Reuse. Rehabilitate. Restore. Architectural salvage and repurposed pieces for the home.
Happy 2011! We made our annual trek down to Coney for the Polar Bear swim. Apologies for the photos in advance. Arrived too late to get the 1pm “Everybody into the water!”, then realized my lens filter was shattered and stuck on the lens. So, some artsy “cracked lens” technique going on here.
New Year’s Day Polar Bears 2009
Check out the shot of me photographing this guy!
Remember Band Aid back in 1984? Then the Americans tried to do a version of it which sucked. Anyway, I was just reminded of the Live Aid show in 85. Check it out…Sting was still hot. Freddy Mercury and that guy from Big Country were still alive. Bono had a mullet. Paul Weller didn’t look like a scary old lady with frosted hair. We knew the name of that other guy from Wham.
Good times. Good times.
When I was growing up in this fine city my mom used to take me to see two things every year for the holidays. We always went up 5th Avenue to see the storefronts. From Macy’s to Saks, stopping for lunch and hot chocolate along the way. I loved it when I was a kid, but I’ve never done it since (unless I happened to be shopping).
1. Dyker Heights lights. This was the second thing I’d do with both parents. Although I remember going to Canarsie too. I HAVE been back to DH as an adult and it’s just as much fun as I remember it. These folks are not to be outdone, but you can also catch some nice Christmas decorations in neighboring Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst and also Carroll Gardens. Yeah, basically any Italian neighborhood.
2. Yerba Buena in the East Village is serving Mexican Hanukka dinners. Sounds interesting! It ends on Wednesday so hurry up if you want some of those spicy latkes!
3. Ice Skating. Since childhood, the only times I’ve ever been ice skating again were on Christmas Day. But ’tis the season for thermals and falling on your ass for fun. Of course, my own rink preference is Prospect Park in Brooklyn because there are less tourists (and it’s local). Manhattan has it’s fair share of rinks including Central Park, Bryant Park and the most famous, Rockerfeller Center.
4. Dinner and Chinese. Celebrate like a Jew! I don’t know if this is a universal thing or it’s just unique to NY (because we luvs our Chinese food here) but Christmas Day is the day the tribe goes out for Chinese and a movie. Historically, it was because those were the only things open. Now it’s just a tradition as NY doesn’t really shut down.
5. Latkes and Applesauce. A Hanukka show at the Merkin Concert Hall. I just grabbed it off the internet, so don’t shoot the messenger if it sucks.
6.Kwanzaa Celebration. Forces of Nature dance troupe at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Again, never been.
7. Dog Caroling. Bark! The Herald Angels Sing takes place in Prospect Park every year. Organized by Fido, an off-leash community, it’s a chance for humans to embarrass themselves while their dogs get treats. December 11th from 8-10am in the Long Meadow but dogs must be on leash by 9am. Bring your dog and a video camera.
8. Grand Central. It’s one of those places I never plan to go, but if I find myself there, I’m always impressed by it’s awesomeness. Apart from the shops and architecture being cool any time of year, the holiday season at GC brings us two things…a great craft show (no freezing your ass off at Union Square) and a spectacular light show.
9. Met Museum. If the gigantic tree and crowds at Rock Center aren’t your thing, there’s a calming holiday experience to be had at The Met. The Christmas tree at The Met is, dare I say, “just lovely”. There are lighting ceremonies for the rest of the month and separate choir concerts.
10. Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Yeah, I dunno. I think my mom brought me one of those years we marched up 5th Avenue. I guess it’s something to see once in your life.
Been a busy bee this week making stuff for Saturday’s PS 321 Crafts Fair. The annual event is hosted by the PTA to raise money for the Park Slope school. This is the first year I’ll be doing it, but apparently it gets very busy even though there isn’t much info out there for the public. ‘Tis why I created a Facebook page for the event.
Anyway, between selling the house (not closed yet), the van, a bunch of furniture and doing a renovation and getting ready to refinance, I haven’t had much time to work. Hopefully, I’ll get some more done today and tomorrow and my booth won’t look totally pathetic.
Swing by if you can! Should be lots of cool crafters taking part.
PS 321 is located @ 180 7th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Hours are 11am-5pm on December 4th.
If you’re anything like me, chances are you are making family or friends do all the work for Thanksgiving. You show up with 2 bottles of wine and some dessert. Know what I’m sayin’?
If you ARE that sucker who has chosen to do the entertaining and you want to save the turkeys this year, check out the NY Times Vegetarian Thanksgiving section. Loads of wonderful recipes. You may invite me over for leftovers, I’ll critique your cooking. Free consultation.
For those of you who prefer restaurants to a home cooked meal, here are a few places doing the veg thang.
