fall in portland

gorgeous! a japanese maple at the portland japanese gardens!

im hoping to go up to portland for the weekend of the 12th to see haley & noah before noah leaves for spain to teach english (go noah!) portland is so nice in the fall--still a residual warmth (that quickly fades into rain rain rain and grey) and you can wear dresses without a jacket into the evening. then the leaves turn bright bright colors and it's crispy and nice and beautiful and you can crunch them with your steps all down the sidewalk and in the gutters.

im psyched to see my friends again and maybe do some much-needed (and budget-busting) fall shopping.....eat more good food and just hang around. here's what's on the wish list:

from stand up comedy:
a detacher fuzzy pillow!


shabd hand-dyed tights!


rachel comey brown booties!


at souchi:
bruce vest dress!


OMG! ports wooden wedge (on sale, yes!)


at frances may:
jason kinney's scarves (saw them being made last time in portland! beautiful!!!)


therese rawsthorne dress:

prepare to be hypnotized

YANTRA from 1957

so i've been spending some time researching "visual music" and the history of expressing music through abstract color, shapes, and textures or whatever visual elements appropriately "translate" the music....totally nerdy and totally awesome!

i've found so many cool things to share, but first are james whitney's videos.


LAPIS from 1966

this is a great article from the catalog from the james whitney retrospective in toronto in 1984. it gives a good history of his work and how he made everything--mostly by hand (punching holes in paper, painting, etc.) and later with assistance from rudimentary computer systems his brother developed.

enjoy these INCREDIBLE spectacles of hypnotism!

idea theft, yet again

back in portland about a year ago, haley, eitan and i were sitting around brainstorming. we started talking about our refrigerators and how we organize them. yes, highly interesting...but actually so!



strangely enough, they put the cheese in the compartment in the door that everyone else (or at least i) use for the butter. their meat/cheese drawer had something weird in it (vegetables?) and everything just seemed mixed up. but they thought i was weird to put eggs and butter in the door and veggies at the bottom!



i decided to start photographing fridges, and took several portraits of friends' over the next few months. eventually i forgot and got lazy....but look what eitan sent me! a show of photos by photographer mark menjivar appropriately entitled "you are what you eat."

used to start dialogues about hunger issues in the us, the photos are basic, stark images of everyday realities. strange how a fridge can say so much about a lifestyle, a personality, a person, without saying a word.

but mark isn't the only one obsessed with fridges. of course, william eggleston did it too:


then there's fridgewatcher.com, various groups of fridge-lovers on flickr,

professionally manicured mtv cribs fridges:


shit, even marilyn manson's into fridges:


my grandma's old, empty fridge:


caitlin's old fridge in portland:


such a common and obvious staple, but the refrigerator plays a huge role in all of our lives. it can comfort, provide solace, or reinforce feelings of inadequacy, issues with food, difficulties with money or even struggles with health and nutrition. for me, there's nothing worse and disappointing than a dirty, empty fridge and nothing better than a fully stocked one (unless you're ocd and you think the fridge is going to fall through the floor if it's full--watch that episode of obsessed on a&e on demand!) whatever it is, your fridge AFFECTS YOU! it READS YOU and BREATHES YOU! love it!

maybe i'll start doing the outside of the fridge............

chocolate is better than codeine

i have this terrible cough that won't go away. i haven't slept well for the last three nights, not to mention keeping nico up all night...cough attacks at work, at dinner, on bart....it's terrible! tonight i was looking up some remedies...and lo and behold, guess what came up? DARK CHOCOLATE! apparently the theobromine content in dark chocolate works better than codeine as a cough suppressant. WHO KNEW???

come see us!

jen and friends are having a trunk show at the silverman gallery!
this thursday august 27th from 6-9 be there!!
804 sutter st in SF
(right down the road from the metier girls, who happen to be on sale, hell yeah!)

sarah's debuting her line, stars and ravens (yeah!!!).......

i'll be modeling serial cultura's fall 2010 collection (yeah!!!).......


sisters karen & marie of micaela greg will be there too......


and martha davis is providing the fancy footwear........


and the gallery's current show is a pop-up-shop with lots of fun work, cds, zines, etc etc from great artists.

YOU SHOULD COME!!!! you can probably put together a whole outfit

rock of love

nico and i did some test shots on the beach in martha's vineyard for a photo project we're working on. the results:

greg-wow-r

WOW:













check out more of gregoire alexandre's beautiful photos here

how did i not think of this?

these were in opening ceremony's windows for a while, just found the website. confetti system's handmade-in-brooklyn pinatas filled with handmade confetti. they're so simple and beautiful! if i was rich, i'd buy a billion and smash one every day of the year for the rest of my life. like a gong to start the day, you know? if you are rich, you can buy one here.







and of course, no party would be complete without the blindfold....


or a necklace!!!

busy beavers!

the busy beaver button company just opened a new space in chicago. we missed the opening, but i have so many buttons laying around from their button-o-matic candy machines that i feel like i was there. bars and stores throughout the city have candy machines that feed you buttons designed by mostly local artists. if you're in the city, check it out!

some of my favorite artists included in this summer's series:

geoffry todd smith


damien correll


ginette lapalme

museum faves

also snuck some shots of my favorite pieces in the art institute when back in chicago in april. these are the pieces i always come back to. i have a history with them, a romance, one might say. they are my standbys, my rocks. they make me happy whenever i see them. it's like visiting an old friend!

unfortunately some pieces were in storage or being transferred to the new modern wing when i was visiting back in april. this time around i didn't even get to see the new wing, but i've heard it sucks....but i'm not jumping the gun until i see it myself!

please enjoy, i certainly do!!!












yeah, that's how i feel too.


all time favorite!!!! this thing is HUGE! covers almost a whole wall!

close ups: sooo pretty!



and a few from the chicago historical society:

diorama of the chicago fire. blazin!

and sneaky "illegal" photos of the Chic Chicago exhibit which featured designer and couture clothing from the collections of "chic" chicago women. i would DIE for that green lanvin mess!!!