo-ken?

Sunday
Meet M and J and their new baby O at Coffee Shop on Union Sq.. take the train to Hoboken in NJ to visit the girls at the craft fair and check out Patricia's Yarns (super friendly lady).
Meet D uptown for the most amazing Korean vegetarian food at Hangawi...yum!

under the BQE

Saturday
Back to Williamsburg to the Read Cafe for breakfast and newspapers... check out the Bust Holiday Craftacular on Driggs Ave. The venue (The Warsaw) is amazing, as is the craft fair; but so so so busy we had to leave w/out really seeing too much in detail..
Meet J and all his records on the L and go to the Boulevard Tavern for his and M's DJing thing... Meet C and M and lots of their friends.. a good night :)

Tubas!

Haven't written anything up here about NY cos was going to do it all when I get home, with pics..
But.. Last night we went to see M play tuba in his band.. Not just any band, but RUDE: Mechanical Orchestra.. A bonkers radical marching band (about 14 musicians, a flag / baton twirler, band leader w/ fancy hat and megaphone.. And dancers!). Any band that can include Mano Chao, Salt'n'Pepa & Le Tigre into a marching band format gets my approval :)
They played at Dumba*; a queer art collective in Dumbo (they filmed Short Bus there) it felt very similar to the old days of Cooltan :)

*eta: M has put up his pics up from the night at Dumba

Tuba (return)

Friday
Have to do some work for Sotheby's so make use of the free wi-fi @ Cake Shop and more coffee & bagels... :) walk downtown to Battery Park and check out the Skyscraper Museum (much tiner than I thought it'd be!). D has people over to the flat for her birthday and we have to duck out for a while to see M play tuba in his band..

coffe and bagels

Thursday
Coffee & bagels at the super lovely Cake Shop (152 Ludlow) and then head down to the Tenement Museum - very interesting, as is the debrief we took part in afterwards... v American with lots of 'sharing' and 'facilitating', but had a good chat / discussion with the other visitors about the visit...
Another office suite, another hidden away place; this time the Lark theatre (or Play Development Centre!) to see D in a play by her friend; The Danger of Bleeding Brown Blood. Meet lots of theatre people and D at the Vynl Diner (Hell's Kitchen) for Vynl-tini's after...

Buttons and babies

Wednesday
Partake in the NY ritual that is doing laundry in the basement... quite weird, but quite comforting too.. it's warm and has clean smells, and some kind people have left lots of books to read...
Visit Tender Buttons (143 E. 62nd St @ Lexington Ave - more about their Chicago store here) and am overwhelmed by the choice... love their framed button 'pictures' though so might use that as an idea..
Take the subway down to Brooklyn and walk through Prospect Park (love it!) to Brooklyn Museum of Art.. see Rob Mueck's amazing people.. can't stop 'watching' them to see if they move :)
Uptown to meet M and watch a taping of the Colbert Report - good fun, but v. short.. I guess once they put in all the ads it makes up a half an hour slot, but really it was about 12 mins filming!
Go to the Sidewalk Cafe (94 Ave A) for dinner and watch the bands... a strange British sound engineer makes announcements them in a 'scream-if-you-want-to-go-faster style that is a bit disconcerting...Pink Margaritas... :)

Christmas glitter

Tuesday
M taking pictures for Sothebys on York Ave.. walk around freezing cold Central Park then meet J for lunch near his work on 6th and 55th. Do a bit of Christmas Shopping at the Folk Art Museum and Moma Design shops. Walk down to Times Sq and Macy's and get maximum sensory overload of lights, Christmas songs etc.. (quite like it!)
Eventually find School Products in an office suite on Broadway... go nuts for Brown Sheep yarn (cannot believe this is up to £11 in UK and am buying it here for £3.50).. meet girls who have a stall at a craft fair in Hoboken on Sunday.
Meet D and go for a beer at Otto's Shrunken Head

Blue skies

Monday
In the morning make the most of the blue, blue skies and head up to the top of the Rockefeller centre.. walk down to SoHo and visit Pearl Paint for the endless quest for a: Luma watercolour inks (for my mum) and b: a Gocco. Went by Purl Patchwork and made the most of the weak dollar!
Eat at Blockheads Diner - yummy mexican food and super cheap margaritas

Hearts and Crafts

Sunday
Head over to Greenpoint for the Hearts and Crafts Affair (craft fair and weird music) at Cafe Grumpy (cafe grumpy, 193 meserole ave) and lunch at Eat Records. Meet J at the Beauty Bar (E14th St)...

