SUMMERTIME (and is it even 70?)

WOW -- what a great day. Started out with a little verite coffee (hello sam/kristin/beth). Then picked up Dave for breakfast at Voulas (Kim's recommendation). Had such yummy food -- a joy to find a new brkfst place.

After that, out to Ballard for one of Jody's new strawberry cupcakes! WOW. Buy two -- one for now, one for later! After that -- about 3 pitchers at King's Hardware with Jody, Kim, me, Dave. And 18 songs on the jukebox and several skeeball games.

Then we met up with Julie and Lisa for a some drinks, then up to Smith. Joseph M is in town, so we got to meet up with him, Holly, Jennifer, Michelle. YEA.

It was a non-stop day of fantastic!

Say hello to Friday!

Kim's here for the weekend. We've been having a nice time...haven't seen her since Christmas.

Last night, we met up with Lisa and Jeff for a quick cocktail at CCs before meeting up with Jody, Sarah, Quita, Sandy and Tammy. We decided on this weird faux German bar by R.E.I. Pretzels were good. But it was just so different than what i'm used to (more Lindas/Smith/CCs guy). We chose it because it was close to our friend Mandie's play, BarleyGirl.

After that, Kim and I came home and watched some more Notorious.

glassybaby

I walk right by the glassybaby store a couple times a month since jeff's studio is in the back. I love the idea of glassybaby but have to admit the $40 pricetag knocks me out of the purchasing game. However, people with more taste and money disagree thankfully.

Lee Rhodes seems to be doing quite a business. Did you know you can rent them for an event ($5/each)? Or that Lee has a line of babies that benefit cancer organizations. I've only met her once or twice, but I sure like what she's done. And when they're all lined up like this, my gawd, they're sure beautiful!

BarleyGirl

Just ran into my friends Mandie O'Connell and Sonja Larson at Smith. Mandie is part of Implied Violence and they're halfway through their production of BarleyGirl. It looks/sounds awesome and ambitious!

Photo below: Jen Graves

"On the waterfront"

Just had a super relaxing evening of drinks on the waterfront. For being a city that has water in every direction, there's a serious dearth of nice patios. We thought we'd try something "new". Ugh, last time I go to the Waterfront (I've said that a few times before). It's CRAZY overpriced ($68 for Lamb? I can go to Corson Bldg for $80 for 8 courses!) and has a weird clientele (except Anne & Aaron). So after I started overheating from the sun, we rolled down the block to Boat Street -- and they never disappoint. If you like raspberries, Renee is making a raspberry tart this weekend!

The whole point is -- THANK YOU Lisa. Here's to another 20 years of friendship. Love you!

Portland!

Wow! What a weekend. Jeff and I took Amtrak down to Portland. The hotel we stayed in had a Warhol on each floor. We got to go to clark:lewis and see Dolan. And then stopped by the The Eagle for a minute.

We saw the Contemporary Awards exhibit and it was amazing. I'm surprised at how well each artist fit with each other -- in an unintentional way. Then we visited the rest of the museum. Some really great stuff. We took a couple pics (sans flash) and totally got caught. Security wasn't tailing us -- they were hovering about 2 feet away. I felt like we were gonna get arrested. ; )

Then Jeff's gallery, Pulliam-Deffenbaugh put on a dinner (really a collector named Joe put on the dinner, hosted at Rod/Glen's house cooked by Jason -- collaboration at its best. Levi made a great soundtrack for the evening). SO FUN. All great folks. Nice to meet Deneen and Joe.

Then we went back to the hotel and watched a movie and raided the wet bar. A super fun trip -- THANKS Jeff.

Got to have breakfast with Dolan and Anita and met Isabella (finally). Then called Joey and we grabbed a ride back with him to Seattle. We got sidetracked at a river for the afternoon swimming and jumping out of trees (well, he did -- I stayed on the large hill and jumped). The perfect day. Grabbed milkshakes on the way home.

"Blame it on the black star"

Going down to Portland to see Jeff's show finally. He's giving a talk on Sunday so I thought I'd tag along. YEA -- I haven't been to Portland in 2 or 3 years and I'm DYING to see this show!!!

sunday
jul 13, 2008 3:30 pm

Gallery Talk
with Jeffry Mitchell and Metropolitan Museum of Art Curator Denise Patry Leidy

description: Explore the historical
motifs, notions of sacred geometry, and tantric influences found in Jeffry
Mitchell’s work with Dr. Leidy and the artist.

Picnic!

It's been so nice here in Seattle these past few days. Feels like the sun might really be here to stay (for a few days at least). I've been threatening to move for months and then BAM -- the sun finally comes out and you think -- how could I ever leave here?? But summer will be over in a couple of weeks and then it's back to endless gray. I think I have about one more winter in me here. That'll make a lucky 13. But then what? Where? New Orleans / Austin are at the top of the list. I just want SUN!

Anyway, met Y Amy last night for a picnic at Cal Anderson. Such a nice evening.

Make New Friends...

End it on a high note! And by high note, i mean pork belly in pepper sauce at boat street. where everyone knows your name (and they're...). You get to eat and meet fun folks over the best food.

Sun in Seattle!

What a day! We went canoeing on Lake Washington -- something I hadn't ever done before. It was amazing. So many little ducks and turtles.

Then off to the Locks to see the salmon run. Seattle has some really cool things to do.

Playing Tourist

With O'Neal in town, it's fun to get to do new things. I can be a creature of habit chained to the hill, so it was nice to get out of Seattle for a quick minute. Wish it would've been a bit sunnier out (if I had a dollar...).

Even went to church on Sunday evening. The way it was sold to me was Gregorian chanting monks in an old church. So I was in. Turned out a bit different, but still amazing.

Church came after an early evening of pitchers of beer (pitchers of beers aren't available everywhere -- like New Orleans, Austin, etc, so visitors get really excited to buy PITCHER of beer for $6!).

O'Neal!

YEA! O'Neal arrived yesterday! Had a blast with the artwalk, CCs, Smith, The Cuff, The Eagle and then Fish Fry!