i missed my calling.

in another life, i'd be joining these lovely ladies in the giant margarita for a massive new year's eve bash

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

the bizcochitos and minted nuts are made, the kids are out of school, our anniversary has passed...so here is wishing you all a very merry christmas and, in case i don't post again before the new year, a happy 2012. go out and enjoy winter!

image fail

pop, 1978

my dad had a massive equipment failure the day this was taken and i'd so love to know how to use photoshop well enough to fix this image. any ideas?

UPDATE! a new friend in london, mike s., very kindly worked on this image...and his results are astounding:

honestly, i'm completely blown away by the results. my mom is going to freak. out. thank you, mike!

the one in which rich argues against a cash bar

received in an email this afternoon: "I think they should have a cash dessert bar, since not everyone eats dessert, and a piece of fucking cake is probably worse for you than a glass of red wine."

i love rich logic.

thanksgiving is just around the corner...

i bet they could pass for turkey if served with enough gravy

...are you ready? i'm not! but, i did grab some awesome vintage thanksgiving postcards off of ebay and am getting more in the mood. i'd probably feel even more in the mood if i'd put away my halloween decorations.

when rich saw i was looking at vintage postcards, he said: "i want one with the turkey being eaten alive"...and then he laughed at menacingly. so, sweetie, this is for you. love you.

this may be the year to go vegan if haunted turkeys aren't your thing

there has to be a better way to evaluate a turkey than this

i can't even come up with anything here. it's just far too confusing. i have no idea what the artist was trying to convey as a tribute "for thanksgiving." do we really want to know why the little boy wearing a bow loincloth?

the master gardener in me loves these cards--i thought about buying them, then realized i could buy the actual trees they represent for the same price. this is a chestnut (horse chestnut?)...

...oak (red oak?)...

...and some lovely invasive-if-you-don't-keep-up-with-them wild grapes.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

rich, c. 1996

rich, atop san marco in venice. this picture just makes me smile.

crystal bridges museum of american art

interior courtyard at night, crystal bridges museum

this past weekend rich granted me a reprieve to go to the opening of the crystal bridges museum of american art in bentonville, arkansas. i'd been excited about this institution since i first heard of it; i was thrilled to actually get tickets and go see it in all its inaugural glory. i have to say: it did not disappoint in the slightest. it was beautifully designed by moshe safdie with a comprehensive american art collection put together, largely, by alice walton; it is the louvre of the ozarks. more than 50% of the collection is on view (but almost 100% of the paintings--i asked about this because most museums are only to show about 10% of their total collection). i actually went twice: first on 11/11/11, opening night, to get a general glimpse of everything, then the next day to really spend some concentrated time on the work.

and it was a flippin' joy to actually get to use my ph.d. for something, even if the museum is judd-free...

entrance and aluminum tree

this is what you see from street-level, before descending the pathway to the entrance

rooftop garden sproutlings (this is located on top of the gift shop, which you do not have to walk through to exit the museum)

interior at night, in the dining area

hallway between museum offices and "wonder world" exhibition space

detail, vaulted ceilings--these were made of pressed native arkansas pine and shaped to make ribs spanning the width of the wing

interior courtyard by daylight

lunch

this was tremendous, and definitely one of my favorites: devorah sperber's "after the last supper," 2005. it is made from ball chain (like what you find on a ceiling fan) and 20,736 spools of thread...and a sphere on a viewing stand. amazing.

another view of "after the last supper"

detail of the viewing sphere (image is righted by the curvature of the glass)

detail of christ, made entirely out of spools of thread. loved it long time.

"rosie the riveter," by norman rockwell. check out the copy of "mein kampf" she's got her foot on.

lovely little (yes, it is actually small) o'keeffe, "evening star VII"

josef albers, "homage to the square," 1964. LOVE this. this was about as minimal as the collection got, and it's not technically minimalism, but it's a masterpiece nonetheless.

intriguing copley portrait, not for the woman portrayed...

...but for her pet flying squirrel. it's rocky before he (she?) found bullwinkle.

gilbert stuart's "george washington"--this is one of the paintings east coast critics were complaining about losing to arkansas

a swath of abstract expressionism by adolf gottlieb

baby zane and E.T.

party on, silly boy...happy 100-day birthday, zane!

halloweeeeeen!

sophie bunny on halloween, and yes she did dress herself for school

halloween! it's one of our favorite times of the year here in the triangle. this year we were utterly blessed by the presence of my most beloved sister, lindsay, and little man zane, her two-month old. and the pumpkins were tremendous--rich and i stalked a guy in a pickup driving around town with a bunch of 100+ pound pumpkins, and we bought two for our house...and i got to carve 'em. we had such a blast and were totally thrilled to share zane's first halloween--can't wait for next year. boo!

kitty lindsay and pumpkin-headed zane

aaah--a vampire bat! or as sophie says, a vampirate bat

sophie's sweet little kindergarten class--such cute kids

gus the viking master--i should mention that those are my boots he is wearing, and they were tight. he's going to be ginormous.

even amongst halloweened sixth graders, the viking master still stands out

such a scary vampirate bat on the halloween parade

such a cool viking master on the halloween parade

such a sleepy baby zane after the halloween parade

blech! pumpkin number one has to be a throwing-up pumpkin, as demanded by sophie

pumpkin number two shared a similar nasty fate

and nothing lights up a giant pumpkin like a road flare! we went through 15 of them.

it's the wolfman! this is rich taking a break from eating all our halloween candy and scaring the crap out of little kids coming to the door.

run little bat, run!

in the mood(o) for nudo

what's in the box?

for my birthday this year, rich adopted me an olive tree in italy from nudo, from which we have all benefitted. we've received mandarin, garlic, plain and (drool) lemon-infused olive oils from them so far, but we hadn't tried the chilli flavored one yet. nudo asked, via its facebook page, for people to describe their favorite meals using nudo--ours was rich's homemade bread, lemon-infused oil and a bottle of pinot grigio--and then asked for a picture...which i sent...

...yummy...

...and they rewarded me with a nudo chilli lover's box!

chilli oil, chillies, pasta, and organic chilli salsa from italy

i can't wait to try these--superchillified dinners are a-comin'

give them a click and check them out--you won't regret it. thank you so much, nudo!