bananagrams is the banana bomb!

happy holidays!

what a great extended weekend - filled with family, friends, great wine + beer, amazing barkawi food,

present wrapping, gift giving, dancing, baking, playing, singing, and some serious banana-gramming.

unfortunately, my laptop is on the fritz at the moment, so i've only got a few pictures from my phone...

sweet home.

This painting is from the Hotel Chelsea lobby.  This was one of my favorites.  This piece was created as a tribute to the nearby White Horse Tavern.  The same White Horse Tavern where Dylan Thomas drank his last whiskey. 

We came home late on Sunday.  Monday I had piles of work to get through, but I managed to find time to catch up with these local super cool ladies for their traditional lady dayrage.  It's kind of like Zeina's happy day - but strictly women.  Upon entering Bulls, the first bar I met them at, Olivia was in the midst of riding a mechanical bull!  Pretty good!!

I am dropping off film to be developed today, so more NYC pictures to come.  

doppelgånger.

while eating lunch in greenwich village, an adorable european couple sat down at the table next to us.

the woman could not keep her eyes off our table.  specifically she couldn't keep her eyes off eli.  when the waitress brought us our check she told us that the woman asked her if eli was leonardo di caprio. 

lana called that one a long time ago. 

what a babe, that boyfriend of mine.

hotel chelsea

history + art + ghost stories...

virgin air

SFO > JFK

first time flying virgin air. 

it was like a party bus in the air. 

each seat had it's own interactive screen 

we placed our cocktail order thru it.

minutes later our drinks were delivered to our seats. 

pretty good.  

backyard coffee cupping.

oh so fancy for santa

winter in new york

In one short week from today, we will be waking up at Chesen + Matt's apartment in Manhattan.  I absolutely cannot wait.  It will be a week filled with friends + family + love + art + good food + new york city things.

It's a tricky thing when your best friend lives so far away, and in such a grande city.  I always make these gigantic lists of things I want to check out, but the truth is, we are perfectly happy in her apartment with good food and drink... catching up the entire time.  

Eli found this place in brooklyn that he wants to check out.  And there are some great exhibits at the Whitney that I want to see and I have never been there so I'm looking forward to that.  We are staying in Chelsea for part of the trip- so I am excited to be surrounded by an abundance of independent galleries.  Maybe we'll head back to WhiteStar for a topnotch cocktail. What are your favorite NYC musts?

We are attending Chesen and Matt's engagement party at PJClark's next Saturday.  They took us there for dinner last time we visited.  It's their favorite spot.  It's also featured in Madmen as the occasional afterwork drink spot.

Last night I dug up some old photos from our last trip out there.  It was in January - and so freezing... two trips in a row in the cold months!  My next trip out there must be in the spring or early summer months.  New York City is magic in the winter time, but I'm ready for a trip in warmer weather...

this is the view from chesen + matt's place in the LES

columbia university

pjclark's

art at l'orangebleu

chalkboards @ cuffs

hey! my chalkboards are for sale at cuffs.  

getting festive

Went to Capital Nursery on Saturday and picked out our xmas tree (holiday plant) !

Other than ornaments - the only other thing it's missing is that sweet smell of xmas !  Oh well, I'm sure they make a coniferous evergreen candle smell... right?!  They must. 

H B Z !

happy birthday zeina !

my sister - one of the most amazing, generous, fun, magnetic women in the world.  my faux.twin.  i was just telling some friends last night  how when us sisters get together we sometimes get the inappropriate giggles - you know...uncontrollable laughter at most inappropriate of times.  it really used to piss mom off.  sitting at the dinner table with perhaps guests or some sort of formal setting - and it starts - and we can't even look at each other because we will (or are) majorly busting up with laughter and tears.  i love that.  i need more of that in my life.

hope your birthday is magical !! can't wait to celebrate with you! 

umm.  those glasses are so HOT.

happy birthday z!  

love you

happy birthday matt

I started this post early this morning.  I typed and typed and typed away - clearly, I just need to unload a lot of thoughts. Just as I was about to post it, I found myself selecting all, and deleted the entire thing... Now, some 10 hours later + a glass of wine or two, I'm back here wanting to try again.

Today's is Matt's birthday.  I miss him.  The whole world misses him.

Zeina recently gave me a card she found while visiting his parents that I wrote to him when I was in the 8th grade.  It's kind of a crazy thing, reading a letter your own little teenage self wrote.

Anyhow, here's the cover of the card I sent to Matt years ago...

I've never been good at talking about knowing matt and losing him.  

I really want to get better at it.

sacramento - on the pizza map

of course, there's a blog dedicated entirely to pizza around the country.  and it's no shocker that becky would be asked to bring her mad skills to the table.  she is now the sac correspondent ! in case you don't know, becky is a badass food writer in sacramento, published in multiple local publications, including midtown monthly & sacramento news and review.

her first review was of masullo pizza. i haven't been there in FOREVER and after reading this review i am

going as soon as i can...

image taken by becky via slice

YUM!!