ART and FRIENDS!

This weekend I had the privilege of attending my friend Amber's first solo art show!  To make things even more exciting, I got to play host to a group of my best friends who were all here to celebrate Amber as well.  All in all a joyous weekend.  The show continues at Verameat for the next month so check it out.  Lastly, an awesome Brooklyn band called Live Footage played at the opening - check out the video below.

Unseen Photos

Photo by Astrid Kircherr, via

Miles, John, & Yoko, via

I love coming across Beatles photos I've never seen before.  For the story behind the first one see When You Awake.

C'est La Même Chanson

When John and I were driving around Normandy we became obsessed with a French oldies station called Nostalgie.  One of the songs they played a lot was Claude Francois' rendition of the Four Tops' "The Same Old Song."  It's kind of the best thing ever, as is the dancing in this video.

Week in Review #31

Twin Peaks opening credits. ABC, 1990-1991.

Wow, what a first week back.  In the last ten days I've started school and two new jobs, had exciting reunions with all of my friends, unpacked, and even restocked the house with groceries.  Unfortunately I haven't gotten around to dropping off laundry.  That means I still have laundry from Africa.  Gotta get on that this week.  Perhaps most newsworthy is the discovery of brunch at Bondi Road on the Lower East Side.  It's $18 for endless mimosas, bloody marys, and greyhounds with your meal.  That pretty much was my Saturday.  The rest of today is dedicated to homework, and maybe if I'm lucky an episode of Twin Peaks before bed.  Seeing my friend Priya in Amsterdam inspired me to start the whole series over again.

Bringing Vacation Back Home

Bitterballen from Gollem in Amsterdam.

It's hard being back from vacation and having to adjust to real life again.  One of our favorite discoveries in Amsterdam was the Dutch treat of bitterballen.  As defined on Wikipedia they are "a savory Dutch meat-based snack, typically containing a mixture of beePhoto by Oh MG.f (minced or chopped), beef broth, flour and butter for thickening, parsley, salt and pepper."  Can you say delicious?  While I've never encountered bitterballen here in New York, Design*Sponge posted a recipe recently!  Will have to try it out one day soon.

Native American Chic

River Island Faux Fur Coat

While stuck in Amsterdam last week, John and I wandered into River Island, a UK-based store that we don't have here in the States.  Of course I fell in love with something that was too expensive, the Native American inspired fall jacket pictured above, and yes I'm still thinking about it.  Will be on the lookout for a more affordable version through the fall - send any leads my way!  In the same fashion vein though, I did treat myself to the Aztec print scarf.  I love fall clothing!

River Island Rust Aztec Print Scarf Snood

Happy Birthday Freddie

Beyond appreciating the classic Queen hits, I don't  know much about one of John's favorite musicians, frontman Freddie Mercury.  Recently though I feel like things Freddie-related have been all over.  I've been hearing awesome songs that I never knew were Queen and last month I was on Zanzibar, Mercury's birthplace where the locals are very proud of their native son.  While I didn't go to the bar dedicated to him, I did get John a postcard that said We Will Rock You with an awesome photo of Freddie.  Today would have been his 65th birthday and Google made a very cool tribute video.  Check it out.  For a good short bio see here.

New Fall Wardrobe?

This collection really makes be miss Mad Men.

Images via.

Week in Review #30

Whew, I guess I've been on a bit of a blogging break (I even missed a Week in Review!).  In the last week we've been from Normandy to Paris and then to Amsterdam where we were stuck for an additional four days due to Irene.  I finally returned home on Wednesday, exactly THREE months and a day after I left Brooklyn for Uganda.  Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, but for now I'm just happy there is a three day weekend before school resumes again.  Now, on to unpacking.

Photos by JM.