Braeburn is doing a “Very Veggie Thanksgiving” as part of Zagat Presents. The dates are Nov. 16th and Nov. 25th. Looks like you should make reservations ASAP and specify the veg meal for the 25th. I don’t think that’s totally vegetarian. Dishes include herb gnocchi with roasted squash sauce and chestnut stuffing with slow poached egg and creamless trumpet royal soup with celery leaf. $70 includes wine pairing.
Counter in the East Village is serving maple herb roasted seitan with wild mushroom and sage gravy. They have a selection of organic wines. $50 per person, $75 with wine pairing. Seatings are 1-9pm.
Chelsea’s vegan Blossom Restaurant is charging $68 per person. Main course choices include phyllo-wrapped vegetables with traditional Thanksgiving sides or Seitan Kiev with brussels sprout cake and sauteed greens. Yeah, I want that NOW!
I thought I was so smart. I had it all planned out. Booked the hotel a month in advance. We would drive to MD early Saturday morning, leave the car at the hotel and take the metro into DC.
I overlooked one thing. Everyone had the same plan.
When we arrived at the Silver Spring metro station, there was a line down the block. Ok, it’s just a ticket fiasco. We’re New Yorkers. We can navigate this line and get to the platform. (*Note to any budding DC entrepreneurs: Scalp metro tickets during huge events.) BTW, we did do a good job getting to the fastest line.
Platform was mobbed. After letting 2-3 trains pass with no chance of getting on, the husband had a great idea. “Let’s go the opposite direction!” shouted he, for all to hear. Whether everyone took his advice or copped on for themselves was never determined. We barely managed to get on the train to take it back to the first stop. Lucky for us, they didn’t make us get off before heading back to DC, because the train was completely full.
We were on our way! By now, we knew we were going to miss the National Anthem (I was sure Bruce Springsteen was going to perform that) and sadly, Father Guido. The “kids” on the train weren’t too disappointed with that as they had never heard of him. Ugh, youth.
Luckily, one of those little smarty pants was able to stream the rally live on his non-iPhone PDA, so we caught a bit of what we were missing.
Yada, yada…we get there about 2 hours late. Had to stop at the Smithsonian to pee, find a way in.
Can’t see or hear a darn thing.
Well, what did we expect?
One thing I did manage to hear from a mile away was Tony Bennett. I can now cross that off my bucket list. Seeing (or hearing) Tony Bennett live.
Anyway, it was pretty awesome to be there! Lots of fun. Great experience. Really effin tiring walking around the city afterward trying to find a place to sit and have a drink or food. The lines were out the door at EVERY. SINGLE. PLACE. If the city was so overrun by this rally, I can’t imagine what the inauguration was like.
The next morning, I was chatting with a woman at Starbucks. A young, black, well educated woman who informed me she was a tea party conservative.
I didn’t even ask her WTF? It was all very civil.
Perhaps a bit of sanity was restored.
(PS: I also believe she was a plant. An actress. But that’s just my theory because I can’t believe…..you know.)
More photos on Flickr.
We’re clearing the house this weekend! Friday we move the rest of our “staged furniture” down to Brooklyn and whatever is left in the house we want gone by Saturday. Nuts to move and do a tag sale all in the same weekend? Yeah, whatev. And we wonder why we’re stressed.
Anyhoo, the stuff has already been picked over. We’ll price a few decent things and then the rest is whatever it’s worth to you. Could be a buck. We don’t care. We just don’t want to deal with change, so take a few things for a buck.
Free? Well, if you are a charity, sure!
The Stormville Airport Antique Show and Flea Market in Dutchess County takes place on holiday weekends during the warmer months. Since next Monday is Columbus Day, the fair is on this Saturday and Sunday, October 9th and 10th.
There are usually a couple of hundred antiques vendors (that’s a guess) and an area set up near the entrance for new stuff. Admission and parking are free. Vendor’s prices are pretty fair. The only thing I would suggest is getting there way early (like 6:30am) as there is only one road leading to the show and it gets backed up.
It took us moving out of the area to participate, but Reclaimed Home has a booth this weekend. Look for us in site #10, driveway 3. We’ll be emptying out our Beacon house and trying to cram everything into our Brooklyn home of half the size. Much of the furniture for sale is from our own private “estate” (I’m gonna add an LOL here just so you know that’s tongue in cheek).
The flea market inventory we’re bringing is stuff we never want to see again, so prices will be good, especially by the end of the second day. In fact, if you’re a vendor or just some hoarder who wants a bunch of crap, come see us on Sunday afternoon and we’ll make a deal for everything that’s left over.
