Molly's Place

Today's Highlight:
An impromptu red wine picnic at one of the most beautiful spots in the US. I think it's called Owen's Valley, or maybe Long River Valley, but I'd like to refer to it only as Molly's Place.

Yesterday

Yesterday's Highlight:
Sitting in a giant outdoor hot tub in the middle of a giant blizzard with David and four of my nephews, remembering how brave children are when it comes to being cold. (My one nephew made a snow angel wearing only his swim trunks!)

*photo from .BWJ.

The Quest for the Perfect Burger

This new charm necklace was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers (Naomi from Rockstar Diaries) and her quest to find the perfect burger! (Check out her blog here)

Prufrock

Here is a new charm necklace inspired by poetry. This piece was inspired by my absolute favorite poem ever, The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock (my first "Tuesday Poetry Post").

I used the following lines as inspiration:

"For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?"

Here are a few other necklaces I made inspired by poetry:
Bukowski's There's a Bluebird in my Heart:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=43787033

John Keat's Bright Star
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35995587

What I did yesterday

Not so gracefully skied down a mountain in Mammoth, CA.
We're here with family for a few days, breathing in the fresh air and pure beauty.

Tuesday Poetry Post-Walking Around by Pablo Neruda

Walking Around by Pablo Neruda

It so happens I am sick of being a man.
And it happens that I walk into tailorshops and movie
houses
dried up, waterproof, like a swan made of felt
steering my way in a water of wombs and ashes.

The smell of barbershops makes me break into hoarse
sobs.
The only thing I want is to lie still like stones or wool.
The only thing I want is to see no more stores, no gardens,
no more goods, no spectacles, no elevators.

It so happens that I am sick of my feet and my nails
and my hair and my shadow.
It so happens I am sick of being a man.

Still it would be marvelous
to terrify a law clerk with a cut lily,
or kill a nun with a blow on the ear.
It would be great
to go through the streets with a green knife
letting out yells until I died of the cold.

I don't want to go on being a root in the dark,
insecure, stretched out, shivering with sleep,
going on down, into the moist guts of the earth,
taking in and thinking, eating every day.

I don't want so much misery.
I don't want to go on as a root and a tomb,
alone under the ground, a warehouse with corpses,
half frozen, dying of grief.

That's why Monday, when it sees me coming
with my convict face, blazes up like gasoline,
and it howls on its way like a wounded wheel,
and leaves tracks full of warm blood leading toward the
night.

And it pushes me into certain corners, into some moist
houses,
into hospitals where the bones fly out the window,
into shoeshops that smell like vinegar,
and certain streets hideous as cracks in the skin.

There are sulphur-colored birds, and hideous intestines
hanging over the doors of houses that I hate,
and there are false teeth forgotten in a coffeepot,
there are mirrors
that ought to have wept from shame and terror,
there are umbrellas everywhere, and venoms, and umbilical
cords.

I stroll along serenely, with my eyes, my shoes,
my rage, forgetting everything,
I walk by, going through office buildings and orthopedic
shops,
and courtyards with washing hanging from the line:
underwear, towels and shirts from which slow
dirty tears are falling.

*image from DBC09

Saddle Shoes

I've been wanting a pair of saddle shoes forever, so I got a pair from Shoebuy.com and the heel broke off yesterday (the second time I wore them)...not cool. I was able to put the heel back on, but still, not cool. Maybe that happened because I'm a cheapo and only spent $25 on them?

Catch your Dreams

Walnut Dream Catcher $18 at my shop

Aurel Schmidt

My new artist obsession. Saw this piece at the Whitney Biennial last weekend and can't get it out of my head.





images from http://www.whitney.org
and http://www.fecalface.com

Craftland

I like to pretend these beautiful gems came from an alternate universe named Craftland. In Craftland, colored pencils in every shade of the rainbow sprout from the ground instead of flowers, the lakes and rivers are filled with colorful watercolor paints, and geodes are made from rainbow hued beads.
(I should have done this a long long time ago. I finally re-photographed my walnut geodes...)
Available in my shop for $20

Artificial Daylight

When I was working in the gallery world, we had a show with George Ciardi's beautiful photographs. Thought I'd share some today. Aren't they fantastic?

