Hart 2 Heart

The saga continues. . .

On this most wonderful Inauguration Day, and Martin Luther King Day, I thought I'd FINALLY get back to my blog and share my adventures back east. . .  

i arrived at the home of my childhood friend in Silver Spring, Maryland, just in time to celebrate New Year's Eve. On the 2nd, Karen took me down to the mall to see the White House. I was SOOO sad to see that they had already taken down the Christmas decorations. A security guard heard me whining and explained that they had just taken them down early in the morning. Too early in my opinion! Fortunately, the National Christmas tree was still aglow.

On the 3rd, Karen and I took the bus up to Brooklyn. I am in love with this city! I adore the row houses, the restaurants, the whole scene.

We stayed in the Park Slope neighborhood, and within a few blocks you could eat almost any ethnic food you desired. We had great Middle Eastern, Italian and Columbian food, where we started with avocado fries! They were surprisingly delicious!

The main purpose of my trip was to play with the Pittsburgh Collective again. As usual it was beyond fabulous! We played at the ShapeShifter Lab. The sax section was awesome!

When my time in Brooklyn was sadly over, we hopped on the subway, back to Manhattan, and took the bus back to Maryland.

Though I had my new cape from Anthropologie, a wooly hat from a handmade shop in Brooklyn, and crocheted wrist warmers, I can't remember being so cold! And that's coming from a girl who grew up in Wyoming. Maybe my pipe dream of living in Brooklyn isn't all that realistic. So back to So. Cal. I came, where we had record low temps for a couple weeks (and New York got up into the 60s!). Whatever! We're now back to our comfortable 70 degree winter weather. I do love it here! Now that I got all that off my chest, I promise to move on and keep up with my blogging a little better. 

 

Mile high adventures

The big reason for my trip to the real west, was the concert I got to play with the Pittsburgh Collective. I didn't get any good action shots (too busy playing my saxophone), so here's the gig poster. That's me with the long blonde hair from an earlier show we did. 

As always, it was an intense musical experience. Wish we could play together more often. Our leader and composer, David Sanford is truly gifted and the best to work with. 

A whole slew of my "people" came to the show, including my mom and dad (above). It was a wonderful evening. Denver is a great city to visit, so during our spare time, mom and I got to visit some shops and eat a lot of good food. 

Christine Haynes turned me onto this amazing craft store. Fancy Tiger Crafts is a gorgeous boutique in an up and coming section of Denver. 

It's so spacious, beautifully merchandised, and holds a great selection of craft supplies.

This is where classes are held.

Is this awesome or what? Me thinks this marvelous pink antlered creature would look lovely in my living room. 

I have another stop on my Denver tour to share next time. . . stay tuned!

 

From Brooklyn to Ojai and back to Pedro

I'm finally back home after crisscrossing the country for work and fun. After a two day show in the Pacific Palisades, I took a quick plane ride to New York. . .

(the view from the Super 8--which actually was super)

. . . followed by a cab ride to Brooklyn. Dave Sanford had lined up a gig for The Pittsburgh Collective, and I just couldn't miss it. The last time I got to play with this amazing big band was in Denver a year and a half ago. Did I mention I played the saxophone in my former life?

We rehearsed most of the day on Tuesday, and played the concert Wednesday night.

The concert venue was a tiny artists space on a very quiet street.

It actually had great acoustics and it was standing room only, with the most receptive crowd I've ever played for. There are a couple of videos on YouTube of past performances, including this one, if you're interested. Not the best visual quality (I'm the blonde in the front row), but the sound isn't bad. 

I wasn't the best photo journalist while I was away. Besides needing a really good music fix, I needed rest. Since it was raining during most of my visit, I hid out in my hotel room and slept, when I had free time. It was good to have a king size bed to myself, sans Weimaraner.

A few of us did get to go out after the concert. The only place open was the Ocean View Diner. I thought the name was a little odd, until I noticed the name of the street. It was awesome hanging out with such great musicians once again. Wish we could do it more often.  

Another quick ride cross country on Thursday, hugs and kisses to the family, load of laundry, short night's sleep (with Weimaraner), then it was back to business. My friend Elizabeth and I were off to Ojai on Friday morning for the Holiday Home Look In Marketplace. This was my 3rd year, and I sadly took no pictures. I did document my first trip here. Unfortunately, it poured rain during most of the sale, but fortunately, it stopped in time to load up the van and drive back to L.A. 

So glad to be home. This week I'll be updating my web store with holiday cookies and new clothing designs. I'll keep you posted. And of course we will be feasting on Thanksgiving. All is well.

 

It's the little things. . .

. . . that keep me going.

And make me happy. Like this mug. I was having a very hard time getting started today. I wore myself out at the festival yesterday, so I made myself a latte in my special mug that Emmet painted for me many moons ago for Mother's Day. It always makes me smile; the mug I mean. The coffee just wakes me up. As for the 15 year old Emmet, he woke up, barfed and went back to bed. No school today. Then there was this guy.

Those sleepy eyes really do not inspire hard work. But, alas, there was work to be done. Even after working all weekend.

I spent Sunday with these lovelies at the Abbot Kinney Festival. It's a one day fair, which means you're up at the crack of dawn to drive to the venue, set up, sell all day, tear down at 6, drive home, unload, pass out. Andy helped with the first and last part. I would not have survived without him.

Once the clouds burned off, the people came, shopped, and enjoyed a beautiful day.

There was great music, including this band, "Superbroke Brass and Tin and Strings". They were playing in the kids area right behind my booth, and were amazing! 

There was good people, er, creature watching too. 

I met the very kind Nina from Cute Hoots blog. She bought several things, and then, SURPRISE, featured me on her blog! Thanks Nina! She's into all things owl related, so we hit it off.

The day was a great success, thanks to all who shopped and visited. It was my first time at the festival and I hope to be back next year!

Well, I did digress. I was planning to tell you how I had written a different, complete post, when my computer shut down, and it was lost, and how the day went down hill from there. Which is why you are probably reading this on Tuesday, instead of Monday. It's probably just as well. I'm sure you don't want to hear about all that other crap. Here's to starting fresh tomorrow, with a good night's sleep.

 

 

 

Glitter and Doom

There was a slight gap in my posting (not the best thing when you're just starting a blog), but I had a really good excuse! Andy (husband of 22 years-yes I was a child bride) surprised me with a trip to Phoenix to see one of our all time favorites--Tom Waits--for our anniversary. We actually left our sweet boy home with Abuela, so we could get away to Phoenix, where it was H-O-T. Phoenix was the closest Tom was getting to L.A. so off we went. Nothing against you Phoenicians personally, but how the h#@ll do you live in that climate?!! And it's not even summer yet!

Anyway, back to Tom. . . as expected, it was an amazing show/experience. The Orpheum Theater itself was a gorgeous old place, beautifully restored with stunning details and huge murals. The ceiling was painted like the sky, and was illuminated with moving lights to look like thunder clouds were passing through.

If you haven't had the chance to see Tom Waits perform live you gotta try. It's hard to explain the emotion and musicality he exudes, but it just feels good to be in it. He has a gift for putting together incredible musicians with the best arrangements and instrumentation.

Thanks, Andy, for a memorable anniversary. Love ya!