Here’s what we have…(Bear with me. The only images I have of our personal items are real estate shots.)
That red couch is probably 1920’s/30’s. We bought it in Brooklyn reupholstered. After moving it to Kingston then Beacon and living with it for 6 plus years, the fabric isn’t brand new anymore. Good but not excellent condition. $300
Bought this Eastlake rocker at a shop in Beacon. Paid $350 and would like to get as close as possible. It is comfy!
See that bed? That was our guest room bed. We no longer need it since we don’t have a guest room. Deco. Decent condition. Full. If you’re not paranoid about bed bugs (there aren’t any) we can throw in the mattress and box spring. $110. We also have some twin frames and a Mid Century Queen headboard.
We’re asking $150 for the enamel table. See those chairs in the picture? We have 6 of them. They were our dining room chairs that we bought at Stormville when we first moved into the Beacon house. They never really matched our dining room table (which we’re keeping). Anyhoo, we paid $750 for the set of 6 and will take best offer. They’re English, 1800’s. Disclosure: Our dog chewed a corner of one of them.
Speaking of chairs, we have 4 painted brown ones that would match the table if repainted white. We’ll sell them with table for $200, entire set if ya want.
Antique wood burning stove from Beacon farm house. Needs a good sandblasting or wire brushing and some spray paint. $250
Mid Century reproduction lamps. A guy. A gal. And a whole lotta kitsch. This was actually from my cousin’s house and I have to do right by them. $175 for the pair.
So, you should come to the show. But if there’s anything you’re interested in, let us know and we won’t schlep it to Stormville for nothing.
Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert take Washington on October 30th and FYI, hotels are starting to book up already.
Any time I’ve visited DC in the past, I didn’t have to worry about finding my own way. It was all school trips or staying with friends and family. Yesterday, I spent waaay too much time figuring out where to stay for a single night. When I finally narrowed it down, the places I liked didn’t have vacancies.
I’ll pass on the few tidbits of information I came across.
It was originally announced that the rally was being held 8am-5pm. Now both sites say 12pm-3pm which makes more sense. There is still some confusion and I hope I’m not wrong because it’s a matter of going down the night before or the morning of.
Getting there. Amtrak is about $100 round trip. There are many bus companies leaving from NYC (and everywhere!) but that’s more hit or miss. Best thing to do is check Yelp. Apparently, some of those Chinatown buses are kind of gross, although some of these people may just be whiners.
There’s a carpool group on the Rally Facebook page.
There’s also a separate information page set up on FB for the rally. This has transportation and lodging links.
The Colbert Forum has some good Fear March info, including transportation.
Washingtonian and their “Best of” is really informative when it comes to getting a feel for the different neighborhoods. My original thought was that I wanted to stay within walking distance of the rally, but now I know that the Metro is King. Anywhere within walking distance to the train is golden, whether it be DC, MD or VA. Tip: According to Washingtonian, Silver Springs has lots of vintage shops and ethnic restaurants.
Lodging. Apart from the usual places to book hotels (Orbitz, Side Step, Hotels.com), don’t forget about vacation rentals and B&B’s. AirB&B lists people willing to share rooms or their entire apartments. And don’t forget Craigslist! If all else fails, people are willing to give up their bed or couch to earn a quick buck.
Now it’s your turn. If you’ve got any info…spill it!
The Maker Faire at NY Hall of Science was the big weekend to-do for tech geeks and crafters alike. Was it excellent? Well, it was really good, but this cheap beeatch can’t get around the fact that I had to pay a $25 entry fee. I happen to know this turned some people away. I mean, 25 bucks? So I can go in only to spend more money?
Apart from the vendors, there were free rides and demonstrations brought to us mostly(?) by The Madagascar Institute. Although they were extremely cool, these folks could have used some organizational skills. It was unclear who could actually partake. There were people hanging around and watching, but we weren’t sure if everyone actually got on the rides. My husband wanted to have a go at the Jet Ponies (video link)which took a good 20 minutes between rides, but it seems like it was an elite ride for friends and family only. That theory proved correct when it turns out that the guy I photographed was none other than publishing mogul Tim O’Reilly.
The tech geek buddy who was with us LOVED the faire! He was running around like a little boy. I’ll admit that most of the tech stuff was either was over my head or didn’t make sense for the real world. When I asked Tech Geek Buddy what the LED’s do, he told me that some make noise, some light up and I was like “Yeah, but WHY? Then what?” His wife (a.k.a. my bitching companion for the day) remarked that it seemed like vanity projects with no real use.
Well, the crafts were great! At least it’s something I can understand!
I bought myself a lovely recycled purse/bike messenger bag. $135 from Vaya Bags (not the one in the photo, but close). Hopefully it will last me longer than those $2 bags I’ve been buying. The strap is a seat belt, so if I break this, there is no hope for me.
The yarn crafts were amazing! Check out the Coney Island and NY scenes from Lion Brand Yarn.
I also loved the Princess Leia hat I saw. When I asked if it was for sale I was told that the pattern is online because “We’re all crafters here.” #1: No, we’re not ALL crafters. #2: I don’t knit. The pattern is sold on Etsy, but I found someone who makes similar hats on eBay.
Finally, we all learned to solder for $1. Now I’m the Solder Queen.
Walk your pup for a good cause this Sunday, September 26th. This fundraising event raises money for animal organizations in the area. There’s a $30 registration fee, so even if you don’t get any sponsors, you’re donating while having fun. Doggie yoga and massages included!
Even though they overlooked the three old photos I pulled out of my arse, I’ll give them the plug anyway. The opening of this juried show is tomorrow night at the powerHouse Arena in Dumbo.
This mega event takes place at the New York Hall of Science on September 25th and 26th. Little crafts people as well as large companies will be representin’. The fair is a potpourri of innovative ideas from inventors and artsy folks.
Monday, September 27th. Join other bloggers at this Lower East Side event. Eat, drink, network, par-tay and keep in mind that 25% of the proceeds will go to Restore NYC.
August 28th marks the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. I’m sure you’ve heard about Glenn Beck’s (aka Howard Beale) rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I won’t even dignify that by going on a rant, but I do have a couple of side notes. 1. Money is being collected “for the troops”, but the fine print states that it’s only the money left over AFTER the event has been paid for. 2. Um, I think God told him to do this and may make an appearance. Something along those lines. Let us all pray for The Rapture this Saturday.
A couple of anti-hate rallies:
Al Sharpton’s National Action Network is holding their own rally tomorrow to commemorate the King speech. No need to drive to D.C. Bus service is available and listed on their site.
Celebrate the Dream is holding a ceremony on the National Mall to dedicate a 4 story high people’s memorial to Dr. King.
If you can’t make it to Washington this weekend, please feel free to share the video of the speech on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere you can think of. Spread the love. Not the hate.
Remember the Thursday night Coney Island Seaside Concerts I posted? Well, it turns out that there are Tuesday night concerts in the same venue and they aren’t listed on the website! WTF? A reader found that the Tuesday event calendar is only listed on Council Member Domenic Recchia Jr.’s site.
A couple of interesting shows at Coney….
Boilermaker Jazz Band on July 20th
Shout! The Mod Musical on July 27th (I dare you to click the link and not sing along. Go on. I dare you!)
Those are just two of the shows that look good to me. There are performances every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30pm.
Also, let’s not forget that Marty hosts the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series at Wingate Field. There are some pretty awesome shows lined up for this summer, started with…
Hel-lo! George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic with The Ohio Players! July 12th.
Toni Braxton. July 19th.
Salt n Pepa with Naughty by Nature and Rick Slick. Aug 2nd
And Aretha will be playing August 9th at Wingate as well as the 12th at Coney.
Be sure to check out the Coney Island Fun Guide. This Saturday, Planet of the Apes! Freak shows, movie nights, baseball games and fireworks. Coney kicks ass!
1. Go to a British pub. Be all like “Hey, screw you Brits! You ain’t the boss of me!”
2. Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. You can be a spectator or apply for the competition if it’s not too late. Coney Island. Where else?
3. Take a self guided battle for New York tour. It covers a lot. You may need to stop for a pint at a British pub.
4. Brooklyn Music Festival at Floyd Bennett Field. Reggae, ska, calypso, hip hop….
5. Circle Line cruise. Never done it. Not July 4th, not ever. But could be a smile. 79 bucks though. Ouch.
6. Stormville Flea Market. July 3rd & 4th. Worth the drive.
7. Let the eagle soar! Celebrate America’s icon at the Audubon Center in Prospect Park. July 3 & 4. There are other events taking place in the park that day, so bring a picnic and hang out some.
8. What’s more Amer-kin than seeing the next best thing to Johnny Cash? Rosanne Cash at Governors Island. Free show and ferry.
9. Joisey. Macy’s fireworks are over The Hudson this year, not the East River. Hop on the PATH to Hoboken or Weehawkin. Force your way to the crowded waterfronts or check out the restaurants or cruises.
10. Splurge! Go to the top of the Empire State Building. You can’t get a much better view than that. Tickets are $125 a pop and limited to the first 300 people. It doesn’t seem to be sold out yet.
Most importantly, kids, remember not to blow off your face or hands with illegal fireworks!
Happy 4th!!