The Best Of

Highlights from my weekend in New York City: (in no particular order)

1. Walking through Greenwich Village channeling young Bob Dylan
2. Sunday morning run in Central Park (yes, it felt weird to take a cab to go on a run, but I could not pass up the chance to test my legs out in NY on a warm spring morning)
3. Best fries ever (see post below)
4. Lunch with an old friend and her husband (she and her husband are seriously incredible people)
5. Several slices
6. Seeing another William Kentridge exhibition (2 shows in 2 weeks!) at MOMA
7. The Whitney Biennial -here's my favorite piece, by Aurel Schmidt

8. Marina Abramovic at MOMA
9. Salt bagels with scallion cream cheese
10. Dinner with James and Vernise in the West Village (James played "Here Comes the Sun" at our wedding ceremony
11. Drinking Makers Mark Manhattens in Manhatten at the Ace Hotel
12. Going to my first palm reader who told me I am with my soul mate and that I will have 3 kids.


*photo credits:
1. Bod Dylan
2. Central Park
5. Pizza
6. William Kentridge
7. Aurel Schmidt
8. Marina Abramovic
10. Bar Pitti
11. Ace Hotel

Resto

On Saturday night, after a failed attempt at eating at Anthony Bordain's restaurant Les Halles (we had 8:15 reservations, and after almost an hour with no table and very rude hostesses, we left) we stumbled upon a gem called Resto, where I proceeded to have the best french fries I have EVER eaten. Ever.
Resto is a little Belgium restaurant in NYC's Gramercy Park/Murray Hill neighborhood that has a load of Belgium beer, mouthwatering food, and extremely friendly staff.
(I'm serious, best fries ever. I'm not saying that because they came with mayonnaise, they really were the best ever!)

Guggenheim

David+Me+The Guggenheim=happiness

My Affair with Marc (I'm so sorry Karl)

I saw this skirt at the Marc Jacobs store in Soho on Sunday, and I just haven't been the same since.

Marc, I know that last week I said Papa Bear (Karl Lagerfeld) will always be my number one, but the thing is, we both know that when you get to be as ripe as Papa Bear, I probably won't be able to even look at your clothes because I will go into cardiac arrest as they will be so heart stopping.



HELLO! Are you seeing the pearl details????

Tuesday Poetry Post-Robert Frost The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

*photo by objectif lune

I really do HEART NY

I've been in NYC the past two days! Flying back to Chicago today. Pure heaven, you are NY.

*beautiful photo of the Flatiron building from Joep R.

I HEART NY

Dear New York,
I love you.
I just wanted you to know that.
Love,
Michelle

First day of spring...

...and out my window right now is a blizzard. Thanks Chicago.
I'm going to go balance an egg. (Which I just learned you can do any day of the year, not just the spring equinox. I've always been a bit gullible.)

*image from .lisakimberly.

Pique

Here are a few shots of my necklaces which are in a pop-up shop at Alphonse Berber Gallery in Berkely, California. They are in the process of developing a regular pop-up shop called Pique which I am delighted to be a part of!

It's Good to be Alone

For the full experience, press play and read along.

Spiders (Kidsmoke) - Wilco

The sun will rise, we'll climb into cars
The future has a valley and a shortcut around
Who will wear the crown of drowning award
Hold a private light on a Michigan shore

You fool me with a kiss of kidsmoke
From a microscopic home
It's good to be alone

I'll be in my bed
You can be the stone
That raises from the dead
And carries us all home

There's no blood on my hands
I just do as I am told

Lyrics by Wilco-Spiders (Kidsmoke)

Photograph by Luis Gonzalez Palma

Draw draw

I have not been drawing enough at all, so I'm going to start focusing more attention on my other etsy site that houses all my paintings and drawings. I'm working on my figure drawings on wood panel and it feels so good to get back to my roots.

I HEART Running

New running necklace for all you track stars.

La Madia

Dinner at La Madia last night. They have the best Margarita pizza ever.
Their wood burning oven doesn't hurt either.

As I was shooting this photo I was having a flashback to my trip to Austria last summer. Pretty much all of my photos looked exactly like this: