catch-up

it has been so long since i last blogged that i can barely remember where i left off.

the weekend before last, we drove down to d.c. and visited some dear friends and their adorable kiddos.







the crafty bastards summer show was the perfect excuse to come down south and spend some quality time with friends. however, as expected, the location of the show was very, very hot and humid. undaunted by the extreme weather, silver springs residents came out in droves and helped us have a successful day. however, my only saving grace from the heat and humidity was the nearby shaved ice cart. here's evidence of one of the many strawberry lemon shaved icees i devoured.



the surprise of the day was the appearance of these two fine women. they absolutely made our day and later, our evening by keeping us company over a few foamy post-show guinnesses. we loved seeing you and hope it's not too far before we see you again.



sick of the northeast corridor route between boston and d.c., we decided to take an entirely new path back home to vermont by going though upstate new york.

dabney and i have always wanted to visit fdr and eleanor's digs in hyde park and there it was. so what we hoped would be a brief stop ended up being a 5+ hour detour.







we had been having problems with dying hemlocks in vermont. so when we visited fdr and eleanor's gravesites, we couldn't help but notice how much neater their hemlocks looked.



inspired by their choice in cleaning up the lower portion of the hedges, we decided we could do it, too. a day later, we rented a chainsaw. i donned a face mask and chaps.








hemlocks (before)



hemlocks (after)

another mogo big kid's tee in action

one of annie's favorite people knows how dress her girls in style - even while hiking. (that's even one our of kimono tees buried behind the baby bjorn.)

aren't they the cutest?

we'll see them in person this weekend when we're down in d.c. for the crafty bastards summer show. this year in silver spring, md. click here for more details.

flowers in the yard

drive-in

this is my first post from our local general store. miracle of miracles - the general store has wi-fi! it's not the speediest connection (which somehow seems apropos) but at least it has allowed me to finally upload some pictures that have been sitting on our camera for some time.



the other night, we went to the drive-in in fairlee, nh. it was good wholesome fun - we packed sandwiches and beer (though the beer had to be snuck in) and reclined in the front seats of our station wagon for a double-feature. it's hard to tell in the photo above but each row of the drive-in had little humps for cars to park on, so that the front of each vehicle would slant up toward the screen. genius, if you ask me.



indiana jones and iron man were featured. the first movie was terrible and i can't fairly report on iron man - i fell asleep halfway through. that's the problem with drive-in double-features: movies don't start until 9 pm when it's good and dark. that means movie #2 doesn't end until 1:30 am - waaaaay past my bedtime.

but i did see enough of the movie to know that this would make dabney laugh the next morning...

i am IRON ANN.

before and after

before:


after:


i know it's probably difficult to see the differences aside from color in the photos above. but a lot of damage has been repaired - crumbling lintels above and below each window, crazy cracks, and a sagging soffit. but the piéce de resistance is that copper roof and gutter.

shutters go back up today and then, finished! (wish i was there to see it in person.)

congratulations to the graduate

sporting his mogo big kid's tee no less...



he stands out in the crowd with his style.



and this picture just kills us!



thanks for sharing, lillet!

how much are your baby tees?

despite the weather, we had a splendid time in brooklyn. we always love this show because the caliber of the work around us makes for great shopping and the general atmosphere brings us together with friends and colleagues.

however, the weather...



saturday started off with oppressive heat that evolved into torrential downpours for the last two hours of the day. the rain water slowly rose in the pool and some vendors found themselves amidst calf-high floodwaters.

in times of crisis, crafters pull together. julie, a talented artist and screenprinter from pittsburgh, lost her tent amid the chaos. between the weight of the rain and strength of the wind, her tent collapsed and blew away. while she ran off to prevent it from impaling someone, a neighbor (previously a stranger to julie but now a friend for life) threw her body over her works on paper to prevent it all from getting wet.

the real fun began when the lightening started. there we all were standing in giant puddles, surrounded by metal tents in the bottom a no-longer-empty pool. i was later reminded of the fact that this could have been a potentially dangerous situation by our friend justin who imagined the possible headline "300 hipsters struck by lightening."

the funniest part was in the thick of the storm, wind kicking up and thunder roaring, one very determined poncho-clad customer ran up to me while i was hanging on to our tent for dear life and asked... "how much are your baby tees?"

MA governor's daughter comes out

massachusetts governor deval patrick's daughter (and future smithie), katherine, comes out publicly. read her sweet story here.

mogo heads to brooklyn

it's that time of year again, folks...

RENEGADE BROOKLYN is upon us! click image below for more details.

best pick-up line ever

a last minute surprise at ashbloem and davey's wedding reception last week was the appearance of this very naked man whom everyone in dallas, texas seems to know.



"uncle bruce" serenaded the blushing bride with an unrecognizable tune. (does the title really matter in such circumstances?) all i could make out was some lyric about "balls to the wall."

upon a recommendation from the groom (whether he can recall such a suggestion is questionable), i said hello to uncle bruce after his performance/exhibition.

me: hello, uncle bruce. you were great.

uncle bruce: honey, if i was thirty years younger...
ten times richer...
and five inches longer...
i'd take you home with me!

i am happy to report that uncle bruce was clothed at this point in the evening.

genius. pure genius.

click here to the see the "edible martini."

now, where can i get a vacuuming/pickle machine?

another happy mogo customer

we just love it when customers send us photos...

settling in boonies

within a span of a week, we've gone from our urban existence to a bucolic setting here in vermont. the bars, restaurants, and yuppie boutiques that surrounded us have turned into trees, a lake, and one, single, solitary general store.

sigh...

ain't nothing wrong with that! HOORAY! SUMMER IS HERE! (i am doing a happy dance as i type.)

congratulations, mr. & mrs. mcbennelland

it was a wonderful weekend in dallas. we couldn't be happier for our dear ashbloem and our favorite hunter hero.

but we've literally just dropped our bags here in vermont...

and we're too tired to blog.

luckily, girlladyfriend has come to our rescue.

one last post from our boston digs

we've been doing nothing but silly detail work, tying up loose ends, and boring our friends to death by talking about the difficulty in packing odd-shaped items. (we'll spare you, dear reader.)



in the end, we went with moving cubes - a recent innovation in moving technology according to our esteemed movers, steve and ersine. thank god we had those guys, too. otherwise, we wouldn't have fit in two cubes. (we order three just in case.)





once they were loaded, we said "so long" to our stuff. we'll all be reunited in st. louis several months from now. sigh...

next up, dallas for ashbloem's wedding. next week, we'll report from our temporary home in verrrrmont.

new hairs on my head

i have been patiently awaiting my mane to grow out after an unfortunate visit to my mom's hairstylist when i was in saint louis last. i don't know what i was thinking. what can i say? it was a free haircut.

instead of longer and longer, it got bigger and bigger as my hair tends to do. i have been complaining about it for weeks now.

and the moment came today... ta-dah!!!

new me:


is it too suri cruise?

mental note

surfing the web and came across a couple gift ideas for "the mrs."

this could not be more perfect. imagine my surprise, when i came across the book below:



description from website:

Take a peek inside the cruel and unforgiving world of St. Louis, Missouri's abandoned, abused and neglected chairs. Found in back alleys all over the city, these chairs live out their last days on mean streets, forsaken by their owners and forgotten by society. Until now.

something tells me that dabney will be out there rescuing such chairs from oblivion. perhaps a new hobby is born.

and while i am at it, i may as well add this print from 20x200.



she could tick each chair off as she procured them one by one from craigslist and ebay.

no more packets

whenever i get a hankering for a taste of home, my go-to ingredient is often mama sita's adobo sauce mix.



just add water and chicken; brown and stew. presto! chicken adobo that's not even close to my aunt's or my mom's but suits my craving nonetheless.

cleaning out the cupboards, i found a little stash of sauce packets and realized that i don't have much more use for them. it's hard to believe that in a few short months, i will be a short twenty-five minute drive to the real stuff (that is, at mom & dad's house).

i can come packing with my own tupperware if i want. this thought excites me.

