newly acquired

the catcher in the rye, by richard prince

uncle ben

new ideas use old buildings

The Luminary from Anastasis Films on Vimeo.

the luminary arts center plans a move to cherokee street - the heart of st. louis' creative world. exciting news indeed.

check out their kickstarter campaign here.

evan hecox & incase

i've long admired evan hecox's work. i just wish i could afford one of his original prints. until then, i might just have to settle for one of his macbook pro sleeves.

new perch

friday has a new favorite perch from which to watch the world go by.

another happy mogo customer

waiting for le petit train to jardin d' acclimatation at porte maillot

thanks for sharing, cassandra!

latest tour

our bud, joe, shared his charming and cozy house with us on apartment therapy.  check it out here.

arrows

dabney bought these strange little magnetic bookends at a yard sale over the weekend.  they seemed kinda useless to me until i realized how freaking hilarious they are.

me, friday, and chuck

me and friday standing by the new-ish chuck berry statue in the loop on a breezy fall afternoon. hot boba tea in hand.

i won, i won, i won

i guess i should say "we" won. friday and i commented on a blog post sponsored by furminator, and we were picked randomly to receive this wearable microfiber towel.

not sure how fri feels about her prize though.



she looks like an embarrassed jedi warrior.

not again

in spring 2010, some big dummy hit the ugly schoemehl pots in the middle of our intersection.

last night at 2:30 am, we had a repeat performance from another bid dummy.

at least, no one was hurt.

manifesto

your past life

Your Past Life As A Blast from Okkervil River on Vimeo.

bowl cut

that's me with the unfortunate bowl cut in 1974.

it breaks my heart really.

friday and i walk by this place nearly everyday. i am sure at one point it served this neighborhood as a bakery or a little grocery store. it has been boarded up for ages now, but i have heard skateboarders inside from time to time (scary).

it used to have a very regal crest at the top of it that read "1909," but during the last bad storm, the top of the building just fell apart.



here's another place that stands just a block away from our house. it's a neglected wreck that has been abandoned and boarded up for ages. i bet that cupola (now cemented over) used to be so amazing.

playground

tough guy is afraid of puppies

i can't believe this is a real show.

happy belated birthday, rana

latest AT house tour: jenn's eclectic industrial italianate

this place oozed with style. even more impressive, the homeowner did most of the reno work herself.

click the image above to see the entire tour.

elvis strolls down sesame street in his red shoes

happy belated birthday, ron!

watch it, friday. there's a new bloodhound in town.

word as image

simply cool bathroom

i couldn't resist taking a quick self-portrait yesterday while shooting this uber-cool bathroom. the walls were made up of simple unstained plywood and convex security mirrors were installed over the vanity sinks.

tour should be up on AT in a couple of weeks.

herb & dorothy

mold-a-rama

found this little guy at a sale this morning.



at the bottom, it says "st. louis zoo." the family was so nice they gave it to me.

these little wax sculptures were souvenirs that one could buy at zoos, museums, and other attractions. i don't remember how much they used to cost, but all you'd have to do is put some coins into a machine and watch the thing get made inside its glass box. in fact, i know i have one from my childhood somewhere - an astronaut from the kennedy space center in florida, but it's either A) broken in a million pieces or more likely B) melted into a pool in a my parents' attic. come to think of it, i might have had an elephant at one point, too. it probably reached a similar demise long ago.

i've long-admired one our homeowners large collection of mold-a-ramas. check out anna & luby's house tour for pics.

turns out there is even a flickr pool of mold-a-ramas. of course, i adore the JFK mold-a-rama. he would look so great amongst my jfks.

do zoos and other attractions still have mold-a-rama machines? i wonder.

bubble girl

perfection

october AT house tour

we shot this one over the summer.

this place was pretty amazing. the setting, the sculptures, those glass garage doors!

click image to see the actual post.

everyone needs a photo that will incur future angst and embarrassment

urbanized

i was huge fan of the design classics "helvetica" and "objectified." now, gary huswit takes on built environments in his upcoming documentary "urbanized."

sweetie pie's on own

what do you know?  one of our favorite st. louis soul food restaurants (fried chicken!) gets its own reality show on the oprah winfrey network.  miss robbie is a powerhouse.  i can't wait to see what happens.

elvis has a girlfriend

before we left for vermont, we helped our good friend galen do a little housecleaning, and in return, he was kind enough to gift us "abercrombie girl."

you might remember her.  she had a starring role in his AT house tour (our very first feature, in fact).



i gave her a little scrub down, and she cleaned up well.



AG seems absolutely smitten with elvis. however, he is clearly playing hard-to-get.  he can be a little shy.

don't you think they make a cute couple?

rope & former rope

anniversary

dabney and i had an absolutely delightful anniversary evening.

we celebrated 8 years of marriage (thank you, massachusetts) by enjoying a delicious alfresco meal here, complete with champagne-induced giggles.

afterwards, we took in a show at the pageant.


wye oak's dreamy, spare sound that we were familiar with was roughened up live with a bit with added distortion.


okkervil river rocked out and got the entire crowd clapping while jumping up and down aerobically (the three people standing in front of us loved the jumping part). in fact, how can one not move to this song?

my sister & bro-in-law just happened to be at a nearby roofbar, so after the show, we crashed their moonlit party. i just love seeing my little sister all tipsy.  it cracks me up in fact.

happy anniversary, dabney, here's to the next 8.

i can't stop yarning up my accessories.

home is a fire, dcfc

video by shepard fairey

we're officially pickers.

we arrived in chicago on friday night with two vehicles stuffed to the brim, and left on monday morning with less than one car half-full. needless to say, our little vintage experiment went swimmingly well.



thank you, chicago, for coming out and making our ride home much lighter.

some of the stuff we'll be lugging

in addition to our regular cutesy mogo shtuff that we'll be bringing to the renegade craft fair this weekend, we've got a few vintage-inspired and re-worked vintage items.



this was a old metal box that dabney reworked into a versatile cabinet by adding hairpin legs. i think it would make a perfect media center.



vintage-inspired craft aprons inspired by the real name of our old storefront/house.



this cart lived its former life in a local warehouse. now, it's a glass-topped coffee table.



these old photos were rescued from random yard sales. now, they're all matted and framed - ready to be falsely claimed as ancestors.

experimental renegades

we're getting ready for this weekend's renegade craft fair - chicago edition. and if you can't tell by the photo above, we're experimenting by bringing a choice selection of vintage and industrial finds in addition to our normal array of handprinted/sewn items. it's going to be very exciting (as well as a lot of schlepping).





if you're in chicago, come by say HI and take a look at our mobile flea market.