Rain's a Champion

Weekend in Review: Picasso, Bacon and Chevron

Hello there!  How was the weekend?  Hope it was fantastic, and that your Monday wasn't half bad either.

I didn't do much of importance but in the best possible way.  I spent my halfday on Friday at the National Gallery of Art.  I wanted to see the "Picasso's Drawings" exhibit before it closes on May 6, and I highly recommend you do the same.  It's thrilling to see all the different styles Picasso tried out in his early career, starting from his first known work at age 9.  Age 9!  That's like our elementary school art classes when we were drawing houses with chimney stacks and swirly smoke. 

While I was there, I also took a walk through the "I Spy: Photography and Theatre of the Street."  If you are all interested by cities and urban life, this is worth a trip.  I found Bruce Davidson's "Subway" series which captures the horror of the NYC subway system in 1980 so intriguing, because visiting New York now, it's almost impossible to imagine that things could've been that bad, and equally unbelievable that in the span of 20-odd years things turned back around.  The subway cars in Davidson's photos are just absolutely covered in graffiti.  That level of disrepair and neglect is shocking to see.

Remember the bulletin board conundrum in my last post?  I realized I had some white paint, and in the spirit of the white bulletin board in that post, I tried that technique but with chevrons.  I bought some painter's tape and taped them off after reading this chevron-how to.  Good thing this project was practically free, because it didn't turn out so great.  The white paint is splotchy because I'm an uber lazy painter, the tape peeled off some of the cork in places, and in other places the paint leaked under the tape.  Maybe it you are more careful than me it would work.  I need to stop crafting and just buy things.  I don't have the art expertise to make it look good.  But eh, I covered up the problem areas with postcards and Instax photos and Instagram hides a multitude of sins.

I also tried to cook a bit - I made chicken salad and started Joy's Brown Sugar Bacon Biscuits.  I just made the bacon for now, will make the biscuits later...  Joe told me I had to blog about the bacon, guess he liked it.  It was pretty yummy!  My roommate Christine just went vegetarian (she started a fun blog about her journey!), and she snapped this less than appetizing picture, but I promise it was good.  I don't think it tempted her too much though...

47 Park Avenue and Bulletin Board Decision

Over the past two months, I've been following the steady progress of the most amazingly gorgeous home renovation blog, 47 Park Avenue.  The writer/designer/owner doesn't include much text, but the images are so beautiful they'll practically knock you over.

I love how dramatic everything is, with the dark walls and saturated colors, but it's still whimsical and fun.  It's been interesting to see the blogger gradually add furniture, fixtures and decor.  Just when I think it's looking perfectly finished, bam, he'll throw up a stuffed zebra head on the wall.  You definitely have to check out the whole blog, but here are some of my favorite rooms from the home.

OK, so this is about the only thing I can replicate from his home on my particular (read: miniscule) budget - a black corkboard!  This desk layout is sick.

All images from 47 Park Avenue

My mom forced me to clean out my room a few months ago. (My room at my parents' house is just as it was when I was in high school. Completely untouched and authentic.  Sort of like the Julia Child kitchen at the Smithsonian.  It's as though a preteen Adele could walk in at any moment and start playing with a Tamagotchi).  But I realized I could recycle my old high school corkboard at my new apartment.  Here it is:

Gosh, it's embarrassing to even put my photo next to the previous ones, ha. So that's what we're working with at the moment.  The room has all white Ikea furniture, if you can imagine that.  So if I paint the corkboard black, will it be too much, like a scary black hole in the all-white galaxy of my room?

Should I pick something more colorful or use white stripes, like these pretty corkboards here?

Image from This Little Street

Quoted, Vol. 17

"He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with. They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality, and the love that cherished the quality. Possessions reminded him that he existed, and made him enjoy his existence. It was as simple as that. And wasn’t that worth something? He existed." - Patricia Highsmith, "The Talented Mr. Ripley"

Tunes Tuesday: "All of Me," Tanlines

You can practically smell the Hawaiian Tropic wafting from this synthy, poppy, islandy cut.  Of course, the band's name is Tanlines.  Of course! What better name for a band aiming to write your summer soundtrack.  Tanlines will play tomorrow at DC9, but it's sold out already.  DC hipsters are on it!

Listen to their whole album, "Mixed Emotions," here!

Don't miss the song "Cactus," so good with that flip of a guitar riff.

Crystal City 5K Fridays

So as you probably imagined, I abandoned my goal of running a mile every day in March.  I made it till St. Patrick's Day, then mistakes were made and the whole goal went kerflooey like a falling souffle.  Once one day had slipped by, then two, it hardly seemed worth it any more.

But that's rationalization for you.  I did dust off my running shoes on Friday, when my friend Luther invited me to run the Crystal City 5K.  He's a Crystal City Friday 5K aficionado.  I was a little more leery after my grim run in the rain last year, where as you'll remember, I was passed by pudgy black Labrador.  But I decided to give it a go and run again this year.

Here we are - thanks to Luther's best gal Michelle for the photos!

This time, I tried to set attainable goals for myself to keep my spirits up.  I'd pick someone in front of me, then see if I could pass them.  Woman running with a puggle?  Passed 'em.  Kindergartener jogging?  Totally passed her.  Mom pushing a double jogging stroller with two juice box-drinking kids in tow?  Nope.  That woman was a beast.  Finally at the end of the race, we were neck and neck, then at the last turn she clicked up a gear and sailed away, leaving me in the dust.

Luther looks a lot happier than me while running...

Look, he's skipping!

It's not apparent in any of the pictures that my feet ever left the ground.

This time turned out to be way more fun and less painful than the last 5k I ran, and yet, I was one minute faster last year.  Oh well, give or take a minute, who cares? It's good to get out in the fresh air and earn that day's smores latte...  I might run the 5k again at the end of this month!

And if you are the type of runner who is inspired and motivated by fancy athletic clothing (ahem), you have to peruse Nike's new tumblr: http://madebynike.tumblr.com/

All I see lately is neon and uber bright running togs, but this line of Nike women's training clothes are all downtown muted greys and mauves and blacks, almost reminiscent of Alexander Wang?  It's the type of stuff that Division 1 athletes turned Vogue staffers would wear to Pilates.