More Window Friends

Margot and Nelly keep watch over Queen Village.

I sure do love these two.

Compliments of Emma.

Fluffy Floral

You can't see it on my face, but spring is officially here! Wandered all over the fine city of Philadelphia this weekend. (And my feet are blistered to show for it. Stupid slouchy Theory boots. Even after a stretch at Lenny's [my trusty shoe guy], you still aggravate me.)

Highlights of the weekend: dinner al fresco Friday night at L'Etage (the standout was the spring beans salad... yum!), then a tour of sorts to James (with its adorable whitewashed bar), then to meet up with others at the Cantina on Passyunk, then to the Pope, then to Ray's Happy Birthday Bar, then to the Friendly Lounge (where the locals were indeed friendly, despite the impression it gives from the outside), then to the trusty Royal Tavern, and finally closing the night down at Lorenzo's for a slice. There we were, ambling all over south-ish Philly on a fair-weathered Friday eve. It was a night for the diaries.

Yikes, that was just Friday. Strolled up to Center City on Saturday (stopping at Grasshopper to pick up some vintage duds on the way), then to New Wave for an outside meet-up, then to Nicki's Revenge of the Nerds party, which ended up looking like a nerds vs. jocks standoff, though the karaoke machine brought all together swimmingly.

Sunday included a lunch at El Jarocho for some of the best carnitas I've had in this city and a delicious dinner (cooked by yours truly) of roasted baby artichokes and potatoes, asparagus and spring greens salad with crumbled goat cheese, and sauteed scallops.

Anyway... I picked up this gem at Grasshopper. It has the fluffiest embroidery yarns! Necklace (little gold book of design highlights from the V&A Museum) by Comfort Station. It is actually a somewhat custom piece that she made based off one of her other designs. Lucky me.

Inspired Equestrian

Oh, the glow! (Classed up by the fire extinguisher in the hall.) Checked shirt with asymmetrical placket vintage (from Sugarcube in Old City, Philly), skirt vintage (from somewhere in StL), floral fishnets from UO.

In tight on the rings. Righty is wearing an gold bow ring stacked with a vintage emerald-cut peridot (tricky) that was my mom's 8th grade graduation prezzy. Lefty's got on the lion (with the ubiquitous li'l stackers) and a jade ring that was my mom's.

Behold! Riders mid-post!

The Angora Scroll

Picked up this lovely cashmere with angora highlight sweater at Captain Betty's outside of Columbus. It's definitely worth a trip out there; she has such stock! And she'll engage you in some sort of conversation wherein you'll learn about one of the many rockstars she dated. But really, go for the vintage leopard skin (real) hat you might find. I did.

Sweater vintage, skirt Anthro, tights Anthro, shoes Dolce Vita.

Ring from Ylang Ylang in St. Louis (one of my high school gems), horse-themed bracelet from Comfort Station in London.

Dark eyes and nude lips, yo.

Pink Cheetahs

Oh, to live in a world in which pink cheetahs actually existed... What would such a place be like?

Washed silk dress from Katy Rodriguez, silk cheetah print scarf (complete with cheetah faces on the ends) vintage from mom, ostrich dotty stockings from UO, shoes old Steve Madden.

Picked this up at a boutique on Yiu Wah Street in HK. I asked who the designer was, but all they could tell me was that it was Japanese. As you can see, there are tiny animals attached to the chain (my favorite is the mouse on his hinders with a piece of cheese).

Ring patrol. I wear the vintage lion with the diamond eyes and garnet in his mouth almost every day. He's a little Anne Klein, sure, but that's OK. I've been really into rings and piling them on lately.

These pink suede shoes look so vintage. Too bad they're stinky Steven Madden. Oh well.

Philly Window Cats

I've been obsessed with taking pictures of window cats around Philly since I moved here. Spring is in full swing, and the cats are coming to their windows to take it all in. Here are some of my favorites from the past year.

Spring Flings

I've been searching for a replacement to my omnipresent yellow neon Timex. I've looked in HK, Paris, London, NY... and have almost settled on a different color or even a gold metal version. But then I figured that I should get something entirely different and not the same thing just in a different color. But there's no other watch I like enough to warrant purchase. And I've gotten used to never taking the darn thing off, but, well, it's dirty.

Until I found these...

which are SOLD OUT at Colette. (I must state that I am totally over the Colette phenomenon... or rather, that's it's not much of a phenomenon any longer, but not enough to not _buy_ something there.) Drat. The search continues...

