I Think I Peed My Pants

August 30th

When I discovered THIS was the order of last night's photos in my camera....I laughed so hard tears rolled down my face.

(Mel, please don't kill me for posting these. Thank you for making my night totally hilarious even if the "keg party" was something of a scam!)

And guess what? I'm finally caught up on posts! Wheeee!

Not Mortified

August 29th

PJ and I tried to go to see Moritfied tonight, but it was sold out. So instead we spent some time wandering around the Lower East Side taking photos.

Pretty Bright Lights

August 28th

My friend PJ (Hi PJ!) is staying with me this week and exploring the city.

He finally helped me figure out how to take a decent nightime photo! I love the ghost walkers!

Creepy In the Hood

August 27th

Look at the weird stuff found less than a block from my house!

This bike is a mystery to me.

This creepy doll and her gnome friend (gnomes are becoming something of a theme on this blog) live in a little shadow box installation window thingy at Cafe Steinhoff in my hood.

I ate their yummy $5 goulash directly underneath her watchful toothy gaze. (*shudder*)

Bad Moon

August 26th

Since Sunday was spent on the couch recovering from vacation, this photo taken at 3am will have to suffice for the 26th. I obviously need improvement on my night photography skills because this is supposed to be of the moon playing peekaboo with the trees!

Twilight Zone

August 25th

Today I saw a lot of weird shit in Brooklyn.

Glen Phillips

August 24th - PS

After driving like an insane woman through Connecticut, I made it in time for the second half of the Glen Phillips concert at Union Hall. Glen is the lead singer of Toad The Wet Sprocket, who is only partially together as each member is pursuing independent projects. Glen has a successful solo career and occasionally tours the east coast. What I caught of the show was really great - minus the drunk jerks repeatedly berating him with requests for Toad songs.

I have a special place in my heart for Toad and the sound of Glen's voice as I've been a fan for over 15 years. His vocals immediately bring back happy high school memories of Drew and Randy and several fun trips to Idaho. If you ever listened to Toad, you will know instantly which tunes Glen contributed after just one go round with his solo albums.

Needless to say, I got geeked out when Glen came up to the bar for a few beers after his show. I've never been a cool girl, so you can imagine how nervous I was (even though he was totally nice) to ask for this photo.

Thanks, Glen. Keep it up! And readers, do give him a listen if you get the chance.

Newport Day 2

August 24th

I love Newport. It is packed with cute shops, awesome boats, old style New England charm, and wicked old society money that built some extraordinary architecture. With the limited time we had, Chris and I squeezed in tours of The Breakers and Rosecliff Mansion. (Too see all the photos, go here.)

Here's a succinct description of The Breakers as cut and paste from Wikipedia:

The Breakers was built as the Newport summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthy United States Vanderbilt family. Designed by renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt and with interior decoration by Jules Allard and Sons and Ogden Codman, Jr., the 70-room mansion boasts approximately 65,000 sq. ft. of living space. The home was constructed between 1893-1895 at the then-astronomical cost of more than seven million dollars (approximately $150 million in today's dollars adjusted for inflation).

We were only allowed to take photos on the verandas and of the exterior. Even at that, I think you get the idea. This place was pretty amazing... in a heavy handed 1800's way.

I sort of want to own this chair.

This was the playhouse for the Vanderbilt children. This sucker is three times the size of my current Brooklyn apartment and I have total little girl envy that kids got to play house in here.

Rosecliff was a less oppressive demonstration of cash and an awesome example of the architectural stylings of Stanford White. You may recognize this mansion as it was used for scenes for the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, The Betsy, High Society, True Lies, Amistad and most recently Evening.

Nice view off the back of the property, eh?

We ended our Newport time with a quick jog down Ocean Drive. The fog was thick and the houses amazing. Some even had their own private coves to store their boats.

Newport Day 1

August 23rd

Today was beautiful Newport. I went crazy with the camera again and you can see all photos here.

After an unfortunate stop to repair the brakes on Chris's poor hoopdie-hoop, we manged to spend a little time walking the beach right outside our hotel.

I decided I didn't want to even poke my toes in the water after we saw this huge disgusting seagull pecking at this dead otter carcass! SO GROSS! (Why did I take this photo?)

Right next door to the hotel was Flo's Clam Shack. I felt like we were visiting a place you might see on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the food network.

The sign outside informed us that over 20 million clam cakes had been served so we took their advice. They were super greasy but tasty as a side dish to chowdaaa. Plus, you can't beat a dozen cakes, 2 bowls of soup, and 2 beers for $18!

6 hours of digestion later, we went down to the harbor where the rich people eat fancy seafood. While waiting for our table we explored the shops and gawked at the big pimpin boats!

We ate at The Mooring (shown here) and if you are ever in Newport, I give it big thumbs up.

A very nice lady gave us some coupons for free appetizers so we splurged and also got a nice bottle of wine. (Erin and Kelly, these photos were taken and posted to the blog just for you in honor of the Diamond Project!)

On the drive back we pulled over as we passed this thing!

Located in the center of Touro Park, the "Old Stone Mill" is a mystery. Some say its eight columns were erected by Vikings other say it was built by Benedict Arnold, a governor of the colony long before his great-great-grandson committed his infamous act of treason. In any case, it was pretty flippin cool.

And while we were in the park, I took this totally kick ass photo. (I'm patting myself on the back even as I write this.)

Boston

August 22nd

Guess where I was?

I met up with my friend Brian and we went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

There is a term in the museum industry called "museum fatigue" for those who experience physical and visual exhaustion from their visit. I wish we would come up with an expression for "utter boredom". This place was a total snoozer and that is saying a lot coming from me!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering Newberry Street making fun of the shops, especially this overpriced "conceptual" store called Johnny Cupcakes. You'll get the idea from the photos I took inside while pretending to snap candids of Brian. (Hi Brian!)

However, there was this great place with gnomes in the window.

I also snapped this random street art on the way to meeting up for dinner and beers with my cousin Liz and her fiancee. (Hi Liz and TJ!) What the heck is a Nozer?


I was underwhelmed by Boston (perhaps it deserves a second visit) but you can see the full set of equally unimpressive photos here.