Jet lag & beer

Saturday
Jet lag (quelle suprise...), drink litres of coffee at Read Cafe in Williamsburg, visit the City Reliquary in it's new, expanded location (370 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn), then head to Atlas for yet more coffee...
Meet J (yay!) @ the overcrowded Drop Off Service on Ave A, move to the ex-Brownies on E13th at Ave A meet up with C (more yay!) and friends and drink Takate...

Meet me at the...

City Reliquary! We went past this a few times in Brooklyn and it is fab... I like it even more now I have seen their website (with them wearing sashes, made by by their 'VP of Seams'!). I love their ideas of 'community beautification' (there were tubs and tyres filled with plants and flowers all around the on the pavement) - it is a great idea...

New York Stuff

I have (paper) notes from my trip away, but stuff has to be written out / scanned in so for now here are just a couple of links, thanks to bits of crumpled paper found in the bottom of my rucksack whilst emptying it!

We went to Cinders Gallery that had an exhibition of posters by bon goût - made me super happy looking at them and then a bit cross I wasn't doing more drawing myself.. one of the books reminded me of work done by Nate Williams so here is a link to his site just because it's good to look at..
:)

... got some cool ideas about doing a new Banjo show...

oh and I bought a copy of The Drama cos it featured an interview with the amazing talented Geneviève Castrée about her, and her new book - Pamplemoussi.

Also saw in ReadyMade mag a link to fallenfruit.org and it reminded me of how we made the jam this summer -  blackberries from Wormwood Scrubs and apples fallen on the grass in K's back garden.

Also on the plane home watched the film Crash (Paul Haggis) a brilliant film about people living in LA and their racial (in)tolerence... made me cry...

New York Yarn!

The part of the trip M was thrilled by* of course, was visting all the cool yarn shops out here! :) We went to Purl - at last... the previous visit we had a few hours before catching the plane and the blasted place was closed! - and saw the beautiful, *tiny* balls of Habu textiles.. aesthetically wonderful by themselves, goodness knows what they're like knitted up!
Also checked out The Point, a cafe-come-yarnstore which is such a great idea... you think you're done getting all you need, but sitting down over your latte and home-made cupcake, ah ha! you spot a ball of [insert cmuch coveted yarn here] up there on the wall... The one I went for was some boucle mohair made by the Be Sweet people, some Misti Alpaca (sooo soft!), Heavenly by Artful yarns and some Jo Sharp - for research, honest.. want to get people to stock this in the UK...

*secretly, I bet...

NY Diary

Monday: Dia Beacon

Take the train from Grand Central along the Hudson Valley up to Beacon, where the Dia Art Foundation has a gallery in a converted Nabisco factory. It is an enormous space, lit using only natural light and has work by Donald Judd (inside out plywood boxes), Bruce Nauman (mice invade studio), Michael Heizer (big holes), Joseph Beuys (felt and metal sculptures that make you feel deafened as you walk through them), Richard Serra (giant metal spirals that give you claustraphobia - in a good way - as you explore them) and Fred Sandback (bits of string that trick you that they are 3 dimensional objects). These are the artists I really liked. It was amazing to have that amount of space, and so few visitors to bug you as you experienced the sculptures. And experience you really did - there was space, time and quiet enough to really get the most from these exhibits. The only other place that has a similar feeling of space is the turbine gallery at the Tate Modern, but very rarely will you get the cathedral like quiet and emptiness in which to enjoy it.

That night we meet J at Fix, tucked away down a side street - it has curious textured wallpaper (it could have been a fancy patiserrie?) and a weird iron girder / winch in the ceiling (it could have been a slaughterhouse?). It closed London time, so we headed to Galapagos and then to The Levee which promised:
Booze, Pool, Dogs & Beer.
It delivered and I had fun with the dollar jukebox. It was really good to see J again.

NY Diary

Sunday: Weird Fog

After not being able to see the bridge (which is only a block away), the mist clears and then it is balmy 70C... Breakfast at Read Cafe, coffee and bagel, then we site outside and watch the marathon run by...

Some things that are being handed out:
Water in paper cups, bananas cut in half, paper towels, lollies.
There are lots of neighbourhood bands playing on the corner of virtually every block and paper flags waved from windows... It is always a joy to watch the marathon and see people's positive and optimistic reaction to it.

We meet M & J (pregnant!) and Lizzie and Patrick at Bonita - a Spanish Diner - for brunch. Lots of chilli with everything, cafe con leche and bizarre fluorescent pop. There are lovely mosaics inside.