In the meantime, maybe one of these brights from the Cambridge Satchel Company would hold me. The purple and the yellow are their satchels (with a shoulder strap), while the red (below) is their "batchel."

Stepping out with a red leather (monogrammed, of course) batchel seems so quaint. This could be me in Brussels, no?

The Sound of Music

I'm calling this one Sound of Music because the socks have an Alpine-y/Edelweiss feel and the closure on the dress (short though it may be) has a subtle allusion to the fastening of a long nun's dress (and you know, the whole story with Maria and all). And I'm wearing the cuckoo clock necklace to boot.

Maybe I shouldn't have done all that explaining and just let you figure out why. :)
Silk jersey dress Mara Hoffman, necklace Comfort Station, socks by Eloise, shoes b store.

Took this one last week of the scene across from Red Hook Coffee on 4th. Yep, that's the top of a black leather couch out front. Love this whole scene.

Mini for Sale

Bidding adieu to Mini Driver. She was the first car I owned that really captured my spirit.


Yesterday's outfit. Vintage Evan Picone sweater, Ecote skirt, Pour La Victoire boots. Walked all over the city yesterday, enjoying the first spring-like day. Brunch at Reading Terminal Market; had a deelish Dinic's roasted pork n' greens sandwich and a Flying Monkey cupcake (chocolate with pistachio icing, if you must know). Really needed to walk THAT off.

Close-up of the cute horsey pattern on the skirt.

The Barnes and Glackens Show

Went to the Barnes Foundation yesterday. Thrilled to have learned of it and visited before it--and we--move. If you haven't seen The Art of the Steal yet, you should. It is less about the art and more about the "steal," but you still get a sense of how important the Barnes collection is.

After watching the movie, my blood was boiling to think of how Dr. Barnes' will was disrespected for the sake of some tourism dollars. But after visiting, I am more sympathetic to the cause of those who wanted to bring the art to Philly proper. Not to the way it all was handled; there were definitely some shady dealings along the way. But this art deserves to be seen. So, in a sense, I am glad that it will be easier for more people to see it.

Barnes' collection of Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse is incredible. He also has quite a number of Henri Rousseau's paintings (love!). Rousseau's influence on Frida Kahlo is quite striking.

But I discovered a new artist that I am quite taken with--William Glackens.

Here he is with his daughter, Lenna. Glackens was a Philadelphia school chum of Dr. Barnes and was instrumental in selecting the first 20 or so pieces of art that became the Barnes Foundation. But he was an illustrator and painter in his own right.

I was first taken with his landscapes, but really enjoy his portraits, too. As he furthered his career, his use of color became more brilliant.

The Pulitzer Museum, STL

Sure, I liked the Pulitzer alright when I lived in Saint Louis. But I think it was my having lived in three other cities in the past 4 years that made me truly appreciate it this last time. Tadao Ando's building feels so interactive--and not at all stark or cold as the thought of bare concrete would have you believe. (We lucked out that it was such a lovely day, as well.) In fact, it felt warm and comfortable; like someplace I'd like to live.

The Gordon Matta-Clark exhibit was striking. Matta-Clark preserved parts (and when I say "parts", I mean cross-sections in some cases) of derelict or abandoned buildings by dissecting them with a chainsaw. This means that you'd be confronted with the top triangle of a farmhouse roof, with a view into the layers comprising it. Or a cross-section of a tenement apartment, with layers from floor to ceiling. Seeing the guts of these once-living beings instilled a sense of compassion in me. Compassion because things that I wouldn't normally see were exposed to me--the subfloor, the insulation of a wall, the layers of a roof, as well as because parts of a building that I'm not typically able to see in such great detail (e.g., the crest of a roof) were 6 inches from my nose. But mostly because seeing all of the layers layers and levels and materials only made me think of the people who gave the buildings life--both by creating them and by living in them.

Whenever I live in an old apartment, I am forced to imagine the history of it. I try to imagine all of the people who have cared for it before I. All of the holidays, celebrations, and eventful times--good or bad--that have happened there before I even arrived on this earth. Has anyone died there? Or better, been born there? All I know is, Matta-Clark and I would have gotten on just fine. He, too, realized his role as a caretaker of these brick-and-mortal beings.

http://www.pulitzerarts.org/resources/press/exhibition/mattaclark/

No photography is allowed inside, but here are some angles of Ando's building.




Me, dropping some science in a Serra sculpture called Joe.

It doesn't look like much from the outside--and doesn't seem as large as it is on the inside--but Joe is a striking and interactive piece.