the other chuck.

photo credit: ansel adams gallery

i am obsessed with national geographic magazine.

my dad gets the subscription

and we get all the back copies. 

i am amazed at all of their photography
and stories.
recently this one caught me by the eye.
the photograph in the mag is of pia bay in chile.



"it is scarcely possible to imagine any thing
more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these
glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the 
dead white of the upper expanse of snow."

[charles darwin,
january 29, 1833]

lustful monday.

there are so many things on my list of things i would love to own if a) i could afford them and b) i could figure out how to get my grimey little fingers on them. for instance:

garance dore for gap t-shirt. i can only find this on e-bay for, oh, $158. boo.

fair vanity.

as a business traveler, i'm always looking for interesting literature to read on planes & trains. vanity fair, the atlantic monthly, national geographic, and occasionally real simple and readymade are top on my list of periodicals. one of my coworkers last week made fun of me for toting around a half-naked copy of gisele (vanity fair, may 2009). i tried to explain to him that it was quality reading. may's issue not only had a sexy photoshoot of gisele, but articles about rush limbaugh, the new york times family legacy, the bohemian club in the redwood forest, teddy roosevelt's contribution to our national parks (including some ansel adam's photography), the smuggling of the mona lisa, and an excerpt from tarantino's new movie with brad pitt, inglorious bastards (looks awesome).

and it has every fashion magazine's odds&ends (which i oftentimes find myself obsessing over) like:

• jenna lyon's (the creative director for j.crew) obsession with converse low chucks, white only ($45)
• beekman 1802's after the sun bar ($14.95 for a set; they make bug repellent bars too!)

• and the bulgari save the children ring ($290, $60 goes to save the children's "rewrite the future" campaign)

they even have a shout out to the dc cherry blossom festival. i'd have taken a picture of it from the magazine, but i threw it at my coworker this morning just to prove i wasn't reading trash. ( :

etiquette for the day.

a child or-a puppy

a very young, very captivating child, is, as we all know, an irrestiable attraction! but the really unfailing friend-maker is a puppy- not however, if you let it bark or slip thorugh the fence and idg your neighbor's lawn or chase her chickens, or frighten her baby.

p. 277 etiquette by emily post; copyright 1950.

daily reminders.

wow. robert guest's sampling of some of the thousands of letters he wrote to his two children, joanna & theo each day in their lunchbox is nearly tear jerking. i was at sister's apartment helping her & her artsy self research & brainstorm for an upcoming research project. her apartment, may i add, could be a college-age version of design*sponge, with homemade decorations that could easily pass for professional; quite the blooming artist. she had the current issue of esopus magazine (spring 2008) and i was flipping though. guest's advice is real and simple, yet profound. i hope i can have, much less impart, just a smidgen of his wisdom.
a few of my favourites:

thursday 11.14.96 joanna:
every day i try to say "i love you"
love is not easy (sometimes)
you love me even though i can make you mad (sometimes)
love isn't like the water faucet - you don't turn it on and off
love is constant, moves with our lives, changes as we change, never dies
dad
ps. you don't have to say "i love you" for me to know you do! (but it feels so good when you do!)

thursday 10.11.01 joanna:
today is the one month anniversary of the attack on the world trade towers. one month is not a very long time in the big scheme of things, but it still seems like it happened a million years ago. so much of our lives have changed in so many ways in such a short time. not just for us personally but for the whole country. it's a time to rebuild a time to examine ourselves - all of us - to see who we are - what do we do to make the world a better place? what do we do to spread love within our family, with our friends, with strangers we meet on the street, with people who feel and act differently than we feel or act? it would be a mistake to believe that we, as individuals, can do nothing to change the world. believe in the power of love! dad.

friday 12.19.03 joanna:
coffee tastes good in the morning. it smells like "morning" time. so does cooking bacon and toast and eggs. it all makes me think of breakfast. and breakfast makes me think of sitting here and writing morning notes like i've done for years now. i don't know how to tell you any more simply or directly of my love for you. i don't know how to dispell this feeling you have that mom and i somehow don't like the person you are becoming. if we talk about areas where we'd like to see you improve it doesn't mean we don't love you totally or that we don't recognize the many other areas in which you excel. it's our duty to try and help you. our love that makes us care. you are the joy of our lives! love, dad

thursday 10.17.02 theo:
open your mind theo. i know that we all see the world with our own eyes. our own unique eyes. from the time we are born our biggest challenge is to understand ourselves and to understand that other people are different from us - different not wrong. so learn from other people. ask questions and listen to the answers. listen, think, & learn. love, dad

fall arts preview.

happy constitution day! 221 years ago, 39 men changed the course of history. let's celebrate our citizenship & the capitol the united states of america! (insert cheez-ball comment here).

anywho, today the washington post's express has a whole segment on what's going on this fall in the metro dc area. i thought i'd put in my two cents- some of which were recognized by the wp, and some that, well, just don't miss!

top picks:

sept 19 & 20: old crow medicine show @ 9:30club. $25. unfortunately, i won't be able to make these shows, but these guys are the best thing to happen to modern bluegrass since allison krauss. go see them.

sept 27: national book festival on the mall. free. when else would you see r.l. stine & tiki barber at the same time?

sept 28: 5th annual crafty bastards arts & crafts fair in adams morgan. free. 'nuff said. les & i look forward to this all year long!

oct 4: david sedaris @ gw lisner auditorium $40. if you get me tickets to this i would love you forever.

oct 10: taste of georgetown. $5/tasting or $20 for 5 tastings. street vendors & food... mmmm!

oct 13-19: spa week in dc. $50 per treatment. fabulous. not really artsy. but worthy none the less.

oct 18-feb 17: corcoran gallery of art's exhibition - wounded cities; photographs by leo rubinfien. $10 student; $14 adult. the corcoran always impresses me. their exhibitions are phenomenal and their permanent collection is also quite good.

oct 26: last day to see the national portrait gallery's RECOGNIZE! hip hop exhibit. free. also notable: september 28 is the last day to see one life: kate and october 10 starts the women of our time: twentieth century photographs.

sometime late oct/early nov: super posh housewarming party at chez rachel & noel. ( ;

nov 8: cirque de soleil's kooza @ national harbor. about $50-75. i think the show actually opens on oct 30 and runs through nov 30. but i am going on nov 8. ( ;

nov 15-22: foto week dc. events are all around the city. i stumbled upon this online accidentally, and thought it might be a cool thing to check out!

dec 4: steven kellogg & the sixers @ 930club. $15. sk has come to dc quite a few times in the last two years, and i've always managed to miss him. pretty excited about seeing this show with les & ar.

all fall: the flea market & farmers market @ eastern market. free. there's nothing better on a chilly fall morning than bluebuck pancakes at market lunch wrapped up in your scarf and mittens with good company.

all fall: landmark's e street cinema. $8 student; $10 adult; $7.5 matinee. they have some great indie films out this fall. i'm pretty excited to see the duchess & burn after reading.

all fall: georgetown flea market. free. & finally back in georgetown!

2009:

feb 7: ira glass in charlottesville, va. i heart him. this american life is never taped live, so this is the next best thing!

april 18: michael pollan is speaking in richmond, va. bestselling author of in defense of food and the omnivore's dilemma.

go! explore! report back! ( :