Take the subway into town and walk through Union Sq, Washington Sq (beautiful coloured leaves on the trees), a million films sets in SoHo, then along to Ludlow to inspect the damage. The Pink Pony is still there, but Luna Lounge has gone (making way for luxe flats) as have the artist studios we visited before at an open house night (more luxe apartments).
Big fat raindrops fall as I don't find a soft spot for The Soft Spot bar back accross the river...

NY Diary

Arrive at M's in Williamsburg... Jetlag-a-rama.. A quick coffee at the Verb Cafe, a delicious pizza slive at the impossibly small Charlston take out, then into town to be welcomed by free beers at the Raven!

Gotham Girls Roller Derby

Gutted we came home too early for this - Attack of the Roller Girls - this Friday (12th Nov)... if you're in NYC then check it out!.... More NY stories, links and pics to follow.... just got to get some sleep now...

home time

Back to London tonight...
: (

cold & wet

ok it is now cold enough to make your face go numb...
just spent 3 hours in the Pink Pony thawing out over coffee, papers and chatting with friends...
: )

NY diary

email... soho... café café... postcards... photos & scarf for tim... lower east side... max shopping (coat & dress)... ludlow (coffee in pink pony)

'always remember to brush your

'always remember to brush your teeth

(with coffee)
(or rain)'

Sign outside Verb cafe in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Way up high...

The Empire State building is lit red, white and blue... the wind is blowing at 64 mph up there and pretty cold... amazing view of lights... There are pretty much no Americans at the top & the line to get tickets was around 3 people... hum..

NY diary

email... walk up through greenwich village... atomic wings at xxx... central park in autumn sunshine...
Meet matt & jim @ bedford ave... verb café for machiatto & pumpkin pie... stinger bar then luxx...

NY diary

email... ludlow (presents)... grilled cheese NYC (blackjack - hold the tomato)... more email... walk uptown, go up empire state building at dusk (not many people - no queue!, very windy)... mike (technology)... meet matt, jim & nanoespresso @ the raven.... pizza slice.

go and see...

'Bowling for Columbine' the Michael Moore film...
It'll make you wonder...

music in a bar...

The bartender looks with a flashlight into the cash register drawer like it's going to give him an answer...
The waitress counts the same $6 over and over...
The girl in the band sings about love on 1st Ave.

NY diary

rain... bank... email... walk down to city hall (rain, leaves, tears & 11 September memories)... subway to the NY public library ('new york eats out')... more rain... home... cinema... the living room on stanton (beer w/ new york folk from jennifer jackson)... bread & coffee @ the pink pony... home.

NY diary

email (wireless)... rain... walk uptown (everything closed for veterans day)... bryants park... public library (closed)... central station (pretty but not that functional?!)... walk down the east side... smoothie in starburst cafe (gramercy park)... home... comedy night @ luna lounge on ludlow (see 5 comediens incl. bill bailey for $2)... grilled cheese nyc... Home.

odd things in NY

1) Cauliflowers are planted as flowers
2) 'Gourmet' is applied to absolutely everything
3) Whenever there's a possibility, something will be wheeled... luggage, mail, laundry, small children, animals, vegetables - anything!!

NY diary

walk to brooklyn bridge... cross over to atlantic ave + court st to go underground (huge line, people reading books as they queue)... walk up to montague (eat nachos & chilli @ annie's blue moon)... walk up along brooklyn heights esplanade then take subway to marcey ave to see matt in williamsburg... tops supermarket (milk carton mural)... clovis press bookshop... bedford ave... brooklyn industries... anytime ny cafe... view of manhattan over the river... artists lofts... spanish laundrettes... dinner & beer w/ matt, andy, blythe & jordan.

NY diary

walk lafayette (give stuff to supreme)... bowery (re-conditioned cookers)... houston (2nd hand store - science stuff/clocks)... elizabeth street (pretty lingerie - nisa)... w. Broadway (posh - art stalls)... canal st (hassle w/ security)... café café... open studios on chrystie (jealous!)... nyu cybercafe (blogger + email)... home (sleep)... KGB bar (old russian bar / theatre) to meet matt... the raven (v. Busy - drunk peeps).

gourmet breakfast

Muscat french toast with almond and fresh fig marscapone... (why it is a great idea to stay at a B&B run by a chef in NY!)
heh....

NY diary

fresh oj, coffee & hot rolls... walked lots around soho / e. Village... broadway panhandler - super nice cook store... union sq market - pretzels & jazz... sleep... dojos for dinner... (overrated) korova for beer... meet jim, lois & mark @ the raven - fab!

NY diary

super tech plane... b&b in soho - Rose an eccentric british-raj-era chef... lime & soda @ botanica... jetlag

woo hoo!

New York here we come...
: )

New York....

Looking foward to going to NY next week...
Dying to see these gals!