self-portrait

my father has somehow mastered the art of taking a self-portrait with his iphone - something i have yet to figure out.



right now, he and my mother are on vacation in bangkok and manila. yet, i only receive pictures of them in their various hotel rooms.

our first sunrise over a flea market

there's not much in this world that would rouse dabney from a deep slumber at the ungodly hour of 4:30 AM (besides maybe an early international flight departure preferably to somewhere like thailand or japan).

trolling the internet last night, she came across this ad. (click to embiggen.)



surprisingly, she made the suggestion that we go and check it out before the design vultures zeroed in. that meant a very early departure of 4:30 am for the obscure north shore flea market. i don't know why, but i unwittingly agreed to be her accomplice.

so there we were at a little after five in search of "the biggest yellow penske truck we've ever seen." the thought of its insides filled with mid-century treasures and sugar plum fairies danced in our heads.

after a short scan of the field, no big yellow truck.

we patrolled the motley crew of dealers and their menagerie of antiques and curiosities.

there was the woman selling old trophies...


the old guy selling rusty tools and jars of nails...


and it was hard to miss the vendor selling the most random assortment of odds and ends, including two bags of egg noodles.


but absolutely no sign of herman miller chairs. no george nelson clocks. no isamu noguchi lamps. no charles eames - not even ray.

"oh perhaps he had a late start."
"maybe a flat tire?"

by six am, we knew we had been duped and were convinced that allen funt was going to show up, mic in hand, doing an exclusive for stuff white people like.

we're still unsure of what exactly happened - if it was a sincere mistake or stupid prank.

hooray for gay marriage in CA

go, california, go.

i always said that i'll go wherever it's legal and get hitched again. dabney and i might have to have another ceremony.

i thought the clip below was pretty sweet.

ann and dabney stay up past their bedtime.

not one, not two, but three opening bands kept the headlining act from hitting the stage until midnight - waaaaay past our normal bedtime. but the ny-based band, nightmare of you, was worth the wait, those extra cocktails, and the post T time cab home. not to mention, the late night outing was a welcome respite from packing.

packing madness

last night, we lost it.

instead of wrapping up more furniture, i decided to wrap up dabney.

filled to the brim

we should have been working on mogo stuff or packing for next week's big move, but it was just too beautiful of a spring day to stay inside doing the-things-we-oughta. instead, off we went to savor another new england tradition - the brimfield antique show.

brimfield is an antique lover's mecca. there are acres and acres of what we like to refer to as "fogey chic" to be had as far as the eye can see. there is some junk, some treasures, and a lot of eye candy - enough to make a weary person's head explode.

it's definitely the best people-watching in new england. there are chic new yorkers in search of bargain impressionist paintings, grandpas buying antique gardening equipment, japanese tourists in search of vintage mickey mouse paraphernalia. sadly, i was too slow with my camera to catch the people wearing homemade t-shirts with sayings like "i buy harmonicas" or "i buy spectacles and eyeglasses."

being drawn to more modern pieces, actually made it a bit easier to wander the vastness of brimfield. for example, a set of white original herman miller eames chairs stick out amidst the miles of victorian chaises.



a pair of pint-sized bertoia wire chairs were easy to spot in among the edwardian wicker.



you get the idea.

for months now, i have been obsessed with vintage anatomy posters. this german version featuring the biology of a snail was a good twist on the subject matter and screaming my name. however, a $285 price tag made it far out of reach.



instead, we came home with this old advertisement, circa 1970, for the danish furniture manufacturers' association.


i am convinced a little tlc in the form of a new frame will give it new life.

dabney had her eye on this pricey print featuring a scandinavian acrobat act the "family larson." what great illustrations!



we also managed to snag these two tiny little vinyl ottomans. i think my parents might have had something similar when i was growing up. there were a steal at $15 and they'll provide a perfect pop of color in a future space.



oh, yes, there was another chair purchase. i am almost too embarrassed to feature yet another chair acquisition. but there it was - a mid-century rattan number that was oh-so-comfortable. how will we ever fit into our pods?