Last week Dustin took me to a (soft) rock show in Brooklyn, to see the Shins. On the way we stopped at a teeny pizza joint and I made the mistake of using their bathroom. It was downright appetizing.
I don't even know which way this photo is supposed to go.
The Shins played at McCarren Park Pool, which in the 70s was a, well, a giagantic public pool. Then it was emptied and now they use it as a concert venue, which, on this temperate August night, was absolutely delightful. You can tell how big the pool was by this photo and the fact that all of these people were standing IN the pool (and it still wasn't crammed).
The Shins played a nice set, pleasant, just good for a chill night out during the workweek.
Then, on Saturday, the girls and I spent some time catching up. It was precious.
I won't bore you with the details. That's all for now.
Many a lovely day has been had lately. I'll gloss over the details.
When I got back from L.A., our friend Jackie was in town from Arizona, so Kerri, Shannon and I went out for drinks with her.
On the way home, we found this random Barbie doll in the subway.
Dustin and I went to CraftSteak for some tasty eats 'n' meats.
Outside of the restaurant, we peeked into this store, which felt like looking out of a ship's port hole.
We saw the Chihuly installations at the Bronx Botanical Garden... it was like an art-and-fauna Easter egg hunt: where's the Chihuly?
(this one was pretty obvious) It was incredibly beautiful, boldly colorful glass gleaming in the sunlight all over the place.
(this was just a rose) This one made me think of Medusa.
We passed this window display on our way to CraftBar (which was also amazing... I might even say more amazing as meals go.)
Dustin and I tested out a stop-motion movie concept he had been developing.
Here's some wasted paper.
And we finished off the week celebrating Dustin's new V/O gig for Dell at the original Craft. Need I say it? It was amazing. There are just no other words for this kind of food.
And I spent Sunday afternoon in Central Park, doing the crossword and finding the beginnings of autumn falling into my lap.
It's such a wonderful, bursting city. It's hard to imagine loving any place as much as I love New York.
Okay, okay. So I went to Los Angeles, and in the end it wasn't totally awful. It only seemed that way for the first 5 of my 8 days there. I was supposed to be there Monday through Thursday, but it ended up to be until the next Monday. JJ and I flew in Monday morning and went right to work. We were in a tiny li'l room set up for us at the production company.
I had to drive. (And parallel park.) But at least my hotel room at the Mondrian was magnificent. It would fast become the only bright spot in my day, every day. The only place where people were actually nice to me.
Guess it was a good learning experience. So then, on Saturday, I realized that JJ was going back to New York and I would be on my own for the whole weekend with nothing but PS 260's petty cash to keep me company. What's a girl to do? I went shopping, of course. I went to the Beverly Center... I hadn't been to a mall in, well, a VERY long time. On my way to Wet Seal (where I spent a good amount on some new additions to my wardrobe... with my own money, don't worry), I stopped by this amazing shoe store.
I drooled over these cuties, but didn't drool enough to drop $95 on them.
Earlier that morning, I had talked to my Mom in Arizona. "I'll be here until Monday. Don't have many plans" I said, and in the background I could hear Tom yelling, "I'll load up the Mazda!!" 6 hours later they were at my doorstep. Somehow, we all ended up taking variations on the same photo.
We had dinner at the fabulous SkyBar at the hotel, an eating/drinking area beside the pool, outfitted with bare mattresses instead of boring old lounge chairs.
The next morning, we got together and decided to have some fun around town. "There must be more to this city than snobby women with big fake boobs and 1-hour-only parking," I thought to myself. And if there was, I knew that my fab parents would show it to me. Of course, Mom and I matched.
She and Tom had already spent part of the morning doing a faux photo shoot.
We had Sunday Gospel Brunch at the House Of Blues, which was interesting, entertaining and delicious... the perfect start for the day.
Then we dropped off the rental car I had been begrudgingly driving and I renounced my automotive responsibilities. I breathed a sigh of relief and hopped in the backseat, feeling like a kid again.
I told Tom, "Gimme some freaks!" so we went to Venice Beach. As I took off my shoes and breathed in the summer-beach spray smell, I realized that, aside from Coney Island, I haven't stepped foot on a real beach in a good 3 or 4 years.
At that moment, my mom stepped into the sand and exclaimed, "This has been the best goddamned summer of my life!!"
We walked around.
Tom was taking pictures all over the place!
So I took one of them together.
We saw some crazy things on the beach that day.
And of course, did some perusing of vendors.
Whilst Tom hung out in a chair he found on the ground.
Next we went to the Santa Monica Pier for some ice cream.
Tom took this picture of my mom and me without us even knowing.
Then he and I took some pictures of each other.
In all, it was that Sunday with my parents that made the trip worthwhile to me.... It was the only truly enjoyable and lovely day that I had the whole time there. And lovely it was... a spontaneous, unexpected day that we spent together.
